England vs. Chile Tactical Analysis: A Tale of 2 Midfields

England's midfield failed completely to deal with a Chile side that proved to be technically superior through the central areas. A lack of connection between the defensive, midfield and attacking units of Roy Hodgson's side meant that they found it near impossible to gain a firm grip of the game.

Adam Lallana, Jay Rodriguez and Frasier Forster all earned their first caps for England. Chile were largely at full strength, although were without inspirational midfielder Arturo Vidal of Juventus.

The experimental nature of England's approach means that any reading of the events shouldn't be viewed as a direct reflection of what to expect come World Cup 2014 in Brazil next June.

Chile technically superior through the middle

England's midfield never enjoyed an extended period in which they were able to take control and dictate the pace of the game. With possession there was too big of a gap between the midfield and the attack, leading to isolation up front. Without possession that gap was equally large between midfield and defence, opening up spaces for Chile to exploit.

Chile's dogged aggression and dedication to closing down early clearly rattled the midfield of James Milner, Jack Wilshere and Frank Lampard—none of the three able to consistently seek out and successfully exploit passing lanes.

The average pass accuracy between Milner, Wilshere and Lampard was an underwhelming 77 percent. Possession stats make for even worse reading at 43 percent.

As a result of that lack of time and space, the three were forced into too many risky, low-percentage passes that frequently gifted Chile possession in dangerous areas. With so much control at the heart of the match, Chile succeeded in playing quick, one-touch football in a bid to get the ball into the feet of their danger men.

Chile's Alexis Sanchez and Jean Beausejour were the primary benefactors from England's inability to create a stable axis in midfield, with only the latter's ineptitude in front of goal preventing the score line being even more lopsided.

England reacted by attempting to bypass much of Chile's pressing and ping the ball longer to the attacking trio of Wayne Rooney, Rodriguez and Lallana. To an extent this worked, with the three successfully able to pull passes (particularly those of Lampard) out of the sky and turn towards goal.

However, the longer balls meant that the attack quickly became isolated and outnumbered by Chile's defenders, forcing a reliance on long shots in a bid not to lose possession without at least putting the goalkeeper to work.

England were not caught offside a single time during the match, highlighting just how few through-balls and passes in behind the defence were attempted.

England give away space too easily

England are still yet to fully comprehend and implement the art of high pressing. Only Rooney and Lallana consistently endeavoured to close down Chile in their own half, an ineffectual approach that bore no constructive results and served only to add fatigue to the two player's list of frustrations.

The lack of a high pressing game allowed Chile's defenders to move the ball swiftly and safely to their midfielders.

Conversely, England pressed incredibly hard in their own half—particularly just inside the half-way line with Milner, Wilshere and Lampard. This proved to be the wrong approach, with the technical ability of the away team aptly confirmed by the relative ease in which they were able to avoid England's attentions with one-touch passes and intelligent movement into the space between midfield and defence.

England did try to press, then, but did so at the wrong time and in the wrong places. Once the ball had reached Chile's midfield so comfortably, it was too late for England to react in the way they attempted to do so. By not disrupting Chile's route to midfield, England allowed the opposition the ball in areas that they proved themselves most dangerous.

Gary Cahill and Phil Jones reacted to the threat by sitting deep and giving themselves time to react to Chile's passing game, thus exaggerating that space between England's central midfield and defence.

To make betters worse, Glen Johnson on the right was struggling to manage the movement of Beausejour. This forced him further out to the right, creating a second gap between himself and Cahill who was intent on not being pulled out of his comfort zone.

On the left, Baines was often caught out of position due to his penchant for getting involved in the attack, this becoming a problem as no one came back regularly to cover for him. This raises questions about Lampard's ability to sit a deeper midfielder position.

When England managed to take back possession, Chile stayed higher up the field in an attempt to stifle the passing options and cut out angles. This made building from the back very difficult and eventually lead to Cahill's misplaced pass late in the second half that gifted Sanchez his second goal.

Rodriguez Lost

In a bid to support Rooney, Lallana frequently moved inside from his starting position on the right. This created a problem for Rodriguez on the left, making it difficult for the Southampton man to find the space to impact the game.

With the space on the right vacated by Lallana, England tried time and again to work the ball over to the left towards Rodriguez and the attacking runs of Baines. With Chile's defence shifting right as a reaction to the movement of Lallana, the entire left side of England's attack become boxed in.

Rodriguez couldn't make himself useful by pushing even further out to his left, because he would occupy the same part of the pitch as Baines. He couldn't move towards a more attacking central role because of the positioning of Rooney and Lallana, and Wilshere was time and again filling the space just in front of the box on Rodriguez's side.

Too often Rodriguez looked like a passenger with no clear idea on where he should position himself to be of value. His average position (when England had the ball) was deeper than that of Baines, suggesting he dropped ever deeper to find space.

He acted primarily as cover for Baines, as opposed to a genuine attacking option.

Restricting chances

Rooney and Sanchez managed three shots each, the most of any players. However, while Sanchez scored both of the match's goals, Rooney failed to register a shot on target. No England player managed more than a single shot on target.

The lack of connection between midfield and attack meant that England didn't have the numbers to break Chile down efficiently and were largely restricted to shots from outside of the box and from wider angles. Only 62 percent of England's attempts arrived from a central area, while Chile recorded 75 percent.

Only 46 percent of England's shots came from inside the box, while the same statistic for Chile reads 75 percent.

Of the 13 shots England executed, a disappointing seven were generated from open play. The other six came in the form of free-kicks and corners.

Rooney, in particular, became visibly frustrated by the his lack of options and chances in front of goal.

Despite Baines' ability to get forward and move into the space on Chile's right, he failed to provide dangerous crosses to players in dangerous positions, raising questions as to his general effectiveness when not playing in a team without a striker insistent on staying deep and looking to stay on the shoulder of the last defender.

This should change once Sturridge comes back into the team.

The isolation of England's front line is not a new problem for the team, but this experimental tactical setup from Hodgson seems to have only served to eliminate another potential option.

Substitutions

56th minute: Rodriguez and Jones off, Andros Townsend and Chris Smalling on
The starting centre-back pairing of Jones and Cahill failed to convince that they're capable of partnering each other at the World Cup. Unfortunately, Smalling and Cahill did nothing to suggest they are any more effective of a duo.

Townsend looked dangerous immediately after coming on, running straight at the Chilean defence and feeding Wilshere in a dangerous area (who was subsequently fouled on the edge of the box), but thereafter his impact was minimal.

66th minute: Milner off, Jermaine Defoe on
A statement of intent from Hodgson that failed to deliver. Milner's removal from the middle only strengthened Chile's stranglehold in central areas. As a result, Defoe (and England's attackers) were provided even fewer chances to impact the game.

71st minute: Lampard and Wilshere off, Tom Cleverley and Jordan Henderson on
Presumably a substitution designed to prevent injury to the two midfielders. With little over 20 minutes to wrestle the game away from Chile's midfield, Cleverly and Henderson did not have enough time to develop an understanding.

77th minute: Lallana off, Ross Barkley on
Barkley, in his 15 minutes of game time, was a positive for England. The Everton man showed his desire to be part of the World Cup squad by running tirelessly for the entire duration of his cameo, closing Chile down as soon as possession was lost.

His timing, however, was not always on point. Barkley committed three fouls, equal to Lallana as the most by an England player in the game.

Stats derived from WhoScored.com.

John Robertson is a freelance journalist, you can follow him on Twitter:@robertson_john