I'm still unconvinced by our CBs, even though I shouldn't be, given the small number of goals we conceded over the qualifying tournament. I'm not sure what it is, but I get the distinct feeling that a decent side (and there were no other decent sides in this group) will tear us to bits.
I do love the English press and how the wind effects their mood. We win two games against pants opponents(forgetting that in first half v Montenegro we were rubbish, and for large periods of yesterday seemed to allow Poland back into the second half and it took a rather lucky Joe Hart hand to keep Poland from equalising late on).... and all of a sudden Woy is a genius.If we play that team and tactics against anyone half decent, we would get slaughtered.
Carrick has been picked to be the string puller, Gerrard the more directly creative CM, and then 3 attacking CM's(two of which are out and out strikers) feeding to Sturridge.... who is expected to possess the defensive ball winning nous in midfield? Who provides the width on either channel? (It seemed yesterday that Welbeck tucked in, Baines provided on the left and Townsend was really a right winger, in essence giving you 2 x CB, 1 x RB, 1 x LW coming from deep, 2 x CM, 1 x RW but coming in from the touchline, 2 x SS and 3 Strikers.. with your best striker playing outside the box(incidentally took one good chance and finished it yesterday), no left back, a support striker with no established creative skills , and arguably your worse option out of all of the attackers as the main heading the arrow to finish the move off.
Its a very fliud system, but last night you saw that everyone in the final third was getting sucked into the middle and while Poland had a second rate defence created from Legia Warsaw and FC Vasaui (from Romania) players and allowed themselves to become narrow, no other team with even a shade of discipline is going to give you that space to create chances.... they will just force you to play through them, which requires a hint of a first touch and creative quality.... something that Danny Welbeck and Sturridge seem to lack, and a tactic that has not really proved effective previously for us.
If he wants to continue with similar formations then he has to think about making P.Jones his CM with Carrick(his role only works in a midfield that includes a water carrier, its what every successful team has), pushing Gerrard into his narrow left side AM role, Wilshere taking Rooneys role from last night, and Rooney as the link man at the top.
