England Tactics v Ecuador

[Piemonte]

I'd play 4-5-1 / 4-3-3.

Drop Lampard (hes been shit) start rooney up front with Lennon and J. cole supporting from the wings. Beckham and Gerrard centre mid with Hargreaves holding.

I hope Neville gets fit soon as well, hes a far better right back than carragher.

Robinson

A Cole
Ferdinand
Terry
Carragher / Neville

Hargreaves
Beckham
Gerrard

Lennon
J. cole

Rooney

[McLovin]

--------------Robinson------------
Carragher---Rio---Terry---Cole
------------Hargreaves-----------
------Lampard------Gerrard-----
Lennon----------------------Cole
-------------Rooooooney--------

Hell yeah.

[Piemonte]

Yep.

Just swap Lampard for Becks.

[STFCBird]

I agree about Lennon, he is ace, we need someone with his ability and to run at players on the pitch with Joe Cole

[Simon Pieman]

I'd play:

Code:

                 Robinson
   Carragher   Rio    Terry    Cole
                 Hargreaves
            Lampard       Gerrard
Lennon                                 Cole
                 Rooney

Sub Lampard off for Becks if he's not playing well, or change the system if it's not working.

[SwindonTownFC]

4-5-1

Robinson

Neville/Carragher
Ferdinand
Terry
A.Cole

Beckham
Hargreaves
Lampard
Gerrard
J.Cole

Rooney

[Ben Wah Balls]

4-4-2 with Crouch and Rooney up front is best I think. Our worst player so far has been Ashley Cole, poor in every game so far but I wouldn't drop him for Bridge, hopefully he'll improve.

[Piemonte]

4-4-2 with Crouch and Rooney up front is best I think. Our worst player so far has been Ashley Cole, poor in every game so far but I wouldn't drop him for Bridge, hopefully he'll improve.

Trouble is, what do we do if we are losing and Rooney is knackered?

Bring on Walcot to win us the game? "no pressure son, but we need you to score twice in 20 minutes"

I'd agree about Ashley Cole though, hes been a shadow of the player he was in Euro 04. Not really his fault as like many of our squad hes not played much this year. Just pisses me off as he was the best left back in the tournament in 04.

[Ben Wah Balls]

If Rooney is knackered then bring on Carrick or Hargreaves and put Gerrard in Rooney's role. That can still be pretty attacking, also bring Lennon on.

[Dazzza]

Have a ludicrous Football manager formation creation.

Hargreaves mopping up just in front of the defence and advancing forward to provide cover when either Beckham or Cole drifts out wide.

Lennon in an advanced wide right role interchanging with Beckham to pull defenders out of position.

Rooney in the strikers berth.

Crunch in a forward role slightly withdrawn behind Rooney on the right with license to drift into a more traditional central striker’s role but also provide Cole with the option to go central if required.

Code:

                 Robinson

           Rio    Terry    Cole

        <------Hargreaves------->

         Beckham            Cole
                 Gerrard
   Lennon                       
                        Crunch--->
                 Rooney

[Kinky Tom]

4-4-2 with Crouch and Rooney up front is best I think.

I disaggree, I really don't think England are going to play football capable of winning the Cup if Crouch is in the starting line up.

I'm not saying I don't rate Crouch, but I just don't have faith that the rest of the team will keep the ball on the deck with him on the pitch - they all keep coming out and saying they need to change this, but still they lump it forward.

I'm also concerned though, that we'd not get the best out of Rooney if he's playing up top on his own, so I really don't know what to suggest myself.

Re. Theo, I'd have brought him on when Owen went off - we know what Crouch can do and if needs be we could have brought him on with 20 mins to go.

Last night the team had trained to play Rooney in behind a pacy forward in Owen, so why not just replace Owen with another pacy forward and keep the system the same as it was - also having already qualified it would have been a decent chance for the lad to get some experience - what if there comes a time when he HAS to play and he bottles it because there's too much pressure?

[Ben Wah Balls]

Crouch was on the pitch for most of the game yesterday and we didn't really play much long ball, most of the long balls against Trinidad and Tobago were actually for Owen to run on too.

There's no way Walcott should have come after 5 minutes yesterday, Crouch was the only choice.

[DV]

Robinson

Neville
Ferdinand
Terry
Cole

Lennon
Beckham
Lampard
Cole

Gerrard

Rooney

[adje]

I think we should deploy the"get somewhere near the box and fall over and hope we get a free kick"policy

[Kinky Tom]

There's no way Walcott should have come after 5 minutes yesterday, Crouch was the only choice.

Then why the hell is he there?  Is it so Sven won't get stick for not picking anyone other than Owen, Crouch and Rooney?  

If a player is picked in the squad then he should be seriously considered as good enough to get on the pitch at some point, if Crouch gets injured and Theo has to play then we're asking a toddler to go out and do his job with the fear that no-one can come in bail him out from the bench - at least last night he could have been replaced if it wasn't working.

Crouch was on the pitch for most of the game yesterday and we didn't really play much long ball, most of the long balls against Trinidad and Tobago were actually for Owen to run on too.

There was no space behind T&T for the whole 90 minutes, so where was Owen supposed to run on to?