Football on the TV: The Case for Heskey

I know this may not be the most popular opinion in England but after watching the likes of Spain and Brazil struggle to break down well organised teams there is a case to play a traditional “big man” up front.

Beckenbaur criticised England’s style of play against the USA as back to the old ways of “kick and rush” football and I happened to agree with the Kaiser as I thought we are far too quick to hit the ball up to Heskey and hope he gets a good touch or knock down somewhere near Rooney and to play from there. However having watch teams struggle to break down well organised and tight defensive units there is strong case suggesting that the long ball could prove a useful weapon in breaking down teams as it adds an uncertainty to the play.

I know the football purists would say it is a backward step but I am not saying we should employ it as our only tactic but having that dimension to our play will give us and edge when looking to break down well organised teams. Clearly pinging a ball to Heskey with no support will be no good but if we can get players up and around him quickly then we have a good base to attack from in the final third. Clearly as well this tactic will depend on Heskey being able to make the ball stick or direct knock downs into the path of the likes of Rooney and Gerrard.

Mexico showed last night, albeit against a terrible French team, that committing men to attack will reap the rewards. What England need to do is find that balance of trying to play through and round teams out wide and looking long for the out ball to Heskey but having Heskey upfront instead of Defoe at least gives us that option, with Defoe we don’t have that. So on that basis I would be playing Heseky upfront against Algeria and Slovenia as at the end of the day everybody would love to play passing football but I think England would rather win the World Cup playing the odd long ball than get knocked out attempting to pass teams to death. Look what happened to Spain.