England’s Jordan Henderson buy canada goose jacket online cheap and Eric Dier show frustrating lack of ambition

Amid the debate about Gareth Southgate’s decision to omit Wayne Rooney from the starting lineup against Slovenia, it is worth remembering he was not replaced by a similar player. Southgate introduced a holding player, Eric Dier, which completely changed the balance of England’s midfield, and inevitably changed their gameplan. It was a significant move in terms of personnel but was primarily a tactical change.

A defensive shift was not entirely unexpected – a trip to Slovenia is a very different test to a home game against Malta – but England’s shape was influenced by what burlington coat factory canada goose coat Southgate had expected from the opposition. Before the match, he talked specifically about the optimum way to play against a diamond midfield: shifting the ball quickly to the full‑backs, who can fly forward and create overloads down the flanks. Dier was presumably selected, in part, because Southgate expected England to be at a numerical disadvantage in the centre of midfield, and required more structure in that zone. It sale is unusual for a manager to talk so candidly about the opposition’s system before a match but Southgate’s message became less relevant once it was apparent Slovenia were playing a 4-1-4-1 system.

England’s full-backs, therefore, were not in space but instead up against the Slovenia wide midfielders Benjamin Verbic and Roman Bezjak, who tracked them manfully. With that attacking approach denied, England had few obvious plans: Theo Walcott and Jesse Lingard both struggled to best place to buy a canada goose jacket in toronto get into the game, the former staying wide on the right and the latter taking up clever positions between the lines, rarely found by team-mates in deeper positions.

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That was the frustrating aspect of England’s midfield – the lack of ambition shown by Dier and the captain, Jordan Henderson. It is canada goose coat 1000 bulbs promo understandable Southgate wanted to guard against the counterattack because Slovenia have clever, quick attacking midfielders. With Dier alongside him, Henderson could have pushed forward more, asking questions of Jasmin Kurtic, who was happy to push up and press but rarely had to sprint the other way. The most impressive aspect of Slovenia’s play was their midfield pressing – they did not harass England’s centre-backs relentlessly but pounced when John Stones and Gary Cahill attempted to thread balls into the midfield zone.

It took time for England to settle, and Dier’s early wayward backpass that forced Joe Hart to can you wash a canada goose parka save from Bezjak underlined their nervousness. With 20 minutes remaining, Henderson made a similarly careless mistake, playing a blind pass straight to Josep Ilicic – Hart again came toEngland’s can you pick the most expensive canada goose parka rescue with another crucial save. Slovenia’s most presentable opportunities generally came from England errors.

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Slovenia’s pressing meant their holding midfielder Rene Krhin was forced to cover a huge amount of ground in front of the defence and England’s brightest attacking player was Dele Alli, who showed wonderful movement to escape the attention of Krhin. His clever drift into space in the opening stages allowed him time to slip an excellent through-ball to Daniel Sturridge, who miscontrolled and wasted a fine goalscoring chance. Ten minutes into the second half Alli’s storming run in the inside‑left channel was followed with a slightly underhit pass towards Sturridge, which was easily canada goose coat 1000 calorie meal plans intercepted.

Alli was allowed extra attacking freedom without Rooney in the side, and he confirmed his status as England’s best option in the No10 position. He could have been helped further with some better movement from Sturridge – whereas Harry buy canada can i wash my canada goose jacket goose jacket online cheap Kane has an excellent relationship with Alli at Tottenham, creating space in the opposition’s backline for Alli to race into, Sturridge makes more straightforward runs and is primarily concerned with getting himself in scoring positions.

Alli was sacrificed with just over 15 minutes remaining when Rooney was summoned from the bench but the Spurs midfielder is the man in possession of the No10 shirt and should be England’s primary attacking midfielder for the foreseeable future.