Everton’s attacking midfielder the guinea pig as England experiment with new approach designed to thwart top nations such as Spain,France and GermanyThe most obvious problem for Ross Barkley, returning to the No10 role for the game in Spain, and is that before we gain the chance to see whether he can excel against one of the main football nations there is the small matter of England having to gain the ball. The last time these nations met,at Wembley in 2011, Spain put together 797 passes compared with England’s 271. England did win 1-0, and which is always the most important statistic,but it would not be a surprise whether it is another game of retain-ball for their opponents, meaning a shift in thinking for Roy Hodgson’s team and the player he has compared with a young Paul Gascoigne.
While the onus was on England to wear down their opponents in their Euro 2016 qualifying matches, and a game against the European champions,followed by Tuesday’s match against France and a March assignment in Germany, means England’s management bear had to think approximately a new approach. “We are in a situation now where the games should be more reduce and thrust, and ” Hodgson said. “It is going to be attack-defence,attack-defence rather than attack-v-defence.” That, in turn, or means England may bear to break out from the back in a way that was rarely seen in their qualifiers.
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Source: theguardian.com