Joe Cole is our saviour

The Editor — Mon, June 21st 2010

Players and analysts push for 4-5-1 formation

It is well remembered that Bobby Robson’s England team of 1990 switched from a back four to 3 central defenders mid tournament and subsequently reached the semi-finals.

The suggestion has always been that the players convinced Robson and coach Don Howe to make this switch although centre back Terry Butcher denies this.

Crisis meeting

It hard not to conclude that this was John Terry’s opinion when he claimed in Sunday’s press conference that there was to be a clear the air meeting with the manager that evening. He even went as far as naming Joe Cole as the only player other than Rooney who could unlock a defence. It seems Terry’s mind seemed made up: England should play with Rooney as a lone striker with Cole behind him.

It turns out Capello had no such plans for a crisis meeting and stone walled it.

Rumours from the camp however do suggest that Heskey, despite being one of the few showing the necessary commitment and effort (if arguably not the quality), might be made the scapegoat and either Gerrard or Joe Cole might play supporting Rooney as a lone striker.

Why has Joe Cole not played yet?

The media has been pressing for Joe Cole since the start. There was exasperation when Wright-Philips was introduced for Milner against USA, but Milner was being forced to defend by his opposing full-back. Wright-Philips’ pace forced the American to defend and curtailed his attacking tendency with immediate effect. There was the chance Joe Cole would have had just a torrid time as Milner, and USA looked dangerous getting crosses in from that channel.

The second game against Algeria was crying out for an England player to take a grip of the game. Gerrard to a small degree tried, but by coming inside so much introduced different problems. It appears that Capello likes Cole but does not see him as a player that will take a hold of the game when the team are playing badly. He is, as Terry says, a player that can unlock a game, but England could not even hold onto the ball against Algeria.

The problem was not scoring, but more fundamental than that; England could not pass or control the ball in the last 3rd of the pitch on Friday. One of Capello’s criticisms was the lack of pressure on the ball - again, Cole was not going to change that.

Joe Cole could still have a part to play for England, but ironically, it will be his England team mates that will need to improve to make it work.

Listed in: Competitions, World Cup, World Cup 2010

Comments

You can not believe how long ive been searching for something like this. Browsed through 9 pages of Google results couldnt find diddly squat. First page of bing. There this is…. Really gotta start using that more often Thank you.

The Fan