World Cup 2010: Gareth Barry misses USA but do England need a Makelele?

Gareth Barry's inability to recover from injury in time to make England's starting XI against the USA means that Fabio Capello's side will start this World Cup without a specialist defensive midfielder. Dedicated followers of fashion will howl but Gary Neville, who was not selected for this squad, thinks the "holding" player is a myth. Brazil use two – Felipe Melo and Gilberto Silva – yet in a recent conversation Neville offered a new perspective on England's failure to produce a player for that job. With Owen Hargreaves not ready for such a searching test, Michael Carrick off‑colour and better suited to a distributive role, Barry is the only candidate among Capello's eight midfielders to break up attacks. Neville, though, is dismissive of the idea that teams without a dedicated "screener" expose their defenders to forward runs. He says: "What happens in football is that there are trends. People see a Claude Makelele and say: 'You need a holding midfield player.' Well, do you? Manchester United won the [2008] European Cup with Carrick and Paul Scholes as the central midfield players. • Follow the Guardian's World Cup team on Twitter • Sign up to play our great Fantasy Football game • Stats centre: Get the lowdown on every player • The latest team-by-team news, features and more "All of a sudden Makelele defines the Makelele role and everyone says you've got to have a Makelele. What you need is good players who recognise danger. The idea that you need a natural holding midfielder – I don't go along with that. "I think with the way refereeing is going in the World Cup, you won't see too many aggressive tacklers. It's about people who can take the ball off opponents, not tackle the ball off them. The idea that you'll have this aggressive player who's going to kick lumps out of people is just not going to happen any more." Neville's premise is that interception is the new tackling – especially during tournaments. Barry's absence should not represent a handicap against the USA. Vulnerability in the opposition's No10 position tends to expose itself only against the major nations. Should England make it through to a semi-final against Brazil, Kaká will draw on warm memories of the space he was allowed to dance through when the two sides met in a friendly in Doha last November. Another snag is that it shines a light again on the Frank Lampard-Steven Gerrard central midfield double act, and which of them should be burdened with the greater defensive responsibility. That debate still awaits its resolution.