Drop Lampard to free Gerrard
Posted by Alex Livie on 18/06/2010A lumbering 0-0 draw with the mighty Algeria still leaves England’s qualification hopes in their own hands.
A win over Slovenia will allow England to progress into the second round, possibly as group winners, but as things stand and with the team that was sent out against Algeria, that will not be good enough. The team that was sent out against Algeria will probably beat Slovenia – but that will not mask that things need to change, and fast.
The change that needs to be made, and it will take a brave manager to do it, is for Fabio Capello to grasp the nettle and drop Frank Lampard. ‘Drop Frank Lampard?’ the calls come. ‘Yes’ is the answer. Lampard is one of the finest midfielders this country has produced in recent times, but he is in a team that possesses a better one. Steven Gerrard is quite simply a better midfielder than Lampard.
But Gerrard is paying the price for being a better midfielder than Lampard. He is superior, the victim of his own quality if you like, and he is being asked to play the square-peg-in-round-hole role. Capello has round pegs for round holes but so far he has, for reasons unknown to me, declined to use them.
In Joe Cole, England have the one player who is ideally suited to international football. Cole may not have got a regular game at club level last season, but he is a player of the highest class and is a player who knows the value of the football. To win at international level, you have to control, caress, love the ball. England do not do that, the Premier League does not lend itself to that type of football, but Cole is one player who has that trait.
Cole needs to be let off the leash to take on the role on the left-hand side of midfield – freeing Gerrard from those shackles. To do that needs a radical change. Capello is unlikely to change from his 4-4-2. Some said Sven did not have a Plan B, well I’d rather have Sven but that is a story for another day.
Capello can retain his beloved 4-4-2, but he must bring in Cole, shift Gerrard to the middle and inform Lampard that his role is one of bench warmer. By handing Gerrard the role in the middle he can, with Gareth Barry guarding the shop, have freedom to wander, create and inspire in the way he does for Liverpool.
Tough decisions are required for England to progress and we need to see if this hard-line Italian has it in him to make those decisions.
Comments
Posted by Dave Greenstone on 18/06/2010
Lampard has to go England were hopeless and a change has to be made. Gerrard was not ant better bit something has to be done
Posted by Dave Greenstone on 18/06/2010
Lampard has to go England were hopeless and a change has to be made. Gerrard was not ant better bit something has to be done
Posted by Indiasno1 on 19/06/2010
How much does capello get paid and why can't he realise what all England fans are aware of? We deffo need to drop lampard for the good of the team!
Posted by ME on 27/06/2010
its funny how its lampard to blame whenever gerrard has a bad game.
the people need to realise gerrard is not an angel he can make mistakes and he makes far more mistaked than lampard.for me lampard is a better player,better assist and goal ratio than gerrard and can hold his position and not wonder around.Whereas gerrard flows in the middle of the park when he is playing left.
drop GERRARD he is over rated
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| Alex Livie found his way to ESPN after learning his trade with Sky Sports, Setanta Sports and Eurosport. He is running out of companies with sport in their name so has made it his raison d'être to ensure ESPN.co.uk has the website it deserves. |  |
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