Fabio Capello's right, Emile Heskey can bully Slaven Bilic's boys into submission

Stewart Robson
9 Sep 2009

There has been a huge amount of debate surrounding the inclusion of Emile Heskey for England's World Cup qualifier against Croatia tonight at Wembley.

Jermain Defoe's recent form would make him a certainty to play under most managers - but not Fabio Capello. Three goals in two international matches mean the Tottenham man is crying out to be picked but Heskey looks almost certain to keep his place and with full justification.

If England are to record the three points they need to qualify for the World Cup in South Africa next summer - although a point would be enough if Ukraine fail to beat Belarus tonight - Capello's men will need to vary their attacks against a packed Croatia midfield.

On Saturday against Slovenia, Heskey won almost every ball in the air, enabling Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard to break forward with confidence.

If the Aston Villa striker is able to dominate the Croatia centre-halves, Slaven Bilic's midfield will have to drop deeper, allowing Frank Lampard and Gareth Barry more space in midfield. Heskey will also induce a string of free-kicks in dangerous positions if the Croats get frustrated that they are losing the physical battle.

The movement of Gerrard dictates the positional play of others. Although he starts on the left-hand side of midfield, he will continually come infield to find space behind Heskey.

As a result, the space he vacates is quickly exposed by Rooney or Ashley Cole. Croatia's right-back will have to decide as to whether he should follow Gerrard infield or stay in his position to deny Rooney the chance to drag his centre-half into wider areas.

Gerrard wasn't at his best on Saturday but when he was replaced at half-time, England's movement became more predictable and easier to defend against. Capello's whole attacking game plan is built around the movement of the Liverpool midfielder.

Although Rooney will work all over the pitch, his best work is in combination with Gerrard and Cole. The runs of Cole forces opponents to drop off rather than press the player on the ball and Rooney is brilliant at using that bit of space to cut inside to play penetrative passes, hit shots or look for the wall pass.

Cole has the pace to make dynamic forward runs but he now has the ability to assess where space can be exploited. Whereas once he would make lots of wasteful runs, he now picks his runs more thoughtfully.

As an attacking full-back in the first half, Glen Johnson did well against Slovenia. His willingness to overlap Shaun Wright-Phillips, cut infield onto his left foot and hit dangerous crosses into his strikers made him England's most potent attacker.

Unfortunately, when Aaron Lennon replaced Wright-Phillips, the understanding between Lennon and Johnson was poor. Wright-Phillips didn't play well but he has a better game understanding than Lennon, which is why Capello felt it necessary to tell Lennon where to run for the entire second half.

There are a few areas of concern for England. The two centre-halves, John Terry and Mathew Upson, are not great athletes. When playing at their best they can mask their lack of athleticism by reading situations and dominating physically. However, tonight they will come up against a technically gifted team who can counter attack at pace. Particularly with Johnson and Cole being asked to support attacks at every opportunity, Terry and Upson will be vulnerable. Against Slovenia, there were occasions where forwards made predictable runs behind Terry which should have been dealt with easily. Is Terry struggling with an injury?

Upson and Terry are more stoppers and the absence of Rio Ferdinand highlights the lack of a cultured centre-back able to bring the ball out of defence. Against a side who set out with a negative mindset, Ferdinand's distribution from the back and comfort in bringing the ball forward will be missed. Gareth Barry is a good passer of the ball but, as the deepest of England's midfield players, he needs to improve his defensive qualities. Too many times he has been beaten by clever combination play or by players dribbling past him. Like Terry and Upson, he lacks pace and often fouls to hide the fact he's struggling to recover.

Yet on the evidence of Saturday, the area where England may be exposed is down Croatia's left flank. The lack of anticipation and awareness of Johnson, Wright-Phillips and Lennon was alarming. Even when Robert Green handled outside the box, it was partly due to Johnson allowing Wright-Phillips to run 60 yards to track his opponent when it would have been easier to pass him over.

But just how effective Croatia can be without Luka Modric is debatable. Equally, Vedran Corluka's suspension is a blow and will force Bilic to field a makeshift back four that will struggle to dominate England and we could see a repeat of last year's 4-1 win rather than the 3-2 defeat at Wembley two years ago.