Arena v. Eriksson: Analysis of Squad and Reflection on Coaching Acumen, Style

FWIW - a lot of England fans are going ballistic. They have a forward line of Rooney, Owen, Crouch, and Walcott.

A man in an oxygen tank, a player who's played approximatly 80 competitive minutes since New Years Day, a dude who migh trip over his own feet at any second - walking down the sidewalk, and a 17 year old who's never played a Premiership second.

On standby is Jermaine Defoe, who split times with tottenham's strike force, Darren Bent, who was the top scorer in the Premiership, and even Dean Ashton. a guy has done nothing but score goals since making the switch. That is a HECK of a lot different from Arena's situation. Esepecially since Adu is an attacking midfielder rather than a striker. Josh wolff covers the spot that either Rolfe or Adu would. And EJ covers both spots. Arena, IMHO, played this far better than Sven did

 

The big difference is, one guy hopes to win the World Cup, the other guy wants to perform respectably and advance to the second round.

So Sven looks at somebody like Darren Bent and says, "Nah, just another good EPL player. I'll take Theo, because if he plays up to his potential he could be this Cup's Michael Owen."

Whereas Arena facing the same situation would say, "I can't afford to take Theo, because I need all 11 players contributing for us to get results. With Darren, I know that I'll get a guy who can help."

Different mindsets. Sven hates the idea of getting knocked out in the quarters again, while Bruce would be delighted, would view that as an important consolidation step.

 

Still think the Bruce should have shown some balls and picked Cooper....I know, he only ever played for Man Utd reserves and never got a call up.....and lord knows you sure can't pick a player who's never played in the first team....

 

Good discussion starter, especially because these are two of the longest-tenured coaches at the World Cup. Having a full cycle to prepare, both Eriksson and Arena are 100% responsible for these rosters.

I particularly enjoyed this quote from Sven:

In my eyes, taking an injured Rooney is already the gamble pick. Look at this worst-case scenario: Rooney doesn't make it back in time and Owen is still rusty. That leaves Peter Crouch and a completely untested Walcott. Say what you will about Adu, at least he played...Walcott is nowhere near match-fit. How pissed is Darren Bent right now?

Now, here's Arena's quote about his gamble, John O'Brien:

Our worse-case scenrio: O'Brien gets hurt, but too late to replace him on the roster. This still leaves Reyna and Mastroeni to run the show in the middle of the field. This would also mean more minutes for Dempsey and Olsen than initially planned. This isn't ideal, but it isn't the black hole that is England's nightmare.

This probably reading far too much into a few quotes, but this quote about O'Brien enforces my belief that Arena is a master planner. He does everything for a reason; people may not agree with his decisions, but you can at least understand how he could come to such decisions. Had he picked Adu, there would have been something driving the pick other than "he is a great talent."

 

Would love to see a poll on the question of whether Freddy Adu is a better soccer player, today, than Ben Olsen.

I know which way I'd vote.

 

I also have issues on how Sven built his squad here. If Becks gets hurt you'll hjave 17 year old Aaron Lennon replacing him. yea - SWP hasn't seen much time...but that's just nuts. You at least KNOW what you'll get around SWP and be able to plan around him. That's why I didn't mind Bruce's selections of Albright/Hejduk. They aren't the most talented players out there byt you know what? you'd rather have them rather than someone like Marvell Wynne or Tim Ward, two kids who are BOTH more talented, beecuse you can at least game plan around the former players. Then you look at the left side of the midfield, you have Joe Cole, who is gonna end up playing a withdrawn role similar to what Donovan does for USA for....Stuart Downing? The guy just barely got back to full fitness while Keiran Richardson has been playing some of the best soccer of his career in the 2nd half of the season. oh, and Downing is the ONLY left-footed winger on the squad other than Ashley Cole and Wayne Bridge, both of whom are defenders. And this a side with NINE midfielders....and just ONE Left-Sided attacking winger? for a team that's gonna dependant upon service from the wings with Rooney out?

 

Ben Olsen

 

Bent didnt' even make the standby list. Pretty silly

 

believe he just recently turned 19....and anyway the Bruce did say that the World Cup is a "young mans game"....maybe shoulda took his own advice...

 

Another consideration is that regardless of what happens, SGE will probably be able to get lots of jobs elsewhere after the WC. Bruce Arena might not get offers from Europe even if he does well because he's American. It's hard to take risks when you're in that situation.

 

Just to round out the situation.

Sven has talked about playing Joe Cole as a forward should he be needed.

I agree with you; it seems a gamble that that he doesn't need to take. The idea that Rooney and Owen will be anything close to their best is lunacy. Rooney's going to running with a walker, and how many games has Owen played in the past year? So why not take Defoe or Bent. I don't think Bent even made the alternate list if I remember correctly.

So if Rooney and Owen can't make it, is he going with a starting forward line of Crouch and Cole for EVERY GAME??? You can't start Walcott with a straight face can you? And if you play Cole at forward, then you play Downing as a left mid.

Crazy, Crazy, Crazy.

 

Saw the selection on TV over here. I gotta say, Sven didn't impress. I know english isn't his native language, but when I compare his discussion to BA's, it sounds like Bruce thought everything out. Sven sounds more like he FELT everything out, going with his gut. He even said as much. It just didn't sound like he put much deep analysis into his selection. I know I'm being too harsh, but that's the impression I got.

I'd take BA's method over Sven's any day. I don't consider it being risk averse by taking Bent over Walcott, I consider it being smart. If Walcott had played any sort of significant minutes for Arsenal whatsoever, maybe I'd change my mind. If the other strikers chosen weren't injured, just coming off injury, or a lurp, maybe I'd also change my mind. But you put those 2 facts together, and it looks downright stupid.

 

not that young

 

unfortunately Charlton Athletic didn't qualify for the World Cup...

 

or Stesua of...whatever the hell country they are from.

 

good point....but Kieron Richardson just ain't that good....and Sven knows what he has with him,Defoe, Johnson,Bent etc....Theo just may, just may, be the difference maker....that these guys aren't...we shall see....personally I LOVE it that both he and Lennon are in the squad..

 

Sven's always had the problem of getting Lampard and Gerrard on the field at the same time.

But now, he's got ONE striker who's played in the prem who's healthy. (Hint: he's big, he's red, his feet stick out the bed).

So, by dumb luck, his problem is solved. You put Crouch up top as a lone target man, or even Owen as a lone striker if he's healthy enough, and let Gerrard and Lampard play as dual attacking midfielders behind him. You sit a holding midfielder (Hargreaves or Carrick) in front of a four man backline, with Beckham and Cole on the wings, and all of a sudden Sven looks like a genius for solving the midfield problem, even though he basically has no other choice.

Now, when a goal is needed, you can take off your holding midfielder and replace him with Walcott up front, and take off Beckham for Lennon, and you've got instant speed, and the goals might come from anywhere.

Now, if Wayne Rooney was never hurt, you'd still see the same old 4-4-2 with two attacking midfielders and a dreadfully exposed backline. But now, injuries have forced Sven to do what he probably should have been doing all along...taking some risks, changing things up.

Sorry, rant over. I think Bruce's overall tactical approach is to adapt his formation and system to the players he has available, as opposed to SVE basically plugging whatever players he has into a rigid system...but now he's got change it up similar to what Bruce does...will be an interesting study to see how he does so.

 

Sven did similar things that Arena did, however his choices have a far reaching impact than Arena's will.

Sven...not choosing Bent is like Arena not choosing Twellman...Bent probably would have helped Sven more than Twellman would have helped Bruce.

Sven choosing Alcott is the same as Arena not choosing Adu. This seems clear. Adu plays pretty regularly in MLS..Alcott hasn't played at all. Not picking Wright-Phillips is a mistake over picking Alcott. SWP would have helped England. In Arena's case...ADU would have definitely been a better choice than Olsen...Olsen was once a wonder boy on the Nats..but that was before when he looked like Sampson...

Owen is a given..if he's healthy..like McBrice is a given and he IS healthy.

Crouch is a sentimental choice..similar to Josh Wolff...

Clearly here...England has much more to lose with these picks than the USA..

RevsFanDan

 

one has driven his team up in world stature, the other has driven his team down in World stature.