International Football: Taking a Look at the New English Central Midfield Trio

The English Central midfield has been a problem position for the national team for many years. Even as early as 1966, Alf Ramsey had to introduce a diamond of four central midfielders, to bring enough balance of creativity, work-rate, defensive positioning skill, and technique. English midfielders have since been influenced heavily by that template, sort of ending the era of creator-destroyer combinations that England had previously. Currie, Bowles, Haynes, Eastham being superb ball-players, with technique worthy of the Brazillian greats, and players like Nobby Stiles, who looked to break up the play rather than trying to create.

Since '66, England has created more and more "energetic" midfielders, such as Alan Ball and Martin Peters (although he was slightly creative). In the 70's, players like Steve Coppell, a hard-working winger, Emlyn Hughes, a holding midfielder who was known for making runs forward, and Graham Rix, a player similar to Coppell, were the kind of midfielders who starred in the national side, as well as the original template for the box-to-box midfielder, Bryan Robson (whose last World Cup was in 1990).

This template has been facilitated by the emergence and domination of a rigid 4-4-2 system. The central midfielders in a 4-4-2 had to be very combative when the top teams in England faced three-man midfields who were more technical than them. The success of Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in Europe with players like Souness and Martin O'Neill also helped make box-to-box midfielders a hallmark of the English game.

This is not to say that there was no creativity in the national side, in fact, there was an overflow of it with Ron Greenwood's England. Glenn Hoddle, Ray Wilkins, and Trevor Brooking were all in the squad for Euro '80, and they made up a decent England side. Since then, England has had one really outstanding playmaker who showed up on the international stage: Paul Gascoigne.The list of box-to-box midfielders and utility players, however, grows ever larger, with the likes of Lampard, Gerrard, David Platt, David Batty, Nicky Butt, James Milner, even Jack Wilshere and Jack Rodwell, to an extent.

The English System:

1) A 4-2-3-1

Since the traumatic experience in South Africa, Fabio Capello (and now Stuart Pearce) have moved on to a more modern and trendy, 4-2-3-1. Both managers have tried out a number of players in all the positions. But the position that caused the most controversy was the the "2": the pair of screen players whose job it was to shield the back four and get the ball to the attacking front four.

The English version of the 4-2-3-1 works similarly. There is a pairing between a ball-winner and a distributor. The ball-winner has been Scott Parker, and the distributor, Jack Wilshere and recently Gareth Barry, is given the license to go further forward while Parker covers for him. They played this formation against Holland, and it worked well in terms of the two central defensive midfielders, as England had periods of possession. However, the two midfielders, (Barry and Parker), were too static, and failed to connect with the front four.

2) A Mourinho style 4-1-2-3

This 4-3-3 was used by Fabio Capello against Wales, against Spain, and against Switzerland at Wembley. It has been the most successful system used by the national team thus far, as England defeated the World Champions Spain, defeated a Wales side (whose FIFA ranking is very deceptive, relating to its measure of talent) and drew with Switzerland at Wembley.

This system is a classic 4-3-3, in that it helps teams which have no permanent playmaker, but players who play that role for periods in the game. Barcelona uses this system, but they have more than one designated playmaker. This rule can be applied to England the same way, as they have no designated playmakers. Rather, Ashley Young and Wayne Rooney play the role of being somewhat playmakers, by making runs into the number ten position in turns. Both Rooney and Young helped connect the midfield to the attack.

The "3" in central midfield have usually been Jack Wilshere, Frank Lampard, and Scott Parker. Parker plays his usual holding role, scrapping in front of the back four. Wilshere plays as a deep-lying playmaker cum box-to-box midfielder, as he both dictates the tempo and looks to make runs into the final third. Lampard acts as a second passing option for Wilshere and is usually more advanced than him. He is the most attack-minded of the midfield three, as he looks to make late runs into the box.

The key component of this system are the forward runs from midfield. Wilshere is a deep box-to-box playmaker by nature, Lampard doesn't start moves, he finishes them, and Parker is a typical, static anchorman. This was the main problem against Switzerland, without Rooney and Young to do the connecting of midfield and attack, and Milner and Walcott being England's only outlets on the wing, they became too predictable. It wasn't until Ashley Young came on, and they switched to a 4-2-3-1, that they began to get back into the game.

Against Spain, the system completely changed. The mentality of the midfield was very defensive, but the personnel and the system was much the same. Jones replaced Jack Wilshere, with the same instruction to go forward, but less of a remit to dictate the tempo of the game. Rather, the strategy seemed to be for Jones to break from midfield, helped with passes from Lampard and Parker, and feed the ball to the wingers and the front four. This is a role Jones is unaccustomed to, and as a result the midfield did well in a defensive sense, less so in an attacking viewpoint.We can also safely assume that that midfield will not be picked for the large part of Euro 2012, except perhaps against the likes of Spain and Germany.