Newcastle-Online comment: 14th June 2004
Making England tick
England have similar problems to Newcastle. Take Shearer out of the
Toon's starting 11 and who will score the goals? Take Owen out of
the England team and who will score the goals? However to get the
best out of both players they both need the right partner to play
off and for the game plan to be based around them. When that's not
forthcoming though they both have little impact in the game and consequently
the team suffers as a result.
I rate Owen highly, his 25 goals for England is a great record and
he is without a doubt a great striker but I wonder whether he's a
great player to play alongside? I would imagine he isn't and it's
well known that he is a hard player to play with and that is why England
could well struggle on the International scene, certainly when up
against mean defences like the trio of Gallas, Thuram and Silvestre
for France.
Wayne Rooney isn't the goalscorer that Owen quite clearly is but Rooney
gets much more involved in the game. He likes to lead the line, run
the channels and put himself about with his strength and presence.
Owen is a predator, he doesn't like to get too involved in the build
up play, he likes to play off the defender's shoulder
and although it's early days in their fledgling partnership I don't
think they compliment each other's style. Rooney looks like he could
quite happily play up front by himself or alongside a target man where
as Owen doesn't look like he can play alongside anyone except Emile
Heskey...and he isn't International class.
If Owen doesn't get involved he becomes a bystander like in the France
match last night where he must have touched the ball no more than
5 times and when he did, it didn't stick - this put's England on the
back foot. To get the best out of Owen he needs fed with balls over
the top or into space. Balls to feet used to work but his tally in
an England shirt has made the world's defences wise up to him. They
would drop off him but now they squeeze up and mark him tight. He
doesn't have the height or physical strength to spurn these advances.
Basically he is quite easy to defend against, especially with the
way England's midfield is set up to operate.
At club level Gerrard plays in an advanced role in comparison to his
deeper role with the National team. At Liverpool he feeds Owen as
witnessed on the final day of the season at Anfield to great success
but in England's midfield the emphasis is on protecting the back four
and a quick passing game so that the 4 central players who occupy
the 4 slots can move the opposition midfield about - something they
have to do because they lack any real pace to run past or through
players. That type of game plan doesn't help Owen's game, he needs
balls threaded through or played over the top into space so he can
use his pace and exceptional positional sense to cause problems.
When Gerrard attempts a 50 yard ball to Owen in an England shirt it
often gets cut out because defenders at this level are much better
at reading the game and intercepting things. This in turn makes Gerrard
look less of a player and he is learning this on the international
scene which may not bode well for Liverpool. At International level
you play to percentages, Gerrard is going to play those type of balls
to Owen less and less as he sees they become predictable and food
and drink for the opposition defence. This will starve Owen.
Like Newcastle who rely on Shearer, Liverpool rely heavily on Owen
but England over the past few years have moved away from over relying
on the Liverpool striker to become a more compact fluid and organised
team - in Rooney England now have a player to hold this pattern together,
someone who can hold the ball up and bring others into the team and
it's increasingly noticeable that when Rooney does play England look
to play through him leaving Owen isolated, standing hands on hips
having a passive impact in the game.
Like last night against France.
England are stuck with a dilemma. England's biggest problem down the
years and even today is that they have struggled to accommodate all
those good players. Shearer was tried alongside lots of different
strikers of varying style and although he still scored lots of goals
England as a team didn't really click until Euro 96 when the SAS of
Shearer and Sheringham clicked into operation which in turn made England
as a team click and got the very very best out of Shearer. At the
moment England are not clicking and in tournaments it has to click
straight away because teams just don't have the time to develop understandings,
especially up front. In Owen England had a passenger last night and
his presence in the team was one of the reasons why the ball kept
on coming back.
Owen needs a Teddy Sheringham to flourish, someone who will feed him
from 20 yards not from 50 as Gerrard attempts to do. England need
to play Paul Scholes in the hole behind Owen. Scholes is a world-class
player and he can be the key man, the link up man, the player who
makes England tick but stuck out on the left he's wasted and so is
Owen without someone to feed him. Playing Scholes in that role however
would mean dispensing with Rooney as England would be left short in
midfield if Sven was to play a 3-pronged attack. Sven needs to make
up his mind and drop either Rooney or Owen and decide which player
he wants to build his team around.
Before it's too late... |
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