Has Capello finally worked it out?

The post below was also posted at Sportingo.

I think he has. In an interview before the friendly with America he implied that he had finally worked out how to play England. In the recent two friendly matches he finally reverted England to a 4-4-2 formation and ditched playing Rooney as a lone striker. It’s taken some time, but after Sven and Mclaren, Capello has worked out that he can’t play England like other teams, they are almost moulded to play in a certain way and instead of ditching the tried and tested, why not just adapt and play to existing strengths. I remember in an interview, during the 2006 world cup, a Brazilian football journalist was asked about the key factor of Scolari’s success, compared to Sven. His response was that Scolari plays a system that best suits his team, depending on the players available, he later contrasted this with Sven’s approach. It’s also interesting to note that the BBC interviewed Beckenbauer before the 2006 world cup qualifier between England and Portugal. After observing the line-ups he quizzed why Sven had decided to play Rooney on his own, prophetically he noted that this might be a tactical error. But the team went out playing that same system — packing the midfield and playing Rooney alone, supposedly he would be supported, but he never was.

This all goes back to Capello. When Capello played both Switzerland and France with the same formation preferred by his predecessors, I just thought history is simply repeating itself. The weakness of playing England with that formation became apparent once again in the friendly against France. Thankfully Capello reverted back to the old 4-4-2. I have always thought the best way to play England is to adopt the German style of the 2006 world cup — quick and dynamic attacking football. It plays to the existing strengths of the England team, but nuances the tactics with intelligent and flowing football, with players switching positions and playing off each other. I think that is what Capello has finally realised is the best way forward, keep the tried and tested but cut out on all the faults of the past. As Rio Ferdinand stated in a recent interview, it’s not just ball retention but what we do with the ball. As I noted before during the 2006 world cup, putting aside common sense assumptions, England did keep possession in the world cup, but without purpose or penetration of opposition. That is the weakness I think Capello is trying to remedy, how can he get England to open up defences with intelligent and creative play, whilst not simply relying upon dead ball situations. I noted he was particularly pleased with England’s second goal against America (it came from a passing movement), as it was demonstration of how he wants England to play.

Beckham going to America

With Fabio Capello given the England job, Beckham should be really regretting going to the MLS. Isn’t just baffling that David Beckham, who turned down the chance to stay at Real Madrid (and possibly win another La Liga title), play in Serie A (with Inter Milan or AC Milan and possibly win a Scudetto), Premier league and the French league. At 31, at the time, he could have played two more seasons and possibly win more trophies while at it. The baffling part is that here’s a player who claims he values playing for England, and wants to keep playing for as long as he can, while dreaming of breaking the 100 caps mark. He is by no means past his sell by date, from the few times he played for England under Mclaren abysmal reign, he was by far one of the better players on the pitch. Now with Capello in charge, wouldn’t playing top Italian league football in the Serie A have done his chances a world of good? Somehow the whole idea of winning the American public over to football seems to be one of those self-justification excuses (and the disneyfication of football is not the way to do it) – he was a marketing gimmick, to fill stadiums and earn some cash from endorsements and media appearences.  I think earning £480,000 per week, and £25.6 million a year did it. But wait, he’s opening soccer schools and helping the kids! What a dumb decision. As the novelty runs out, he’ll be forgotten — give it a season or so. At least LA Gaxy and Beckham would have made some money. Anyway, here’s a list of famous players who went stateside.