Why dinosaur Capello's tactical nous is extinct

By Mark Lawrenson

Published 21:58 27/08/10

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Fabio Capello has been labelled many things after England’s woeful World Cup.

There’s no better description of him than being an outdated, stale, tactical dinosaur.

Capello’s decision to stick with a distinctly Anglo Saxon 4-4-2 is hard to understand, especially for an Italian.

Every other team is playing 4-5-1 or 4-3-3. Just as we had after the honeymoon period following Sven Goran Eriksson’s early success, his tactics were found out. Capello is now in the same boat.

It’s something we never expected with him. Italians are supposed to be more ­tactically astute than their English ­counterparts.

But there’s more flexibility among English club teams than Capello shows with England.

He’s getting on now, is still old school and every international boss has a shelf life.

They go stale. It’s a different management style and they should be given contracts running from tournament to tournament.

Capello should be picking players suited to a 4-5-1 system. Wayne Rooney is made for the lone-striker role.

But he will undoubtedly stick to an outdated system, trying to make it work by playing players out of position.

Don’t get me wrong, Bobby Zamora deserves his chance. He proved against Manchester United on Sunday that he is a handful and has come of age.

I just wish that Capello would be brave and start picking players who would fit a new system rather than trying to live in the dark ages.

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Aston Villa face a difficult season after another European disaster in the qualifying stages.

It will be hard for Kevin MacDonald to get the job now, after the thrashing at Newcastle and the Rapid Vienna collapse.

Perhaps owner Randy Lerner wanted a man in MacDonald who would not question his decisions, like Martin O’Neill.

For Lerner, it’s now about recouping the money he has spent and I worry about Villa’s long-term ambitions.

It’s going to be a frustrating season. But beyond that, Villa have become a selling club. Sad, but true.

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