An impressive England beat Wales to top group G in the Euro qualifiers.
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Above stolen and modified from ZonalMarking.net.
He doesn't get everything right, so I had to change it a little.
Formations and early exchanges
With the speculation about England’s line up before the game only fuelled by Fabio Capello’s strange first team choice, England eventually lined up in an unfamiliar 4-3-3 formation. The formation was not unfamiliar in terms of England playing it – recently, Capello has been playing a 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 cross – but of the personnel. With a regular back four of Cole, Terry, Dawson and Johnson ahead of Hart, Parker Lampard and Wilshere played a fluid midfield trio. Ahead of them, the biggest change was in the attack. Rooney and Young played on the left and right respectively, behind the prima punta Darren Bent. The Welsh played a 4-3-3/4-5-1 cross: a back four of Gunter, the two Collins’ and Ashley Willians played in front of Hennessey in defence. King, Crofts and Ramsey played in a midfield trio with Steve Morison as the main striker. They were flanked by Bellamy on the right and King on the left, both of whom played energetic roles.
England started ferociously. High pressing left the Welsh midfield with little time on the ball, especially focusing on the technically proficient Ramsey. An interesting feature was Terry’s runs from deep; for the majority of his time at Chelsea, his partner has been the one to make the runs forward, usually Ricardo Carvalho. With the advent of a 4-3-3 variant as the dominant formation in English football, a 4-3-3 vs 4-3-3 matchup leaves only one player “free” on either side, a central defender. As such, players such as Carvalho, Martin Demichelis, Gerard Pique and Rio Ferdinand have tried to exploit this by stepping up to support the midfield. Terry, not normally known for being necessarily mobile or technical, has not taken over this role for both Chelsea and England. It was one such run that created the first goal.
England off to a flier
Terry ran from deep, overlapping past Ashley Cole into the final third and opening up space for Ashley Young to drive into space before being chopped down by James Collins. Lampard stepped up for the penalty and sent Hennessey the wrong way. England were now 1-0 up before the game had even settled.
This continued in the same vein: England pressure forcing the Welsh into mistakes as a high tempo game allowed now time on the ball for the flair Welsh players. The dangerman Ramsey began dropping deeper and deeper in order to receive possession. Initially starting off as the furthest forward ‘creator’ of the triangle, he began floating deep and wide to find pockets of space, and what little possession Wales did have they looked to get to him. He did the best he could, but with Wales’ midfield being pushed further and further back, and with Bellamy and King being forced back level with the centre midfielders there was no outball at all. Morison ploughed a lonely furrow up front by himself, with little to no support at all.
Bent increases the lead
The second ball was ludicrously easy. As a attack broke down, Glen Johnson took possession and played a superb ball over the top for Ashley Young. Young stayed onside and centred it for Bent to finish with consummate neatness. With England 2-0 up but not resting on their laurels, the half continued in the same vein. England’s pressing was utterly dominant, and the formation superbly fluid. Rooney drifted inside to let Cole up the flank and Ashley Young caused havoc on the right. Young and Glen Johnson looked threatening, and the former had a central role in much of England’s attacking third play. As Rooney dropped deep and found pockets of space on the left opened up by Cole’s runs, he began pinging accurate raking balls crossfield. Young was playing an interesting position somewhere between a striker and a winger, most reminiscent of Antonio Cassano’s role for Sampdoria and Italy.
Towards the end of the second half, England’s pressing was less intensive, and the Welsh were able to pass it around themselves. The English midfielders seemed to settle down from their more fluid early roles into the logical pattern: Parker the destroyer, Wilshere the passer and Lampard the creator, though the last two alternated roles well. Lampard, in particular, seems to be adapting well to a less high-energy role that he will likely play in the twilight of his career. As Wales pushed, England’s defence held out well. As Bellamy and King switched, often King alternated with Ledley in the middle, with Ledley moving out wide to his old wide left position and King inside. When this happened, King became an attacking midfielder of sorts with Ramsey dropping deeper. Impressive fluidity, but Wales lacked a cutting edge and their attacks came to naught.
Second half
As the second half began, the pattern was more or less continued, although it was immediately evident that Wales’ pressing was much more intensive. Their front three was both more rigid and more fluid as well: Ledley and King stopped their exchanges, but Morison, Bellamy and King began rotating around. Bellamy often mirrored Rooney’s role on the left for Wales, dropping deep and hitting crossfield balls. On one occasion this bamboozled the England defence, with Terry being caught out of position, but good covering by Dawson and a poor touch by Morison meant the chance was good.
As Wales grew into the game, there was a chance to see England’s defensive phase take shape. With Parker playing the nominal holding role, the wingers dropped back to form two banks of four with Parker sweeping behind the first bank. This worked well, particularly after the introduction of David Vaughan for Wales. Vaughan’s natural game is as a deep-lying regista (playmaker), and with one less midfield runner to track Parker tacked Ramsey diligently. Still, though, the Arsenal youngster did well and found space where he could. The subs caused a reshuffle: Ledley moved wide left, Bellamy wide right in support of Evans as the striker. Wales won a succession of corners, but Bellamy’s overhit deliveries meant nothing came of it. Bellamy’s off the ball movement in open play was far better though: as Ramsey charged forward to become the furthest-forward player, Bellamy showed impressive awareness to drop off in a false nine role. The impressive Terry and Dawson, however, were not tempted into following him, and Parker continued to track Ramsey well.
Game fizzles out
As Wales opened up and flooded forward, England sat back and looked to play on the break. Milner, on for Rooney, gave battling qualities in what was essentially a like for like replacement, though Young switched to the left and began cutting inside onto his stronger foot whilst Milner stayed wide on the right. As Wilshere came off though, this changed: Milner moved into the centre, Downing went on to the right nominally, though he and Young often switched.
The game began moving towards an inevitable conclusion. The game became scrappy, with Craig Bellamy picking up a (fairly inevitable: it IS Craig Bellamy we’re talking about after all) yellow card and James Collins fouling Young whilst he was in a good position. England’s midfield for the first time looked more functional than the Welsh, but at this time it was a good thing. Parker, Lampard and Milner sat deep and used their energy to break up attacks, with Lampard remaining slightly ahead of the other two. Parker was taken off for an interesting tactical innovation by Capello: Phil Jagielka, nominally a central defender, was played just in front of the defence, sitting extremely deep. From there on in, the game was over as a battle, though Downing and Bellamy both went close with efforts from outside the area. The game finished 2-0, and England now top their group.
Analysis: Arsenal’s Young Guns
This game featured Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey, the latter newly made Wales captain, lining up against each other. The two Arsenal starlets are rightly highly rated and as with any midfielder to come out of Arsenal during the Wenger era they are both extremely technically sound. Their roles today, however, were drastically different.
Jack Wilshere is fast becoming a shoo in to the England side. With vision, technique, a good work ethic and a good footballing brain, he is an asset to both Arsenal and England. Today, he played in a central three alongside two experienced campaigners in Frank Lampard and Scott Parker. With England’s midfield fluid, Wilshere’s exceptional versatility allowed him to slot in as any one of the three role: destroyer, passer or creator. That said, it was the ‘passer’ role he ended up in most often, with Lampard and Parker taking their natural roles of ‘creator’ and ‘destroyer’. With both Lampard and the effervescent Wayne Rooney ahead of him in a left wing/midfielder role able to take up the creative burden, Wilshere was allowed the freedom to pick and choose when to play the killer pass, or if no such pass presented itself move it on to another player.
Ramsey, on the other hand, was playing in a functional midfield almost all devoid of flair. Alongside Joe Ledley, a box to box workhorse and Andy Crofts, who played a reserved destroyer role, Ramsey took on more or less the entire creative burden of his team on his shoulders. This was exacerbated by the players in front of him: Bellamy, playing in the same kind of position that Rooney was for England, played an entirely different role to his pudding-faced opposite number. Bellamy was constantly up against a fullback, trying to beat them for pace and cut inside. This is unsurprising, considering Bellamy’s status as Wales’ one truly quality forward player in the absence of the injured Gareth Bale. As a result, Ramsey was under pressure to produce defence-splitting killer passes whenever he got the ball. This, coupled with effective pressure by the England players and tight marking by Scott Parker meant that Ramsey had a huge task ahead of him. He had to lead his team and single-handedly hold together the attacking threat they offered, just after coming off a serious injury. When you take this into consideration, Ramsey did fairly well, though not as well as Wilshere. When you compare their stats, Wilshere had 57 passes with 86% completed, whereas Ramsey had 56 passes, 71% completed. Although Ramsey went looking for the ball (and indeed his team looked for him), the reason for his relatively similar passing stats in pure amount terms to Wilshere can probably be put down to England’s higher possession as well as their short passing mentality. Where the crux of the matter can be seen is in the pass completion rates: Wilshere’s 86% completed is markedly different to Ramsey’s 71% completed, illustrating the difference in their roles as Ramsey went for more ambitious and risky passes whereas Wilshere on the whole kept it simple.
Ramsey improved as Wales’ approach diversified later in the first half. As they got a grip on the game and England’s early pressing decreased, Wales had a chance for a little tactical innovation. First of all, the versatile Andy King came inside and began playing ‘in the hole’ behind the striker. To fill the shortfall on the left side, Joe Ledley moved out to his early career position as a left winger. No longer having to play the attacking, driving force from midfield, Ramsey dropped deep and the formation became a 4-2-3-1. In a deeper role and without the attentions of the determined Parker he began to shine, knocking raking balls to the front three behind the striker. Unfortunately formation only happened sporadically. Even so, when Ramsey managed to avoid Parker and receive the ball in space he looked extremely good, occasionally going close or penetrating the defence with a good pass. Apart from that, he was forced wide or deep to receive the ball, often deeper than Crofts, the midfield anchor. A frustrating game for Ramsey.
Wilshere, on the other hand, often received the ball on the counterattack as Crofts looked after Lampard and Ledley was caught up the field. His driving runs through the heart of the Wales defence were well-timed displays of athletic ability, often finished off with a raking ball to Young. All in all, the Arsenal youngsters impressed as much as they could, with Ramsey trying manfully to overcome a clear superiority in midfield by the England players and Wilshere playing his role with composure and quality.
Analysis: England’s attacking band
England were playing with an different look to their front three. Instead of the decidedly 4-2-3-1 feel to recent England teams under Capello, this was most definitely a 4-3-3. The one constant was Darren Bent in the centre. Playing as a strict prima punta, his role was restricted to his normal one of playing off the last defender, using his pace to threaten the Welsh defence. Around him, though, the attack was fluid. Wayne Rooney played in an unfamiliar (though not too unfamiliar, considering that he is occasionally played on the left for United) left-sided role. Despite speculation pre-match (by me and Joss, anyway) that he might end up acting as a Cassano-esque striker-***-winger, he instead played a unique deep role, drifting inside and into space. Often dropping back level with the midfielders, he supplied raking long balls diagonally across the field for the other member of the tridente, Ashley Young. Young had a very good game playing on the right, stretching play and indeed playing the aforementioned Cassano role. Playing as something between a striker and a winger, Young played up against the left back when Rooney dropped deep, before returning to a more normal position when Rooney did too. Rooney’s deep movement and workrate also covered for the runs of Ashley Cole and, unusually, John Terry.
The Welsh backline were cut to pieces early on by this movement, with the first goal being an example of the fluidity of the system. With Rooney drifting away from his position, Young moved over to the left to overload the Welsh right and won the penalty for Lampard to convert. The second goal, too, was an illustration of Young’s interesting new role: with Johnson playing the pass, Young was pressed up against the left-back. He stayed onside and outpaced the defence, before crossing low for a goalhanging Bent to convert.
Player ratings: England
Joe Hart – 6 – Nothing to do on a night in which England dominated.
Glen Johnson – 7 – Not too much to do, but what he did need to do he did with a minimum of fuss. Brilliant throughball released Young for the second goal.
Michael Dawson – 7 – Impressive. Shut out attacks with ease.
John Terry – 7 – The reinstated captain can take extreme pleasure in this display which proves he is not as one-dimensional as he is often called. His runs forward were powerful and incisive.
Ashley Cole – 8 – Athletic and strong, his tireless runs sliced down the Welsh right throughout the game.
Scott Parker – 7 – A consummate performance from West Ham’s midfield general. Marshalled Ramsey impeccably.
Jack Wilshere – 8 – An all-round brilliant performance from England’s new hope.
Frank Lampard – 8 – Answered his critics (including me) with a mature and sensible performance. Covered for Wilshere and broke forward dangerously, with it all capped off with a well-taken penalty.
Wayne Rooney – 7 – A tactically innovative and intelligent game for Rooney. Got a yellow card for some indiscipline, but showed the Capello left wing experiment worked well.
Ashley Young – 9 MOTM – Attacking masterclass from the Aston Villa winger. Moved wide where he is most effective, and showed unselfishness, guile, poise and decent work rate to terrorise the Welsh defence. Won a penalty and made another.
Darren Bent – 7 – Scored the typical Darren Bent goal, but his all-round game has improved. Moved defenders around and held the ball up well.
Subs:
James Milner – 6 – Did what he was asked to do well, no more. He is becoming England’s go-to man for defending a lead.
Stewart Downing – 6 – Not too much time to impress, but his introduction allowed Capello to experiment with two inverted wingers. The Villa front three impressed, and Downing threatened with a couple of long range efforts.
Phil Jagielka – N/A – Unfair to rate after 3 minutes on the pitch. Interesting centre-half role though.
Player Ratings: Wales
Wayne Hennessey – 6 – Was not at fault for either goal. Dealt well with crosses as Wales creaked under England’s early pressure.
Chris Gunter – 4 – Was taken apart by Rooney and Cole’s movement. Bad day at the office for the young fullback.
James Collins – 4 – A performance familiar to Villa fans today. Good in the air but immobile on the ground, and brought down domestic teammate Young for the penalty.
Ashley Williams – 6 – Did his best alongside a shaky defence.
Danny Collins – 4 – Was given the runaround by Young. No attacking threat at all either.
Andrew Crofts – 5 – Overrun in the centre of midfield by a slick England trio.
Joe Ledley – 6 –Energetic and tactically flexible. Outclassed by his opposite number.
Aaron Ramsey – 7 – Impressive in spurts. Did well considering the pressure on him, but a frustrating game for the Wales captain.
Andy King – 6 – Interchanged well with Ledley and looked good when he moved into the centre. Got no change out of Cole in the second half.
Craig Bellamy – 7 – Fiery and pacey, the Welsh dragon was full of running and added a dash of quality. Defended well too.
Steve Morison – 5 – Would be harsh to rate him down considering the lack of service. Ploughed a lone furrow fairly well and worked manfully. That said, technically his game let him down, with his touch poor.
Subs:
Ched Evans – 5 – Anonymous. Didn’t offer Morison’s work rate.
David Vaughan – 6 – Promising in parts, but didn’t get on the ball enough. Tackled well.
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