Danger lurks with Welsh Fab Four

Wales's recent results might not suggest that Rio Ferdinand and Sol Campbell will have too much to worry about on their England comebacks tomorrow.

Blunt attacking displays in mediocre draws with Azerbaijan and Northern Ireland will hardly be keeping Sven-Goran Eriksson's defenders up at night.

But if the England head coach wants a better idea of what they can expect to encounter at Old Trafford his research needs to go back at least two years.

The game his staff should study is the one which gave Welsh football new belief and will live long in the memory of most in the principality: a 2-1 win against Italy in October 2002.

It was an emotional night at the Millennium Stadium and at the very least a viewing would show Eriksson something about the passion and belief tomorrow's opponents can muster.

More importantly, he would realise that Wales had all their best players present and the attacking combination of Ryan Giggs, John Hartson, Craig Bellamy and Simon Davies was irresistible.

Mark Hughes's team, literally, have never been the same since and in two years those four have played together only once for their country.

But tomorrow, after a range of injury and suspension problems, they will be back together.

Wales's starting line-up against England-should be almost identical to the one used against Italy, with only Robbie Savage missing because of a ban.

Giggs, 30, said: "When you show performances like we did against Italy you know you can do it. That sets the benchmark and then it is just keeping to it.

"We have been unfortunate in that the team which played against Italy have not been together again since.

"You need a bit of luck in these sort of games, your full team and full squad. If we can play to the level we achieved that night two years ago we've got a good chance against anyone."

Wales's results in competitive games since beating Italy have been far from impressive.

They have won twice, drawn four and lost four with, at various times, Bellamy out with knee problems, Davies sidelined by a shin injury, Hartson suffering with back pain and Giggs dealing with tight hamstrings and suspension.

After a narrow play-off defeat to Russia meant Wales missed out on qualifying for Euro 2004, Hughes changed the shape of the team.

With Giggs banned and Davies not fit, the manager decided to adopt a fourman midfield with two up front for their two World Cup qualifiers in Group Six so far, with underwhelming results.

But when Wales lined up with their key players against Italy, Hughes put Hartson up front and the rest in a fiveman midfield.

The skill and speed of Giggs, Davies and Bellamy meant they were never too far away from the target man and could move quickly from deep positions to buzz around him.

It provided the sort of unpredictable attacks that defenders hate and if it is employed tomorrow, Wales's attacking stars are good enough to compete for the spotlight with Wayne Rooney and company.

Hartson, the former West Ham and Arsenal striker, said: "Having Ryan and Simon back is a massive boost for us. They have been two very big players for Wales for the last few years under Sparky."

Hughes has long had to deal with a clamour for former Cardiff City striker Robbie Earnshaw to be given a starting place in his side, whether or not the others have been available, and has largely resisted.

West Bromwich Albion's new recruit is short of the top-level experience that the others bring.

Giggs and Hartson, in particular, are used to playing in front of big crowds in important games at Manchester United and Celtic respectively and that will be important tomorrow.

The Welsh players seem specially pumped up for the game and Hughes is going back to his old club for his penultimate-game in charge before concentratingon his new job at Blackburn Rovers.

There is little doubt it will be a big occasion tomorrow and that in Wales's case, attack will be the best form of defence.

Davies said: "You ask any Welsh person and they will say the rivalry with England is the biggest out there.

"I think it is felt more on the Welsh side than the English because we are the smaller nation and they play in the big championships and have rivalries with Germany and Argentina.

"In the first few minutes I suppose there could be over-exuberance but we are professionals and if you get sent off you are letting the team down.

"We showed we can more than live with Italy and we have not got that much to lose against England. Most people are expecting us to get rolled over quite easily.

"But we believe we are better than that and can get something out of the game. We have got players who could hurt them.

"I think our big players such as Giggs, Hartson and Bellamy would make it into the England squad if they qualified to play for them.

"I have been talking to the English lads at Spurs and they are aware that we can give them a good game, so they have not been giving it too much. It should be an exciting and an attacking match."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in