The Euros like every other tournament we have played in has shown us to be techincally inferior to most of the other "footballing" nations. The question I would like to ask and hopefully find an answer to is Why can't we pass the football over 5-10 yards and keep possession? Surely it aint that bleeding difficult is it? We have all lost count during the last 4 games of the number of times our players have failed to find a team mate from 5 to 10 yards away and more annoyingly sometime without being put under any pressure! Most football clubs in England wear the "Passing game" as some kind of badge of honour with the usual "like to play football in the right way" quote attributed to a football club. If this is the case, why can't our supposed creme de la creme actually pass the football to each other without losing possession after 2 or 3 passes! We seem to always want to play the "Hollywood" ball over 40 or 50 yards and then wonder why it doesn't reach it's intended target. Until we can answer this question and actually learn how to perform this basic football skill we will get absolutely nowhere!
I don't think passing is the problem, its actually controlling the ball when it is passed. With us it takes at least 2 touches to bring the ball under control to then look for the next pass, thus by the time we are ready to pass we are under pressure and the ball is then lost! most teams have the ball under control and passed within 1 movement.
For the first 20 minutes last night, we passed the ball well, and looked dangerous. However, as soon as Italy got into the game and started to dominate, we would try to force things just because we were barely seeing any of the ball. They panic as soon as they get the ball. Too many players didn't turn up last night. I thought Carroll was excellent when he came on, but he was the only midfielder or forward to come out of the game with any credit. Defensively, we were superb yet they still managed a ridiculous amount of shots. Total overhaul of the game from grass-roots level to international level is needed.
Another big problem is youth football when we insist that kids from the age of 12 play on a big pitch and they use all of their energy in trying to hoof the ball to each other over a long distance! There is no emphasis at all on ball control and running into space to receive a pass. We have a lot of catching up to do in this country if we are going to seriously challenge for football's big prizes in the future. The days of the long hoof out of the Keeper's gloves and hoping to win the knock downs are numbered and we either adapt our game or we will die!
Kids should play Futsal up to a certain age. A game that totally relies on control, touch, short passes and skill.
Spot on Carra I know that there is a growing number of Futsal clubs being set up across the country and I welcome this. The only problem being that we have a huge amount of catching up to do! Yes we do have some talented players but they are not world class players as Milner, Young, Rooney and others have proved with mediocre displays. The old traditional style of English football where we try and get the ball up to the strikers in the most direct route possible has now been completely discredited. The only players that have enhanced their reputations are Gerrard, Hart, Terry and Lescott!
it's not that we can't pass, we've proved that in spells. It's confidence and it will take a little while for Roy to undo the damage done by Capello. From the outset I really felt like Rooney needed to come off. If I'd been Roy I would've subbed him off after 15 minutes. He was pathetic. We have the best defence I've ever seen so we have something to build on. We badly needed Barry / Lampard for options in the middle of the park.
The problem is Yorkie that after this so called "golden generation" the cupboard is quite bare! Wilshere possibly, Victor Moses, Cleverely and that's about it! Football is about confidence but you can't hide behind that all the time when the real problem is lack of technical ability.
We're not producing the players anymore because kids would rather sit in front of a PC or TV rather than go kick a ball about. When I was a kid we spent every daylight hour playing football, these days when you go to a park all the're doing is listening to an i-pod or vandalising something. That's if you can find a park that allows ball games on the grass I don't care what anyone says, the Premier League with so many foreign players is hindering our national game and will do so for the forseable future.
there's no lack for technical ability. I think we're short up front but Welbeck was superb at times. Ashley Young was our worst player at the tournament but it wasn't ability, he just didn't show up. I think we should smash up the Premier League royalty thing. Gerrard was superb but he has had a fed up negative look and demeanor throughout the tournament. Rooney doesnt deserve to get picked for England again, we are better off without him.
One hell of a generalisation! Where I live there are 100's of youth football clubs competing in leagues all around Crawley and Sussex. Participation in organised sport has actually increased over the last few years thanks to increased funding in grass roots football. The problem I have is that although we are getting investment, the football philosophy being taught isn't adequate and will not produce the radical changes in technique and ability that we so desperately need!
it's a good lesson in not judging a book by a cover. I remember getting onto a train in London late at night and ****ting myself because there was a group of black kids in hoodies... but when they opened their mouths they were all really well spoken and talking about their college work! I had a Mega Drive and a PC when I was a teenager but it didn't stop me jumping over the fence at Murray Road rec in the winter after closing time with my bro because we were dying to kick a ball about.
I thought Welbeck was one of the biggest culprits regards losing the ball, His work rate was fantastic but we needed somebody up there to keep hold of it which Carroll did better in my opinion. I think we need to change our whole mindset regards players, Take Pirlo for instance, he would be slaughtered in our country because he is not running around like a headless chicken flying into tackles, yet he ran the game by just controlling the ball and passing it. we need to not focus on work rate and more on the skill.
Take Theo Walcott as a prime example, He wouldn't even be in a decent international squad because all he has is pace and a little skill, every other country would be if you have skill your in, oh you have a little bit of pace well thats a bonus!
Do you know what pissed me off more than anything? When they missed a shot, our keeper was patting them on the back. When Cole slid in on one of their players he waited round for five seconds to help him to his feet. You don't have to be a prick like Ronaldo, but equally don't behave like it's a friendly. Where's the arrogance, the winning mentality? The mindset is just not of winners.
The most skillful Englishman that we have who would undoubtedly fall into the same category as Pirlo has unfortunately retired from international football!
Wellbeck is not a player that can hold the ball up on a regular basis because he's not that sort of player! He also had a 91% pass completion rate in the competition, which is on a par with Ozil and Iniesta!
