ENGLAND should play an entirely new formation to get the best out of their major stars.
The Three Lions crashed to a 2-1 defeat to Greece before a much improved performance saw them beat Finland 3-1 over the international break.
However, the two games made one thing painfully obvious, Lee Carsley does not know how to get the best out of his stars.
His three-pronged false-nine experiment with Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden against Greece failed to make the most of the trio.
Meanwhile, flaws in the build-up structure left Declan Rice and the defence exposed.
But SunSport’s own tactics guru Dean Scoggins has broken down what interim boss Carsley can do to remedy these problems before next month’s final Nations League group fixtures.
With Harry Kane unavailable for the game against Greece, Carsley, 50, boldly decided to play the attacking trio of Palmer, Bellingham and Foden as his attacking force.
However, despite all their talents, the trio proved largely ineffective.
Palmer, 22, in particular was out of sorts as he dropped too deep to pick up the ball and found himself away from the favoured spaces around the penalty area where he has become such a force for Chelsea.
The formation England used – a 2-3-5 in possession – failed to maximise their abilities due to a lack of help out wide as the team played too narrow with both full-backs inverting.
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This allowed Greece to remain compact and shut down the space England tried to operate in, with the aforementioned trio also treading on one another’s toes throughout.
That being said, there is a way to get the best out of them, but it will unfortunately involve sacrificing one for the benefit of the others.
That bold decision should be to drop Foden, 24, from the team in favour of a wide player such as Jack Grealish, Noni Madueke or Bukayo Saka, who are all comfortable keeping their width on the touchline.
This move would serve to allow one player to hold width, therefore opening up the inside channel spaces that Bellingham, 21, and Palmer like to operate in.
Bellingham has played his best stuff at Real Madrid as a left-sided No8, while Palmer’s best work comes in the right half-space.
However, there is another player who is key for this to work as intended.
That player is captain Kane, whose presence was sorely missed against Greece.
The Bayern Munich star is undroppable in both an attacking and defensive sense.
His unselfish movement helps to drag defenders out of position and open up space for team-mates to move and pass into – exemplified by Grealish’s goal against Finland which was cleverly assisted by Angel Gomes.
Kane, 31, managed to occupy a defender before making a movement to the left and dragging them with him, allowing for Gomes to get some room and thread a pass into Grealish before he netted the opener.
The former Tottenham ace is also instrumental defensively as he knows when to lead the press or when to drop off.
His ability to clear the ball at the front post from corners is also important yet understated.
But while tweaks to the role of individual players can be impactful, meaningful changes will only come with a change of team shape.
The Greece game saw England not defending as a unit and being killed in transition.
John Stones and Rico Lewis were exposed, Trent Alexander-Arnold was caught upfield and Levi Colwill was caught in behind.
Rice, 25, was one player in particular who “personified” the confusion and blurring of lines between roles, as he gave 100 per cent but often in the wrong areas.
The Arsenal star is doing too much on his own, and should have his role simplified to maximise both his and his team-mates output and effectiveness.
At this stage it is well known that his strength does not lie in passing the ball through the lines, but rather as a ball-carrier and protector.
And one method to help fix all three of these problems comes down to a simple change in build-up.
Rather than a 2-3-5, England should move to a 3-3-3-1 with Alexander-Arnold, 26, inverting as seen against Finland. This would serve three uses.
The first covers the exposed defence problem by leaving an extra player to defend. The second serves to get the best out of Rice, while the third enables Palmer and Bellingham to be at their best.
With that in mind, the three key spine points of the team should maximise and protect Stones, Rice and Kane through each of the thirds.
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