Roy Hodgson launches stats attack before England take Brazil test

Posted Sunday, June 02, 2013 by theguardian.com

England manager resorts to the numbers game to defend his record after criticism of his side's display against Ireland

'I'm not going to say any more on the subject of formations,' said the England manager Roy Hogson.
'Frank Lampard has been with me and never once heard me describe a system of players, isn't that right, Frank?'

In Rio, they call it saudade, meaning the "indescribable longing" for visitors to return to the city one day. England's players might know the feeling after their game at the Maracanã. A few bricks might be out of place, there were workmen welding the gates on Saturday and the revamp has meant this iconic old stadium losing a touch of its old charm, but the Football Association chairman, David Bernstein, summed it up nicely during a reception at the yacht club. Being in Brazil, he said, felt like experiencing "the soul of football".

Fábio Marcelo Nogueira, vice-president of the Brazilian federation, reciprocated by saying England were "the heart of football" yet the truth is neither side are looking particularly clever ahead of this game. One debate over dinner on Copacabana over the past few days was whether Brazil would actually have qualified for the World Cup were they not hosting it.

Whether England will be back here next summer is another matter entirely when their only wins so far in qualifying are against Moldova and San Marino. For Brazil, 19th in Fifa's world rankings represents a national embarrassment. England, nonetheless, will probably be delighted to get a draw, never mind the fact their opponents have won only one of their five matches under Luiz Felipe Scolari.

This is certainly a good time to be playing Brazil bearing in mind Scolari's side have looked so ordinary they have been periodically booed by the team's own fans. The same could be said about England bearing in mind their depleted numbers and the first admission from Hodgson that they are falling short. "No, we're not," he replied when it was put to him that England, despite being a difficult side to beat, were not winning enough matches.

That shortfall has led to some prolonged scrutiny now Hodgson is a year into the job and there was certainly something very revealing about the way he came armed with a list of statistics about the team's passing and attacking play when his mantra until this point has always been that he does not care for the numbers game.

His team, he said, had put together more than 500 passes in their 1-1 draw against the Republic of Ireland at Wembley, which was above twice their average during Euro 2012. "That was three times greater than the Irish team," Hodgson added. "We had 75 final-third entries, 40 attacking entries, 20 shots and 20 crosses. And if you go back to the statistics during the Euros you'll see a major difference. Now that gives us some encouragement."

All the same, it was so out of keeping with the usual Hodgson way – "I don't do statistics," is one previous statement – it felt more than a manager simply defending his team. José Mourinho did something similar recently when his results at Real Madrid were being questioned in the Spanish media. In Hodgson's case, it was unusual enough to suspect the criticism, in particular Gary Lineker's comments about England employing tactics from the "dark ages", had preyed on his mind.

Daniel Welbeck is the latest player to succumb to injury, meaning Hodgson now has only 16 fit outfield players and will have to include both his goalkeepers just to fill the six substitute places. Jermain Defoe is still feeling his achilles-heel problem whereas two other forwards, Andy Carroll and Daniel Sturridge, have already pulled out.

"We've been unfortunate, to say the least," Hodgson said. "Certainly three of the front players I would like to be here have not been available. And we would like a stronger pool of front players because you want goalscorers.

"Barcelona are a fantastic team but as soon as [Lionel] Messi doesn't play they start losing some football matches. Manchester United have had a wonderful year, but without Robin van Persie's 25 goals would they have had quite so easy a chance to win the title? But I'm afraid that I manage England, I don't manage other countries and that's what we have in England. If you look at the Premier League most of the strikers are foreigners. And there's nothing I can do about it."

Hodgson intends to bring Phil Jones into his starting lineup but would not be drawn on whether he would alter the 4-4-2 that prompted Lineker's observations. "I'm not going to say any more on the subject of formations. Frank Lampard [sitting to Hodgson's right] has been with me and never once heard me describe a system of players, isn't that right, Frank? I never say we are playing this formation today or that formation. We don't do that.

"We've got to be careful because after we played Brazil recently and won at Wembley it seemed everyone was predicting wonderful things and then we go to Montenegro and don't play so well and suddenly we are back again to square one. We don't personally feel we are riding the rollercoaster from fantastic world-beaters to absolutely hopeless but we have to accept that perception.

"I'm enjoying the job and I'm perfectly happy for anyone who wants to come up with criticism; they are quite entitled to it. But I'm more than happy with the way we are playing and moving forward. I'm looking forward to coming back here again next year."