England: Plan C

WCC recently explored England’s Plan D, and will look at plan A and B before the tournament – but what of Plan C?

A popular approach would be a 4-2-3-1, but with Wayne Rooney leading the line and Steven Gerrard in an advanced central-midfield position. And Fabio Capello has recently tested this combination in training. The appeal of this line-up is that it incorporates England’s most exciting and skilled players in key central positions. Rooney leads the attack (as he often does at Man Utd) and Gerrard provides creative support (as he does behind Fernando Torres at Liverpool). With Rooney and Gerrard situated centrally, Capello could then field a genuine winger on the left. With Adam Johnson taking up this left-sided role, and Walcott or Lennon featuring on the right, the team structure would offer pace and width on both flanks.

However, neither Rooney nor Gerrard has indicated that the roles they perform regularly for their club sides can be straightforwardly transferred to the international arena. Rooney’s appearances for England when used as a lone-forward have not yielded great success. He had only recently returned from injury, but he cut a forlorn and frustrated figure at World Cup 2006 when isolated in front of Sven Goran Eriksson’s leaden midfield. Capello also tried a Rooney/Gerrard central combination under a 4-2-3-1 in a friendly against France in 2008. Whilst it could not be completely discounted on such scant evidence, it intimated little promise. Within a familiar and well-drilled club set-up at Man Utd (often against inferior sides) Rooney spearheads the attack with aplomb. Within a more sporadically convened XI, faced with tight international defences, Rooney is wasted if he becomes mired in fruitless wrangles with the opposition’s central defenders. Rooney’s performances for England over the qualifiers were aided by the fact that a target man supported the team structure.

Likewise, Gerrard has excelled in an advanced central position as Liverpool’s talisman. But he has never replicated this form in central-midfield for England: he used to cut a beleaguered figure and his natural verve appeared to be constrained by the weight of national expectation. Gerrard meets the Boy’s Own football hero image and, with Rooney, is the England player most capable of producing spectacular play. As a result of this image and his club-established reputation, Gerrard’s indifferent international form was overlooked for several years. Under Capello his performances have improved following his redeployment to a flexible niche on the left of midfield. He still has the freedom to break into attacking areas, but is relinquished of the expectations associated with the all-singing, all-dancing central-midfielder.

If a 4-2-3-1 underpinned by a centrally-located Gerrard and Rooney functioned properly, then this could be England’s best strategy. It’s a sound international formation that incorporates England’s best players in key positions. When a less celebrated target man such as Emile Heskey is used, a touch of selfless graft and toil is stirred into the mix. Whilst most fans would prefer the focus to remain purely on ability, an international team isn’t just about fielding a hotchpotch of the best individuals – it’s about adopting an overall structure that facilitates optimum performance from the selected players. Heskey may not be the most talented forward in South Africa, but different types of influence are required, and his inclusion brings the best out of players such as Rooney and Gerrard. As WCC has highlighted, a team needs pawns as well as queens and rooks. That’s why a 4-2-3-1, with Gerrard behind Rooney, should remain a remote Plan C under Fabio Capello!