The England squad for the 2014 World Cup. Controversial to some. Expected by many. A rebirth to others.
What it is, in reality, is change. The start of a new cycle.
Goalkeepers – Joe Hart, Ben Foster, Fraser Forster
Defenders – Leighton Baines, Gary Cahill, Phil Jagielka, Glen Johnson, Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Luke Shaw
Midfielders – Ross Barkley, Steven Gerrard, Jordan Henderson, Adam Lallana, Frank Lampard, James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Raheem Sterling, Jack Wilshire
Forwards – Rickie Lambert, Wayne Rooney, Daniel Sturridge, Danny Welbeck
Compare this to the 2012 European Championship squad (players retained in CAPS)
Goalkeepers – JOE HART, Robert Green, Jack Butland
Defenders – LEIGHTON BAINES, GARY CAHILL, Ashley Cole, GLEN JOHNSON, PHIL JONES, Joleon Lescott, John Terry, PHIL JAGIELKA
Midfielders – Stewart Downing, STEVEN GERRARD, FRANK LAMPARD, JAMES MILNER, ALEX OXLADE-CHAMBERLAIN, Scott Parker, Ashley Young, Theo Walcott
Forwards – Andy Carroll, Jermain Defoe, WAYNE ROONEY, DANNY WELBECK
Finally, the 2010 World Cup squad.
Goalkeepers – Robert Green, David James, JOE HART
Defenders – Jamie Carragher, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, GLEN JOHNSON, Ledley King, John Terry, Matthew Upson, Steven Warnock
Midfielders – Gareth Barry, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, STEVEN GERRARD, FRANK LAMPARD, Aaron Lennon, JAMES MILNER, Shaun Wright-Phillips
Forwards – Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, WAYNE ROONEY, Emile Heskey
Looking back to the last World Cup, only six players remain. Back to the European Championships, around half the squad has changed. Some of the players who are not included have been main stays of England squads and teams for several years. Ashley Cole. John Terry. Stewart Downing. Ashley Young. Theo Walcott (though his exclusion is down to injury). Jermain Defoe.
For Cole and Young their club managers almost made the decision for Hodgson. Ashley Cole only made 22 appearances in the 2013/14 season and was replaced at left back by a right back, Cesar Azpilicueta. Ashley Young started just 15 games, making a further 13 appearances from the bench. In those games he produced two goals and one assist. Their managers had lost faith.
For Downing and Defoe it was onwards and downwards. Brendan Rodgers had decided that Stewart Downing was not the type of player he was looking for and sold to West Ham. From the top half of the table to the bottom half of the table. It is very difficult to get into England squads from the lower regions of the league. It is even harder from Canada. The Premier League waved goodbye to Jermain Defoe as he moved on to Toronto FC in the MLS. At the same time, he waved goodbye to his England career.
Other players have missed out for very different reasons. To explain why John Terry is not in the England squad would require a full article of it’s own. For Chelsea he is still performing to a high level, but for some players performing at a high level is not enough. Not when you come with more baggage than Heathrow airport.
For some players the end of their international line came prior to 2012. In that squad Rio Ferdinand and Gareth Barry missed out. Squad by squad the past generation has faded out. Come the next tournament the old heads of this squad are likely to be viewed as pensioners. For Frank Lampard this is likely to be his last tournament. He will be 37 when the next one comes around. Steven Gerrard at 33 (34 when the tournament starts) may get another, but it is far from certain. The cycle will be over. Apart from one. Wayne Rooney is 28. He has at least two more tournaments in him. He will remain as the link back to the previous cycle.
The new generation have made their voices heard this season. To the extent that they have been impossible to ignore. Although the PFA Young Player of the Year award went to a Belgian, Eden Hazard, a number members of this England squad could have laid claim to the award.
Luke Shaw has had an outstanding season. He has performed with great maturity and displayed all the attributes of the modern full back.
Ross Barkley’s power, poise and dribbling style have impressed many. The unhelpful comparisons with past players are rolling in. There is no doubt that he posses large quantities of ability.
According to many, Jordan Henderson is the most improved player in the Premier League this season. It is arguable that Adam Lallana is worthy of that title. Henderson has been more eye catching this season as his productivity has increased. More probing and defence splitting passes. More goals. More acclaim.
In the latter part of the season Liverpool came within a slip of winning the Premier League title. People point to Luis Suarez as the reason for Liverpool’s strong run. Yet as the season wore on the form of Suarez dropped off. His goalscoring record remained solid, but the inspirational qualities had fallen. The player who provided the spark in the title run in was Raheem Sterling. Sterling found a higher level of performance. His strength for one so apparently slight is impressive but it is his skill and speed that make him such a threat.
The new cycle is sweeping in. The leader of this group should have been Jack Wilshire. In terms of ability and experience he still is, but injuries have prevented him from grasping that position. Wilshire missed the last squad through injury. He has missed much of this season with injury. In fact, he has missed much of his career with injury. Yet he remains just 22 years old. For Phil Jones and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain the story is very similar. Injury and opportunity holding them back. Jones has had to get past Vidic and Ferdinand since 2011. Both players are leaving Old Trafford, Jones finally has his chance.
Are this generation the future players that the FA had in mind? The Future Game is now four years old. The FA Youth Modules are almost a decade old. This generation would have been touched by philosophies and ideas within The Future Game blueprint. How much of a direct influence it would have had on their development in hard to say. An increased drive towards creating technically adept decision makers by the FA and by clubs is vital. Looking at the squad, the young players who have come in fit that mold. They are different to the type of player that has comes through in the past. The big centre back. The scrappy midfield fighter. The tall, fast, strong centre forward. The shift does seem to be from power to guile. That is not to say that there is no place for power, just that if that is all you look for, then your pool of possible players shrinks. English football needs more players, not less.
The FA outline for the player of the future runs thus –
Technical
– Displays versatility and ingenuity to meet the demands of the game
– Has assured basic techniques and an extensive range of ball skills
– Excellent passing, receiving and retaining possession skills
– Creates personal time and space at all times
– Can pass the ball intelligently and efficiently over varying distances
– Possesses clean ball contact skills when passing, receiving, retaining and travelling with the ball
– Can operate skillfully at optimum and varying speeds, even in congested areas
– Recognises opportunities to run with the ball and is effective in doing so
– Has the ability to turn with the ball in a variety of ways
– Can beat opponents in one versus one situations
– Preferably two footed, with some degree of unorthodoxy
– Highly proficient in limited touch techniques
– Can defend alone
– Has the creativity to produce the ‘unexpected’ in the right place at the right time
Physical
– Possesses strength, agility, speed and strength as well as the appropriate levels of endurance and changes of pace necessary to meet the demands of the game
Tactical
– Intelligent for self and for team
– Understands personal playing role through practice and experience
– Understands team attacking and defending strategies
– Versatile and comfortable in other playing positions
– Anticipates rather than reacts to the unfolding events of the game
– Constantly monitors the development of play whilst on the move, building mental pictures that assist in effective decision making prior to receiving the ball
– Assured and intelligent decision maker
– Effectively retains and protects the ball from opposing players and is competent in 1v1 situations
– Understands how to gain a personal tactical advantage
Psychological
– Eager to learn (coachable player)
– Controlled and adaptable
– Reliable, enthusiastic and self disciplined
– Displays a winning mentality and does not conceded defeat
– Understand the state of the game and operates accordingly
– Demonstrates good spacial awareness and is quick to respond to game events
– Deals with disappointment, criticism and errors with resilience and a positive outlook
– Intense desire to succeed and to play with confident assurance
Yaya Toure is probably the ideal midfield player, a tremendous physical specimen and has fantastic technical ability. The combination of a technical player and a power player. He ticks off almost every one of those attributes. If England unearths players like Toure then they will be very well placed. However, if you only look for Toure you may never find Xavi. Xavi, does not quite fulfill every attribute, very few players can have every attribute, but in a choice between the physical attributes and the technical attributes, the technical seem to be starting to win the war.
If you look at the young players in the squad, or even the late bloomers like Lallana and Lambert, they fit into the outline given by the FA. Whether this is proof that the plan is progressing is probably still too soon to tell. It takes a full generation for a philosophy to show us it’s full fruits. A couple of years and a handful of players is not enough to make a judgement.
The likely hood is that this tournament comes too early for the core of this group of players. As bright as their prospects may be, as exciting as the talent is, there is no escaping the fact that the young players have played very few internationals.
Luke Shaw – 1 cap
Phil Jones – 9 caps
Ross Barkley – 3 caps
Jordan Henderson – 8 caps
Raheem Sterling – 2 caps
Even the players who are more established at their clubs and are almost certain starters have little international experience.
Jack Wilshire – 15 caps
Daniel Sturridge – 10 caps
Added to that concern is the defence. The names do not prompt a feeling of strength and solidity. When you look at Jones, Jagielka, Smalling and co the feeling is, yes they are good players, but are they truly top quality? The presence of John Terry and Rio Ferdinand in 2010 gave the defence a reassuring look. Going into the tournament, the question marks for that team were not defensive. The question hung over the teams creativity. The pendulum is beginning to swing the other way. When reading the list of skills the Future Game is looking for, those related to being a strong defender are not numerous. Similarly for the other end of the pitch. The attributes traditionally associated with central strikers and central defenders have been marginalised in favour of those associated with creative players. Creative players are much needed, but in this Premier League season Chelsea have shown that it is difficult to win trophies without someone to score and Liverpool have shown that it is difficult with high quality defenders.
For Roy Hodgson the timing of the tournament has not quite aligned with the next cycle in full flow. Most of the new arrivals in the squad are on the cusp of something great. It is not hard to imagine that if this World Cup was in 2015 that these young players would have featured in half a dozen qualification games and four or five friendlies more, rather than just have a smattering of international caps. Other players may also have had stronger cases. Flanagan and Stones have played their way onto the reserve list based on half a season of football.
As well as the World Cup squad, Gareth Southgate named his squad for this summer’s Toulon tournament.
Goalkeepers – Jonathan Bond, Jack Butland, Sam Johnstone
Defenders – Tylas Brown, Eric Dier, Luke Garbutt, Ben Gibson, Michael Keane, Liam Moore, Brad Smith
Midfielders – Nat Chalobah, Jordan Cousins, Jake Forster-Caskey, Josh McEachran, James Ward-Prowse
Forwards – Tom Ince, Jesse Lingard, Jordan Obita, Nathan Redmond, Wilfried Zaha, Saido Berahino, Harry Kane, Danny Ings, Solly March, Cauley Woodrow
It is worth noting that only four (Shaw, Barkley, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Sterling) of the squad named by Roy Hodgson are eligible for the under 21 squad. In the past there have been debates about whether their development would be better served at a development tournament rather than going to a senior tournament and being a spectator. Of the four, three are genuine candidates to start for England. The debate is of lesser weight than usual. Although, John Stones and Jon Flanagan may be better off at the under 21 tournament than sat as reserves, waiting for a phone call.
How many of the under 21 squad will be pushing for a place at the next World Cup? Who knows. The squad named by Roy Hodgson shows that you can not be sure just how good players can become when given a chance to perform and when guided by good management. The task for all of them is to now maintain their levels of performance. Never an easy task, but they have all shown the ability. Now comes the mindset.
The future is not quite now. The remains of the old cycle have not quite cleared to create a path for the new. The new shoots may not quite be strong enough yet, but it is close. The future is almost here.
England squad 2014 – http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27375215
England squad 2012 – http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18081125
England Squad 2010 – http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2010/8713742.stm
http://www.thepfa.com/thepfa/pfaawards
Englnad U21 squad – http://www.thefa.com/news/england/under-21/2014/may/squad-named-for-wales-toulon-tournament-130514