England once again find their level

England were left to rue their inaccuracy on penalties as they suffered a 4-2 penalty defeat to Italy after 120 goalless minutes in Kiev. Statistics never tell the full story but with a possession of 34%, joint with the damage Greece inflicted on Germany, and an average of 2.75 shots on target a game it is easy to see why England failed to trouble many teams.

That it took a penalty shoot-out to finally finish England off was indicative of some profligate finishing from Italy and the dogged determination of the England players. Sadly this seems the only trait that English players can excel at in international competition, and bravery and commitment are no longer enough to win a major tournament.

Roy Hodgson has come in and in the space of just ten training sessions done all that he can; make England harder to beat. Hodgson can do little about the scarcity of players brave enough to demand possession of the ball and was denied the presence of one who can, Jack Wilshire, through injury. But to suggest that Wilshire in midfield would have seen us dominating other teams in possession stakes is wildly optimistic and glosses over the deeper issues at hand.

The £750 million invested on Wembley Stadium still has a long way to go before it repays its outlay and the FA must be wishing that more of that money was invested in youth coaching. Other than Jack Wilshire there is a dearth of ball friendly midfielders in England set-ups and the FA are now several years behind other nations in their development programmes.

Germany completely overhauled their youth development eight years ago under Jurgen Klinsmann and Joachim Low, with the tacit approval of the Bundesliga, and their crop of midfielders at Euro 2012 reflects their philosophy. Until the Premier League agrees to a reduction of power and influence in England the FA and national set-up will continue to struggle. There needs to be a readdress towards the FA and the national side, but with the rampant financial success of the Premier League this looks increasingly unlikely.

England could quite easily have lost all four of their games at Euro 2012 and only dictated the majority of the play in one of them, against Sweden. There was no goal-line injustice or red card to rage against or hide behind this tournament. England were given a football lesson by the Italians and a revaluation of how England approach football will need to start soon. Past tournaments have provided the nation with a scapegoat or a reason to put off any major change. England’s meek exit this year may finally see an overhaul of a nation still clinging to 1966 as they finally move on. 

Hodgson deserves England chance

As a prickly Harry Redknapp faced journalists after losing to Everton the incessant pressure of the vacant England job seemed to be getting to the public’s choice. At a loss to explain the result beyond blaming bad luck and insisting “we battered em second half” the Tottenham manager seemed to be growing increasingly frustrated both with the questioning and Spurs recent slump.

In the immediate aftermath of Capello’s exit Spurs seemed, if anything, galvanised and determined to show Redknapp why he should stay as they cruised to a 5-0 win over Newcastle. However, since the Newcastle drubbing Tottenham have drawn with Stevenage, beaten them in a replay and lost their last three league games to Arsenal, United and Everton respectively. The defence, which had been the most effective in the league started looking as if it was carrying an injured player, in Ledley King, and other key performers Kaboul and Assou-Ekotto have disappointed in recent games.

The collapse at Arsenal was most mystifying with Redknapp admitting even with his side 2-0 up after 34 minutes he didn’t have faith in them keeping that score line through until half-time. Despite playing your fierce rivals this admission and dearth in confidence seems to have materialised since Redknapp was roundly touted as the favourite for the England job.

Tottenham’s last three league defeats also highlight some of Redknapps flaws as a manager, which up until the last few weeks had been the best stock for an English manager worldwide. The 65 year old is widely regarded as an excellent man manager (not a wheeler-dealer) who can get the best out of players, which it is presumed he can do with a bunch of mediocre England players.

Tactically though Redknapp must surely admit he is far from the most proficient of the candidates for the England position. Once revealing he told substitute Roman Pavlychenko to “run around a bit” before sending him on against Liverpool, though to be fair it worked as the Russian scored, tactics seem to assistants Joe Jordan and Kevin Bond. The recent repositioning of Gareth Bale through the middle has failed to come off, with the Welsh international looking far less threatening down the middle rather than stretching teams on the flanks. Bale has many strengths but being able to pick a defence-splitting pass is not one of them and as such his move off the wing has coincided with Spurs slump.

There is however a manager with international experience and a great tactical appreciation of the game who has seen his team turn on the form since the England job became available. In terms of top English candidates Roy Hodgson must be at least second favourite, edging ahead of interim manager Stuart Pearce. With sixteen managerial positions, mostly abroad, Hodgson was touted as the successor to Capello if he left after the mess in South Africa.

Since that time Hodgson had his hands singed in a short reign at Liverpool, before the new owners decided they wanted their own man, the ever looming figurehead of Kenny Dalglish. Given Dalglish’s position upstairs at Liverpool it was inevitable that should performances dip, then a desire for the fan-favourite to take over would make the position untenable for Hodgson, as Sir Alex acknowledged recently.

AVB failed to get results at his biggest job, but that does not mean he is a bad manager or cannot handle a ‘big’ team. Hodgson should not be discounted based on one disappointing six month spell, by contrast Redknapp has only won one trophy in English football and ended up bankrupting Portsmouth in the process. Both are ‘journeymen’ managers to an extent, with arguments for both men having a shot at the England job.

Redknapp is the darling of the English media, currently appearing to have the edge, but for my money Hodgson would mould the England team into a more solid unit. England sadly do not have the players to play like a Spain or Germany so the manager would have to turn the players into the most effective team possible. Hodgson with his defensive nous and experience of the game would turn England into an incredibly difficult side to beat and working alongside a Stuart Pearce for this tournament, would have much more of an impact than simply geeing up the camp. The overwhelming favourite appears to be Redknapp but I hope the FA seriously consider the less media friendly Hodgson and listen to what he could achieve with England.