Central-midfield

Gareth Barry and Frank Lampard were Fabio Capello’s first-choice central-midfield pairing throughout the qualifiers. Both take up fairly constrained roles and provide a secure midfield base. Capello recognizes that contemporary international sides have little chance of sustained success unless the defence is well protected. Lampard is afforded slightly more attacking freedom than Barry, but is still more restrained than he was previously for England. Lampard was a reassuring presence over the qualifiers: his game was always underpinned by sound decision-making.

Barry has steadily established himself as a highly capable and classy international central-midfielder. His ability was acutely apparent in the final qualifier against Belarus, he was one of the few players not to look out of his depth during the friendly against Brazil, and he was arguably man-of-the-match against Egypt. Barry takes up what is closest to a defensive midfield position but, like Lampard, is not a natural holding player. Despite this, Barry and Lampard gel well together and their combined abilities provide a secure midfield base.

If Lampard is unavailable, then Steven Gerrard is a possible replacement. Gerrard has played well for England recently on the left, and seems to enjoy a defined role which enables attacking forays and positional exchange with Rooney. I think he should retain this role, as he has never looked entirely comfortable playing as part of a central-midfield pairing at international level – it may even be the case that he’s not entirely suited to a central-midfield role in a 4-4-2 per se. While Gerrard is usually stationed on the left, in some games he has taken up more of an advanced position behind the centre-forward, and in front of Barry and Lampard. (This tactic was particularly apparent in the second-half of the away qualifier against Belarus and also the recent friendly against Egypt.)

Perhaps the key concern with regard to England’s squad options is the lack of a specialist defensive midfielder. England could take Lampard, Barry, Gerrard and James Milner to South Africa: whilst they could all play a conservative central midfield role, not one of them is a genuine defensive midfielder. Michael Carrick is perhaps the principal option: he is a good ball-playing deep midfielder but has never really imposed himself when playing for England – although he looked decent against Egypt. Tom Huddlestone is another deep-lying playmaker but has only been presented with limited opportunities for England. A key responsibility for a defensive midfielder at a World Cup is impeding the creative axis of the opposition. When playing a team like Brazil or Spain, England could really do with a stopper in front of the back four who will snap into challenges and play simple passes. Owen Hargreaves would have been first choice for this role, but is highly unlikely to be ready.

England are therefore presented with a possible situation whereby a restrained central midfield is favoured, but no genuine defensive midfielder features in the squad. However, Barry and Lampard have demonstrated that two pragmatic and talented players can combine to formulate a secure platform in central midfield. And I also think it’s likely that Carrick will make the squad, otherwise the back-ups will be Milner or Gerrard: Milner is yet to play an international in central midfield, whilst Capello probably saw enough of the Gerrard/Lampard axis in one half against Kazakhstan!