I hope you stand corrected :P Russia at home playing 4-5-1 in the first half? Don't think I need to be retracting just yet. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of Lamplard or Michael "He's a great passer of the ball" Carrick are of that standard. Far from it, actually. Hargreaves, on the other hand, is a world-class operator in the holding role, having done it for years at one of Europe's premier clubs in Germany, who have a great history of that kind of player. The only thing that Barry's performances have done, albeit a major thing, is dispel the theory for the need of a holding midfielder. For some reason, a holding midfielder seems to equal balance for McClaren, but it's not that simple. Neither Gerrard or Barry played the holding role in the last 2 games, and tonight, when they actually had to defend unlike the Israel encounter, the balance came from the understanding of positioning. The only need for a holding midfielder is to counter overlapping runs of both full backs. Think of Brazil, Argentina, Spain etc. With Cashley Cole showing as much form in the last 18 months as a 3 legged horse on Grand National Day, there's little chance of that happening. Not that he'd ever get fed the ball from the man in front of him, Mr Joe "Shoot on Sight" Cole. No wonder they call him the Marine. It aint for his crew-cut!