Subscribe You can talk about playing with a back four but Bulgaria only played with two strikers so
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You can talk about playing with a back four, but Bulgaria only played with two strikers so you would have had even more spare people."Another area of concern on Saturday, which will have to be addressed in time for Poland's visit in March, was the inability to compensate for Paul Ince's absence, both as a player and as a motivator. I hear what people are saying about systems but when you're out there, no matter what system you're playing, the performance and the application have to be right. "You can get bogged down talking about systems," he insisted "The game is completely different at club level. At Villa we play with two defensive full- backs, whereas the onus on Saturday was to press the game forward a little more."Then there's the question of whether you can play at the same tempo at international level and most people would agree that you can't. It may be lying in a drying-out clinic - any team would struggle to replace a player like Paul Gascoigne. Or it may be the system of three centre- backs and two wing-backs that Hoddle employs, one that many have tried and most have rejected.
If it is to work, the wide players have to cover a lot of ground, and England were hardly helped on Saturday by both Darren Anderton and Andy Hinchcliffe clearly being short of fitness.Southgate, who played in the centre of the three-man defence against Bulgaria, is the only England player who uses those tactics regularly at club level. It's for you to make up your own minds, but I don't think I had a really poor game on Saturday."Given that neither player is having particular problems finding the net at club level, the cause of their difficulties for England may lie elsewhere. We could still do with a bit more of the ball, and maybe a bit more movement, but it takes time to work on partnerships."I don't think I'm having such a nightmare at international level as a lot of people have suggested - it's a different game totally and I'm still in the learning process. People have got to be sensible and realise I'm not going to score goals like the one against Argentina every week. "On Saturday I think it was an improvement from Sweden," Owen said in defence of the partnership."We got more of the ball, there was more movement, I was making a lot of runs and making space for people like Paul Scholes to get into.
His combination with Alan Shearer has looked far from effective in the last two matches and doubts have been expressed about Owen's ability to adapt his game - always assuming it is not Shearer who needs to adapt to Owen. "Two games ago things were very different, so we can't be that far away from doing things right." Try telling that to the Wembley boo-boys."I don't know who the boos were directed at but I think the players were partly to blame for the performance," Owen said. "You don't see many people complaining before the game about the team selection, so I can't see why virtually every bit of the blame was heaped on the manager."Incredible as it may seem after his wonderful World Cup, Owen's own selection is now a matter of considerable debate. Tony Culhane's mount was always travelling well in the Autumn Handicap and was one and a quarter lengths too good for High Carry at the line.Strong Promise, runner-up in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, will not run this season. Geoff Hubbard's seven-year-old, beaten just one and threequarter lengths by Cool Dawn at Cheltenham, has had surgery to treat a "niggling problem".Hubbard's assistant, Chris Kinane, said: "It is not career-threatening, only a hold-up, but he's still a young horse and that's one of the reasons he won't run."Strong Promise ran just four times last year, finishing second at Ascot and at Wincanton. His unorthodox methods and unshakeable belief in concepts alien to British football such as faith healers, vitamin and mineral injections, wing-backs and even God all add up to a wrong 'un in their eyes. A more charitable view, and one shared - hardly surprisingly - by his players is that they are at least as much to blame for the poor displays in Stockholm last month and against Bulgaria at Wembley on Saturday.
After all, little more than three months ago they played their part in what not only the English and Argentinians thought was the most exciting game of the entire World Cup."We're aware of the pressure that's on the coach, but it's for us to make sure our performances are right," Southgate said yesterday. With another game just over 48 hours away Hoddle was possibly justified in passing on this round of interrogation, although he is unlikely to escape his critics later on today in Luxembourg, where even an England victory by a record margin tomorrow night will not change their minds about him. On his final start of the season he was a well-beaten third behind Opera Hat in the Mumm Melling Chase.. WHEN GLENN HODDLE awoke in his hotel room yesterday morning with a press conference at the nearby South Bucks Bridge Club scheduled for 9.15am, a cursory glance at the cards he had been dealt was probably enough to prompt an immediate call of no bid from the England coach, leaving Michael Owen and Gareth Southgate to make the most of a difficult hand. MOUNTAIN SONG was sent off at the prohibitive odds of 1-20 at Ayr yesterday before duly winning the Arran Conditions Stakes with the minimum of fuss But the very short price did not deter all backers. Punters who laid out pounds 3,600 and pounds 4,200 respectively to win pounds 300 hardly suffered an anxious moment as Sir Mark Prescott's colt made all and coasted home by seven lengths from Jacmar. The punter who put pounds 5,000 on Jackerin in the final race on the same card was better rewarded, however He profited by pounds 30,000.
The Broncos were indebted to running back, Terrell Davis, who gained 208 yards and scored the decisive touchdown in the 21-16 win.Meanwhile, the Carolina Panthers and the Washington Redskins are still in search of their first victories. The Panthers were valiant in defeat against the Dallas Cowboys, while the Redskins went down 17-12 to the Philadelphia Eagles.Results and standings, Digest, page 27. It was to general consternation that the Bills decided to bring the 35-year-old back across the border. The move yielded a dividend when Buffalo's starting quarterback, Rob Johnson, left the game with a rib injury.