England Squad

[Ben_Itez]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2010/8681745.stm

Fabio Capello is thinking about playing with three central defenders during the World Cup, BBC Sport understands.

The England boss is considering a move to 3-5-2 from 4-4-2 if Manchester City's Gareth Barry is forced out of the tournament by his ankle injury.

Capello has never played with three at the back since taking charge of the national squad in 2008.

England played a similar system under Steve McLaren in 2006, when they went down 2-0 away to Croatia.

"England's World Cup starts four weeks on Saturday and there is a chance they could start with three central defenders against the USA in Rustenburg [on 12 June]," reported BBC Radio 5 live's Ian Dennis.

"Capello has never played such a system with wing-backs in his time as manager, but I understand he will consider a change in formation if Barry doesn't recover from his injury.

"Capello spoke of his plans to members of England's '66 World Cup-winning side, who were inducted into football's Hall of Fame on Thursday.

"England played with three at the back during the ill-fated Euro 2008 qualifiers, but at least Capello has weeks rather than days to work on the system, which worked well during Italia '90."

A switch in formation would be a major change for the Italian, who has demonstrated his preference for 4-4-2 throughout his coaching career.

Four years ago England's deployment of a 3-5-2 formation ended disastrously against Croatia.

Eduardo headed Croatia ahead in Zagreb, then Paul Robinson's air-kick after the ball bobbled on an uneven surface resulted in an own-goal for Gary Neville, with the Croats going on to win 2-0.

Capello sprang some surprises in his provisional 30-man squad for South Africa on Wednesday, calling up Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher who retired from international duty in 2007.

Fellow central defenders Rio Ferdinand and Ledley King have both proved vulnerable to injury in recent years, while some critics have suggested former England captain John Terry has not been always been at his best this season.

Barry played in eight of England's 10 World Cup qualifiers, and has won 20 of his 36 international caps under Capello. The midfielder was named in the provisional squad and will have a fitness check on 24 May.

Manchester City said on 7 May that his ankle injury would rule him out for four weeks.



Ludicrous idea IMO, if true of course which i very much doubt. What would Capello do with the plethora of wingers/wide men in the squad if we were to go 3-5-2?

To be honest i think it's an absolute horse **** of an article.....when it starts with BBC sport understands with no quotes you can guarantee it's guesswork and pretty poor guesswork at that. I can only imagine the journo has come to this conclusion because there are so many central defenders in the squad at the moment. The fact we dont have another RB who could play wingback and the already mentioned numerous redundant wingers would suggest otherwise.

[JohnDoe]

3-5-2 suits the squad though, and could be the way to get the best out of Gerrard/Lampard in the middle. It can work, this is the world cup, not a league campaign.

[Ben_Itez]

3-5-2 suits the squad though, and could be the way to get the best out of Gerrard/Lampard in the middle. It can work, this is the world cup, not a league campaign.

How does it suit the squad exactly?

We'd still be struggling for a defensive midfielder if Barry was crocked and we'd be sacrificing all of our quality wide players.

Crazy idea IMO

[Shaggy]

I think it would suit the full backs (Johnson & Cole, obv) but otherwise....not so sure. As you say it makes a mockery of all those wingers being selected.

[Chrono]

Not sure why it is called 3-5-2. In my book that is 5-2-1-2 or 5-2-3-2. Wingbacks aren't midfielders.

[JohnDoe]

How does it suit the squad exactly?

We'd still be struggling for a defensive midfielder if Barry was crocked and we'd be sacrificing all of our quality wide players.

Crazy idea IMO

Only one of them was going to be in the starting line up anyway.

[lickedlollipop]

best squad or not, we (slovenia) will pwn you

[dww]

Not sure why it is called 3-5-2. In my book that is 5-2-1-2 or 5-2-3-2. Wingbacks aren't midfielders.

Depends on how you play really. The danger I always feel is that whatever your intent a good team will push you into what is effectively those formations any way. I really don't like formations based on three at the back and the fact we only have one CB who is any good on the ball (and he has had an injury ravaged season) means that it is even more limited.

On the other hand I do think that Milner and SWP could do jobs as wing backs along with the first choice players and would obviously be more natural midfielders.

I suspect that Capello may want different options and be worried that the 4-4-2 he will be left with without Barry will not be able to close out games. As such the three at the back would be a useful plan B. I would be surprised if he made it plan A.

[Exiled_red]

I think it would suits the full backs (Johnson & Cole, obv) but otherwise....not so sure. As you say it makes a mockery of all those wingers being selected.

For ages England have been struggling for wide players, now they have options there, they're looking at abandoning them

[Chrono]

Depends on how you play really. The danger I always feel is that whatever your intent a good team will push you into what is effectively those formations any way. I really don't like formations based on three at the back and the fact we only have one CB who is any good on the ball (and he has had an injury ravaged season) means that it is even more limited.

On the other hand I do think that Milner and SWP could do jobs as wing backs along with the first choice players and would obviously be more natural midfielders.

I suspect that Capello may want different options and be worried that the 4-4-2 he will be left with without Barry will not be able to close out games. As such the three at the back would be a useful plan B. I would be surprised if he made it plan A.

I think you hit the nail on the head there. 3 at the back, particularly using wingers as wingbacks, only really works well when you have exceptionally mobile CBs which we don't. We have great central defenders but they are not the quickest and like you say Rio who is capable has been out more than bloody Ledley King.

For that reason alone I don't think you can put Milner or particularly SWP in the wingback positions as it leaves your right and left CB in some serious difficulties which means you have to use Cole and Johnson which isn't bad but does make the midfield and forward line less attacking to accomodate this.

It does actually work very nicely against teams that we expect will be coming at us with flair. I'd rather like up 3-5-2 than 4-4-2 against the likes of Spain but playing anyone but the very best I would operate with the wingers we have and look to dictate our game over theirs. That said I don't like the 4-4-2 format, for me it is far too rigid.

[elrichio86]

Not sure why it is called 3-5-2. In my book that is 5-2-1-2 or 5-2-3-2. Wingbacks aren't midfielders.

that's the solution right there

[Reece]

Gary Neville has questioned England manager Fabio Capello's decision to pick Liverpool's Glen Johnson as his sole right-back for the World Cup.

Johnson has established himself as England's first-choice right-back under Capello, but suffered an injury-interrupted second half of the season.

And Neville said: "I'm surprised there is only one right-back in the squad."

Neville also labelled attempts to lure Paul Scholes out of international retirement "a bit desperate".

Despite failing in his attempt to bring Scholes back into the England fold, Capello did persuade Liverpool's Jamie Carragher to return to the squad three years after his own international retirement.

606: DEBATE
Carragher retired because he was being overlooked by players who were no where near as good as him... he is a great player and I am happy he is in the squad

chris

And although Carragher has played the majority of his career at centre-back, his ability to cover either full-back position was seemingly key in Capello's decision to overlook Manchester United's Neville and Wes Brown.

However, Neville argued that Brown, who started at right-back when England beat Egypt in their last fixture as Johnson recovered from knee ligament damage, was unlucky to miss out.

"I wouldn't say I'm overly disappointed not to be named in the initial 30-man squad, although I did think there was maybe a chance I could get in," added Neville, who made 15 Premier League starts last season but failed to add to his 85 England caps.

"I'm probably more surprised Wes Brown isn't in the 30, to be honest."

Scholes, who retired from international football in 2004, appeared set for a return of his own before eventually rejecting Capello's overtures.

World Cup guide - England

And Neville admitted that courting Scholes made sense, even if it was unlikely to succeed.

"I'm not surprised Capello tried to get him out of retirement because if there's one player I would try to pull out of retirement it's Scholes," Neville said of his team-mate and fellow 35-year-old.

"Capello maybe got a bit desperate at the last minute and wanted Scholes because he's still probably the best midfielder in England, but Scholes decided to stick to his guns."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2010/8689245.stm

[Shaggy]

Hahahaha what a desperate cunt, **** off you horrible, horrible *******.

[-V-]

Haha **** off Neville you jealous cunt.

Although I am concerned for Carra here, if he makes 1 **** up the whole of England will crucify for him coming back at such a late stage

[Exiled_red]

Hahahaha what a desperate cunt, **** off you horrible, horrible *******.