Of late i have noticed Gareth Barry. Its good to see another English player with a strong left foot. He has a bit of skill and is an important player for Villa. Graham Taylor said that he was too talented to play in defence so he moved him into a midfield position. I think maybe he could do a job for England as he has skill, is fit, young and a good player. I think he could solve the problem on the left side. I think he has a few caps for England and could maybe get more if he plays as a winger.

Yah, I noticed too when he was carving up United.
Haven't seen Beckham work so hard in months.
There was even a superb "roly-poly" (our name for it in the Caribbean), when he split Beckham and Scholes I think.

He is the obvious answer I guess, because he has defensive experience and enough ball skills, but with boring Scholes and Gerard in the centre midfield, always running forward, you wonder if he will get enough opportunity to show his skill.
He'll have to spend most of his time covering the midfield for those two non-defending midfielders.

It was a shock to me when he wasn't included in the England squad against Australia. Instead, Sven went for the vastly less experienced Paul Konchensky of Charlton, who in truth is more defender than left winger.

Barry has long be talked of as the solution to England's left hand side problem but before this season he has shown me nothing to suggest that he can do a real job in the big games, but now with his good performances for Villa he surely deserves a chance.

Barry has definitely been impressive throughout the season and has really found back the form that made him a key member of the Villa team's a couple of seasons back.

Maybe the answer to the problem lies not in individuals but in the system England play.... I'd sure love to see them play something of 5-3-2 for a change...who knows it could work?

yeh, when i play as england in fifa 2003 i play a 3-5-2 formation

--------------------------------Seaman-----------------

---------------------Neville---Ferdinand-----Campbell------

Beckham---------Scholes------Gerrard-------Dyer---------A. Cole

----------------------Owen---------Heskey-----------

This would be my starting line up if i was sven. Cole would play up and down the flank like R. Carlos attacking and defending. But Becks would attack more than defend.

Thats not a 3 5 2 team, no matter how it looks on Fifa2003

England played with wingbacks under Hoddle and were moderately successful, using Graeme le Saux as the left wing back.

But having Beckham as a right wing back will restrict his attacking ability, and in the end it was Anderton who played in that position with Beckham in the centre of midfield.

It could work, but whether the three centre back system will be taken on by the English central defenders, who all play in a back-four system, will be another question that needs answering.

Who is Gareth Barry?

Originally posted by antithesis
Thats not a 3 5 2 team, no matter how it looks on Fifa2003

how do u mean?

well I am not a former coach of any National team, but, the essence of a 3-5-2 is to essentially attack deeper and wider, presumably with overlapping wingbacks.
The first flaw is that Beckham is no wingback as articulated by Digi.

The system also presumes two man-markers, and one floating central defender.
The second flaw therefore is that only Campbell can play both of those roles, and probably not good enough at either.

The system assumes one holding midfielder who buffers the man markers if the opposition pushes forward, as Gilberto at the WC, NONE OF THE THREE THERE CAN DO THAT.
In fact, those three are possibly the worst defending midfield trio in England, there would literally be a race amongst them to get forward.

Finally, because of the gap behind the wide midfielders, opposing teams are literally going to dump the ball in that gap for one of the forwards to pull their marker to the flank, and flood the middle with their attacking midfielders.
If that happens, particularly on the left, England are forced to defend aerially with Neville and Ferdinand, both of whom are weak , defensively, in the air.

And there are the little things, like Ferdinand and Campbell both prefer the right side of defence.
Can Dyer cover for Ashley Cole?


As I said I am no expert but that's my understanding of the thing.
Funnily enough, if Barry could reproduce his current form and you play him in Dyer's position, and drop Neville for Wes Brown, and be even braver and drop Scholes for Butt, I think the 3-5-2 could work.

Also get rid of Seaman, he is just keeping someone from developing at his age.
And since there is only one Arsenal man, get rid of Heskey and play Jeffers.
So my modfication of your team would be:
--------------------------------James-----------------

---------------------Brown---Campbell-----Ferdinand------

Beckham---------Butt------Gerrard-------Barry---------A. Cole

----------------------Owen---------Jeffers-----------


Of course no one would ever drop Scholes, because he scores alot, but it's my team and I always thought he succeeds but the team suffers.

Whew! This is a long post.
Since it's just for Fun, I picked James because I thought it would look cool to have an entire black English defence.
It would certainly look cool in Fifa2003 because Brown, James and Ferdinand all have blond hair, and it probably won't be too hard to get some bleached locks for Campbell

I agree, Jeffers doesn't kick it out for throw ins when he trys to score.

He was doing very well pre-Eng vs Aus. Ever since he has not shone. I am guessing not getitng called up must have shot down his morale.

What about Wayne Bridge, Le Saux, Hargreaves and Dyer? You reckon they'll be good left wingers?

We have a lot of talent in the England NT. it's about time we choose the starting 11 and stop getting new people in.

I hope Heskey gets better because sometimes we need a big guy with decent finishing to crack the defence.

Right now this would be my team

James

Neville Campbell Ferdinand A. Cole

becks scholes gerrard Dyer

Owen Heskey

Wayne Bridge is already in the England squad but he is in truth a left back instead of a left winger. He is defensively susceptible at the highest level but he does have a very good left foot. He will still be behind Ashley Cole for me, though.

Hargreaves isn't a left winger at all and the few games he had played there for England he's been very quiet.

Le Saux remains a solid left sided player but he is really getting on.

Dyer has been tried out numerous times on the left wing but has yet to shine.

If you have a 3-5-2 formation you need a ball winner, and so Butt must be drafted in. Beckham, as I said, cannot play at right wing back so he'll be put in the middle. And then it's a straight choice between Gerrard who's only ever scored once for England, or Scholes who's got bags of goals. The choice is obvious.

The left sided problem can then be either solved by Gareth Barry, who's defensively adequate as a wing back (Butt can cover for him as the anchor man if needed), or alternatively you can stick with Ashley Cole.

The problem comes with the right wing back role. Do you play an out-and-out right back, such as Gary Neville or Danny Mills, or do you go for a right sided midfielder, but there are not many that I can think of who are defensively right at the highest level. Beckham works hard but defensively is often out of position, Bowyer is too attack minded, and players like Jenas are untried.

And then there's the centre of defence. Rio Ferdinand is good on the ball, so he can be played as the sweeper/freeman, and then perhaps Campbell and Gary Neville? Or maybe Woodgate/Southgate? As I said, most of the English centre-backs play in 442 formations and the 3 centrebacks will be a shock to their system, so I'm not sure how this will work.