image: nzherald.co.nz

Rumour has it that Sven will go with just one up front and a holding midielder at the World Cup. The even bigger shock is that the holding midfielder will be Jamie Carragher. That's how Sven arranged the players in training yesterday, which indicates that's how he will set up against Hungary today, which he's suggested will be the same team to start against Paraguay.

After an impressive performance against Belarus, Peter Crouch will be relegated to the bench and Michael Owen will be deployed as the lone striker. I can see two big problems here.

First, Michael Owen can not play up front on his own. I thought we learned this against Northern Ireland, but seems that was quickly forgotten. He's not big enough, he's not string enough and he doesn't hold up the ball well enough.

Second, Jamie Carragher as a holding midfielder? Why pick a squad with two proper defensive midfielders (Carrick and Hargreaves) and then play Jamie Carragher ahead of them? Especially when the squad is thin on defenders. If Carragher is in midfield, that leaves one reserve centre back (Sol Campbell) and no reserve right backs. And why play Carragher out of position? He's a top defender but he doesn't have the technique to play anchorman, where to do the job right he'll be required to do a lot of passing.

I've never been a big supporter of Owen Hargreaves but since he's in the England squad on the strength of his Bayern Munich performances in exactly this position, wouldn't it make sense to hand him the role?