Scouting for Fixtures: Dec 12 – Dec 18

Scouting for fixtures is a weekly blog for people who love the beautiful game. They come out every Sunday and hand picks upcoming matches worldwide that week, which looks set for 90 minutes of non-stop action.

All times are GMT.

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Melbourne City FC vs Melbourne Victory ( Sat 17 08:50 )

If you plan on skipping this paragraph watch this video and find out why the Melbourne derby is unmissable! I know that the last sentence looks like one of those click bait adverts: Dermatologists Hate Her. She is 23675234567 but looks 24. Or: I got ripped in 2 weeks using this one weird trick. If you did watch that video you too realise, this is not a scam. It may not hold a candle to the premier league in terms of quality, but is entertaining in its own right. From watching one, and only one Melbourne derby (which ended 4-1); I say it has the sensibilities of a primary school lunchtime football match. It’s where most if not all (somehow) the game was played in either 18-yard box, bypassing the midfield and just punt it forward. It’s where you’re not afraid to lob the keeper from stupid range because he’s only 4’10 or where you can run through 4 defenders and hit the back of the net. An ideal game for anyone looking for something new*.

*If you watch the A-League then it’s not new, and chances are you are Australian. What are you doing here? Bear in mind I’ve only ever had 2 Aussies visit the site ever.

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RasenBallsport Leipzig vs Hertha Berlin ( Sat 17 14:30 )

The Bundesliga, with its fan engagement, 50 + 1 rule and cheap ticket prices create the ideal conditions in a petri dish of German football culture to expand. What does any of this have to do with the game? So if we look at RB Leipzig now, they are top of the league and in an 8 game winning streak. The significance of RB Leipzig being they represent everything Bundesliga tries not to be. While there are reasons to be worried, the story behind their name encapsulates why people are up in arms about the rise of Leipzig. The first part: Leipzig. Nothing wrong with that. RasenBallsport? The translation into English reveals ‘Lawn Ball Sports’ which looks more in place if it was the name of a professional Bowl’s club. Originally it was supposed to be Red Bulls Leipzig but Bundesliga does not allow corporate names so a substitute with the same initials RB would have to do. They also go against the 50 + 1 rule which underpins cheap ticket prices and prevents commercial objectives to come before football objectives. This explains in part how Germany are so strong internationally, due to clubs like Hertha Berlin fostering and developing a lot of young talent. It will be interesting to see how these two teams play against each other, and for the rest of the season. While Leipzig takes the headlines, Berlin is quietly climbing the table, now 3rd. If they beat Leipzig the gap between 1st and 3rd will be closed to only 3 points. To outcompete Bayern Munich and Dortmund requires goals, and both teams have scored their fair share of every type, shown here, here, here and also this beauty.

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Juventus vs Roma ( Sat 17 19:45 )

‘Monday night’s disappointing 1-1 draw with Bologna was a massive blow to Roma’s hopes for snatching second place in Serie A and automatic qualification for the Champions League from Scudetto hopefuls Napoli.‘ That was last Roma last season with 5 games to go. Much like a seasoned professional diver, Roma ended the season with perfect form: WWWWW. After Roma finished 2nd, 2nd and 3rd in the last 3 seasons, frustrations continue to mount much like Juventus’ number of Scudetto’s. After the old Lady added 2015/16 season Capocannoniere Gonzalo Higuain and Roma’s start midfielder Pjanic, it looked like Juventus were forming a full-fledged monopoly of the Calcio A. If any team were to break that monopoly power, a good candidate would be Roma. They currently house the top goal scorer in Calcio A, Edin Dzeko. It’s no mean feat turning a striker who misses an open net to scoring screamers. A major contribution to Dzeko’s success are wingers Salah and Perrotti who have a combined 8 assists, with inexhaustible stamina paying dividends. Now Roma outscores Juventus and everyone else in the league with 35 in 15 games, but Juve is just behind with 32. The roles are reversed when looking at the points tally, with Roma in touching distance only 4 points from Juventus in 1st. If they succeed in closing the gap they have to break Juve’s 6 game winning streak at home.

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Manchester City vs Arsenal ( Sun 18 16:00 )

Sometimes I really pity Arsenal fans. Not in a condescending way, but genuine pity on what they have to go through every season over and over again. Though there is overwhelming evidence to continue the abuse indefinitely, the effect on the psyche of long time fans is summed up quite well by JOE: ‘Their cup isn’t half empty, it was smashed against the wall the day Eduardo broke his leg’. You can see it happening all over again. As we inch closer to the new year Arsenal continues to rise up the table, even the most optimistic Arsenal fans will have their doubts. Is this the real deal? From what we’ve seen it looks positive, undefeated since the first game, 3 points off league leaders Chelsea and smashing teams left, right and centre. Imagine the pandemonium if Arsenal beat Manchester City. The citizens are already on the backfoot after Aguero’s high tackle and Fernandinho throttling Fabregas, both rightfully sent off. Fernandinho has the most minutes (1260) of any Man City player this season, leaving Gundogan/Toure/Delph to fill the vacant midfield role. Ihenacho too has big boots to fill as he may be expected to start now the only other striker has a 3 game ban. The 1-3 loss to Chelsea sounds worse that it actually was, Man City was in the game for a long time, with a chance to turn the game when De Bruyne had a clear goalscoring opportunity at 1-0, hitting the bar. But as things stand they’re 4th place and swamped in fixtures. The game against Arsenal will see the end of a demanding run of fixtures, 5 games in 15 days. If Manchester City beat Arsenal it will be ArsenalFanTV and chill.

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Other Mentions: 

Roma vs AC Milan ( Mon 12 20:00 )

Bournemouth vs Leicester ( Tue 13 19:45 )

Hoffenheim vs Borussia Dortmund ( Fri 16 19:30 )

Crystal Palace vs Chelsea ( Sat 17 12:30 )

Darmstadt vs Bayern Munich ( Sun 18 14:30 )

Ajax vs PSV Eindhoven ( Sun 18 15:45 )

Barcelona vs Espanol ( Sun 18 19:45 )

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Feel like I missed out any matches or want to give any feedback? Comment Below!

December 11, 2016 by Anirudh Suresh Categories: Bundesliga, England, Football, La Liga, Premier league, Preview, soccer, Sport, UncategorizedTags: a-league, ajax vs psv eindhoven, australia, barcelona vs espanol, bournemouth vs leicester, Bundesliga, darmstadt vs bayern munich, dec 12 -dec 18, Entertainment, Football, funny, hertha berlin, hoffenheim vs dortmund, italy, juve, juventus, juventus vs Roma, leipzig, leipzig vs hertha berlin, man city vs arsenal, melbourne city, melbourne city vs melbourne victory, melbourne derby, melbourne victory, Premier league, Preview, roma, roma vs ac milan, scouting for fixtures, Serie A, soccer, Sport Leave a comment

Scouting For Fixtures: Nov 14 – Nov 20

Scouting for fixtures is a weekly blog for people who love the beautiful game. They come out every Sunday and hand picks upcoming matches worldwide that week, which looks set for 90 minutes of non-stop action.

All times are GMT.

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Manchester United vs Arsenal ( Sat 19 12:30 )

There are a lot of reasons Man Utd hates Arsenal and Arsenal hates Man Utd. A lot. The interpersonal rivalries only fan the well-lit flames. Roy Keane and Patrick Viera the most obvious, as they would often kick off before kick off (hilarious!) such as when Keane comes to Garry Neville’s rescue after being threatened by Patrick Viera*. Ruud Van Nistelrooy was Arsenal’s punching bag for much of his tenure and the newest rivalry (sort of), Arsene Wenger vs Jose Mourinho. This season, Arsenal are playing on a level above Manchester United, but seeds of doubt still grow in the minds of Arsenal fans whenever they see this:

 

Courtesy of Sky Sports, only competitive games listed.

 

Looking at the 11 games played by Manchester United, 6 of them have been against a current top 10 side. If you isolate that form, it is 3 losses, 2 draws and 1 win; that one win was against 10th place Southampton in week 2. Even more distressing for an MUFC fan is that Jose is supposed to have an excellent record when facing big clubs. With Zlatan receiving his disciplinary ban, this is Wenger’s chance to finally take those three points.

*Watch Gary Neville’s masterclass in establishing dominance, as he squeezes Viera’s hand  and dishes out a steely glare during the pre-game handshake.

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Atletico Madrid vs Real Madrid ( Sat 19 19:45 )

Real Madrid continues their march to the trophy as they top the table after 11 games, thwarting their oppositions 1-6, 2-1, 1-4 and 3-0 without breaking stride. Their trademark all out attack still remains plan A, with the most shots (20.3) and shots on target (7.7) per game, plus 31 goals already. Diego Simeone isn’t having as easy a time as Zidane, with their trademark defending coming into question as they’ve been turning what would have been wins into draws, what would have been draws into losses. By their own insanely high standards, Atleti is slipping. Conceding 8 at this stage is much higher than usual at this point, considering they only conceded 18 last season. If they continue at this rate they would concede 28 goals by the end of this season, which would have still made them the best defensive side in La Liga last season, second best is Barcelona conceding 29 goals. Real’s defence could also be called into question as the injuries keep piling up: Ramos, Kroos, Pepe, Casemeiro, Mariano, Casilla, Modric (recovering) and Benzema. To make things even worse for the home side, Atleti’s one strong point this season has been their improvement in attack, netting 25 times so far, 9 better that this time last season. This could be Simeone’s chance to break Real Madrid’s unbeaten run.

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Borrusia Dortmund vs Bayern Munich ( Sat 19 17:30 )

The Signal Iduna Park is a sight to behold usually, a yellow sea of endless noise will be dead silent before kick-off to pay respects to Dortmund legend, Alfred Schmidt who recently passed away. There is some uncertainty of what type of game we’ll get this time, as both teams have very similar styles of play. Both favour heavy possession (Bayern: 64.7% Dortmund: 63.6%) have high pass accuracy (Bayern: 87.2% Dortmund: 85.6%) and smash the goals in with Bayern netting 24, Dortmund 25. The only significant differences are that Dortmund favours direct play with 33% of play coming through the middle (the most in the league) while Bayern is reliant on the counter attack, 4 of their goals as a result (again, the most in the league). Potentially Marco Reus may play, though he’s expected to recover by the 19th, match fitness is still in question. The same applies to Bayern Munich players Manuel Neuer, Martines and Arturo Vidal, while Kingsley Coman is out till early January.

November 13, 2016December 11, 2016 by Anirudh Suresh Categories: Bundesliga, England, Football, La Liga, Premier league, Preview, soccer, Sport, UncategorizedTags: arsenal, atletico madrid, Bundesliga, Dortmund vs Bayern Munich, Entertainment, Football, funny, gameweek 11, La Liga, madrid derby, man utd, november, Premier league, Preview, real madrid, scouting for fixtures, soccer Leave a comment

Scouting for Fixtures: Nov 7 – Nov 13

Scouting for fixtures is a weekly blog for people who love the beautiful game. They come out every Sunday and hand picks upcoming matches worldwide that week, which looks set for 90 minutes of non-stop action.

All times are GMT.

International week is one of the few times that football becomes more a chore than fun to watch. I’ve scraped the very bottom of the barrel to do something, anything. In fairness, the cards dealt could have been a lot worse, but chances are some of the matches may be sub-par. If your country is playing and by sheer dumb luck it happens to be a cracker. If you can sit through one week of this, please come back next Monday for a rundown of Prem, La Liga, Serie A, Ligue 1 and many more leagues. If not, go watch Game of Thrones or something till Monday.

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Brazil vs Argentina ( Fri 11 00:45 )

 

Courtesy of FourFourTwo

 

They’ll play their 103rd game, celebrating 102 years of the fixture tipped by ESPN FC, The Guardian and The Telegraph as the greatest international football rivalry of all time. This fixture is soaked in history, too much to wring in one paragraph, so here are the most memorable games. Looking at the home side first, Brazil is on the road to redemption from their infamous 7-1 loss after the football team picked up their first ever Olympic gold medals. They started strong in their qualification as well, ‘doing a Germany’ beating Haiti* 7-1, before losing 4 days later to Peru in what was described by Sky Sports as: ‘The defeat left Brazil struggling to digest their worst performance in the Copa America since 1987, the last occasion the five-time world champions failed to make it past the group stage.’ 

One step forward, 29 steps back (one for each year).

Obviously, that last statement was hyperbole, as since that game they’ve won their last five games in their world cup qualifiers. Looking at the current standing they seem to be doing alright for themselves.

Looking further down the table, you’ll spot an underperforming Argentina in 6th place. With 8 games left there is plenty of time to salvage some points and climb back up the table, but worrying nonetheless that they are 10 games in and still outside the qualifying places (top 5).

More recently the Argentines are still looking for form as the start studded team have only won 1 of their last 5 games.

In response, new coach Bauza believes “The criticism doesn’t bother me at all. It’s normal. What irks me is the lack of respect for me, but also for my players. Some journalists think that’s the way to get a bigger audience.”

Fair Point.

*Granted, Haiti is not the same as Germany but a 7-1 is still as 7-1

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England vs Scotland ( Fri 11 19:45 )

 

Courtesy of The Telegraph

 

I think it’s safe to say that England is the king of mediocrity when it comes to football. Scotland is just doing their thing, be it failing to qualify for Euro 2016, losing 3-0 to Slovakia, or probably fail to qualify for the world cup in Russia 2 years from now. However, unlike England, you can justify giving the Scotland team this ‘at least you tried’ cake.

The difference can be explained using this simple comparison:

Scotland’s current manager Gordan ‘wee Chesney’ Strachan has a 23-year playing career including 5 at Manchester United, 10 years of managing teams like Celtic and Southampton. He’s famously short-tempered, no-nonsense, yet continually mugs off various media outlets:

Reporter: Gordon, you must be delighted with that result?
Strachan: You’re spot on! You can read me like a book.

Reporter: This might sound like a daft question, but you’ll be happy to get your first win under your belt, won’t you?
Strachan: You’re right. It is a daft question. I’m not even going to bother answering that one. It is a daft question, you’re spot on there.

Reporter: Bang, there goes your unbeaten run. Can you take it?
Strachan: No, I’m just going to crumble like a wreck. I’ll go home, become an alcoholic and maybe jump off a bridge. Umm, I think I can take it, yeah.

Reporter: “Gordon, can we have a quick word please?”
Strachan: “Velocity” [walks off]

Reporter: Gordon, if you were English, what formation would you play?
Strachan: If I was English I’d kill myself! …

England’s current manager is Gareth Southgate. His playing career is not bad with 18 years, his management career is interesting. His first job was at Middlesborough, getting off to a shaky start as the didn’t have the required coaching qualifications (the UEFA Pro License). A UEFA Pro Licence is a mandatory qualification for managing in the FA Premier League and UEFA competitions. A course to obtain a UEFA Pro Licence is by invitation only.

After that, he’s gone on to manage England under 20 and 21.

I shouldn’t be blaming Gareth Southgate for all of England’s problems, he’s simply a placeholder for the FA who continue to pass off a mediocre team as acceptable.

November 6, 2016December 11, 2016 by Anirudh Suresh Categories: England, Euro 2016, Football, International Week, Preview, soccer, Sport, UncategorizedTags: argentina, brazil, England, Entertainment, Football, funny, International Week, qualification, russia 2018, scotland, scouting for fixtures, soccer, world cup Leave a comment

Scouting For Fixtures: Oct 17 – 0ct 23

Scouting for fixtures is a weekly blog for people who love the beautiful game. They come out every Sunday and hand picks upcoming matches worldwide that week, which looks set for 90 minutes of non-stop action.

All times are GMT.

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Liverpool vs Manchester United ( Mon 17 20:00 )

 

Courtesy of Getty Images

 

 

I suppose Newton’s third law applies to football also. Last Monday night we had the Louis Van Gaal slumber-inducing level of entertainment in the international friendlies. Now we counteract that with Liverpool vs Manchester United, equivalent to the embodiment of anger, frustration and euphoria bundled into this mess of a human being. And isn’t that what football is all about? No? Well, it holds true to this north-west derby, where to loathe your rivals was institutionalised over generations. You might think I’m exaggerating but Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard, one of the nicest men in football, sounds more like a sleeper agent than a football player when recollecting his tackle on Ander Herrera: “I couldn’t stop myself. Without even giving myself time to think I brought my left foot stamping down on Herrera. I felt my studs sink into his flesh just above the ankle. It had to have hurt him.”. As for current standings, both teams could and should be doing better with the talent they have, but Mourinho and Manchester United are finding ever more ways to not win a football match. Be it late equalisers, missing easy goal scoring opportunities or amateur goalkeeping errors, and that was just from last week’s game. Liverpool are putting a tidy run together, with 4 consecutive wins, 2 of which came against Leicester and Chelsea. At Anfield, you would hedge your bets on an inform Liverpool, but in a derby of this nature, facing a team managed by Mourinho and lead by Ibrahimovic, you can’t count them out.

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Leicester vs FC Copenhagen ( Tue 18 19:45 )

 

Courtesy of Sky Sports 

 

 

Last month pundits thought it was impressive how FC Copenhagen kept their 37 game record of not losing at home intact, as they held Porto to a 1-1 draw. Fast forward 2 weeks and their home record becomes even more impressive as they thrash Belgium side Club Brugge 4-0; Thomas Delany stealing headlines with his peach of a volley. Leicester are cruising through the group stages so far, thwarting Club Brugge and securing 3 points against FC Porto. The Foxes may be heavy favourites against their counterparts, but The Lions have 10 years of European football experience under their belt. While Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri still believes ‘we are underdogs’ in the UCL, on Tuesday it will be FC Copenhagen causing an upset if they can overthrow the Premier League champions in their own backyard.

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Barcelona vs Manchester City ( Wed 19 19:45 )

 

Courtesy of Getty Images

 

 

‘Stretched like spandex on Miami Beach’ is how football commentator Ray Hudson chose to describe Barcelona’s defending against Celta Vigo while painting a picture you wouldn’t associate with Sunday night football, but here we are. As that game ended 4-3 to Celta Vigo, it became more apparent that Barca couldn’t deal with counter attacking sides. We also saw Manchester City drop their first points in the Premier League, losing 2-0 to Tottenham with a counter-attack of their own. Guardiola is opting for possession based (60% per game) build up play, similar to his Barcelona and Bayern Munich sides. If required, the citizens have the players required to execute the potent counter-attacking press that saw Celta Vigo outscore an impressive Barcelona attack. However, the City defenders with have to face a player that the Celta Vigo defenders were fortunate enough not to, Lionel Messi.

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Bayern Munich vs Borussia M. Gladbach ( Sat 22 17:30 )

 

Courtesy of Bundesliga

 

 

Borussia M. Gladbach travels to Munich, tumbling down the table after losing 4-0 to Schalke. SCHALKE. To put that in perspective, Schalke’s league performances up to that point has been the following: L L L L L. Bayern Munich fans were also stunned, as the home side only came away with 1 point after FC Cologne somehow held Ancelotti’s side to 1 goal; goalkeeper Timo Horn made one of the best saves of the year. As we’ve all come to expect, Bayern Munich are dominating the league. As well as topping the league with 16 points, they also have the most shots per game (19), highest possession (66%), pass accuracy (87.2%) and conceded the least amount of goals (2). Just to make it harder for the away side, Bayern Munich haven’t lost in 16 games, while Gladbach only won 1/14 of their last away games. So why bother watching? Every team has a bogey team, for Chelsea, it’s Sunderland, for Barca you have Celta Vigo and for FC Bayern, Borussia M. Gladbach. In their last 6 encounters, Gladbach have won 3, drawn twice, meaning FC Bayern have only won once (in a penalty shootout).

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Feyenoord vs Ajax ( Sun 23 13:30 )

Courtesy of Getty Images

 

Remember when I said Liverpool vs Manchester United was a fierce rivalry where loathing your rivals was institutionalised over generations?  Well, that seems more like a pre-season friendly for these guys, who just want to kill each other. No really, here’s what Ajax legend Ruud Kroll had to say on the matter: ‘We wanted to kill them’. As fate would have it, in the late 90’s, the dangerous levels of aggression lead to ‘supporters’ following through on Kroll’s words. When Carlo Picornie was killed in 1997 as a result of the derby riots, it sobered the nation and dutch football, casting a shadow on De Klassiker that lasts till today. Sitting in a packed, freezing cold stadium full of screaming fans is a uniquely terrifying experience I witnessed first hand, as well as being subjected to security before and after the game that makes US border security look relaxed and incomprehensive. It was all worth it, as it was one of the best games of football I witnessed, ending 4-2. Moving on, this derby known as De Klassiker (the classic) is the biggest game in the Netherlands, with its roots dating back to the 13th century. As for the 2016-17 season, Feyenoord tops the table after 8 matches, yet to drop a point*. Ajax aren’t far behind, sitting 2nd and hope to close the 5 point gap. Both teams are aggressively attacking, with Ajax scoring 23 (2.9 per game) and Feyenoord with 20 (2.5 per game). Don’t miss it.

*As I’m typing this up I see Feyenoord losing 1-0 to NEC Nijmegen with 30 minutes left, making my stats redundant approximately 17 minutes after posting the article. Fantastic.

EDIT: Oh wait it’s ended 1-2, with Kramer scoring in the 91′ minute! Oh my god.

October 16, 2016December 11, 2016 by Anirudh Suresh Categories: Bundesliga, Champions league, England, Football, Premier league, Preview, soccer, Sport, UncategorizedTags: Ajax vs Feyenoord, barca, barcelona, barcelona vs man city, bayern munich, bayern munich vs borussia monchengladbach, berlin, Bundesliga, Champions league, England, Entertainment, europe, Football, funny, La Liga, leicester city, leicester vs copenhagen, Liverpool vs Man Utd, man city, man utd, Premier league, scouting for fixtures, soccer Leave a comment

EURO 2016: Is it time for a 3-5-2 England?

Before we start let’s get a quick synopsis of the magnum opus that was, England’s ‘blistering’ campaign in EURO 2016:

‘I haven’t had anything to do in the whole tournament to be honest.’ – Joe Hart

‘Can’t wait to do the f**king highlights show!’ – Gary Lineker

‘I-I-I can’t, just can’t stop thinking about the film Space Jam, like the monsters…nick their talent or something’ – Ian Wright

‘Joe Hart has definitely been sitting on his left hand so it feels like someone else is conceding all those goals’ – Pete Donaldson

‘I don’t really know what I’m doing here’ – Roy Hodgson

‘We’ve been knocked out of Europe twice in one week’ – Everyone

I think that speaks volumes of how England panned out in this year’s European championship; here’re just a few reasons why. In Hodgson’s system, the 3 in midfield is often outnumbered. Teams favouring a 4-2-3-1 (Russia), 3-5-2 (Wales) or 4-5-1 (Slovakia) have a 3 v 5 situation in the middle of the park. It certainly doesn’t help when your players lose the ability to kick a football post the hour mark. Having only 1 striker leaves 1 v 2 for Kane/Vardy unless your wingers can support. Lallana plays a false 9 which can be effective but isn’t ideal unless your Spain. Sterling burns out after half an hour, paired with a void of imagination on the ball. Who’s bright idea was it to give Harry Kane the set-pieces?

So clearly there’s a lot to fix, and I believe the 3-5-2 is as close to a solution as we can get.

The players in the team will be based on the 23 man squad Hodgson took to France.

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Goalkeepers: Fraser Forster / Joe Hart / Tom Heaton

Joe Hart needs to go. Starting at Man City is the only notable reason why he starts ahead of his counterpart Fraser Forster. Despite Hart coming 1 clean sheet short of receiving the golden glove, his clean sheet ratio was 43%. Compare that to Forster’s 50%, also making more saves per goal. These figures can be swayed by game time and defending styles, or in this case Man City’s lack thereof.

The % of shots on goal leading to goals gives a better picture of goalkeeping ability. Forster has 25% of shots on goal leading to a goal, for Hart that figure increases to 34%, which starts to explain situations like Gareth Bale’s free kick and his lack of wrist muscles. Jack Butland, who missed the Euro’s due to injury, has a reasonable 27%. He would start over Forster for me despite the extra 2%, as he’s had more than double the number of shots at his goal. When comparing to the elite, Neuer concedes only 20% of shots on goal, while Buffon is on 19%, Jan Oblak edges over both with a remarkable 18%.

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Central Defenders: Gary Cahill / Chris Smalling / John Stones

Besides playing intensely boring football, one of the most frustrating parts of watching England play is how any team, be it Germany or Iceland, are able to cut through the defence given the slightest chance. Even though our players aren’t awful, the backline has the structural integrity similar to that of a slightly soggy McVitie’s.

One of the biggest advantages of playing a 3-5-2 is when attacking, you have an extra defender for insurance. Smalling goes in the middle of the back 3 acting as the sweeper. Ideally, you’d want the faster more physical defenders on the left and right, but I’m not exactly spoilt for choice. Out of the 3 central defenders, he’s the only one to have any experience in the 3-5-2 with Louis Van Gaal, also completing the more tackles per game (2.9) in the PL than Stones and Cahill. Rule of thumb is that you’d have a left footed defender on the left and right-footed on the right, for easier distribution to your wing back. With both Stones and Cahill being right footers, Stones is pushed to LCB. This is mainly because of his ability on the ball and composure, completing 1365 passes in the season, so it’s easier to accommodate Cahill.

When attacking, Stones and Cahill push up slightly higher, with Smalling organising his backline. This would create more passing angles to play it out from the back or long diagonals to the opposite full backs.

When defending you would have wings back tucking in, creating a compact back five, difficult to break down.

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Central Midfield:  Dele Alli / Ross Barkley / Eric Dier / Jordan Henderson / Adam Lallana / James Milner / Wayne Rooney / Jack Wilsere

In this section, I will only cover the central midfielders in which Dier and Rooney are the two CDM’s and Alli plays the advanced role.

Addressing the main point of discussion first, can Rooney transition successfully into that Gerrard/Scholes/Lampard role? The exemplary performances in the FA cup, such as the goal line clearance against Everton and his bullish run through Crystal Palace in the final, point to progression for the England captain. We all know Rooney for his endless work-rate, coming 13th for average distance covered per game (11.018km) during the 2014/15 season. There are players such as Milner who exceeds Rooney work rate, covering 12.29km per game in the past season. On top of this Rooney’s work-rate drops significantly due to playing as a lone striker for a stretch and injuries. In terms of passing, Rooney this season has a stronger 83.1% pass success rate while Milner has 77.4%. Rooney’s ability to execute that ‘hollywood ball’, strength, tenacity and being a proven striker of the ball are the main reasons he sits next to Dier and Milner doesn’t.

Out of the defensive pairing, you have one box to box midfielder to support the attack during an offensive play and the other to cover the defence. Dier is the outstanding option to shield the backline.

Ranked 8th for most passes completed (1680) in the PL and completing the most interceptions (80), blocks (33) and tackles (129) out of the English central midfielders says it all. Dier’s Tottenham teammate and BFF Dele Alli would play CAM. His 10 goals and 9 assists last season made him the most potent English CAM’s in the premier league.

I should mention before we move on that if Mark Noble was in the 23 man squad he would without a doubt take Rooney’s spot in CDM. The West Ham captain covered the most distance of any player least season with 271km covered. That’s the same as running the London marathon 6 and a half times over; playing the N’Golo Kante role for England.

Wing Backs: Ryan Bertrand / Nathaniel Clyne / Danny Rose / Kyle Walker

The Premier League’s distinct brand of high intensity and physicality acts as a crucible for faster, stronger and more attacking fullbacks. England’s fullback options are perfect for the demanding roles for wide men that come with a 3-5-2, having the fastest fullbacks around. The excellent pace is the bare minimum; a firm grasp of defending and attacking skill, as well as a hardened physical and mental endurance is required to be a successful wing-back. Without effective wing-backs, the 3-5-2 won’t function as a formation.

Looking at the 4 wing-backs available, they’re interchangeable as for who starts. All have the ability and physicality required to make a successful wing-back. Rose and Walker were picked simply because they both play for Tottenham and have experience playing together, important so when one bombs forward the other stays back. Even still the roles are interchangeable and will require frequent rotation for the recovery needed after a match.

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Strikers: Harry Kane / Marcus Rashford / Wayne Rooney / Daniel Sturridge / Jamie Vardy 

Oh God no please not Harry Kane, and I get it. Kane has been the most disappointing of all the England players this tournament (actually I take that back, Hart was, but the less said about him the better). Not just that he took the set pieces, but that a grand total of 0 shots went remotely near the goal. On the ball, he was lethargic and failed to score. Off the ball, the pace and movement we saw at Tottenham seem a distant memory. But as explained before, the 4-3-3 without good wingers leaves the striker isolated, giving teams to just mark out the CAM, so through balls and aimless crosses are his only chance of scoring. He has been woeful don’t get me wrong, but with a strike partner, we could see a completely different man.

The perfect complement to a big hold up striker is a fast agile one, and Vardy is as good as they get. It’s a joke that he didn’t start a single match, making a big difference when he came on against Wales. Vardy lead Leicester City to their first ever top division title, contributing 24 goals and 6 assists. In addition, he’s used to playing with a big strike partner, starting with Ulloa multiple times. With 49 goals between them, the combined quality would give any defence trouble.

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Starting 11 (23 Man Squad)

Having 2 strikers and defensive insurance makes the 3-5-2 an unbeatable formation. Look at Italy who exceeded expectations by outplaying Belgium, comfortably securing first place in their group, only losing to Germany on penalties, surprise surprise. But this brings up another point.

There’s a reason that you rarely see the 3-5-2 played at the highest level.

The 3-5-2 is a very structured formation and requires a high level of discipline in order to balance the free movement of players without losing the shape of the formation. In other formations such as the 4-3-3, it’s ok for the wingers to free roam at times. With a 3-5-2 the shape is what makes it dangerous in attack and solid defensively. The defenders especially need an experienced understanding of positioning as a unit, individually and in respect to the midfield. If your players aren’t trained properly then it falls apart (Aston Villa) or everyone sticks to their position and people stop making runs (Man Utd).

As for the 3-5-2 England ever making an appearance, that hangs on the manager. If England appoints Jurgen Klinsmann as some suggest, that appearance may be sooner rather than later, experimenting with the 3-5-2 himself with the USA squad. If it ends up in big Sam’s hands or dare I even mention Pardew; it’s all hands on deck.

July 4, 2016December 11, 2016 by Anirudh Suresh Categories: 3-5-2, England, Euro 2016, UncategorizedTags: England, Euro 2016, Football, Miscellaneous, Premier league, soccer Leave a comment