England’s dull display on Tuesday dragged up the same old questions about the teams ability to break down sides that put up a defensive barrier. One of the sides key weapons in unlocking stubborn teams used to be Wayne Rooney, but he looks a shadow of his former self at the moment. It was thought that this was due to the recurrence of the ankle injury he picked up against Bayern Munich last may, but he revealed today that this was not the case.

While this is troubling news for Manchester United fans, they can at least take heart in the strength in depth at their disposal when it comes to unlocking defences. Dimitar Berbatov is finally starting to look like someone worth paying £30m for, and Javier Hernandez’s cool touch and finish against Valencia highlighted his ability to create goals from very little.

England fans have more cause for concern. It seems that the star of their team is fading. Whether its due to injury, or more likely, tabloid interference the fact is that Rooney is not playing well enough to justify a starting position. But who else is there?

A few promising youngsters are waiting in the wings, but there is not another established English player capable of doing what Rooney can when in form.

This would be less of a problem if not for the tactical inflexibility of the national side. Their lack of movement off the ball has led to sluggish performances, requiring bursts of brilliance from Rooney or Gerrard to break deadlocks. In the absence of someone to effectively play in between the lines they resort to what I call ‘Bolton Syndrome’ (I’m aware the team’s approach has changed since Owen Coyle took over, but the phrase has a nice ring to it I think). 

Peter Crouch must be sick of the sight of panicked teammates launching the ball high towards him. Despite his height, the Tottenham forward is not a typical target man. He lacks the strength of a Heskey or a Zamora to hold up the ball effectively when its launched towards him, and his heading ability isn’t good enough to pick out teammates runs with flick ons.

Crouch’s touch and technique allow him to do a lot of good things, but if I were Capello I would be tempted not to play him because of the response it instills in his teammates.

It’s hard to blame them for resorting to long ball when the approach is so endemic in the club game. Look at Harry Redknapp’s tactical view of the Montenegro game from The Sun:

“Crouch is 6ft 7in tall so his best asset is an obvious one. It’s no good putting him up front and then trying to play the ball to his feet all the time. I’m the last one to advocate the long-ball game but, if you have a player like Steven Gerrard who can put the ball on his head from 35 yards out, do it. While he does that, the team can surge forward as a group and pick up the second ball, the knockdown they know is coming.”

Bear in mind this was written after a game in which Crouch repeatedly received the ball at head height, and fouled his opponent the majority of the time, before being replaced by Kevin Davies, who did exactly the same.

Redknapp added: “If you’re not going to make the most of Crouchie, don’t play him, simple as that. Use a little striker instead.”

Using a little striker may be the only way to snap England out of it. Their over reliance on Rooney has been horribly exposed by his drop in form, and when Crouch is in the team the ball gets launched up to him by Gerrard and Barry. 

By removing this outlet entirely England’s deep lying midfielders will find their easy option closed off, and will be forced to try short passing and movement.

Capello has had almost two years to bring about a cultural change in the England ranks. Rooney’s poor form has starved the team of creativity, and the players required for the target man approach are either injured, or not up to scratch.

Successful international teams excel at keeping possession, with short, quick passing and movement off the ball. Picking players who physically can’t win the ball in the air might be Capello’s only way of getting his team to play this way.