Part 2 - EURO 2012 Qualification: England’s player by player performance review
In midfield for the English, the right midfield/winger berth was taken up by Walcott. Theo Walcott has had a brilliant to start to his English Premier League season with Arsenal F.C and he has already scored four goals in three Premier League matches for Arsene Wenger’s team.
His domestic form merited him a selection for England’s squad against Bulgaria. Walcott was not as bright for England as he has been for Arsenal but the young winger was confident in the first half and produced some moments of quality
However as the game progressed into the second half, Walcott faded away and failed to make a sustainable impact on the match as a whole, therefore he was withdrawn by Capello and replaced by Adam Johnson from the English bench.
England’s best player from the 2010 World Cup, Steven Gerrard started in a much different role for the national team against Bulgaria. At the World Cup, Gerrard played as an attacking left sided midfielder who used to drift in field to link up with Rooney and Heskey. In the new England formation, the Liverpool captain was deployed in a withdrawn role with more defensive responsibilities. He was tasked with linking up midfield with defence and also pushing onwards to attack whenever possible.
Steven was not as impressive as his earlier display in the second week of August against Hungary in England’s first international friendly since the World Cup but he was disciplined in his role and played for the team.
Barry partnered Gerrard in England’s central midfield. His performance was obviously far better than the World Cup one where he was ripped apart by the likes of Ozil and Schweinsteiger. That was because it was not possible for the Manchester City player to perform any worse than he did against Germany on that fateful day in South Africa.
Playing as a defensive midfielder for England, Barry hardly broke sweat and looked slightly off the pace when England pushed onto attack. He was also at fault for letting his marker get away from him in the midfield area for one of Bulgaria’s attacking moves. If England had a better candidate available for the defensive midfield position, Barry might not have been in the starting line up at all but such is the lack of resources in certain positions for Capello that Gareth had to be called upon once again.
Gerrard’s old midfield role was taken up by James Milner on England’s left. Milner was above average with his displays but the former Aston Villa midfielder was disappointing when it came to delivering quality balls from England’s set pieces. His positional sense allowed England to sustain possession. James also helped out Cole in defence and did well to create space for the left back through his inverted runs inside the area between the Bulgarian midfield and defence.
Once the shadow of his former self and perhaps England’s man of the match and the man to look out for the rest of the qualification campaign, Wayne Rooney was on form for England’s match against Bulgaria. Despite only playing two matches out of the three that his club Manchester United have participated in, in the English Premier League season so far. Rooney excelled in the new trequartista role that Capello entrusted him with.
As a result, Wayne emerged as the team’s creative genius and directed England’s attacking traffic throughout the match. He linked up with Defoe spectacularly on three occasions and all three chances ended up in goals for the Tottenham striker. The only thing missing from Wayne’s display was a goal something that will come with time for the Manchester United talisman.
Jermaine Defoe, the scorer of one of England’s only three goals in the World Cup was on target once again for the three lions with a hatrick in their qualification opener against Bulgaria. Defoe has been blamed for being a “useless” player as far as his contribution to the team from outside the box is concerned; nevertheless his eagerness to press and hassle the Bulgarian defence and improved aerial ability helped England in winning back possession.
Something that should not be underestimated in international football. With three prolific finishes for three fantastic goals made Defoe’s performance a standout one in his England career so far.
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