Nothingness
I guess the main highlight (if you want to call it that) of today was the England vs Ecuador World Cup round two encounter. It was another frustrating occasion for England supporters, as the team strugged to break down a battling opposition side and only managed to scrape through 1-0 thanks to a David Beckham free kick.
Of course it is good we won and also nice to see the captain on target, but there were more negatives than positives in my opinion. First was the formation. Sven decided to start with a defensive 4-1-4-1 arrangement, with Wayne Rooney the lone striker and Michael Carrick in the holding midfield role. Another surprise was the selection of FC Bayern midfielder Owen Hargreaves out of position at right-back ahead of established defender Jamie Carragher. Why?
That may only have been a minor mistaike, but it was the formation which really ruined things. I just can't see the logic. Why play Rooney up front on his own when he has recently been injured and may not yet have regained full fitness? It's like Sven was deliberately trying to annoy Alex Ferguson by putting his prize asset at greater risk of reocurring injury.
Also remember the fact that Rooney and most of the team are not used to playing in that style. You could see that from the ineffective long-ball tactics they kept trying to use. 4-4-2 is the most popular system in England and the players were still in that mindset, which begs the question of why Sven decided to put them out of the comfort zone by deploying an usual formation.
Eriksson's endless tactical meddling is doing our team no good whatsoever. I can understand why he might want to change things around after poor performance in the group matches but he maede very bad decisions in the Ecuador game, which appeared to defy common sense at times.
England's quarter-final opponents will be Portugal - a rematch of the clash at the same stage of 2002's European Championships when Portugal went through in a penalty shootout. It's a good chance for revenge, but England will have to improve dramatically. I hope Sven sees sense and returns to 4-4-2, with Peter Crouch partnering Rooney in attack.
Portugal will be weakened by the absence of key midfielder Deco, the Brazilian-born Barcelona playmaker, and the less well-known but also important Costinha. They were both sent off in the last 16 tie with the Netherlands, a bad-tempered and horrendously-officiated encounter which saw four red cards and something like 17 yellows - a new World Cup record. Refereeing at this year's finals has been truly abysmal.
Of course it is good we won and also nice to see the captain on target, but there were more negatives than positives in my opinion. First was the formation. Sven decided to start with a defensive 4-1-4-1 arrangement, with Wayne Rooney the lone striker and Michael Carrick in the holding midfield role. Another surprise was the selection of FC Bayern midfielder Owen Hargreaves out of position at right-back ahead of established defender Jamie Carragher. Why?
That may only have been a minor mistaike, but it was the formation which really ruined things. I just can't see the logic. Why play Rooney up front on his own when he has recently been injured and may not yet have regained full fitness? It's like Sven was deliberately trying to annoy Alex Ferguson by putting his prize asset at greater risk of reocurring injury.
Also remember the fact that Rooney and most of the team are not used to playing in that style. You could see that from the ineffective long-ball tactics they kept trying to use. 4-4-2 is the most popular system in England and the players were still in that mindset, which begs the question of why Sven decided to put them out of the comfort zone by deploying an usual formation.
Eriksson's endless tactical meddling is doing our team no good whatsoever. I can understand why he might want to change things around after poor performance in the group matches but he maede very bad decisions in the Ecuador game, which appeared to defy common sense at times.
England's quarter-final opponents will be Portugal - a rematch of the clash at the same stage of 2002's European Championships when Portugal went through in a penalty shootout. It's a good chance for revenge, but England will have to improve dramatically. I hope Sven sees sense and returns to 4-4-2, with Peter Crouch partnering Rooney in attack.
Portugal will be weakened by the absence of key midfielder Deco, the Brazilian-born Barcelona playmaker, and the less well-known but also important Costinha. They were both sent off in the last 16 tie with the Netherlands, a bad-tempered and horrendously-officiated encounter which saw four red cards and something like 17 yellows - a new World Cup record. Refereeing at this year's finals has been truly abysmal.
posted by Frederick at 03:00
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