A lesson in Pressing: Rubbish England, spirited but wasteful Brazil

England’s stubborn draw against Spain last year and their surprise victory against the Samba boys at Wembley earlier this year, has seen them rise upto 7th in the clichéd FIFA rankings. But still their trip to Rio to face the WC 2014 hosts at home was touted as a plausible embarrassment for the Three Lions. Though some dazzling shots by Chamberlain and Rooney earned Hodgson’s men a 2-2 draw, the entire game on the whole clearly exposed the age old tactics that the rigid Hodgson still followed.

Brazil were surprisingly placed at 19th before this game, and much of the pre-match talk was regarding Neymar’s recent move to Barcelona. This is in fact depicted exactly what Scholari’s Brazil has been criticized for so far; individual talents rather than a team. With Hulk on one flank and Neymar drifting around from the other flank to the No.10 role, rarely were the ‘Men in Yellow’ able to capitalize on all the dominance their stats showed.

There could not have been more contrasting teams in the modern game. In an age where every pundit is going gaga over the ‘pressing’ and ‘marking’ shown by European clubs like Bayern Munich, Dortmund and Barcelona, one look at the setup here at Rio would show why England do not have any sort of hope in big games.

Brazil’s forwards press Carrick, English midfield neglect duties

Brazil’s 4-3-3 with Oscar juggling between the ‘hole’ and the right flank, was often being converted into a 4-4-1-1 due to the free role given to Neymar. The 21 year old was often seen as the 2nd striker with Fred and carried out his duties well. With Fred usually positioned next to England’s Centre Backs, Neymar stuck closely to Carrick when England were on the ball. So the English trio of Cahill, Jagielka and Carrick were continually closed down by the Brazilian strikers along with the occasional interference by Oscar.

Michael Carrick especially was nowhere near his usual comfort zone of passing, and was mostly forced to find the fullback rather his trademark pick-outs upfront. Hulk in such situations was the out-ball for Brazil, as every time the Brazilians won the ball in England’s defensive area they looked for Hulk running behind Johnson.

England on the other hand were nowhere near the pressing standards being followed by Scholari. Every time the ball went to Brazil’s defence, Rooney neglected his job to press and win the ball and rather took to strolling around in midfield. In such cases when Brazil had the ball, Hodgson’s age old shape of 2 banks of 4 was clearly visible as either Walcott or Milner tucked in with the central trio. Walcott has been craving to play centrally, and was most of the time seen arriving behind Rooney in attack. And just like Arsenal, almost all of England’s attacks seemed to have Walcott as the outlet. Needless to say Theo was nowhere near his best at Rio.

England’s midfield trio of Lampard, Carrick and Jones were frustrating to say the least. Infact, Phil Jones had started the game in a pretty positive note and was often press up the field to press Brazil deepest midfielder Gustavo. This saw Jones move into the No.10 in attack, but his lack of any sort of creativity failed England here. This intent shown by Jones was quickly diluted going into the 20th minute, as the youngster also followed suit and stood off in midfield.

So the trio allowed Paulinho, Gustavo and occasionally Luiz to have all the time and space on the ball, and with Rooney mostly goal-side of the fore mentioned Brazilians, long balls to the forwards were easy pickings for the Samba Boys. Lampard and Carrick were so lethargic in marking and pressing that at times the midfield looked like a defence holding an offside line. And with the midfield so flat and the defence trying to cope with the attacking trio, Oscar was having all the space in between the line. The duo of Oscar and Paulinho were given so much freedom that they often interchanged places either side of the English midfield, and were rarely tracked in their endeavors.

Another area of concern that now came into the play was the Brazilian players who received the long balls sprayed by Luiz and Silva. Mostly these were bound for Hulk or Neymar, and these 2 players were positioned right next to the English fullbacks. And due to Glen Johnson’s constant errors at holding the line at the back, Hulk often found himself through on goal. Johnson, who according to me is the most over-rated of the English players particularly in defence, had a horrid night. Apart from his mistakes while holding the offside trap, the Liverpool fullback was also responsible for Neymar getting a shot on goal from nothing.

Paulinho now remains the only man in Scholari’s setup who is unknown to most European football followers. The energetic midfielder’s job in the first half was mostly to cover England’s right side of attack and hence take out Walcott from the game. He was successful in this and his contributions in attack were pretty simple as England rarely covered his runs from midfield. Unsurprisingly the 1st goal that Brazil scored was also due to England’s inability to close down Hernanes in midfield and the Lazio man’s long ranger crucially came off the bar for Fred.

Chamberlain adds bite, Jones get physical at RB

Lack of energy and will was quite visible in the midfield, and luckily for the Three Lions their manager responded unlike in the Montenegro game. Hodgson brought on Chamberlain in midfield and pushed Jones into right back. This change showed an instant impact as Chamberlain injected the much needed pace and intent to the lethargic trio in the centre, and more importantly Jones was able to handle Hulk much more successfully than Johnson.

Chamberlain’s goal was one of the rare instances in which Frank Lampard pressed up to link through the centre, and the Chamberlain’s shot from Rooney’s touch was the first instance of intent shown by England. Rooney’s goal came though the very tactic that Hodgson had tried to preach all night; defend deep and then counter. Chamberlain’s ball to Milner on the left stretched out Brazil’s defence, and with Dani Alves in attack, Rooney was able to attack from that flank. Though a slight deflection might have aided his cause, this sublime shot was the want-away United striker’s only meaningful effort all game. In a performance that is going to get him many more critics for his lethargic pressing and tracking, Rooney has further stated his case at not being included in midfield rather than attack.

Though the English players must have warmed hearts at home after this result, their performance here leaves much more to be desired. Firstly with this tactic of holding shape and defending deep is not going to win them anything, as the team doesn’t have enough potential to break out on the counter. Walcott is clearly not going to improve any further, so the best bet would be introduce pace in midfield; Chamberlain’s arrival clearly showed this. The return of Jack Wilshere and Tom Cleverley could not be more eagerly anticipated by fans, as the duo along with the occasional tinge of Phil Jones would definitely improve the ‘energetic pressing’ woes.

As for Brazil, Scholari needs to get things sorted out in attack as all the 3 attackers always seem to place their individual skills ahead of the team. Neymar and Hulk particularly need to be smoothened into the setup, as in Fred they have a sublime finisher to work with. Scholari’s best player on the night was his substitute Hernanes and with the midfielder playing in a deeper role than his usual in Lazio, he was able to control proceedings very well. Hernanes’ presence also allowed Paulinho to get his box-to-box stuff going which then resulted in the late equalizer.