In wake of England’s World Cup exit, Fabio Capello has been forced into making some major calls. The squad’s poor performance in South Africa exposed the need for a “new era” and although the perfect start to the European Championship 2012 qualifying campaign goes some way in diminishing their summer sins, the Italian still has plenty to mull over before England meet Montenegro at Wembley. With Rio Ferdinand, John Terry and Frank Lampard all likely to be fit again it poses questions about a return to the old guard.
Capello must decide whether to play Rio Ferdinand for the first time since his knee injury in England’s first World Cup training session and indeed whether Frank Lampard should partner a Steven Gerrard flourishing in his central role.
But surely the re-emergence of faith shown to these players in South Africa would contradict their qualifying success thus far and put Capello under a lot more pressure?
Phil Jagielka has been fantastic in the two games so far; against Switzerland he commanded the back four in the absence of Terry or Ferdinand alongside former club team-mate Joleon Lescott and displayed that his England career is blossoming with good anticipation and timely interventions. It would hardly lend itself to the initiation of a new era to drop him and instead facilitate the previous central defensive pairing.
Similarly, I believe the doubts over whether Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard can coexist in the same England midfield have been nullified by the pairing of Gareth Barry and the Liverpool skipper. Barry’s calm aura coupled with his ability to sit deep and break up play permits Gerrard to express himself going forward. This was typified by the way he controlled the games tempo, whilst showing a touch of class for the assist to Adam Johnson.
Talking of Adam Johnson, with Milner suspended and Walcott injured, England may have found themselves the perfect answer to that.
The Manchester City winger looked more like a man with forty caps than four as he got on the score sheet and caused problems almost every time he received the ball whether he was cutting inside or dancing past defenders. I for one believed he should have been on the plane. A tricky winger who not many sides would have known about such was his rapid rise to prominence beforehand and he also may yet prove to be one of Manchester City’s best buys, £8million pounds amongst their lavish spending was a real coup.
In Basle, there was nothing faulty about England. They looked like a team again rather than 11 highly talented individuals who have failed to deliver time and time again. And if England are to drive away the familiarity of heartbreak from South Africa, changes such as these have to be made.
It could also be conceived that such blind loyalty to players such as Lampard, Ferdinand and Terry have been contributory Capello’s descent from “god to monster” and trusting the “old guard” as opposed to blooding England’s youngsters where he can would not constitute a return journey to his former status. If England are to move forward in a dawn, the Italian must be brave. The game against Montenegro offers him a perfect opportunity to do so.
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