Team Focus: England's Problematic Left Side

The touting of Adnan Januzaj as a potential future England player raised an interesting debate about the national team, and not, incidentally, that which Jack Wilshere felt necessary to pass comment on earlier this week. 

The Manchester United youngster put in man of the match performance from the left flank that turned a 1-0 loss at Sunderland into a much needed win, and despite the fact that he was otherwise rather quiet in that match, he has suddenly shot from a hot prospect to the centre of a media storm about his possible eligibility to don the Three Lions' shirt. The fact that one performance could kick up such a fuss also, however, served to highlight questions that still surround England's most problematic position.

Since a Euro '96 campaign with Steve McManaman on the left side of midfield, arguably Joe Cole has been most successful of those to be trialled on that flank, but even he at times would look uncomfortable there, before injury derailed his international career. Managers experimented with any one of Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Paul Scholes out wide as they tried to fit all three into a 4-4-2 shaped lineup, while Trevor Sinclair played at the World Cup in 2002. More recently Roy Hodgson, in his short time in charge, has tried out Ashley Young, Danny Welbeck, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and James Milner on the left, but it still remains unclear as to whom he favours and which option is most suited to that role.

Like Cole, Oxlade-Chamberlain is best off playing infield behind a striker. Meanwhile, the best position of both Welbeck and Milner still seem unclear, and Young has been decidedly out of sorts for long enough that his absence from the latest squad is wholly justified. Wilshere himself has been playing on the left for Arsenal due to their abundance of quality in central areas but he is certainly not going to be the answer to England's problems out wide.

Gunners teammate Theo Walcott has made the right wing his own and once he returns from injury he will go straight back into the team, but all the while the great many options on the left without any obvious first choice means selection problems persist.

Welbeck has become a reliable option on the wing for England but little more. Hard working and an occasional goalscorer he does little to warrant direct criticism and fully deserves a place in the squad but notably, against stronger opposition he rarely offers much in the way of goal threat. 5 of his 8 international goals have come against San Marino (2), Moldova (2) and Scotland, though he did net against Sweden at Euro 2012. He primarily plays out on the wing for both club and country with Rooney restricting his opportunities through the middle, but a winger he most certainly is not. With just 4 accurate crosses in 62 Premier League appearances for Manchester United in the past 3 seasons, going down the line to put a ball into the box is clearly not his forte. What is more, he has only scored 2 goals and provided 2 more assists when operating from a wide berth for United.

If Welbeck does, though, continue on that flank for the foreseeable future, the fact that he tends to move infield will mean space for the left-back to overlap into. Arguably there is none better in England in this sense than Everton's Leighton Baines, but a first team berth continues to elude him as he struggles to worm his way out of the shadow of Ashley Cole, when he is fit, that is.

The Chelsea man has appeared off the pace at times this season and with his advancing years the regularity with which he gets forward is, understandably, diminishing. The number of crosses he attempts per game has dropped in the last four seasons consecutively from 2.7 in 2010/11 to 2.4 in 2011/12, then 1.7 in 2012/13 and 0.9 this season. Baines, meanwhile is in the twilight of his career and is attempting 4.7 crosses per game this season (excluding corners), which might be down from values of 6.3, 5.5 and 6.0 going back over the last few seasons but is still five times as many as Cole this campaign. Defensively, Cole is one of the best in the game, but there is case to be made for Baines' attacking qualities being so valuable that he warrants a place in the team even when Cole returns from injury.

With Oxlade out injured, James Milner is probably next in line for the role on the wing, but as Manchester City's worst performing outfielder this season - with a WhoScored rating of 6.52 - he has surely only been called up for past performances in an England shirt rather than recent form. Often criticised as too defensive an option out wide in a 4-2-3-1, Milner has made just 0.7 key passes, had 0.5 shots and completed 0.7 successful dribbles per game in his 6 Premier League appearances this season. Though that is a small sample size, respective averages from last season of 1.7, 1.2 and 0.6 still suggest he doesn't offer enough going forward. In Friday's game against Montenegro where a narrow win would be sufficient, it wouldn't be surprising to see Milner take a place in the starting eleven.

The only other realistic option in the squad is Tottenham's Andros Townsend, who has attained an impressive average rating this season of 7.5, but solely from performances on the right flank. Completing 5.5 successful dribbles per game and attempting 4.3 shots per game, he does so more than any other player in the Premier League, but the problem has been end product for the youngster, who is without a single goal or assist so far this campaign. There are those that believe left-footed Townsend may be better suited to a role on the left flank where he can aim to hit the byline rather than cut in and shoot, as he has been doing far too predictably for Spurs. If England go behind and are in need of a goal then Townsend will provide something of a different approach, if at least one that is distinctively more direct, but only potentially more effective.

Even if Oxlade-Chamberlain and Ashley Cole were available, there would still be issues surrounding England's left hand side that certainly need addressing before a World Cup for which qualification is still far from assured. If and when that is achieved, Roy Hodgson will need to be careful that it doesn't hide the difficulties that persist with a typically problematic left side of England's midfield.

Who do you think should play on the left for England? Let us know in the comments