England learn from Spurs

After England's defeat to a major nation yet again at a major tournament BBC pundit Alan Shearer highlighted the lack of cover in front of the left-back as a key area of weakness.

"There are not too many people who would not have started with Baines in this game. He was let down by a lack of protection in front of him.

"When that happens, you are going to have a tough night. There are things to work on defensively because down that left-hand side we had big problems. Wayne Rooney was not enjoying his role there in the first half because he was having to work so hard."

If you substitute the word Rose for Baines and Christian Eriksen for Wayne Rooney he could have said the exact same thing about Spurs last season.

Danny Rose took stick for being exposed by a lack of cover time and time again. Just like England played Rooney out of position and wondered why it went wrong, Tottenham have been playing Eriksen out of position and wondering why he only performed for the last 3 months of the season.

Both Leighton Baines and Danny Rose are poor defenders picked because they offer something going forward but once again we see that if you don't play the right players in the right positions then you are asking for trouble.

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Is an opposition specialist going to beat a part-timer? Of course he is, yet for 2 years we have pursued this ridiculous policy and now Roy Hodgson is having a go at it. You'd have thought he'd watched Spurs enough to know the tactic doesn't work against a quality opponent.

Let's hope Mauricio Pochettino can bring some sanity to White Hart Lane next season.

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