The English Game In Tatters

[weymouthPIE]

Well what a summer its been for English football. The Under 21s went out of the group stages of their European Champions, the Under 20s went out of their world cup in the group stages, and the Women have gone out of their European championships in the group stages.

All with barely a wimper.

 

When is the FA going to wake up and smell the coffee? Or should that be will the FA wake up and smell the coffee? Its blindingly obvious that we're stuck in the dark ages. I know people will point to the fact that we're ranked somewhere in the top 10 of the Fifa world rankings but the problem is we've stood still and all the other nations have not just caught up, they're overtaking us.

 

England's seniors, Under 21s, Under 20s and ladies all play the same boring style of football - hoof it and hope essentially. They cant keep the ball as well as the other nations and there's next to zero creativity going forwards. Even Iraq (no disrespect) completely outplayed our Under 20s at their world cup.

 

Big changes are needed from top to bottom in the England set-up. Its all well and good having expensive training facilities like St George's park but what use are they if we dont have the coaches to teach the game in the right way?

 

Germany has something like 70,000 UEFA A licenced coaches. We have less than 1,000. Thats not good enough. We need to get more coaches in there, managers who are upto date with the game and can get us keeping possesion and creating chances rather than hoofing the ball forwards hoping that one of our strikers gets to it first. And the strikers are no better, they're incapable of setting a goal up for themselves. They cant score unless its on a plate for them!

 

If nothing changes, I honestly think English teams will do well to even qualify for tournaments in a few years time.

 

I was talking to a friend of mine last night, and he really summed it all up for me with this:

 

Up front - Columbia have Falcao; Italy have Balotelli and Giovinco; Spain have David Villa and Fernando Torres; Germany have Mario Gomez, Kruse and Klose; Holland have Robin Van Persie and Arjen Robben; Uruguay have Luis Suarez, Edison Cavani and Deigo Forlan, Argentina have Lional Messi and Sergio Aguero. England? We have a fat, overrated Rooney and a donkey called Andy Carrol.

 

Sorry, rant over

 

 

What does everyone else think?

[Chris]

We don't give players, especially youngsters the chance to learn. Premier League teams take in many talented players, they train them and end up releasing the poorer one's. Rarely when one is 'rated' they end up bench warming and it's a mix of various problems but we've always had a strong talented side. We just never get the most out of them.

Quite a few people have been complaining about England ladies, although they're aren't all that good when you compare them to the Yanks, Spain and Now Germany.

I am surprised that they lost to France though, as the game isn't as big there but hey we're England.

[GrannyPie]

Don't start Super off.

[liampie]

more focused on the mighty pies but Weymouth had mentioned several good points. our game lacks home grown players/staff

[super_ram]

Ok I wont go off on one.I'll just say this.-until our so called super stars  master the basic footballing  skills like ball control,and passing we don't have a snowball in hells chance of  progressing in, never mind winning, any tournament.Positional discipline,movement off the ball and telling (not just hump the ball)forward passes seem to be beyond the capabilities of most of our current internationals.There's much more but enough -for now.

[weymouthPIE]

Ok I wont go off on one.I'll just say this.-until our so called super stars  master the basic footballing  skills like ball control,and passing we don't have a snowball in hells chance of  progressing in, never mind winning, any tournament.Positional discipline,movement off the ball and telling (not just hump the ball)forward passes seem to be beyond the capabilities of most of our current internationals.There's much more but enough -for now.

All too true @super_ram, It sounds like me and you could sit down have a long talk about England's problems

[GrannyPie]

You HAD to start him off ,didn't you ,Weymouth!

[super_ram]

weymouthPIEAll too true @super_ram, It sounds like me and you could sit down have a long talk about England's problems.

 

I don't pretend to have a magic formula to make England World beaters but I do think that if certain basic plans were instilled into players that we would see an immediate improvement.

[Chris]

I believe I could get England playing.

It starts by picking the right players and not just those who have reputations or big names. I really don't think England coaches these days watch the players, or at least enough to see how they do week in and week out. We need to stop 'talking' about what formation to use, it's simple.. You can based on your opposition, for example if we was playing spain - one striker isn't going to work and playing 5 in midfield will just create ourselves problems.

Get back to 4-4-2, giving the wide men more instructions, such as when to run, pass or link up.

We need to create more movement and have players who provide cover. We've lost the players who would gamble, so making sure we practiced shooting from range would be high on my list. I've never understood why teams try to walk the ball into the net, it uses far more energy and it's actually harder than latching onto the ball and having a pop. This isn't solely the answer, though it never harmed either Scholes or Gascoigne.

I'd also make sure the pressured players more, you don't need to waste energy chasing the ball around or get caught out of position by doing so. It's all about your positioning and feet, yet our players hardly ever try to take this type of pressure away.

Lastly we need to learn to knock down walls, it's been years since I've seen England appear like a real attacking force.

Some, if not a lot applied to Notts last season.

[weymouthPIE]

Our players also need to learn how to use the ball properly when we have it. Whenever we play the worlds top teams such as Spain or Germany we're chasing shadows most of the game but when we get the ball its hoof it forward and hope it falls to Rooney. Dosent work. Or on the other hand when we're playing against slightly lower standard opposition such as Ukraine or Montenigro, they'll stick 11 men behind the ball. We'll therefore have more possesion but instead of trying to force an opening, the keeper will roll the ball out to the defender who will pass it to a midfielder. Its then passed to a winger who looks up, dosent see any movement and as a result he passes back to the defender, who passes it back to the keeper who then hoofs the ball upfield and gives away possesion. The opposition are more than happy for us to do that!

 

I dont claim to have a magic fix that will make us world beaters but I do think we lack some of the basic skills of football - ball retention, creating openings, usingcertain players in the right way etc. Wayne Rooney is not the tallest of strikers, so what use is hoofing it forward hoping he wins a header going to do? Especially when we go and play him as a lone striker on occasions

[super_ram]

Exactly!Nuff said

[Super_Danny_Allsopp]

There are obviously a lot of problems with the England set up and football as a whole in this nation.

However, one of my main gripes is the relation between youth development and the PL. I believe the way to properly develop youth is by giving them full on competitive football, at least at the level they are at, or maybe level(s) above. 

Lets take Tempest as an example. This is mostly hypothetical but, last season he came on as a sub every now and again, was a bit shaky. This season, after more game time, he seems to at least hold his own, and as a result is getting more game time. Is he the best player on the park? Nowhere near it. . At this moment in time, we could probably sign a LB/LM that will be better than Tempest, but that is not the point. POTENTIALLY, in a couple to a few years time, he could be the best player on the park.  

However, if he starts to do well with Notts, say this season or next, a PL club will come sniffing. He is then signed for not much, and goes straight to their reserves. He plays there, star struck for the first couple of months, but then his development stagnates. He's not in competitive football, he's playing on Wednesday nights with other players in the same boat and first-teamers who are just coming back from injury. After a couple of years languishing there, he is sent on loan but never really settles and ends up being released, signing for a League Two side, but never really settles there either.

Obviously as mentioned the above is hypothetical, just using Tempest's name as an example. But this is happening up and down the leagues to youngsters everywhere. Germany get around this system by letting sides have reserve teams in the lower leagues. I don't agree with this and I think it just monopolises football in the country. We should have strict rules and protection for these youngsters that a club has trained and brought up, thus reducing this ridiculous poaching system we have now.

Just look at the players that are being brought in to the England fold now - Alex O-C, SOUTHAMPTON, Theo Walcott, SOUTHAMPTION, Zaha, CRYSTAL PALACE.

None of these are the elite PL clubs who aren't willing to give youth a chance because it's too big a risk when winning is everything. Why invest in youth when you can pay £50 mil for the latest superstar from abroad. Sure, they buy the youth, but it's more like a 'look, we're helping' (By buying other clubs youth players), but they are not, they are the problem, and until this practice ceases, the problem will continue. 

[Chris]

Personally I wished we would select players based on how well they're playing - Not Club or Name. I think some players deserve to play for the national side and do well to stay loyal to their roots.

The way it is now, they all want to join the top clubs and some might progress to be better players if they stick with the right team for awhile.

[liampie]

None of these are the elite PL clubs who aren't willing to give youth a chance because it's too big a risk when winning is everything. Why invest in youth when you can pay £50 mil for the latest superstar from abroad. Sure, they buy the youth, but it's more like a 'look, we're helping' (By buying other clubs youth players), but they are not, they are the problem, and until this practice ceases, the problem will continue.

they take a mix on, youths should be protected or occur a larger fee to put off them from wasting talent and forcing them to sit on the bench in the reserve team!

think if they put an higher price on youngsters, we would see more care taken into their growth.

[weymouthPIE]

Top post @Super_Danny_Allsopp, well written and you've really hit the nail on the head    

[super_ram]

Excellent post S_D_A. I agree whole heartedly