ENGLAN~D WILL hope to prove against Georgia this evening that their 1-0 home defeat by Italy in February was nothing more than a dropped stitch. Certainly, if there is another slip-up at Wembley, Glenn Hoddle's hopes of taking his side to the 1998 World Cup in France will begin to unravel.
The main reason for supposing that England will win tonight lies in Hoddle being able to pick his team from a decidedly stronger squad than the one debilitated by injuries for the Italy game. Two more reasons answer to the names of Alan Shearer and Teddy Sheringham, who are confidently expected to be re-established as an attacking partnership for the first time since Euro `96.
Such confidence, however, is not entirely undiluted. In Shearer's absence, Les Ferdinand acquitted himself quite well in Tblisi last November, scoring the second goal as Georgia were beaten 2-0.
Hoddle may feel that against a packed Georgian defence at Wembley Ferdinand's speed of foot is likely to be of more value than Sheringham's quickness of thought. As Shearer remarked yesterday: "Teddy's got two yards on opponents in his head". But Sheringham is carrying a toe injury.
Or Hoddle could use all three, employing Sheringham as a prompt for the two Newcastle front runners. Again, as Shearer pointed out: "Teddy is very clever, very skilful and we link up very well. But me and Les are the top scorers in the Premiership, despite missing a combined total of four-and-a-half months, so there are arguments on both sides".
If logic prevails, and Hoddle adheres to established practice this time, rather than far-fetched theory, the Shearer-Sheringham axis will re-emerge in the hope that it prospers, not only against Georgia tonight, but in Poland in a month's time.
With England's last qualifier in Italy on October 10th, much is going to rest on the outcomes of these two games. The Italians now have a four-point lead at the top of Group Two and already there is the probability of England finishing runners-up and having to win a two-legged play-off to make the finals.
Beating Georgia will not do much to alter this hypothesis unless, of course, the Poles manage to win in Italy this evening. All Hoddle can do for the moment is trust that a fully-fit Shearer will achieve more against a Georgia defence which, while they may be well-organised, will hardly be as stifling as the Italian blanket England vainly tried to pierce two-and-a-half months ago.
Of equal concern to the England coach will be an avoidance of those lapses in concentration by his own defenders which enabled Marek Citko to give Poland an early lead at Wembley last October, before Shearer scored twice, and Gianfranco Zola to score what proved to be a winning Italian goal.
The return of Tony Adams, not to mention David Seaman behind him, should add some stability at the back although even at full strength, England defences remain vulnerable to skilful opponents, like Georgia's Georgiou Kinkladze, running at them with the ball. Kinkladze's areas of movement will be as crucial for England this crucial for England this evening as it was in Tblisi, when David Batty dogged the ~Manchester City player's footsteps so successfully. Logic demands that Batty and Paul Ince be retained as midfield minders, but so set is Hoddle on selecting different teams for different occasions that Robert Lee could come into the equation, with Nicky Butt an additional option on the bench.
One assumes that Adams will be flanked by Gary Neville and Sol Campbell, who did his budding international career no harm at all in Georgia and was only partly at fault with Zola's goal in the Italy match. Stuart Pearce, the prime culprit in that instance, is out of the squad with a calf injury.
It is in midfield where England's problems continue to lie. Playing Matthew Le Tisser and Steve McManaman as floaters against Italy was never likely to work. Using ~McManaman in his free Liverpool role now will only work if the player shakes off his recent indifferent club form.
Either way, McManaman, assuming he plays against Georgia, will have to do a lot to stop the unrealistic pining for the Paul Gascoigne of six years ago. Gascoigne shone briefly, kept getting injured, and is already a memory. Tonight England will have to rely on solid discipline rather than quirky genius to get the result they need.
