How England should look ahead at the WC 2014

England played the entire tournament unambitiously and were only looking for their opponents to create mistakes so that they could plunge into them. They went in the tournament trying to mould the Catenaccio style of play without going for counter-attacking at all. The only thing that the English players were concerned with was to maintain the on field shape of the formation. They simply allowed their opponents to dictate their terms to them.

Their approach to the game was similar to that of Chelsea‘s against the likes of Barcelona and Bayern Munich. They tried to pull off a Chelsea but were not that lucky. Further, in their quarter final game against Italy, they were 2 against 1 on the wings and could have easily exploited that opportunity, but instead, Milner was found drifting inside and Ashley Young lost possession quite often. This allowed the Italian full backs to surge forward. Further, the English were completely outplayed in the midfield and allowed so much space to the creative Italian midfielders. Had their strikers been clinical, only God knows what would have been the result.

In short, a dismal performance got the reward it deserved.

Now, the question is how they can look forward to the next big tournament, the World Cup 2014. One thing is for sure, Hogdson’s ultra defensive techniques might not provide a long term solution and hence they need to look forward. Here is a list of some of the players who need to be brought in and some players who deserve the departure.

Ins:

1. Jack Wilshere (Arsenal)

2. Micah Richards (Manchester City)

3. Adam Johnson (Manchester City)

4. Daniel Sturridge (Chelsea)

Outs:

1. Ashley Young (Manchester United)

2. James Milner (Manchester City)

3. John Terry (Chelsea)

Possible Starting Line up:

Hart; Cole, Cahill, Lescott, Johnson/Richards; Parker/Wilshere, Gerrard; Alex Oxalrade Chamberlain, Rooney, Adam Johnson; Welbeck/Sturridge