World on alert Germans marching again!

[indi]

Apologies if this has been posted before, but I'm not reading 60 pages.

 

 

By Aimee Lewis

 

The paparazzi pictures of the likes of Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard relaxing on a beach in some luxury resort will no doubt pepper our newspapers and magazines in the forthcoming weeks.

 

Most, if not all, of the England squad will eventually return home to once again prepare for another season of toil in the familiar surroundings of the Premier League.

 

Rooney will head to Manchester United's Carrington training ground, a mere 30-odd miles from his hometown of Liverpool while John Terry will don Chelsea's colours, the club whose youth team he joined from West Ham in 1995.

 

And therein lies the national team's problem, according to Chris Waddle.

 

The former England and Tottenham winger, one of France's favourite adopted sons after his successful spell with Marseille between 1989 and 1992, believes the helter-skelter pace of the Premier League does not equip players sufficiently for international football and thinks the country's most talented stars should ditch their home comforts and head for Europe.

 

"Technically, it would improve them," Waddle told BBC Radio 5 live. "It's an eye-opener. You think it's a game of football, like it is back home, but it's not.

 

"When Marseille got the ball, we played patient football, it was about possession, it was like a waltz. English football is based on the Charleston. The Premier League has always been a basketball league - you attack then they attack - but other leagues don't play like that.

 

"International football is about keeping the ball. My three years in Marseille taught me so much about football, which I would never have learnt in England."

 

Not one member of England manager Fabio Capello's World Cup squad in South Africa this summer had experience of playing club football anywhere other than in their own country.

 

But then there has never been a mass exodus of English players eager to tread on foreign pitches. A number have succeeded: Gary Lineker (Barcelona, Grampus Eight), David Platt (Bari, Juventus, Sampdoria), Steve McManaman (Real Madrid), Kevin Keegan (Hamburg) and David Beckham (Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, AC Milan), to name a few.

 

But an Englishman playing abroad is rare these days. Few have dared to follow in Waddle's footsteps.

 

Currently, former Blackburn striker Matt Derbyshire is at Olympiakos in Greece while Darius Vassell, who started his career with Aston Villa, has just spent a season playing for Ankaragucu in Turkey.

 

The sole Englishman operating in one of Europe's major leagues, other than the Premier League, is ex-Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant.

 

Pennant is just about to start his second season in La Liga. The 27-year-old might not have set the Spanish league alight during what was an injury-plagued first season - he made 25 appearances for Real Zaragoza - but believes the experience has already improved him.

 

"Not many players get a chance of playing in La Liga," Pennant told BBC Sport. "This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance.

 

"I'd say the Premier League is a bit quicker and more physical but the Spanish league is definitely more technical - and that makes it more of an enjoyment to play in.

 

"You've obviously got your Barcelonas and Real Madrids but lower down the league in Spain is better than the Premier League. It's a great league, every team is very gifted.

 

"I got to play against Real and Barca. It was the first time I'd played against Barcelona for the full 90 minutes. The experience was great and I can't wait to go again.

 

"When we played them I think I touched the ball five times in one hour. When I came off the pitch, I thought I needed to go to hospital. I couldn't breathe. I thought I needed new pair of lungs!"

 

The winger, notorious for his poor timekeeping (in February there were reports he was sent home from training after arriving late for the third time in two weeks), is even looking forward to pre-season training, which starts next week.

 

"I'm fully fit and I'll be ready for pre-season. It's not as hard as I thought it would be. It's a lot of football and less running," added Pennant, the first Englishman to play for Zaragoza.

 

"For sure it's easier than in England. In England there's a lot of running, a lot of bleep tests. In Spain they don't do it. I think if people read this they're going to come to La Liga now!"

 

Dutch legend Johan Cruyff once questioned why so few English, indeed British, players have succeeded abroad, saying: "There's something going on here, something strange."

 

Waddle - nicknamed 'Magic Chris' by the Marseille fans - cited an unwillingness to embrace a new culture and the inability to learn a new language as reasons for this.

 

 

"When I signed for Marseille, someone asked me if I was going to learn French. 'I wouldn't' they said, 'I'd make them speak English'. And that sums us up. We don't want to learn anything. We don't want to copy.

 

"Gary Lineker learnt to do it. Bobby Robson learnt more by going abroad. Steve McClaren will come back to England and he'll know so much more."

 

Pennant is still slowly overcoming the language barrier, although he admits, even after nearly a year, he is finding learning Spanish "very difficult".

 

"I understand more than I speak it," he admitted. "When they give me instructions I understand. The communication on the training pitch and on the football pitch is not a problem, it's just the day-to-day life. Having a conversation with someone is a bit difficult."

 

Pennant, who had a troubled time in his early twenties (he was jailed for drink-driving in 2004 during which time it was revealed he had trouble reading and writing), has persevered longer than most.

 

Former Liverpool and Aston Villa striker Stan Collymore lasted only three games for Oviedo before deciding he could not adapt to a new way of life and a new way of playing.

 

Like Burnley defender Tyrone Mears, who spent a season with Marseille back in 2008, Pennant believes he has settled quicker than expected because of the camaraderie among his team-mates.

 

The Zaragoza squad along with manager Jose Aurelio Gay and his backroom staff socialise together twice a month, usually for a meal, and talk about matters other than football, allowing Pennant to get to know his team-mates "a bit better".

 

"It does help a lot," Pennant commented. "At other clubs I've been at the only time the team really goes out like that is at Christmas or for a charity dinner."

 

However, encouraging players to take leave for pastures new is no panacea for England. After all, just one member of the gifted young Germany squad, which inflicted that humiliating 4-1 defeat on a pedestrian-looking England, plays outside of the Bundesliga.

 

Numerous inquests into England's World Cup exit seem to suggest that the country's woes are more deep rooted, but Waddle and Pennant's experiences suggest moving abroad might aid the national team's recovery.

Story from BBC SPORT:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2010/8727084.stm

 

Published: 2010/06/30 17:24:22 GMT

 

© BBC MMX

 

Apart from the bit about Germany I think that's pretty much spot on. It's not too many foreigners in the English league, it's too few Englishmen in the foreign leagues.

[Wullie]

Every member of the Italy squad that won the last World Cup played in Italy. I think English players would benefit from going abroad but it's certainly not the main problem, it's deeper than that. If they've grown up in the English system, they're probably fairly rubbish technically anyway. It might not be that players won't go abroad but that foreign clubs don't want them.

[Village Idiot]

I don't think we have ever had so many members of the Spanish squad playing (or having spent a significant part of their careers) abroad. I think people like Torres, Arbeloa, Piqué and Cesc have improved immensely from the experience

[indi]

Every member of the Italy squad that won the last World Cup played in Italy. I think English players would benefit from going abroad but it's certainly not the main problem, it's deeper than that. If they've grown up in the English system, they're probably fairly rubbish technically anyway. It might not be that players won't go abroad but that foreign clubs don't want them.

 

It's not as much of a problem for Italy though as their style of football is similar to international football, so they can get used to it playing at home. The English style of football is totally different from international football, so our players can look world-beaters in the Premiership, but look lost when they're at the world cup. I think that people have identified that we're not going to win anything playing English football in international games, but unfortunately they've only managed to use that realisation to make things worse, not better. We now ask our players to carry on playing English style week after week, in the Premiership, but somehow flick a switch and play international style football for England. The idea is well intentioned, but it's a total waste of time if the Premiership doesn't change, which it won't because that's the reason it's so exciting and therefore successful. It seems to me that the only realistic option is for young English players to go abroad and learn how to play international style football and once they have they can come back if they want, as it doesn't seem to do players who already know how to play it too much harm when they go back to their national teams after having played in the Premiership.

 

Basically it's not about players playing abroad as such, although that would obviously be beneficial, it's about players learning how to play in a more controlled and technical manner, which is something they won't get in this country - other than at Arsenal, perhaps - the way things are at the moment.

[Skeletor]

I don't think we have ever had so many members of the Spanish squad playing (or having spent a significant part of their careers) abroad. I think people like Torres, Arbeloa, Piqué and Cesc have improved immensely from the experience

 

I think it did the same for Beckham. Shame about Michael Owen though.

[Fugazi]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3036901/On-me-ead-sun-Football-flops-take-hols.html

 

How dare they!

 

"Sacto blasted: "Imagine if these 'role models' said they were making donations to underprivileged kids in South Africa. What a difference that would make to their image. Instead they're off on holiday with their WAGs indulging themselves as a reward for their pitiful performance."

 

[Wullie]

Every member of the Italy squad that won the last World Cup played in Italy. I think English players would benefit from going abroad but it's certainly not the main problem, it's deeper than that. If they've grown up in the English system, they're probably fairly rubbish technically anyway. It might not be that players won't go abroad but that foreign clubs don't want them.

 

It's not as much of a problem for Italy though as their style of football is similar to international football, so they can get used to it playing at home. The English style of football is totally different from international football, so our players can look world-beaters in the Premiership, but look lost when they're at the world cup. I think that people have identified that we're not going to win anything playing English football in international games, but unfortunately they've only managed to use that realisation to make things worse, not better. We now ask our players to carry on playing English style week after week, in the Premiership, but somehow flick a switch and play international style football for England. The idea is well intentioned, but it's a total waste of time if the Premiership doesn't change, which it won't because that's the reason it's so exciting and therefore successful. It seems to me that the only realistic option is for young English players to go abroad and learn how to play international style football and once they have they can come back if they want, as it doesn't seem to do players who already know how to play it too much harm when they go back to their national teams after having played in the Premiership.

 

Basically it's not about players playing abroad as such, although that would obviously be beneficial, it's about players learning how to play in a more controlled and technical manner, which is something they won't get in this country - other than at Arsenal, perhaps - the way things are at the moment.

 

A valid point about Italy, we agree on the fundamental issue that our players are not coming through in a footballing culture that is conducive to success at international level. I think it can be changed though but only through radical overhaul right down to grassroots level that I don't think we'll ever realistically see, especially in the current financial climate.

 

You're right that the Premier League won't ever change its style but then it doesn't necessarily need to. It's not like teaching kids to look to pass the ball is going to slow the pace of the game down in this country. Even teams that often don't have a single Englishman in the side play the high tempo Premiership game, it's just that those players can then adapt themselves when asked to play at a slower pace and keep the ball more and ours can't.

 

It's not going to harm clubs producing players who are comfortable on the ball, they'll still be Premier League players, just better Premier League players. It'll help them because they won't have to keep going out and buying foreign - unfortunately it's a results business and with the money in the game, that's a much easier and quicker way for clubs to operate than investing in a quality youth structure.

 

A few of the quotes you posted, particularly from Chris Waddle, are from a Radio 5 show about the general state of English football, I highly recommend it: http://beta.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00t2ynq/World_Cup_South_Africa_2010_Out_of_Africa_Where_Next_for_English_Football/

 

The bit with Howard Wilkinson is the most interesting/frustrating. He compiled a "charter for quality" in 1997 when he was technical director, a plan for change at the FA with a view to seeing an England side in the World Cup final by 2010. Plans included a national football centre, coaching focusing on ball work and technique, kids to play less games per season and on smaller pitches and a general cultural move to 4-3-3 which he pinpointed as being increasingly key to international football.

 

The FA basically scrapped every part of this charter over time and brushed it under the carpet - a few international football associations liked the ideas though and took them up and we're now seeing the results of that with the players they're producing... notably the German FA.

[ohmelads]

Maybe a better approach would be to ask: how can we get the best out of the English system? We're never going to be like Brazil or Holland. Play to our strengths: pace, strength, aerial ability, etc.

 

Exactly what I was getting at earlier. The world cup is a one month competition. You need to be on form, ride your luck, and be good tactically as a unit to beat teams who are better than or as good as you. It is winnable, but you need these things. We've beaten big teams before, and we've got to quarter finals and semi-finals before. We won it once.

 

Spain and Holland play really technical football but where are the trophies? Spain won Euro 2008 not just because of possessing loads of great players. They've always had great players. This Spain team has been playing together for years, they know each other inside out. They can play to their own strengths and perform, they pass teams off the park. They're organized and well-drilled as well as gifted.

 

Look at Germany and France. Are the Germans more technically gifted than the French? More 'comfy on the ball'? Or have they just got their act together? The French are a mess. We will never match Brazil technically, but can we beat them? Yes, if we perform on the day and our tactics are right. International football is different to club football, you have a fraction of the time to work on moves in training, to gel a team together that plays to the strengths of its best players. England clearly failed in this regard.

 

Would coaching Rooney when he was 10 to play a different way have made him perform better? Fact is we have a world class player who struggled to do anything. Look at the tactics, team organization and how we perform as a unit at the actual tournament. We have the players to do damage at a major tournament. Before the world cup if you spoke to foreign fans they feared us, so did the coaches. Nobody said anything about "you guys won't do anything because of the way your kids are coached". It's easy to sell these arguments in the aftermath of a hammering but it's a massive overraction IMO.

[Jayson]

Completely agree

[Wullie]

Ohmelads, if this were a one off i'd agree with you and i would have been agreeing even four years ago but this time something feels different. For a country the size of ours, where football is the most popular sport by some distance, to have reached three major semi finals in our entire history and to have a pool of quality players so limited that Heskey goes to two world cups simply for being strong, i think is a real concern.

[NG32]

Ohmelads, if this were a one off i'd agree with you and i would have been agreeing even four years ago but this time something feels different. For a country the size of ours, where football is the most popular sport by some distance, to have reached three major semi finals in our entire history and to have a pool of quality players so limited that Heskey goes to two world cups simply for being strong, i think is a real concern.

 

Aye, good point Wullie 

 

 

[Parky]

Apologies if this has been posted before, but I'm not reading 60 pages.

 

 

By Aimee Lewis

 

The paparazzi pictures of the likes of Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard relaxing on a beach in some luxury resort will no doubt pepper our newspapers and magazines in the forthcoming weeks.

 

Most, if not all, of the England squad will eventually return home to once again prepare for another season of toil in the familiar surroundings of the Premier League.

 

Rooney will head to Manchester United's Carrington training ground, a mere 30-odd miles from his hometown of Liverpool while John Terry will don Chelsea's colours, the club whose youth team he joined from West Ham in 1995.

 

And therein lies the national team's problem, according to Chris Waddle.

 

The former England and Tottenham winger, one of France's favourite adopted sons after his successful spell with Marseille between 1989 and 1992, believes the helter-skelter pace of the Premier League does not equip players sufficiently for international football and thinks the country's most talented stars should ditch their home comforts and head for Europe.

 

"Technically, it would improve them," Waddle told BBC Radio 5 live. "It's an eye-opener. You think it's a game of football, like it is back home, but it's not.

 

"When Marseille got the ball, we played patient football, it was about possession, it was like a waltz. English football is based on the Charleston. The Premier League has always been a basketball league - you attack then they attack - but other leagues don't play like that.

 

"International football is about keeping the ball. My three years in Marseille taught me so much about football, which I would never have learnt in England."

 

Not one member of England manager Fabio Capello's World Cup squad in South Africa this summer had experience of playing club football anywhere other than in their own country.

 

But then there has never been a mass exodus of English players eager to tread on foreign pitches. A number have succeeded: Gary Lineker (Barcelona, Grampus Eight), David Platt (Bari, Juventus, Sampdoria), Steve McManaman (Real Madrid), Kevin Keegan (Hamburg) and David Beckham (Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, AC Milan), to name a few.

 

But an Englishman playing abroad is rare these days. Few have dared to follow in Waddle's footsteps.

 

Currently, former Blackburn striker Matt Derbyshire is at Olympiakos in Greece while Darius Vassell, who started his career with Aston Villa, has just spent a season playing for Ankaragucu in Turkey.

 

The sole Englishman operating in one of Europe's major leagues, other than the Premier League, is ex-Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant.

 

Pennant is just about to start his second season in La Liga. The 27-year-old might not have set the Spanish league alight during what was an injury-plagued first season - he made 25 appearances for Real Zaragoza - but believes the experience has already improved him.

 

"Not many players get a chance of playing in La Liga," Pennant told BBC Sport. "This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance.

 

"I'd say the Premier League is a bit quicker and more physical but the Spanish league is definitely more technical - and that makes it more of an enjoyment to play in.

 

"You've obviously got your Barcelonas and Real Madrids but lower down the league in Spain is better than the Premier League. It's a great league, every team is very gifted.

 

"I got to play against Real and Barca. It was the first time I'd played against Barcelona for the full 90 minutes. The experience was great and I can't wait to go again.

 

"When we played them I think I touched the ball five times in one hour. When I came off the pitch, I thought I needed to go to hospital. I couldn't breathe. I thought I needed new pair of lungs!"

 

The winger, notorious for his poor timekeeping (in February there were reports he was sent home from training after arriving late for the third time in two weeks), is even looking forward to pre-season training, which starts next week.

 

"I'm fully fit and I'll be ready for pre-season. It's not as hard as I thought it would be. It's a lot of football and less running," added Pennant, the first Englishman to play for Zaragoza.

 

"For sure it's easier than in England. In England there's a lot of running, a lot of bleep tests. In Spain they don't do it. I think if people read this they're going to come to La Liga now!"

 

Dutch legend Johan Cruyff once questioned why so few English, indeed British, players have succeeded abroad, saying: "There's something going on here, something strange."

 

Waddle - nicknamed 'Magic Chris' by the Marseille fans - cited an unwillingness to embrace a new culture and the inability to learn a new language as reasons for this.

 

 

"When I signed for Marseille, someone asked me if I was going to learn French. 'I wouldn't' they said, 'I'd make them speak English'. And that sums us up. We don't want to learn anything. We don't want to copy.

 

"Gary Lineker learnt to do it. Bobby Robson learnt more by going abroad. Steve McClaren will come back to England and he'll know so much more."

 

Pennant is still slowly overcoming the language barrier, although he admits, even after nearly a year, he is finding learning Spanish "very difficult".

 

"I understand more than I speak it," he admitted. "When they give me instructions I understand. The communication on the training pitch and on the football pitch is not a problem, it's just the day-to-day life. Having a conversation with someone is a bit difficult."

 

Pennant, who had a troubled time in his early twenties (he was jailed for drink-driving in 2004 during which time it was revealed he had trouble reading and writing), has persevered longer than most.

 

Former Liverpool and Aston Villa striker Stan Collymore lasted only three games for Oviedo before deciding he could not adapt to a new way of life and a new way of playing.

 

Like Burnley defender Tyrone Mears, who spent a season with Marseille back in 2008, Pennant believes he has settled quicker than expected because of the camaraderie among his team-mates.

 

The Zaragoza squad along with manager Jose Aurelio Gay and his backroom staff socialise together twice a month, usually for a meal, and talk about matters other than football, allowing Pennant to get to know his team-mates "a bit better".

 

"It does help a lot," Pennant commented. "At other clubs I've been at the only time the team really goes out like that is at Christmas or for a charity dinner."

 

However, encouraging players to take leave for pastures new is no panacea for England. After all, just one member of the gifted young Germany squad, which inflicted that humiliating 4-1 defeat on a pedestrian-looking England, plays outside of the Bundesliga.

 

Numerous inquests into England's World Cup exit seem to suggest that the country's woes are more deep rooted, but Waddle and Pennant's experiences suggest moving abroad might aid the national team's recovery.

Story from BBC SPORT:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2010/8727084.stm

 

Published: 2010/06/30 17:24:22 GMT

 

© BBC MMX

 

Apart from the bit about Germany I think that's pretty much spot on. It's not too many foreigners in the English league, it's too few Englishmen in the foreign leagues.

 

That's a good read. It's what I was trying to get across earlier when I talk about pitch intelligence. IMO it's the biggest advantage the Germans had over us, they seemed to know where they needed to be on the pitch with regard to what phase the game was in, so I'd argue it is not only technique but reading the game. All the Euro leagues are slower with more focus on posession and positioning, ironically I'd argue the Bundesliga is closest to us with regarding tempo and physicality but they also know how to keep posesssion ande how to play in bursts. Eng on the whole play at one tempo and the play is predictable. Look at Spain and Holland how they think ahead when they have posession, how VP cycles out wide or deep to take the ball or create space for the others, straight away although they play with one striker it feels like they have two on the pitch.

 

[Unbelievable]

Disagree ohmelads... I don't think people on the continent feared the England team at all. I'm sad to say, but what happened with your team this world cup is exactly what was expected: overrated players believing their own hype and not gelling together to perform as a unit. I'd compare it to Real Madrid: did you expect them to win the CL this past season, despite the enormous investment they put in the squad? I certainly didn't: it was the chairman buying the players and expecting the manager to make them into a good team. Sometimes it's better to drop a few players to accommodate others who can play in the system the manager wants to play. You don't always need your best 11 players on the pitch, what you need is a balanced team with some natural hierarchy and a combination of experience and youthful enthusiasm. Capello has failed to deliver on these things and has fallen in the trap previous England managers have fallen into, which is some of your supposed world class players are deemed undroppable, meaning there is no room for the manager to put his own slant on things. In that light, there was nothing overly unexpected about England's performance this World Cup..

[Parky]

Every member of the Italy squad that won the last World Cup played in Italy. I think English players would benefit from going abroad but it's certainly not the main problem, it's deeper than that. If they've grown up in the English system, they're probably fairly rubbish technically anyway. It might not be that players won't go abroad but that foreign clubs don't want them.

 

It's not as much of a problem for Italy though as their style of football is similar to international football, so they can get used to it playing at home. The English style of football is totally different from international football, so our players can look world-beaters in the Premiership, but look lost when they're at the world cup. I think that people have identified that we're not going to win anything playing English football in international games, but unfortunately they've only managed to use that realisation to make things worse, not better. We now ask our players to carry on playing English style week after week, in the Premiership, but somehow flick a switch and play international style football for England. The idea is well intentioned, but it's a total waste of time if the Premiership doesn't change, which it won't because that's the reason it's so exciting and therefore successful. It seems to me that the only realistic option is for young English players to go abroad and learn how to play international style football and once they have they can come back if they want, as it doesn't seem to do players who already know how to play it too much harm when they go back to their national teams after having played in the Premiership.

 

Basically it's not about players playing abroad as such, although that would obviously be beneficial, it's about players learning how to play in a more controlled and technical manner, which is something they won't get in this country - other than at Arsenal, perhaps - the way things are at the moment.

 

...and therin lies the rub, how many Eng players start for Arsenal?

[Jayson]

The entire argument about technique/touch etc is dependant upon the idea that England players are playing at their full potential when they were an England shirt on the big stage in the first place. They clearly werent this time. It couldnt be more blindingly obvious that they werent. So seeing that as the main talking point is cringeworthy to me.

 

Lets make them develop more skills that they wont show anyone when the time comes. Class.

 

There is nothing wrong with how we play football anyway. Only the last couple of tournaments have gone downhill, seeing as we didnt make one & were now soundly beaten in the other. The rest we lost on pens, had red cards against us, ronaldinho fluking goals. Often against the sides that make the final/win the competition. Even this time it took a poor call to stop it being 2-2 and who knows where it would have gone.

 

We may have a better pool of talent to choose from if there were more English players being given chances to develop. Thats true. Going into it much more deeply than that is an absolute waste of time.

 

 

[Wullie]

3 tournament semi finals in our history from a nation of 60m with two of the world's most attended leagues and you reckon it's bad luck and refereeing decisions? At what do we have to look at what we're doing wrong instead of convincing ourselves the world is against us every two years?

[Skeletor]

3 tournament semi finals in our history from a nation of 60m with two of the world's most attended leagues and you reckon it's bad luck and refereeing decisions? At what do we have to look at what we're doing wrong instead of convincing ourselves the world is against us every two years?

 

If you count Euro 68 it's 4 semi's.

[Wullie]

I stand corrected, didn't know about that one. Think the germans have at least 11.

[Village Idiot]

Four semis? That's the same record as Spain then.

[Jayson]

Didnt say it was due to bad luck and refereeing decisions. Im just saying we've been very close to progressing further in recent tournaments, only the last two have really been proper let downs.

 

I think its more to do with the mentality of our players and the media myself.

 

Newcastle fans should know more than any how nonsense on the outside can effect how well a team performs. Pressure especially is huge. I dont think they handle it when playing for England. Their ability in pen shootouts generally backs that up. They dont stand up well to it & our media is the worst at putting it on them by building them up so much.

 

At their clubs they are likely far more laid back & relaxed in their play which produces the differences in the performances. Its likely all about confidence.

[Keefaz]

Four semis? That's the same record as Spain then.

 

Aye, and you're the most underperforming nation of them all!

[Wullie]

The Sun didn't print anything that made Wayne Rooney unable to control a ball. Just another excuse to get the powers that be off the hook.

[Wullie]

And if he was worried about being hyped, he shouldn't have done some of the stupid adverts he has prior to the tournament.

[Jayson]

He was asked constantly before he'd even kicked a ball if he felt any pressure knowing he was Englands main threat. Because obviously, we'd all be relying on him.

Doing all the adverts probably didnt help him either no.

 

It depends how they deal with the pressure. Same reason youngsters often find it easier at times as they dont feel it. Similar to why underperforming teams often get a new lease of life with a new manager. Or why an underperforming striker has a hard time hitting form again like Torres. Theres more to it than purely technical ability.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Think you're right Jayson, the main questions we should be asking are about team selection, motivation and player psychology.  I don't think there are massive systemic problems with the English game.

 

We spent most of the season calling these same players brilliant.