Why we have to start Vardy

This whole England saga has begun again and it is driving me insane. First let's look at the real problem. Football is subjective and a matter of opinion but that doesn't mean that there aren't opinions that are correct. For example, one person may be of the opinion a team should play 4-3-3 and another person may be of the opinion that that the same team should play 4-4-2. Performance and score lines will dictate which opinion in this circumstance is actually correct. 

The next problem that comes along is the ridiculous bias that fans and pundits have for players who play for their clubs or don't play for their clubs. Most football fans religiously follow a team and it massively impairs their judgement of the national team. I like to think I am somewhat exempt because I have supported Chelsea all my life.. and I hate them.

So what am I getting at? Well, Danny Murphy recently wrote an article about how Vardy probably shouldn't play for England because the 4-4-2 diamond formation didn't work in one friendly. The formation was implemented in entirely the wrong way in that Kane and Vardy were both instructed to track back down the wings. Embarrassing managing from Hodgson coupled with an equally embarrassing analysis from Danny Murphy.

England have to start 4-4-2 in this tournament and here is why, Kane and Vardy are the two best players we have. Not necessarily technically, but on the basis of end product. I don't mean just scoring goals, I mean in terms of doing what it is their role requires. Overall, England have a fairly weak team and therefore we shouldn't be going into any game believing we can win.

This means that we have to play counter attacking football or at least a bran dog it. It doesn't mean we let the opposition attack and pick up the scraps. No, it means that when we attack, we get the ball to Vardy and Kane as soon as possible and we support them as best we can. 

Our width needs to come from our wing backs because our wingers (of which we only brought 2) aren't good enough and our creativity needs to come from our strikers.

It's banded around that Wilshere is some fabled god like footballer who is England's most creative player. Forget the fact he hasn't played all year and focus on the fact there is no evidence to support it. Yes, he is easy on the eye when he plays football but he only succeeds in games in which his side are by far the superior. That will not happen in this tournament. 

This facard of aesthetics has carried him far beyond where he deserves to be. This is not his fault however, it is the fault of us all.

There is no scenario where England players come out of this tournament covered in glory, unless they win it. The press, the fans, are all ready for blood and are too naive too see the problem.

To a man England will defend in these Euros and it means that 'creativity' will be gone. Vardy will be useless to us when he is constantly goal side. We will keep possession and we won't look to risk it for fear of being ruined at a later date. We could well win some games as we do have the quality but we will never take it any further than that if we don't adapt to our players.

The rest of the team isn't good enough to adopt Wilshere's style, having Wilshere in there will not make us Barcelona. However, having Vardy in there could make us Leicster because they showed us how to do it. Tottenham showed us too and Liverpool a couple of seasons a go. Play to your strengths not everyone else's.

I've said all this before but I want to see England take that risk. Let the opposition left back forward, because when he does he will leave space himself. See how he likes it when Vardy runs into that space unchallenged. He'll think twice before going so far forward again. I'm not saying Vardy should deliberately neglect him but be smart with with it.

England play inherently negative football and it doesn't have to be that way, however, as long as the fans have the players they hate and pundits just say what the public want. England will never get the monkey off their back of being terrified of losing a game. 

I'll take losing the right way over winning the wrong way. 

#ZOOLANDERMOMENT