Post by Salem6 on Nov 6, 2005 9:39:18 GMT
By Ronald Atkin
Published: 06 November 2005
sport.independent.co.uk/football/internationals/article325125.ece
Never known as a shirker of tackles or opinions, Tony
Adams has called on England's manager, Sven Goran
Eriksson, to take away the captain's armband from
David Beckham and award it to the Chelsea skipper,
John Terry. Adams, the former Arsenal and England
captain, also urged Eriksson to shift Rio Ferdinand
from defence into a midfield holding role in
Saturday's friendly against Argentina in Geneva and to
build the team and tactics around Wayne Rooney,
permitting him to attack from the deep as Paul
Gascoigne once did.
And to show that Roy Keane is not the only one with
trenchant comments about Manchester United, Adams used
a media session at the Swindon headquarters of England
sponsors Nationwide to dismiss Alan Smith as a
disaster in midfield and Mikaël Silvestre as a poor
defender whose selection by France for the World Cup
would do England a favour.
"Beckham is needed in the England team," he said. "His
distribution is fantastic. There is not a better
crosser of the ball in the world. But as a leader,
Terry would be the man. From his position you can see
the pitch, you can drive the team. He has inbuilt
leadership. He gives everything, and other players see
that and it rubs off. That sort of player can lift a
team, make other people great. That's what I tried to
do. So Sven has got another big call, but if it
benefits the team he has to do it."
Another big call would be for Ferdinand to operate in
front of England's back four, as Ledley King did so
efficiently against Poland. "This is not new, we did
it to good effect with Gareth Southgate when I was
playing. Rio can't do that at Manchester United, at
the moment they haven't got two other centre-halves.
But he could do it for England because behind him
we've got Sol [Campbell] and Terry.
"We've made massive tactical progress in this country.
Let's not go back to 4-4-2, straight up and down, no
rotation, no movement, or we're going to get a good
hiding again. Rio is a big player, we need him. If I
was the manager I would want to know whether he could
do it or not. It would take guts, but I hope Sven is
strong enough to say that he knows he needs different
teams for different situations. If we lose 3-0 in
Geneva but he and the players have gained something
from it, then well done.
"The public aren't stupid. Everyone can see the lack
of drive. It's not that you don't care about public
perception, but England managers are in that position
for a reason. I just want him to try something against
Argentina that he can call upon in the World Cup. And
since we still have to play with passion, that may
need a bit of leadership from your captain. I hope
that's a decision he makes sooner rather than later."
Describing Rooney as "Gazza with a better finish",
Adams borrowed a notebook to sketch the positions he
thought Rooney should be operating in and from,
collecting and striking from inside his own half. "You
need Rooney to get the ball and run from wide
positions."
As for United's lapses, Adams said: "If I was Fergie
I'd be worried about Alan Smith. I don't see Alan
doing what Keane did, box to box, and there is always
going to be the comparison because he's in Roy's
position."
Nor did his old club Arsenal escape a gentle cuff. "At
the moment Arsenal are a very young team. They have
kids who could be fantastic, but Patrick Vieira's
departure may have been a year too early, so this
could be a transitional season."
As for England, Adams thinks they can go the distance
in Germany with 16 or 17 top-quality people. "But," he
cautioned, "we need them in their best positions."