Jamie "claude" Carragher

Clearly this is in anticipation of Rooney not being available and so giving the no#1 striker much needed support, SG is able to roam and create as well as rooney, if not better. The inclusion of JC in the holding M-F role may turn out to be a "masterstroke" as it's clear england are running out of "scare the poo out of the opposition" options up front for the opening games. Quite rightly the idea of SG "up front" was bandied about the media after the FA cup final but it would also be neccessary to back up the rearguard role he performs, which he does better better than Lampard imo. So first clbutt defensive cover from JC may well be the answer.. Good call imo.

Carragher to be England's midfield anchor

Gerrard handed forward role as Crouch misses out; Eriksson says tonight's team will be World Cup XI

Daniel Taylor Tuesday May 30, 2006 The Guardian

Sven-Goran Eriksson is giving serious consideration to starting the World Cup with an experimental line-up that places Jamie Carragher in midfield and has Steven Gerrard pushing into attack behind Michael Owen. The previously untried 4-1-4-1 system would have no place for Peter Crouch and is likely to be deployed for the first time when England take on Hungary in a friendly at Old Trafford tonight. Gerrard's positioning in a marauding role has been heavily influenced by Wayne Rooney's absence and Eriksson's reservations about whether Owen and Crouch would be a partnership capable of troubling the world's best defences. Yet it is Carragher's possible inclusion that will provoke the most intense debate, the Liverpool defender having had to undertake a crash course in a role that he has never played before.

England v Hungary, Old Trafford

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Carragher to be England's midfield anchor

Gerrard handed forward role as Crouch misses out; Eriksson says tonight's team will be World Cup XI

Daniel Taylor Tuesday May 30, 2006 The Guardian

Sven-Goran Eriksson is giving serious consideration to starting the World Cup with an experimental line-up that places Jamie Carragher in midfield and has Steven Gerrard pushing into attack behind Michael Owen. The previously untried 4-1-4-1 system would have no place for Peter Crouch and is likely to be deployed for the first time when England take on Hungary in a friendly at Old Trafford tonight. Gerrard's positioning in a marauding role has been heavily influenced by Wayne Rooney's absence and Eriksson's reservations about whether Owen and Crouch would be a partnership capable of troubling the world's best defences. Yet it is Carragher's possible inclusion that will provoke the most intense debate, the Liverpool defender having had to undertake a crash course in a role that he has never played before.

When the first-team bibs were handed out in training yesterday a surprised but appreciative Carragher learned that he had overtaken Michael Carrick and Owen Hargreaves in the running for the holding position that has become known as "the Claude Makelele role". Eriksson's policy has always been to play his first-choice XI together the day before matches and, unless he thought Carragher looked conspicuously uncomfortable, a bold experiment will continue to be worked on until England's opening World Cup match against Paraguay in Frankfurt on June 10. "When we start against Hungary it will be the team we think might start against Paraguay," said Eriksson. "We have decided exactly what to do but on this occasion I am not telling you the media my team. All I will say is that it will be my strongest team and that we will probably start the World Cup with the same players."

Carragher's instructions in training were to patrol the area in front of John Terry and Rio Ferdinand, providing cover for England's defence while allowing more attack-minded midfielders such as David Beckham, Joe Cole and Frank Lampard the licence to break forward.

A tough-tackling, old-school defender, Carragher would relish the task of breaking up opponents' attacks and laying off the ball with a simple pbutt but, as gambles go, it would still rank as one of the most significant of Eriksson's five-year tenure given that the 28-year-old Liverpudlian has spent all his career playing either full-back or centre-half.

Eriksson, whose gambling instincts seem to become more daring the closer he comes to leaving his job, had initially identified Ledley King for the role only for the Tottenham captain to join the ranks of players to be struck down by a broken metatarsal. Carrick did not overly impress the coaching staff in the B match against Belarus last Thursday and, though Eriksson is an admirer of Hargreaves, the Bayern Munich player with 22 substitute appearances for England was in his familiar position among the reserves in yesterday's final training session.

The subtle but decisive change in Gerrard's role would be more straightforward, coming at a time when many people believe playing just behind a solitary striker is the ideal position for the man voted Professional Footballers' buttociation player of the year. Gerrard demonstrated his effectiveness in front of goal in the FA Cup final and, perplexingly, he has not always dovetailed well with Lampard when playing in an orthodox 4-4-2.

The loser in all of this would be Crouch who, in Eriksson's words, "put on a show" at Reading last week but maybe not a good enough one to convince him of the partnership with Owen. The Newcastle player's goal record ensures he is a fixture in the team even if doubts linger about his sharpness and Eriksson hopes the fit-again striker will last 90 minutes tonight.

England v Hungary

England

Substitutes (from) James, Hargreaves, Campbell, Bridge, Carrick, Walcott, Lennon, Crouch

Hungary

Substitutes (from) Stark, Kovacs, Torghelle, Kerekes, Nikolov, Korsos, Halmosi, Vanczak

Head to head

Played 20

England wins 13 Draws 2

Weather Dry. Minimum temperature 5C

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