Match Day Thread Mighty England vs Dirty Krauts

Sorry I didn't mean deluded as in you personally, more that I hate reading how we choose tge wrong managers or pick wrong players etc. Like changing these things will make us world beaters when really our problems run so much deeper.

Fair play on trying to positive with England, I struggle with that ... I do like the appointment of Southgate though, can't say he doesn't care and like that he tried the back 3 against Germany too, hope we see more of that.

Fwiw, I'm a similar age to you and doubt I'll see England win anything either. At least you've seen Leicester win something though

 

Watching the game yesterday it was glaringly obvious that many of the supposed best players in England still haven't mastered skills that are considered fundamental here.

If you can't control the ball with your first touch, you need to get back to basics. It's something that would never be tolerated in players at the top of the game here.

 

I think I've got the same attitude as most of the players, club over country. International breaks are dull!
You can't beat supporting your local team through the ****e and seeing them win something. I've always had a lot of time for Southampton and you should have seen them win something last month!

 

It is so obvious why ALL the home nations will never win the WC or the Euros.............Our top league is over crowded with Foreign players that hinders British talent from coming through and these Foreign players then return to their countries for international duty and win WC's and Euros. What chance do the home nations have to win anything with a system that favours foreign players...

 

Spot on. We still focus on pace and power at youth levels here which is what I mean by we need to change our attitudes.

We're quite good for it in our academy to be fair.

 

Nice to know it's changing somewhere, at least.

 

The issues lie more below that level really ie. grass roots but there's a reason why our academy is so highly thought of even on the continent. If we can do it, there's no reason why the bigger clubs can't if they're willing to put the money in. I wonder if City will start to produce good players in the next decade or so after opening their new complex.

One thing we did a couple of years ago which I found interesting and I believe was a world first, is we organised a youth tournament but instead of putting teams in age groups they were in groups by size/weight which I think is a brilliant idea to really assess technical ability. Can't remember the other teams involved or how it went, or even if we're planning to do it again but I found it interesting at the time.

 

Some 'technical' ability is natural - what we used to call athleticism and coordination. Some can be taught, but the basics have to be there.

The other problem that seems to get too little attention, imo, is mental attitude and intelligence.

In other words, you're looking for more than just so called technical ability. You're looking for the will, the mentality to apply yourself to the goal of being the best you can be. On top of that, intelligence is a grossly underestimated quality in a footballer. It has gotten players like Sheringham and Lampard to levels they never would have attained without that ability to use their brain to anticipate and read the game.

It's not just coincidence that players like those two always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. And have the effect on the game they both did.

 

English football mate. 2nd touch is always a tackle.

 

Sadly true!...