Lampard + Gerarrd in midfield = Failure. Every. Single. Time. Even if England do somehow manage to draw/win this game, this is an iron clad fact.
SGE found this out.
McClaren found this out.
Capello found this out.
Hodgson will find this out soon enough.
Just play the U21 team or something...
And I don't think Cleverley has been too bad. Just some poor finishing.
He's not built for the role, no matter what Hodgson thinks. It could be an aspect of his game, secondary to fetching from defence and generally shifting it and holding in midfield.
And our defence sitting so preposterously deep makes the midfield even less useful, it doesn't solve a problem.
Exactly. Why is he even building the side around Gerarrd/Lampard in the first place?