Watching Wayne Rooney scoring yesterday against Hull City and thus making himself joint top-scorer of the league, got me thinking, why doesn't England play with three strikers?
Rooney is sharing the top marksman honour with Ivory Coast & Chelsea's Didier Drogba and fellow Englisman, Tottenham's Jermain Defoe. All on 13 goals after 19 matches. And Rooney and Defoe aren't the only English strikers enjoying their Premier League campaign this season.
Sunderland's Darren Bent has notched up 11 goals so far. Aston Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor and West Ham's Carlton Cole aren't too far behind with 8 and 7 goals respectively. All strikers, who you would think good do a good job for England. So why not try and place as much of them on the pitch as you can?
And I'm taking about the real, straight forward 4-3-3, not the fancy pants, tactical one with the wingers and 4-5-1 formation in defensive play. Let all the top guns loose and see what happens!
Rooney-Bent-Defoe would be a perfect threesome in my mind. All of them with predatory instincts in front of goal, and Rooney, being a immense natural talent, would also help out the team defensively roaming around the pitch.
I think the midfield would benefit from it too. It's a well known fact that Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard rarely perform for England when playing together, but this 4-3-3 formation could suit both. I would place Gerrard on the right side of the three. That way he could threaten offensively, whilst also help out in defence. Lampard would be ideal for the central roll. He's box to box is a real asset for the team. And I know, Gerrard is also a box to box player, but he also has experience playing as a wide player and even though it isn't your traditional winger roll, it does offer more opportunities for wing play.
And I would put Gerrard on the right hand side, because since Gary Neville fell out of the England picture, there really hasn't been a attacking threat from the right side of defence. Gerrard could fill that role. On the other side, England is blessed with having one of the World's best attacking fullbacks in Ashley Cole. He could offer attacking threat from the left hand side, whilst having someone more defensive compared to Lampard and Gerrard, in the left side of the midfield three. Someone like Owen Hargreaves, or Gareth Barry. Barry, as a matter of fact, in my opinion would be ideal. The Aston Villa man started his career as a left-back and is blessed with defensive abilities.
The choice of this is also back up by the fact that England hasn't got much traditional wingers anymore. Aaron Lennon would be one and Ashley Young, Shaun Wright-Phillips possibly, but who else? All of them are right-sidede, there hasn't been a left-sided one for years now. Joe Cole can play there, but he's more of a attacking midfielder who is more suited to the role behind strikers.
This formation will probably never go through the head of Fabio Capello, and the whole article is a bit Football Manager(ish) (maybe because I just got the latest one, here's hoping my computer can run it), but it does offer some thinking. With friendlies coming up and still time to experiment before the 2010 World Cup finals, why not try something different? I know I would.
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