Page 16. South East Times. Issue 67
England: Have Roy Hodgson’s side improved since World Cup?
changer”, while the manager gave a first
full England start to Tottenham’s prolific
striker Harry Kane, who is the same age as
the Everton prodigy.
Barkley may still have questions over
his decision-making but his bold,
strong running offered England an extra
England players
dimension.
England’s progress - when measured by
Kane was up against some tough opponents
results alone - has been smooth since they in the likes of Giorgio Chiellini, who
made an embarrassing retreat from Brazil unceremoniously flattened the striker in
last summer after going out of the World
the game’s opening passage of play, but he
Cup at the group stage.
showed maturity and strength of character
Before Tuesday’s 1-1 draw with Italy in a that will have impressed Hodgson.
friendly in Turin, Roy Hodgson’s side had Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling may be the
undergone a comfortable rehabilitation
brightest star of all at just 20 if he can put
with seven straight wins, including five
his contract wrangles behind him and settle
from five in the Euro 2016 qualifying
his future.
campaign.
Manchester United’s Luke Shaw will also
It all points to a period of improvement
come into consideration, while Everton
after that debacle in South America.
youngster John Stones already has four
So, have England really improved since
caps and possesses the composure to usurp
they concluded the World Cup campaign Manchester United pair Chris Smalling and
with a goalless dead rubber against Costa Phil Jones (both still relatively young) in
Rica in Belo Horizonte on 24 June last
central defence.
year?
Hodgson may also look to harness
Young at heart
members of England’s promising under-21
Harry Kane and Ross Barkley
Hodgson has been gifted a talented
generation of young players to mould for
the future, with Euro 2016 in France the
first serious test.
In Turin, 21-year-old Ross Barkley
was described by Hodgson as “a game
Home Improvements
squad who had such a fine victory over
Germany in Middlesbrough on Monday,
players such as Burnley striker Danny Ings
and Southampton midfielder James WardProwse.
The manager, sometimes criticised as overcautious and too much of a member of
the old guard to relate to youngsters, must
show he can work successfully with them.
Case for the defence
Gary Cahill and Chris Smalling
When England went out of the World Cup,
they were accompanied by confirmation
that defensively they were simply not
good enough against high-class opponents.
It was a flaw ruthlessly exposed by
Uruguay’s Luis Suarez in what proved to
be a defining defeat in Sao Paulo.
Have things improved since? Despite those
perfect results in qualifying, the suspicion
lingers that it is still England’s Achilles
heel.
Chelsea’s Gary Cahill is a mainstay, but
the jockeying for position alongside him
continues between the likes of Everton
captain Phil Jagielka, Jones and Smalling.
Everton’s elegant Stones looks the best
long-term answer but there is still no
convincing first-choice partnership.
At left-back, Leighton Baines was found
wanting in Brazil, while injuries have held
Shaw back. Arsenal’s Kieran Gibbs, Danny
Rose of Tottenham and Southampton’s
Ryan Bertrand are in contention but have
yet to make any firm case for selection.
An outside bet, might be Baines’
understudy at Everton, Luke Garbutt. The
21-year-old is confident, accomplished and
key to England’s under-21 plans. He is out
of contract in the summer and although
manager Roberto Martinez insists he will
sign a new deal, there will be a scramble if
he does not.
Southampton’s Nathaniel Clyne and
Tottenham’s Kyle Walker are the main
contenders at right-back - we can forget
Liverpool’s Glen Johnson - but they are
way short of proving themselves at the
highest level.
Joe Hart is a given in goal, but it remains to
be seen how it shakes out in front of him.
Tactical flexibility
England players
Hodgson has the players to allow him to
adopt various systems. Sterling can play
wide, centrally and at the tip of a midfield
diamond, while captain Wayne Rooney and
Kane can drop deep as well as playing as
the main striker.
Rooney, as ever, is the centrepiece of
England’s plans and evidence this season
has shown he must play as a striker. He
is his country’s most reliable goalscorer
and no other nation would move a player
of such stature and statistics around to
accommodate others.
Arsenal striker Danny Welbeck, such
a success with six goals in Euro 2016
qualifying, can play up front or wide, while
t he lingering hope that Liverpool’s Daniel
Sturridge can offer another attacking
weapon continues to be frustrated by his
fragile fitness record.
One thing can now surely be consigned
to the tactical dustbin - using Jones
in a defensive midfield role as, to use
Hodgson’s word, a “destroyer.” It did
not work against Italy and will never be
successful against quality opposition.
Improving England?
Michael Carrick showed his enduring
composure and ability to dictate tempo
in his substitute appearance, so maybe he
will now get a run of games. When the
Manchester United midfielder was on the
pitch, England looked far more controlled
and in total they completed 530 passes, 191
more than Italy.
Hodgson used Sterling at the point of the
midfield diamond in the opening Euro
2016 qualification win in Switzerland with Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere at the base
- so there are plenty of formats for him to
work with.
He must now assemble the pieces correctly,
which was not the case in Turin. Jones
should never been seen again in that
holding role, while Arsenal’s Theo Walcott
was utterly miscast as a forward attempting
to dovetail with Kane. That is Rooney’s
job.
Euro qualifiers can be deceptive
England’s stroll towards Euro 2016 in the
most favourable of qualifying groups may
offer a false impression of well-being.
They have recorded victories against
Switzerland, San Marino, Estonia, Slovenia
and Lithuania. But so they should.
The group serves as the perfect device
to allow Hodgson’s side to regroup,
recover and rebuild confidence but it is
not a serious gauge of whether they have
recovered from that traumatic World Cup.
Italy did not provide a true test because
their side was makeshift, but other
proposed friendlies against Spain,
Germany and the Netherlands could be
just the job - or the sort of cold shower that
reminds England of their real place in the
world order.
Hodgson’s future
The notion of Hodgson receiving a new
deal to take him through to the World Cup
in 2018 has been floated but, as both the
manager and the Football Association have
said, there is no rush.
Remember how Fabio Capello signed a
new, amended contract committing him to
the job until Euro 2012 while almost on the
steps of the plane to South Africa for the
World Cup in 2010?
Cue a thoroughly miserable farce of a
campaign based at the austere “Camp
Capello” in Rustenburg and a loveless
marriage with the FA until he resigned
over the decision to strip John Terry of the
captaincy in February 2012.
So, no rush. Why commit to Hodgson (or
indeed why should he commit to the FA?)
until judgement can be made on the Euro
2016 campaign.