Group-mind team selector

WCC is inviting its readership to participate in an experiment which can harness the power of group-mind. All you have to do is select the England team that you think should play in the friendly against Egypt at Wembley on Wednesday. We will add up the totals and present the aggregated team shortly before kick-off. (Fabio Capello’s squad can be viewed by clicking here).

You can choose from three options under each of the core formations. For example, under 4-5-1 you get the standard 4-5-1 itself, or the more finely configured 4-2-3-1 or 4-1-4-1 with staggered midfields. (Click here to view graphical representations of the formations.)

 Just some notes on the calculation:

1. The most selected formation will be used
2. Then the player selections are calculated: this is based on the number of times a player is picked for a specific position

eg: Gerrard is picked 100 times overall – 70 at left-midfield; 30 at centre-midfield

James Milner is picked 90 times overall – 80 at left-midfield; 10 at centre-midfield

Milner would be selected for left-midfield, despite receiving fewer votes than Gerrard overall, by virtue of being picked most times for the particular position.

Please place your selections in the comments [only one set per person please] in the following format, or similar:

4-4-2 (4-1-3-2)

GK – Ogrizovic

RB – Phillips
CB - Kilcline
CB – Peake
LB – Downs

DM – McGrath

RM – Bennett
CM – Gynn
LM – Pickering

CF – Houchen
CF – Regis

Wing-back (part 2)

It’s time to catch up with developments behind the scenes at Everpool Rovers. Wing-back, Ashley Le Sansom is experiencing difficulties with new boss, Glenn Keegan. To see the previous instalment, please go to the Student Union archive.

Fabio Capello: sociologist

Sociological theory is underpinned by the concepts structure and agency. Structure relates to the collective or macro aspects of social organization. Individuals are constrained by the broader social structure within which they are situated. Proponents of structural perspectives argue that human collectivities are more than the sum of their parts: complex social entities have emergent properties which cannot be reduced to the isolated acts of individuals. 

Agency, on the other hand, places the emphasis on the actions of individuals. This perspective suggests that human behaviour and interactions between individuals actively shape the social fabric. Micro-level phenomena therefore aggregate to form broader social structures: structure does not have any properties over and above the individuals which comprise a social collective. 

The contemporary concern for theoretical sociologists is to provide a coherent unified theory that adequately reconciles the structure-agency dualism. Football might be able to help! From a structural perspective, features of football external to the individual player (such as team formation, the rules of the game and the tactics of the opposing side) are crucial. A complete theory cannot simply focus on the intentions and actions of individual players, as the scope for these actions is shaped and constrained by contextual features of the game. Agency is also a necessary aspect of a complete footballing theory, as players’ actions actively shape the structure and content of games. Structures are not rigid and prescriptive but provide a framework for action which shapes players, but which in turn is shaped by player actions.
 
The aim for the footballing coach, as with the sociologist, is to reconcile the component (player) with the whole (team). For many years in England it had seemed that a bottom-up approach had been favoured which prioritised the player over the team. The apparent intention was to field the XI best players regardless of how this affected team structure. For example, for many years an individualistic approach was adopted with regard to the accommodation of Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard in midfield. They were continually paired together despite the fact that their combined presence diminished their respective impact. Both Lampard and Gerrard were attacking midfielders, so utilizing them both suggested individual talent was preferable to a more appropriate team structure with a defensive midfielder in place. The lack of a genuine holding player thus meant that neither Lampard nor Gerrard was free to play their natural game.
 
Fabio Capello has not adopted such a bottom-up individualistic approach. He favours a sound team structure, so ‘big name’ players who do not fit the model find themselves marginalized, e.g Michael Owen. This does not mean that Capello ignores agency. Capello’s structure means that Gerrard cannot be so easily accommodated in central midfield, but his individual talents are still required so he has been allocated a role in a flexible niche on the left-side of midfield. Capello is therefore the most sociologically-minded of recent England coaches as he actively sets out to reconcile structure and agency, rather than depending on the aggregation of non-complementary individual talents.

England squad v Egypt

Roger Johnson

Fabio Capello will name his England squad this weekend for the friendly against Egypt (at Wembley on Wednesday, 3rd March). This is the only fixture before the pre-tournament warm-up games; therefore Capello doesn’t have much opportunity to be radical. However, injuries to some first-choice personnel should provide an opening for some fringe players. And a slew of further injuries prior to the game could open things up for some alternative selections and wildcards.

Both first choice full-backs, Glen Johnson and Ashley Cole will be absent due to injury. They should be replaced by the respective second choices, Wes Brown at right-back and Wayne Bridge at left-back. However, it’s not clear who will be included in the squad as reserves. At right-back the lack of clarity is due to the dearth of alternatives. Micah Richards has been overlooked under the present management, but it’s possible he could make the squad for this friendly. Phil Neville is also a long-shot. However, the lack of credible replacements might mean that Capello looks beyond designated defenders: versatile midfielder James Milner could be deemed sufficient cover. The situation differs at left-back as there is healthy competition for a squad place between Everton’s Leighton Baines and Aston Villa’s Stephen Warnock.

Capello could also include an untried centre-back in the squad, as there perhaps isn’t much advantage to including a capped player, like Joleon Lescott, as ‘second reserve’ for this position. There is therefore a chance that Birmingham’s Roger Johnson could be called up.

Theo Walcott has recently intimated that he is returning to form and, when fit, has been first choice right-midfielder since the World Cup qualifiers began. His key rival for this position, Aaron Lennon, is likely to be out through injury. Shaun Wright-Phillips is perhaps the closest to a like-for-like replacement for Lennon. Joe Cole is back to fitness having missed most of the qualification campaign and he provides Capello with an additional midfield option. But Stewart Downing is also vying for a recall and, as a natural left-footer, he offers Capello a handy resource. Man City’s recent signing Adam Johnson could become an England regular in the future but, whilst he would be an exciting addition to the squad, he’s probably behind more established talents in the current pecking order.

World Cup College considers that the following players should be Capello’s 23.

David James
Robert Green
Joe Hart

Wes Brown
Rio Ferdinand
John Terry
Matthew Upson
Roger Johnson
Wayne Bridge
Leighton Baines

Gareth Barry
Frank Lampard
Steven Gerrard
Theo Walcott
James Milner
Shaun Wright-Phillips
David Beckham
Stewart Downing

Wayne Rooney
Emile Heskey
Jermain Defoe
Peter Crouch
Carlton Cole

Emergence in the stands

Patterned emergent behaviour can also be observed with flocks of flying birds. It appears that the birds are turning and diving in synchronized movements en masse, which suggests some form of collective mind. However, emergence is not a straightforward top-down phenomenon. The birds are turning with reference to the flying companions in their immediate vicinity; this in turn impacts upon flying patterns of birds elsewhere in the flock which are prompted to follow a similar flight path. This creates an emergent group effect, which creates the illusion that the birds must be following some overarching, pre-arranged routine of flight.

This situation had direct parallels at Villa Park: an observer could perhaps think that the (almost) simultaneous rising of thousands of people was a choreographed movement. What the spectator is presented with in the North Stand is akin to a Prisoner’s Dilemma: we can’t trust the person in front of us to stay seated so, to ensure that we do not lose our view completely, we stand up. This micro-event is replicated across the stand in an instant, which leads to the macro-event of everyone standing up together.

It would probably make sense if everyone stayed in his or her seats, as then everyone could continue to see the game with a reasonable view. The a priori rational approach would thus be for everyone to remain seated. Whilst the spectator’s view is likely become increasingly restricted as the action moves close to the stand, the advantage to be gained by standing is nullified when everyone ends up doing the same thing. But rationality filtered through social situations is a somewhat different entity. Standing becomes a necessary break-even strategy; everyone has to stand because everyone else is standing.

It should be noted that this may not be a universal behaviour: persons from other (perhaps less individualistic) cultures may be less inclined to stand as the primary concern would be not to impede the view of the person behind. And whilst nearly all of the spectators stood in the North Stand, a few chose not to, either through indifference, infirmity or respect for the person behind. This shows that we do not respond to social forces as pre-programmed automata, but the almost instantaneous crash of thousands of seats demonstrates the powerful mutual linkage between emergence and the human mind.

So when you are shouting at the telly, imploring England to push out when they are protecting a precarious 1-0 lead against Ghana in the second round, remember – you are just as prone to the effects of emergence as the eleven chaps floundering around trying to scramble the ball clear!