England vs Slovenia: What England Needs to Do to Survive in the World Cup Table
England face Slovenia in one of the most important matches for all the players involved in the squad, a number of whom were part of the team in the last World Cup, where they fell at the quarterfinal stage against Portugal on Penalties. However, the important thing to note is they made it that far that time. This time, they are going into a must-win game for a place in the final 16 of the World Cup. Should they fail to do that, they should brace themselves for a horror backlash from the home fans, and more so from the uncompromising English press, who go to town with the smallest of stories as far as English football is concerned. God only knows what they would do if the unthinkable happens.
So what is that they need to do to avoid all of that? The equation is pretty simple actually: ‘stick to the basics’. See, when one takes a look at England squad on paper, there is a whole host of superstars in every department of the game, then what is missing? Two things come to mind: one being the lack of coordination between the players, and the second has to be the lack of wins at an international level.
It is said that winning is a habit. Most of the players in the England squad come from big-name clubs in England, such as Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and others, where they are simply used to winning or at least striving to win week after week, but when the same players come to play for England, they just do not have the same amount of coordination with their teammates, nor the formula for victory worked out so well within the team. When playing for clubs, they plan out a strategy for a season that is almost 10 months long, which gives them enough time to repeat the same things day after day, and eventually everyone in the team knows what their job is. Whereas for England, no one quite seems to know what they are supposed to be doing (at least that’s what it looks like.)
Not to say that players from other teams do not play club football; of course they do, but it’s just the mindset of English players which has been hampering them for decades.
If that was not enough, there have been number of problems in the camp, with Terry saying that the coach needs to have open talks with players, the coach coming back hard at him, and Terry ending up apologising.
All that that needs to be put in the past, and focus needs to be on the match at hand. Midfield has to be the strongest area for England, so they should be looking to play to their strength. Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, two of the best midfielders in the game, will have to decide between themselves as to who goes all out in offense and who stays and tries to hold the game at the centre. At the flanks, Lennon can be a handful for any defence if he steps up his game; the Tottenham man is certainly blessed with pace, creativity and extremely quick feet. If used properly, he can be a menace on the right wing, and can lay off or deliver constant crosses for strikers to feed on.
Upfront there should be no question: Wayne Rooney has to start, but not with Heskey. Capello for sure must have learnt his lesson after the last game. Defoe has to be the man to start alongside Rooney, and if needed in the 2nd half, Crouch can be brought in to be used as a target man.
Now goalkeeping is another area of concern; who can forget the howler by Green in the first game? However, James, although not tested much against Algeria, did enough to earn another shot.
So there it is, the team needs to stick to the basics if they want to see themselves in the final 16 of the World Cup. And who knows, a big win in the final game may act as a springboard to catapult them to big heights in this World Cup.
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