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The England Thread


Pilko

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While I accept that our England players are just not technically as good as our European counterparts, what really annoys me is that we don't have the excuse of saying that we are not a footballing country and we have a small football league. We have a huge money spinning league, yet it's clear so little of it gets passed on to improving the standards of youth coaching so that we can improve the technique of the players coming through. So many issues at grass roots level, until we form a long term strategy and invest money to deliver it we will always be behind the rest of Europe.

 

 

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Paul Grech ‏@paul_grech

Pirlo. Has just admitted on Italian TV that his kick was aimed at unsettling England's kickers.

 

Fair enough. Had Hart stayed still for the 10th of a second longer, he would have saved it. Still, Pirlo still has so much class.

 

Barton is gay for him now, according to his latest tweets. :lol:

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Considering most of the 'top' clubs in this country have their youth teams packed with foreigners it's no surprise we struggle severely nowadays to produce consistent players of our own. Our top division is purely commercial, not competitive.

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By the by, i don't think i've ever known a player to get bummed by the coverage more than Pirlo did tonight. Was nauseating at times.

 

Pirlo made it look so so easy tonight, just keeping and spreading the ball. Made Italy play, fantastic player

it's only easy if he has players with movement giving him options to pass to.
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Guest neesy111

Fuck me. We go through this every year...

In a nutshell it's Sky's fault

 

It's the clubs fault.

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While I accept that our England players are just not technically as good as our European counterparts, what really annoys me is that we don't have the excuse of saying that we are not a footballing country and we have a small football league. We have a huge money spinning league, yet it's clear so little of it gets passed on to improving the standards of youth coaching so that we can improve the technique of the players coming through. So many issues at grass roots level, until we form a long term strategy and invest money to deliver it we will always be behind the rest of Europe.

 

The Premier League is far closer to being the reason why England are shit, not a reason why we shouldn't be so.

 

Look at some of the players who got into the England squad this time. Downing. What kind of a season has he had? Was it zero goals and zero assists? Henderson? A kid who had one half decent season at Sunderland, then an utter stinker for Liverpool.

 

England's third choice goalkeeper is Jack Butland. Honestly, I wouldn't recognise him if he turned up to empty my bins (and given Birmingham City's financial situation, that's not out of the question pretty soon).

 

The Premier League is not the best league in the world. it is the best marketed league in the world. Once you get past that, you have to look at the fact that there really aren't that many very good English players in it, so stuffed full is it of foreign players.

 

You can then look at the fact that the money grabbing clubs, with the equally avaricious agents and players ensure that nothing like enough money trickles down to grass roots football education for kids.

 

Just like none of it trickles down to create affordable tickets for fans, absolutely everything about the English game is short termist, and centred on greed, and that is why we'll never achieve anything at international level.

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Considering most of the 'top' clubs in this country have their youth teams packed with foreigners it's no surprise we struggle severely nowadays to produce consistent players of our own. Our top division is purely commercial, not competitive.

 

Totally agree. The majority of top teams in the premier league hardly have any English players, which is hindering the country's progress. When is that homegrown rule supposed to be kicking in btw?

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All of our players have attributes that make them effective in the confines of the rough and tumble, kick and rush Premier League but they all have glaring weaknesses and limitations as footballers, both technically and tactically.

 

Parker looks good at club level doing the donkey work for a talent like Modric. Barry sits and does the basic stuff alongside a rolls royce of a player like Yaya Toure. Milner does the grafting that allows the likes of Silva and Aguero to shine. Even somebody like Gerrard has had his back covered consistently at club level. When he had his best season at Liverpool he was playing off the striker with freedom to get forward, while he was covered by two intelligent and disciplined FOREIGN players behind him in Alonso and Mascherano. They gave him the platform to perform and cover up his horrendous lack of positional and tactical awareness on the pitch.

 

None of the players we produce are complete or well rounded. The wingers we produce are athletes with no skill or guile, the defenders are fundamentally good defenders but find themselves completely found out at international level when composure on the ball and distribution from the back is the order of the day. Terry's best club form came alongside Carvalho when he was at his very best, Lescott has Vincent Kompany alongside him who is arguably the best all round defender in Europe at the moment.

 

You could go on all day long, all of them are good club performers but have glaring weaknesses which get shown up when they are put together into a team and asked to play a different style of football. It's excruciating and nothing will change until we tear it up and start again at a coaching level. No more focussing on physical strength and power, no more selecting players on size and athleticism, more coaching into the absolute basics from the young age - that's passing, ball retention, control, feeling comfotable with the fooking round thing at your feet! No more playing in straight lines either, players need to be playing in flexible formations from a young age so they can play all over the pitch. Their natural position will come to them at a later age.

 

It's frustrating but it is clear as day. The players simply aren't good enough and won't be until something fundamentally changes at grass roots level.

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While I accept that our England players are just not technically as good as our European counterparts, what really annoys me is that we don't have the excuse of saying that we are not a footballing country and we have a small football league. We have a huge money spinning league, yet it's clear so little of it gets passed on to improving the standards of youth coaching so that we can improve the technique of the players coming through. So many issues at grass roots level, until we form a long term strategy and invest money to deliver it we will always be behind the rest of Europe.

 

The Premier League is far closer to being the reason why England are s***, not a reason why we shouldn't be so.

 

Look at some of the players who got into the England squad this time. Downing. What kind of a season has he had? Was it zero goals and zero assists? Henderson? A kid who had one half decent season at Sunderland, then an utter stinker for Liverpool.

 

England's third choice goalkeeper is Jack Butland. Honestly, I wouldn't recognise him if he turned up to empty my bins (and given Birmingham City's financial situation, that's not out of the question pretty soon).

 

The Premier League is not the best league in the world. it is the best marketed league in the world. Once you get past that, you have to look at the fact that there really aren't that many very good English players in it, so stuffed full is it of foreign players.

 

You can then look at the fact that the money grabbing clubs, with the equally avaricious agents and players ensure that nothing like enough money trickles down to grass roots football education for kids.

 

Just like none of it trickles down to create affordable tickets for fans, absolutely everything about the English game is short termist, and centred on greed, and that is why we'll never achieve anything at international level.

 

Can't argue with a word of that.

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