Sven : Confusion is a Weapon.

By statto_the_yid
June 19 2006

We were all told that Sven would bring us the glory day(s) back to English international football, a manager who has the credentials to bring passion and pride to the three lions.

I personally think he is the biggest con man since Robert Maxwell, how can a lifeless manager get this so wrong and yet achieve so much. You only have to go back a few years to the 5-1 cremation of German in their own backyard to see that he can get tactics so right, but I ask the question with hindsight – how did he manage it.

Lady luck has a lot to do with it I expect but you can only assume he is some kind of messiah on the training pitch, as he is very much lacking to tactical awareness to make the kind of changes we all can plainly see. There has never been a plan ‘B’ to switch to in the event of things going wrong, he tried some very strange tactical switch in the WC opener which left all scratching their heads to why. Against Trinidad he did bring on Lennon who gave the midfielders some space by pulling the defenders wide with him but I’ll bet my house that Sven didn’t intended this at all, it also wont be long before teams work out that Lennon’s final ball isn’t that great (yet).

[img]http://www.xeber.net/resimler/Sven_Goran_Eriksson.jpg[/img]
“Sven having a long hard chin rub”


Yesterday it was hinted that England would be playing with a diamond midfield, a few bibs left out on the training pitch for the press to spot was all that we have to go on right now (unless things have changed from yesterday afternoon) another formation change in a major tournament not playing to our strengths or strengths Sven thinks we have. From what I can work out Sven thinks he can use confusion as a weapon, also the speculation that Hargreaves will start in the holding midfield role at the bottom of the diamond. Still we have no facts just yet, but if Carrick is not selected to start by Sven then we are in for a tough game. I don’t believe Hargreaves has the ability to distribute the ball like Carrick or even Carrigher; another confusion weapon ? In fact it confuses me to why Hargreaves even gets into the first 11 let alone the squad. Hargreaves hasn’t made many starts this season and has fallen out of flavour with his manager at club level, who according to various press reports have been trying to off load him (on to Tottenham Hotspur as well as Bolton).


The news that Owen will start along side Rooney also gives me mixed emotion, we need to progress in this competition and would of liked Rooney to start along side Crouch, I understand the fear of losing Crouch if he gets another yellow for the next match but had Sven taken Defoe nobody would of worried about Owen ‘the ghost’ playing well beyond his ability (I meant that in a negative way).

[img]http://www.soccernet.com/design05/DJ/20051203/defoe_rh205.jpg[/img]
“Owen over Defoe ?”


This just highlights the fact that Sven did not think his selection of Owen through and the decision was made either with haste or peer pressure to take a broken Owen who I feel will never come good again, as he has proved the last few years. Only in Euro 2004 did he shine and even then was upstaged by a very explosive Rooney, so why bother with Owen ? Yes he has pace, yes he can turn a game but we need him on top of his game and fit going into the tournament, mentally he must be to a bad place as well which can never help, so he should have been left to feed his horses all summer.


Maybe I’m being too over critical of Sven but I for one will not shed a tear at his departure no matter how lucky we were winning the World Cup.