Match date: 26 March 2013

Montenegro looked to go five points clear of England and Branko Brnovic, who opted to play a 4-2-3-1, tried to add a bit of pressure on the England team criticizing them in his pre-match conference of a long-ball reliant side.

Roy Hodgson also chose to line up his side in a 4-2-3-1 with six changes from the side that easily swept aside San Marino. Many of the changes were predictable with the likes of Steven Gerrard coming back in the side as captain and Glen Johnson passing fit to return to right back, but Leighton Baines might have felt hard done to have Ashley Cole take his spot as Cole’s performances for England have been lacking as of late.

First Half to England

England came out very strong, looking composed in a hostile environment, passing the ball around well, and pressing the Montenegro back four and midfield well. They got good chances as well with Rooney almost scoring a delightful chip. Glen Johnson then asked questions of M. Bozovic, having a good shot on goal with his left foot following a corner. Bozovic’s save resulted in another corner which Rooney got on the end of to give England the lead.

In that first ten minutes, Montenegro didn’t really have a focal point at the centre of their attack. Vucinic played more on the right side of attack and Jovetic would drop deep into midfield to try to get the ball. After the England goal, there was a bit of tinkering by Brnovic wich saw them switch to the formation that you see in the picture above. Jovetic became more of a second striker and Vucinic played more centrally, still drifting to the right to find space and looking to play around the penalty area. Jovetic, despite being a bit deeper, still looked to drift more to the left and went up against Smalling and and Johnson. It also meant that Vukcevic, who was more central in the opening minutes, pushed a bit wider.

The changes saw England slow the pace of the game a bit, but they were still very much on top and were still causing Montenegro plenty of problems with Welbeck, Rooney, and Cleverly in particular combining well. Milner and Johnson seemed to find plenty of space on the right side of England’s attack as well, putting in a few good balls into the area that went unmet by a teammate.

Montenegro Changes

Brnovic had another rethink of his tactics at the end of the first half and made a half time change bringing on another forward in Dejan Damjanovic for holding midfielder, Novakovic. The shape then looked more like this, with England unchanged:

This did two things for Montenegro, the first being that it gave them something of a 4-3-3, with Damjanovic playing much higher up the pitch than Vukcevic had been and causing more problems for both Lescott and Ashley Cole. The other effect it had was on England’s midfield. For most of the first half, Gerrard, Carrick, and Cleverly were very comfortable on the ball and Cleverly, especially, was working well with Welbeck and Rooney. However, with Zverotic and Vukcevic now the two holding players, neither sat as deep as Novakovic had in the first half, and instead, applied more pressure on England’s midfield which saw Cleverly disappear from the game entirely.

Bjnovic continued to add pressure onto England with the introduction of Andrija Delibasic for V. Bozovic, adding another forward to Montenegro’s attack and moving Volkov back to the left back position that he typically plays for Partizan. It made Montenegro something of a 4-2-4 and the pressure got to England, who conceded just a minute later from a corner, equalizing through Damjanovic.

Hodgson’s Lone Change

Hodgson was right to take off Cleverly. It may have been later than he should have as Cleverly became anonymous after Montenegro started to put more pressure on England’s midfield three, but rather than put another central player on, someone that could look to add a bit more dominance in the middle of the pitch, Hodgson opted to introduce Ashley Young on the left side and put Danny Welbeck as the furtherest forward, with Rooney occasionally dropping into midfield.

It made some sense, as Damjanovic was high up the pitch and Vukcevic was narrow, meaning that the left flank was very open and Young has the ability to beat a player with his pace, but it came at a time when Montenegro essentially had four forwards which left the middle of the field a bit more open.

The move also saw Steven Gerrard get the opportunity to push further of the pitch, having three shots in the final ten minutes of the game, not including his last minute free kick that tested Bozovic well.

Conclusion

A game of two halves as Branko Bjnovic adapted his team well to game, making numerous changes throughout that saw Montenegro’s influence on the game grow, allowing them to keep their spot at the top of the qualifying group.

His opposite though, Hodgson, failed to respond to Montenegro’s half time changes and looked more willing to rely on his defense and Carrick and Gerrard to try to keep Montenegro’s growing attack at bay. Rather than trying to win back the midfield, he took off Cleverly and put in Young, who had little impact on the match after his introduction. It was a change that came too late in the game as well as it came only after Montenegro had equalized despite the obvious signs of Montenegro’s growing influence.

Hodgson’s time as England manager has been relatively successful, but this will certainly give his critics a game to question, but he and England will hope to do better against Montenegro next October when they meet at Wembley.