By Myles Palmer
England 2 Finland 1
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Riihilahti 26,Owen 42, Beckham 49
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Spain gave up after 20 minutes.
Finland never gave up, but they were unlucky.
Campbell, Beckham, Gerrard and Macca grew as the game went on and showed a real determination to win it.
Macca started the game like a paper tiger and gradually improved.
Seaman made two great saves in 39 minutes and 88 minutes, from Johansson and Litmanen.
It’s nice that Eriksson does not say much.
Skys Clare Tomlinson asked him why he let his assistants do all the shouting , pointing and whistling in training. He said : They do that much better than me. He said that if I just watch, I can see more.
EXACTLY!
What could Keegan see when he was thowing balls at Scholes for ten minutes? Zilch.
Sven is watching and thinking. He had decisions to make and not muchtime to make them.
He should play split strikers, but he doesn’t.When England play a Beardsley, Sheringham or Barmby just behind the striker, they score goals. When they play two No 9s, they don’t score and dont win.
Two months ago I thought Sven would play Heskey-Sheringham against Spain.
He played Owen and Cole.
On Friday I thought he might play Cole with Fowler just behind.
He played Owen and Cole.
But Andy Cole was so hopeless he can’t play him against Albania, so he should play Scholes as a half-striker.
With Sven not saying much the hacks are left to analyse.
We do not know what Sven thinks of the skill level of the England players. We will never know that because he will never tell us.
So we can only look at his team selections. Each selection is a big comment on the squad and on English football.
He plays 4-4-2 rather than 4-4-1-1.
When he was 2-1 up at Anfield and needed to keep the ball , what did he do?
He went to 4-3-3!
He put Heskey on and went to 4-3-3 !
What does that tell us?
I think it tells us that he does not think England have enough basic craftsmanship and passing ability.
Sven-Goran decided early on (before the Spain game) to play to our strengths.
He decided to create a solid energy and tempo team.
He was realistic. He did not have the time or the players to create a good passing team, so he picked Nicky Butt, who has less skill than Batty orInce.
Sven-Goran Eriksson knows that he needs Gazza and Darren Anderton and Sheringham to play a passing game.
He is a very smart guy who said to himself: I’m gonna play to my strengths. I could be in big trouble here if I DONT play to my strengths.
And my strengths are : we have more desire than craft. More aggression than accurate passing. More determination than skill.
He has said to himself : My job is to win these two games and playing like that is the best way to win these two games.
He can play more football later when he has figured out how to play more football. At the moment it is a luxury for England to think about playing nice football. It’s about winning these two games.
Will it work in Albania?
Albania were small, skilful, tenacious and well worth a 1-1 draw in Leverkusen. They were robbed by a late offside goal.
WHAT SHOULD SVEN DO IN ALBANIA?
Rio Ferdinand is too dopey, so play Wes Brown. He is far better.
Drop Cole and play Fowler with Scholes just behind.
Bring Owen on as a supersub. That is what he should do. But England managers never do what they should do.
He has spicked the wrong team twice and won twice and I love it when that happens.
25th March 2001.