Who to play up front for England against Croatia? The choice undoubtedly seems to be between two, despite Carlton Cole’s impressive performances – Emile Heskey or Jermain Defoe. The perennial underachiever (in terms of goals scored) against the perennial second half substitute.
Emile Heskey
Let’s be honest, he probably won’t score. But interestingly for a striker playing international football, he’s not really expected to. His strike rate is not particularly impressive, but his real strength is that he is so difficult to handle. He is your typical English centre forward, and as we know, foreign defenders aren’t generally very good against that sort of striker. Not many countries play the English way of crossing and knocking the ball up to “the big man”. Look across Europe and you’ll often see big target men are very successful. Luca Toni, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Nikola Zigic to name three. Closer to home, and you’ll see that Peter Crouch has a strike rate at international level at nearly one goal every two games. Wolves’s new signing Stefan Maierhofer scored 24 goals in 38 goals last season at Rapid Vienna. Jan Koller played the big man role perhaps better than anyone in recent memory, and his international record lives up to that claim – 55 goals in 90 appearances for the Czech Repubulic. Defenders from average to poor countries don’t defend well against big men. Big problem in this case is that Croatia are in no way an average to poor country! As mentioned before though, if Heskey plays it won’t be for his goal scoring prowess. He helps to relieve pressure by giving an outlet who can hold the ball up. He can battle with defenders on the floor and in the air, and will complement Rooney well who can drift and look to get on the ball. Heskey gives the option in the box for crosses from Wright-Phillips or Lennon on the right, and can provide knockdowns for onrushing midfielders in Lampard and Gerrard.
Jermain Defoe
Here is the complete opposite of Heskey. If Heskey is all power and strength, then Defore is all pace and finishing. Defoe has the ability to create something out of nothing, and with the ball at his feet, is as dangerous a dribbler as anyone England currently possesses. He has a very good, accurate shot, and often surprises defenders and goalkeepers with the speed of his strike. He has very little backlift and can get a shot away before defenders have the chance to move. See his goal this last weekend against Slovenia for evidence of that. Defoe again gives that different option that TV pundits love to talk about. He can get in behind defenders, something Heskey can’t do. The other thing that Defoe has on his side is the proverbial “form book”. Seven goals in six games this year and several eye catching performances coming on as substitute have elevated Defoe into a genuine England starting candidate. But is he only effective as a substitute? Defoe hasn’t done too well when starting for England and looks to be an excellent impact substitute to come on when other, more physical, strikers have battered defenders around a bit. Defoe on paper will certainly strike more fear into tired defenders coming on from the bench than Heskey. But it is hard to argue that Defoe doesn’t deserve another chance from the start, but Capello does not seem to be a man who bows to compassion. Deserving he may be, but Capello will pick the team to win a given match. The equivalent to having bowlers who complement each other at each end, Defoe and Heskey in each half seems to be giving results. It would take a brave man to change that formula for an important game set to be a lot tougher than the last few games England have had.
Verdict?
I would expect Capello to start with Heskey. Heskey gives more to a team than Defoe, who is much better when the game is stretched and can utilise the time and space offered. Heskey will bring England’s other matchwinners into the game, and give defenders a torrid time, allowing Defoe to come on and reap the benefit of that. Defoe may well come on and score again, but it would be naïve to underestimate the role that Heskey’s performance would play in that.
However Capello decides to line his team up, the fact that there is a selection headache is a credit to the Italian and the players performing for him. We should not forget, it has been a long time since England qualified so seamlessly as they could this time. Competition for places can only help the drive towards World Cup glory.
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