Hodgson makes profit on the big issue
PUBLISHED:
22:09 GMT, 15 June 2012
|
UPDATED:
00:11 GMT, 16 June 2012
At England's centre of progressive thinking, they will teach that small is beautiful. Small pitches, small teams, small passes, even small players.
The technical masters produced by Barcelona's La Masia academy are the inspiration for the next generation.
On Friday night in Kiev was not about that, though.
On the slide: Ashley Cole beats Seb Larsson to the ball
It was about big men, literally and
figuratively. Big men up front, big men at the back. Big men in the
dressing-room, big men under pressure.
Big was the new small in the Olympic Stadium.
And big turned out beautiful for England.
When Andy Carroll rose to place a
wondrous, textbook header past Sweden goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson it
seemed a tiny triumph for unfashionable thinking.
When Danny Welbeck pirouetted
perfectly to score the winning goal with 12 minutes remaining, Roy
Hodgson got his ultimate vindication.
That's for openers: Andy Carroll (obscured) heads past Andreas Isaksson
It is over a decade since an England
manager sent two such physically imposing strikers out to play 4-4-2 in
an international match, Kevin Keegan partnering Alan Shearer and Emile
Heskey in a goalless draw with Argentina prior to the 2000 European
Championship.
But Hodgson went back to the future, and somehow it worked. Not like clockwork, obviously, but then what did we expect
This was Sweden after all, the nation that had never lost to England in a competitive match.
So it was a mess of a game, a scrap, a scramble, swinging viciously one way, then the other.
Sharp-shooter: Theo Walcott (left) brought England back to 2-2
There were five goals and each one
changed the state of play: England ahead, Sweden level, Sweden ahead,
England level – and finally, preciously, England ahead.
Yet if the end justifies the means, then chalk this one up to Hodgson.
He thought he knew a way to beat Sweden with two six-foot strikers, both men scored and the match was won.
He knew he had to inspire a revival
at 2-1 down, he introduced Theo Walcott and the antithesis of the
battering ram striker changed the game.
Job done: Hodgson accords himself a moment of satisfaction after a game that gave him plenty to ponder
It was Walcott's first international
goal since that famous night in Zagreb but when did England's progress
in tournaments ever run predictably; or smoothly
At half-time England were coasting,
by the hour they were going out and with 10 minutes remaining many of
the travelling fans were looking to extend their stay to the
quarterfinals.
It was a game that reminded of
2004's last eight encounter with Portugal in its frantic craziness, with
one small difference: for once, England won.
When Hodgson announced his intention to play Carroll with Welbeck there was a definite groan from the purists.
Great Scott: Midfield dynamo Scott Parker challenges Andreas Granqvist for possession in Kiev
And yet, what has to be accepted is that England's manager is not a primitive man.
If his tactics were retro, the thinking behind them was modern.
This is a manager that will not alight on a favoured XI, that will always consider the opponent.
He fancied Carroll against Sweden's
defence. And he was dead right. Carroll's presence dominated the
first-half and if England's defenders had been as resilient in repelling
dead balls, the second-half would not have been such a train wreck in
parts, either.
Big men are what Sweden fear. Big men who can head the ball. Andriy Shevchenko proved that in the first group game on Monday.
And while Carroll may never have Shevchenko's repertoire as a striker, he certainly knows how to meet a cross.
Clash of the titans: Terry sends Ibrahimovic into orbit
When he converted a vicious flat one
from Steven Gerrard – it could have been David Beckham in his prime out
there – it confirmed Hodgson's hunch.
His next team sheet, however, will be equally important.
Will Carroll get another game after frightening the life out of Sweden Not necessarily.
Wayne Rooney is back and Hodgson will already have an idea on who will serve him best as a partner.
England's tactics against Sweden may
have been straightforward, but the manager cannot afford to be one
dimensional in such a fiercely competitive tournament.
Talking tactics: Hodgson makes a point to Welbeck (right) and Carroll
Hodgson is in credit after this,
though, even if at 2-1 down the cameras revealed his face crumpled in
all too familiar anguish.
The best manager s solve problems and that is what he did after Sweden went ahead.
He introduced Walcott in the hope of affecting the game, and the Arsenal man did that, and more.
The equalising goal and the cross for Welbeck's winner represents his finest contribution in close to four years.
Sometimes a big man doesn't have to walk tall.
Yet whatever lessons appear to have
been learned in Kiev – and the first is that Hodgson is building
character – what must also be remembered is that this was not a typical
game of international football.
Old fashioned way: Andy Carroll gave Sweden kittens with his physicality
What worked against Sweden, certainly in the first-half, may not be as successful on other occasions.
Here were two teams playing to the most English of blueprints, and only one was wearing the Football Association's crest.
Sweden were England, but not quite as strong.
They shaped up the same way, applied
the same principles, remained as rigidly in formation, they scored from
set pieces as England did against France.
They did everything that England did, in fact; but just not quite as well.
What Sweden lacked, most crucially, was Carroll.
Old fashioned methods require an old
fashioned centre-forward and while those who love the aesthetic thrill
of a grounded, passing game may recoil in horror from the sight of an
England team playing to Carroll's strengths, there is no single way to
win a game of football.
Even Arsene Wenger once talked of
Emmanuel Adebayor giving Arsenal something different, because it allowed
them to play the ball up to a big man if they were being thwarted in
midfield.
And there was nothing crude about
Didier Drogba's performances for Chelsea in Europe last season. Playing
back to goal, imposing physically on central defenders who pride
themselves on being the hardest men on the field, is an art form, too.
Hoodoo ended: Danny Welbeck (left) somehow gets the ball past Sweden's goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson (right)
There will be plenty of team here
who will look at what Carroll did to Sweden early on, and shudder;
plenty of defenders who do not relish the sheer physical threat he
poses, the way few batsmen genuinely enjoy facing proper fast bowling.
Even so, it is far from over. If
last night's atmosphere was tense, imagine it with the volume up to 11
in the Donbass Arena next week.
England may only need a draw but Ukraine will go through if they win and it promises to be a tense, torrid night.
Ambition is key here, though, because
a quarter-final clash with Spain could be avoided if England win,
depending on the margin. It is time to stay strong: and think big.
