Jack Wilshere can play anywhere for England, says Jamie Redknapp, but why not use him further forward?
Let Wilshere loose further forward or even on the left, says Jamie
It's clear Jack Wilshere can play anywhere for England, says Jamie Redknapp, but why not use him further forward?
Before the friendly with Denmark I was wondering why on earth England were playing it. Having sat and watched it, it clearly served some useful purposes.
We learned a lot about plenty of players, some things we already knew, some things we didn't. We know Jack Wilshere is going to be comfortable playing in any team, at any level; we know Darren Bent is an out-and-out goalscorer.
But we also found out that Ashley Young can do well in that role just off the front man for England and that in Scott Parker, we have a central midfielder who is willing to do all the dirty work, let those in front of him go forward and make things happen.
Whether anything will change for the next qualifier with Wales I am not sure, but Fabio Capello learned plenty that will stand us in good stead going forward. But as always it has thrown up some dilemmas; good dilemmas, but a whole new bunch of questions.
It took about five minutes to realise that Wilshere is comfortable in an England shirt. Good footballers can play anywhere and this kid is a very good footballer. He has that lovely habit of passing to his team-mates and that helps in that holding role, but I don't think he is best used in that position - he has too much to offer going forward to sit back and play that quarterback position.
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England will not get the best out of him in that role. People always seem to be looking for that Claude Makelele in midfield, but why can't Wilshere be our Cesc Fabregas? He is obviously far better going forward, getting into advanced areas for Arsenal, so I don't understand why we are cutting his legs off - for want of a better phrase - and making him sit back.
I wouldn't rule out using him on the left, either. We have the best left-back in the world in Ashley Cole bombing forward and back all game and if England do want to get an extra body into areas where they can really hurt teams, Wilshere can do just that - just as he does for Arsenal.
His natural instinct is to go forward and we saw a couple of times in Copenhagen that when he did that, England were left exposed. We looked far more solid in the second half when Gareth Barry and Scott Parker came on, but having played central midfield most of my career, I don't see why Capello - and so many other managers come to that - insists on this Makelele role.
Most teams use it in the Premier League, but look at Manchester United: they have never used a holding midfielder, they just have central midfielders who get up and get back - and they haven't done badly relying on that have they?
Selfless
That said, I thought Scotty Parker did really well in the second half. The nice problem England have is that they have Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and now Wilshere as the creative players in there, but if they are going to insist on having one sitting back, then Parker showed he can do that.
He is selfless and the perfect platform to let Gerrard and the rest go forward and do their thing. He might not get a start, but I think we saw enough in 45 minutes on Wednesday to suggest he can fit in that role whenever he's called upon. One tackle he made, when Ashley Cole was caught upfield and he tracked back 50 yards, summed up what he is all about.
Another player who did his chances no harm at all was Ashley Young. His goal was a sublime finish, coolly taken and not the sort of finish you'd expect from a young lad with only two international starts. I have seen him in that free role behind Darren Bent a couple of times now and he looks like he can do it and do it well.
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People talk about Wayne Rooney being under pressure - which seems ridiculous - but if we are going to play 4-4-1-1 and have someone playing off the lone striker, then Young looks like he can do it.
To make that one striker works you need a clever player in behind him. Gary Lineker had Peter Beardsley and particularly when Darren Bent - who is an out-and-out goalscorer who we don't expect to contribute too much else - is up there, that man just off him is crucial.
Space
It's wrong just to dismiss Bent as a goalscorer though. People always say he doesn't contribute to the team but what he did well against Denmark was get in behind their backline.
He may have just been chasing lost causes but what he did was pull those defenders back and that creates space for the likes of Young, Rooney, Lampard and when he's in, Gerrard to do their thing. And when you pass the ball as well as England did in Copenhagen, you can maybe afford a striker in the Bent mould.
Also Bent gives us a very English option, if you like, as does Andy Carroll who, if he keeps his head down at Liverpool and keeps developing will be the future of our national side. While international football is different we should not lose sight of what we do well; that means playing at pace and getting the ball forward quickly, that means having an aerial presence at times and that means playing at a high tempo.
I would love to be sat here talking about Wayne Rooney's performance but to be fair, I don't think 45 minutes was ever going to be enough time for him to set the world on fire. I have to say I am puzzled by Wayne at the moment, but not worried.
This time last year when he was in that red-hot form, we never thought he would be anything other than a world-beater every game. Well that clearly hasn't been the case and what I am seeing now is a player who is going to have great games but never be truly consistent and produce that high level week in, week out. Maybe we all expect too much of him.
He scored two against Aston Villa the other week for United but was then very quiet again against Wolves. I am working on the Manchester derby on Saturday and wouldn't put it past him to have a great game, given what's at stake and how that game is going to be played.
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But you just don't know with Wayne these days, you really don't. But I don't think anything he does or doesn't do is going to concern Fabio Capello too much - Wednesday night gave him plenty of answers he was looking for, and a few new questions, too!
