I worry that Rose really doesn’t like playing enough to reach his full potential. I have huge sympathy with his recent comments about racism, but the ‘can’t wait to stop’ stuff gives the impression (hopefully wrong) that’s he’s going through the motions a bit. The fact that Liverpool have done so well without Gomez for a large chunk of the season is impressive. He’s great.
Shaw seems to be taking his time getting to where he obviously should be. He’s a good player, and I think the way Mourinho treated him was deliberate, and did him good. I don’t want to drag the Brexit stuff on to here, but one of the benefits might be a genuine cap on the number of non English/UK players per club. This might inflate prices for English players but at least more would get to play, under good coaches. Although Stones looks to be the only player Guardiola hasn’t improved. It’s a real shame, I love the idea of Stones, a real ball playing defender, the execution can be woeful though. I’d see it as a plus. Sky would go nuts about absence of foreign superstars, but **** them. Also would be good for clubs like us, who do actually develop local talent.
Think more youngish English players should go and play on the Continent, but I guess they won't get paid as well.
All the signs are that our top academies are now producing technically gifted young players, so the next step is to give them a pathway into first teams. It's slowly happening, but less foreign players would help too. I'm sure Bob knows a lot more on this. Stones is a very talented footballer and it's great to see a ball playing English centre back. However, he simply refuses to learn from his mistakes. What he did for the Dutch second goal I find impossible to forgive. Playing out is brilliant, but players must make the right decisions at vital times. I think Stones is simply too arrogant to change, whereas Maguire, Walker and Chilwell simply aren't good enough imo. If he was prepared to listen, I reckon Stones would have learned by now under Pep. It explains why he plays so little at City. Shaw is a weird one. Potentially our best left back for years to come. Good on the ball and very quick. He seems to be struggling to improve his defensive game though and that horror injury must have taken its toll.
Good, thought provoking post, Col. Stones's mistake for the second goal was unbelievably inept. Overall, it comes down to reliability. Team morale will deflate if these elementary defensive errors persist.
Stones is a bit of an enigma, easily our most talented defender but it's his decision making that let's him down time and again. He should watch videos of Van Dijk who can play out brilliantly as well as defend brilliantly as well as knowing when the ball needs to be put into Row Z. It's getting those decisions right that separates the great defenders from the once-promising defenders. If Pep buys another top drawer centre back this summer to replace Kompany then Stones days will already be numbered at City...
He's easily our most talented defender with the ball. However, he is way down the list as a defender. I wouldn't pick him to start again. Too unreliable.
There are some talented youngsters coming through the academies, most with just a natural talent. We as a country at junior level have finally realised it's not about results, so to speak, but more in progression and getting those 1 or 2 kids into the big time. Foreigners have played a massive part. I did a paper at uni on this matter years ago. Cant quite remember the figures exactly but it worked as follows. 92 professional league clubs, say they all submit a squad of 25-30 players for a season. That's 2760 professional players. Back when I looked at this, there were 1000 (roughly) foreign players. Leaving 1760 places for home grown talent. To get one of those places at a big club, you really had to be something special. It became cheaper to buy foreigners of equivalent standard and as we know, football is a business. Recently, the loan market has really helped develop our kids. Top championship teams, snapping up the future stars for a season, brings them on leaps and bounds. I worked with a lot of Leeds youngsters who now seem to be reaping the rewards and I'm so happy for them. I worked with one lad who was unbelievable at the age of 7. Just a natural talent. He should have stayed put but his father was swayed by Man City. To cut a long story short, hes now playing non league. Another main reason for the emergence of kids is FFP. It's the only positive thing about it to be fair. We are giving them a chance to shine where as before, clubs, even lower league were spending on similar foreign players.
I can state through what football I watched in Spain and France that the U.K. is miles and miles behind the technical skills this includes all levels from watching Gerona in La Liga and Montpellier in Lique 1 its this simple the players are all round better on the ball and definitely without it The U.K. has some excellent players upfront for sure but there is a wealth of European midfielders and especially defenders that are far more comfortable on the ball. The U.K. has the richest league for sure hence why it will continue to attract the real talent ... The championship is now picking up some great European talent Sorry but it currently takes 1 in every 250 young English players to get to the desired standard imo The game now is like chess most of the time now and football is generally now played in your own half and therefore you need gifted players that can play in their own penalty box if required ... it seems even our nation team can’t do this consistently One common dominator I have seen week in week out abroad is there is no panic anywhere on the field and after a while you tend to get used to the lack of mistakes happening ... in the U.K. mistakes are what makes our game maybe more attractive and interesting at times ... it’s certainly more exciting in the U.K. imo because in our league we still have a large number of U.K. players without the technical attributes that kids have especially in France even at street level Until England really learn how to play the game and without doubt this is the best England set up of all time imo then we will be behind . Stones is a brilliant player and needs to continue doing what he does imo until he gets it right ... it’s the only way the game is played nowadays It’s nerves most of the time I believe because of the awful pressure put on them by the stupid expectations of the England fans and the stupid culture they maintain ... England TIL I die chanted by thick morons the other night sums it up for me Exactly what does that song mean ? If it’s about Pride then what pride exactly ? Very lucky in the WC but very entertaining because they were brave enough to try to play football plus use their strengths of set plays Eddie Howe is the future without doubt Southgate is also having a real go and nice with it also ... I hope he is respected and given the chance before the morons start on him Time to realise that Football owes everything to Europe for taking the game and upgrading it When you listen to Pulis or Dyche for example that is a representation of England in a nutshell until the idiots concede the fact that Europe produces 200 good footballers to England’s 1 it won’t ever change Facts **** all over some dream of pride
Bob the foreign players are better Bob the foreign coaches are better Bob there is no comparison between U.K. non league and French non league the standards are higher in France 100% guaranteed always was when I played and the gulf is even higher now I watched a non league game recently in Spain as well the standard was outstanding I believe it’s mentality and also cultural
Northern Island win on the back of a Conor equaliser. Washington really is/was an enigma Sent from my STF-L09 using Tapatalk
A lot of contradictions in there Paul. Did you miss the recent successes of the younger England age groups? Were they technically deficient? You're talking as if we're still around 20 years ago. Even then Scholes was the best midfielder in the world. England and indeed Britain have always had players with technical ability, but the coaching was from the dark ages (agree that Pulis and Dyche are still stuck there). Imagine Scholes, Gerrard and Lampard as a midfield 3 in a 4-3-3. We always had to try to fit players into ****ing 4-4-2!! We are finally getting it right as far as our academies are concerned. England are playing better football than they have played for a very long time. Stones is good enough to play out from the back, but he insists on not learning from his mistakes due to arrogance. That mistake against the Dutch was not a lack of technical ability, but bad decision making. Simple as. Players like Alexander-Arnold and Gomez are technically very good and will improve the England back 4 over time. England have over achieved in the last 12 months and are a little ahead of where they probably should be. Another year will see them progress more with the likes of Foden getting intergrated. You let your dislike of all things British cloud your judgement at times mate.
Really good post Col. It's becoming enjoyable to watch England again. DT's post would be more appropriate, in my opinion if he hadn't made the comparison just to France alone. There are many gifted young French players. It would be interesting to name, say 10 or 15 of them under the age of 23. Our Youngsters are now being given the opportunities, which is down to a manager believing in letting players Express themselves. Stones mistake was a huge blunder and with the correct decision making and guidance, will hopefully only make him a better player or at the least, more decisive. Give me the current crop of English talent over the French any day of the week.
