England v Slovenia World Cup Betting

It’s now or never for Fabio Capello and England. They need to go out and prove that they can compete on the world stage, by putting in a convincing display against Slovenia. Not only do they need a convincing display, they need a win, and it seems as if it may have to come in the face of adversity with rumours of dressing room rifts, and players not being happy with Camp Capello. This final match could be all about change for England. Will Capello stick to his guns and send out his preferred midfield and forward line-up, hoping that the players will find the belief and confidence in themselves, or will he shake things up by introducing new faces and perhaps a new formation? Capello has been forced into one change, by bringing West Ham’s Matthew Upson into the starting eleven. This is because Jamie Carragher picked up a second yellow card, and he was Ledley King’s replacement, who was Rio Ferdinand’s replacement. Upson will partner John Terry, who apparently spoke out of turn when he said that Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Joe Cole were the only players in the squad capable of breaking down defences. Capello didn’t like the criticism about his choice of personnel, even if there is a large element of truth in it from the Chelsea captain.

Still, whatever differences the players and coach may be going through, they will not want to go the same way as France. England are much better than they have shown at the 2010 FIFA World Cup so far, and they need to discover the confidence in themselves which they had through European qualification where they won 9 out of 10 matches, and Wayne Rooney and Jermain Defoe were scoring for fun. One big question surrounding Capello’s approach to the Slovenia game, is whether or not he will play Steven Gerrard in an attacking midfield role in behind lone striker Wayne Rooney. That will be using both the main strengths Rooney and Gerrard. More responsibility needs to be given to Rooney to do things his way, and the Manchester United striker, who hasn’t shown up yet, can carry the weight of being a lone striker much better than in a partnership. That move would then allow for the positive influence of Joe Cole to come in on the left hand side.

It may all stay the same. Capello likes the 4-4-2 and he may just change out Emile Heskey for either Peter Crouch or Jermain Defoe. It is a system which has worked well for him, and worked well for England. It’s how England lined up for the qualifiers, so the problem looks more like attitude and lack of confidence than any tactics. England fans just want to see a bit more pride, a bit more passion, some belting out of the National Anthem perhaps to get the blood flowing. England need to pick up the pace, whichever eleven players are charged with the responsibility at the start of the match, whatever formation Capello decides to use. The Coach has been baffled as to why the players have not responded in picking up the pace of the game when needed, and therefore the weight of failure will rest on the shoulders of this golden generation of England players. Capello names the team and names the tactics. It is down to the players to carry out the orders with some passion and drive.

England v Slovenia Betting Odds
England to win: 4/9 at Bet365
Draw: 7/2 at Victor Chandler
Slovenia to win: 8/1 at SkyBet