relegate Chelsea for starters, no seriously when I went to primary school I loved playing football, when I went secondary school the fun went out of it, we need better coaching from 4 year olds upwards, train kids to keep the ball, instead of kick and rush. we can all blame the prem. apart from the 1950s 60s 70s and 80s, we have fallen behind since then, look at belgiums players there league is not strong at all, so cant really blame the prem for that, the F.A is incompetent. And reduce the league to 18 games, or play the world cup in march, we look knackered in the competions
Reducing the size of the PL.....all the major European leagues have 20 teams except Germany and Holland (18). But they also have a winter break and no league cup.
I cant believe players can manage 38 games plus cups. Look at the NHL, they play 82 games and thats before the playoffs (another possible 28 games) even start. They can play 14-16 games a month plus travelling tens of thousands of miles in between every month. Players should be able to play 2 games a week all season.
play the world cup in the winter break, have a month gap, we would do a lot better, and play it somewhere cold, that would rule out the south americans.
Football should be played in the cold, its incredibly boring to see games played in 30C temps where teams just keep hold of it for minutes at a time. It should be played at 0-20C. Imagine what it would have been like in 50c heat, teams would literally just be standing there.
Some great points and confirms that there is no "magic bullett" that can be fired - at least Dyke has got people talking about what needs to be done One point on EU Law - funny how we seem to abide by every bit of it whereas other countries (like France) pick and choose! PS - best of luck to QPR this season - I've always liked your club even when we (Bristol City) have been promotion rivals in the past
Aah - the point we have all overlooked. We're crap at football because we sing the wrong song at the start....
Of course I'm not nieve enough to think that all of our national team's problems on the pitch arise from a song. But I am looking for other reasons rather than the `we don't have enough talent' theory. There was a wealth of talent in England in the 70's but that was our most unsuccessfull period in international football. Our lack of international success has become an embarassment for us. Nearly 50 years without reaching a major final. Whereas much smaller countries like The Czech Republic, Denmark and Greece have achieved this with less talented players. It's almost come to the point that the English players have under achievement and frustration stamped on their foreheads going onto the field in big tournaments. They are tense, stiff and their body language looks completely different to when they are playing for their clubs. This is why I focused firstly on mental preparation in my last post. They need to forget the past, forget all the hype and expectation, and go out and enjoy themselves.
Which has.... what, to do with changing the National Anthem? I can't see where a point that you felt was so important it made your top five list, has any explanation in your follow up post or any relevance in your first post. Just asking......
Glad you picked up on that mate. I read it and started to simmer.............but I knew Swords would be all over me like a bad suit if I commented!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the NHL played on ice, so no running, jumping, heading etc involved? How many players in a team and how many on the ice at any one time? How long is a game, 60 minutes? Having said that I'm all for playing these internationals back to back, 30 minutes in between to warm down and warm up again. Reckon we could squeeze the entire World Cup into a week (including qualifiers).
The points weren't actually related I admit. However our lack of success at international level has been a long term thing encompassing also the 70's and 80's when we did have some World class players and dominated Europe in club football. The accusation has often been there in the past that players put club before country (then as now) - no surprise that the majority of fans are the same on this. Most fans in Britain would say 'rather my team wins the league/cup/promotion' etc. than England winning the World cup. If you asked the same question to fans in Germany then I suspect the answer would be different. The truth is that many English people feel uncomfortable with English patriotism because it is almost always associated with monarchy and the crown. Am I less patriotic because I refuse to sing it or stand up for it - no. Many of our best players come from northern industrial towns such as Liverpool (which is probably the least monarchy loving city in England) and maybe they need an anthem which unites us rather than a hymn sung only about a person and an institution which was never English in the first place. Something to raise the roof before matches like the Marseillaise does for all Frenchmen.
How many English players do you see playing in foreign leagues? The answer is very very few. Other countries are progressing at national level because their players are reaping the benefits from playing in the Premiership. Look at Belgium for example. At least half their team are now playing at a good level week in and week out in the Prem.This is only one example there are several other countries exactly the same. Then compare the few young promising English players that do survive. Look at Rodwell. City spent a fortune on him. Can't even make the bench some days. Zaha is the same and I'll bet sterling will also be the same. Many of the young players who should be developing and getting game time disappear for years at a time. .
......and how many English managers are coaching, at the top level, abroad? None that I can think of at the moment.
One of my friends recently described the Premiership as one big surrogate mother. English clubs pay loads of money for top foreign coaches and managers to develop loads of foreign players to then hand back to their countries much better players that then go and beat you. Don't make much sense does it?
Change the National Anthem....Thats brilliant !! Im gonna figure out how to give you some rep for that one...you know we have a separate joke thread right !!
Hopefully in the short-term we can reap the benefits of Steve McClaren's continental coaching knowledge?
