England Euro 2012 Five Things we can learn from Oslo

Theres only so much a manager can learn from a low-key friendly against relatively weak competition, and as such, Hodgson can be pleased with the amount of information we can gather from the 90 minutes in Oslo.Ashley Young is an outstanding number 10For over a year Ashley Young was given a free-role at Villa, playing behind the striker. He was brilliant in this position, using his flair, technical grace and particularly astute movement and tactical awarene s to dictate play. Finally an England coach has remembered this period of his career, and Ian Cole Jersey Young rewarded Hodgson with a man-of-the-match performance. Usually deployed as a winger, Youngs intelligence often goes unnoticed: he is not the average one dimensional wide player, however.One aspect of his game relatively unknown is his movement and his instinctive anticipation. On many occasions he correctly and alertly made runs behind Andy Carroll, anticipating the knock-on. He managed to find pockets of space in front of the back four on several occasions, and won a large majority of the loose balls following Carrolls flick-ons. The goal indicates this, with Young finding space for the pa s, linking up well with the big Liverpool striker.Carroll is frustrating and awkward, even when playing wellTheres something irritating about Andy Carroll. The clunkine s of his gait, his slow-motion agility, and the uncomfortable style with which he kicks a football, makes him look like a skilful player trapped in his own body. His touch is so clumsy, and his movement so effortful, he looks as if hes only just acquired his awkward figure, and is still trying to work out how to control all the body Seth Jones Jersey parts. It looks a bit like when one of those ludicrously dre sed mascots tries to kick a ball with their oversized mammalian limbs. Neverthele s, he won most of his aerial challenges and all-in-all played well with Young. The only reason this is an i sue is because his ungainly figure is incongruous against the intelligence and fluidity of Englands midfield.A pragmatic Hodgson chose intelligent midfielders, and it looked goodBefore Gerrard was substituted, Englands midfield looked organised and controlled, with neat interplay and swift pa sing exchanges. Milner, Downing, Young and Gerrard are all very intelligent footballers. Their vision and tactical awarene s are excellent, and they worked well in combination as a result Taylor Chorney Women Jersey . Englands attacks, spearheaded by the Carroll and Young partnership, were fluid, composed and thoughtful. Careful, might be a word to describe Hodgsons managerial style with England, which is unsurprising given the limited time he has with an average set of players. His midfield, with defensively capable wingers and composed pa sers looked balanced and, dare I say it, confident.Hodgson has a planWhat do Capello, McClaren, and Erik son all have in common? We had no idea what on earth they were trying to do. England were perplexed and disorganised, looking for all the world like a bunch of eclectic players that had no idea what they were supposed to be doing, or how to play with each other. Finally England have a manager with a plan. As indicated above, with his intelligent and defence-minded midfielders and Carroll-Young partnership, any England fan can see that he is trying to build something. Swapping Walcott and Downing round in the second half after Theo proved Seth Jones Men Jersey he was incapable of defending Riise, was po sibly the first sensible, understandable, substitution made by an England manager for some time.International football is boringIf the World Cup wasnt enough evidence to prove this point, then this summers Euros may finally make us switch off the TV and take up staring at brick walls instead. It seems as if every team plays cautious, defensive football in major tournaments, quite po sibly a reflection of the current stage of tactical evolution in Europe. The 4-5-1-come-4-3-3 is favoured by the majority of sides, allowing an attacking formation to easily become one with nine defenders and an isolated striker, requiring slow build-up play and po se sion football. The most obvious reason for the lack of excitement in international football is Gabriel Carlsson Women Jersey that there is simply no team chemistry. Given only a small amount of time to play with each other, we cannot expect instinctive football from any nation. Either way, if you expect to be entertained this summer, dont hold your breath. If England remain organised, defence-minded, and can keep po se sion with intelligent midfielders whilst organising attacks around a little-n-large strike partnership, you never know what they can achieve.Please follow my blog at @AK_FootballBlog to receive the latest posts. Thanks!
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