(Photo by Phil Cole/Getty Images)
But shouldn’t England have been training drilled routines with wide men focusing more on connecting with their colleagues on the flanks? Instead of Gerrard cutting inside and shooting at will, which we undeniably want him to do at the World Cup, Gerrard should be focusing on establishing an understanding with Ashley Cole.
The same can be said for Walcott and Johnson. While those two have a partnership at hand, they didn’t smoothly complement each other. It was more of basic football movement that anyone with a common head would do that Theo and the others did.
The team should be concentrating on improving drastically their awareness of one another instead of how many times they can put the ball in the net.
If you recall an earlier qualifier between England and Belarus in Minsk, Belarus enjoyed the better of possession.
More importantly, they made good use of it.
Their opening goal was of sublime quality, ripping through the England side at speed.
The almost telepathy-understanding between these barely-known players (the only famous player, Alexander Hleb of Barcelona and formerly Arsenal, was injured) was fantastic. The same can be said for Belarus’ giant neighbour Russia under Guus Hiddink.
Though England, from the outset, are a better side than Russia. Are they really?
I think not.
England failed to comprehend the basic yet instrumental triangular passes. I have been saying this for years. They may have done one-twos but even these were not executed well; England’s moves were rushly-produced without intense care. The all-important weighted-pass was never distributed.
Russia, Belarus, Croatia; all England direct opponents in qualifying groups of recent years, have mastered this simple yet skillful technique. The triangular passes are almost synonymous with these Eastern European sides and they mastered that in the last few years resulting in themselves growing into dangerous teams, earning respect along the way. These minor countries (in football terms) grasped the simplicity of the game that England, for all their resources, wealth, billion-pound new stadium, and a coach earning millions a year, don’t.
The masters of them all at passing are the Spanish. Having won the Euros and so far 33 games undefeated stretching over two years, Spain killed New Zealand 5-0 without a sweat. New Zealand are 83rd ranked and Andorra sinks far below.
Yet Spain came away with one goal less than England’s score (though the game could and should have been somewhat 8-0 were it not for four wrong off-side decisions, each with the Spanish player soaring free on goal).
The Spanish with the ball hardly ran while England ran and ran with the ball, whether its Walcott, Johnson, or Gerrard. The key to playing this way of football is to do less running with the ball and more running without
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