Arsenal for life you post is so spot on. The insular world of the premier league teamed up with the deluded press and a very very naieve public creates the fantasy that Rooney and Stevie G are indeed the best players in their position on the planet. Ask any United or Liverpool fan and they will confirm this to be true. Then an international competition comes around and they are like oh some of the defenders from opposing nations have better technical ability that our wingers!? hows that possible!? The Premier league is the greatest league in the world not due to the English players but because of the foreigners who bless us with their presence. Rooney is not the heart beat of anything. He is just a player given special treatment on home turf and is able to swear and abuse refs without any comebacks.
Firstly it's not that simple. The thing I hate about international competitions is that people tend to forge opinions of a players ability based on between 3-6 games. For example after the Italy loss all of a sudden half the German side are being accused of being over-rated. Which simply is'nt true they have a team full of TOP quality players. Form plays a HUGE part in these tournaments as do tactics. In terms of talent i would say the German squad is FAR better than Italy's. However, Italy played better on the day and have the likes of Pirlo giving the best perforances of their careers. The Italian side has the likes of Diamanti playing their socks off.(this is a guy who flopped at West Ham!) Prandelli has also been SUPERB tactically. It's the same with England we are either 'World beaters' or 'useless' based on a few performances. Steven Gerrard is as good as ANY midfielder at that tournament and Rooney is a TOP class striker. Gerrard single handedly dragged a poor Liverpool side to Champions League victory (he repeated this for them in the FA & Europa cups too). He has put on numerous match winning performaces for Liverpool over the years. The same goes for Rooney. Three league titles, A Champions League trophy and he has been a regular goalscorer for a strong United side for many years (yet is still only just 26). Ferguson is not the kind of manager that would stick with a player if he was'nt TOP class. Still the England team we put out.. lacked balance, lacked fitness, was tactically poor and most importantly did NOT contain a single playmaker. (Wilshere was injured and Scholes is 'retired' - either though would have improved us tremendously. If you look at ANY of the top International teams they all contain at least one 'playmaker' who is somewhat free'd up to dictate the passing game: Pirlo, Ozil, Xavi etc.. ) England have been poor over the years for many reasons but its not because we dont have talent. I do think we need to move further away from the old school British mentality though and embrace the modern game. More technical footballers need to be developed in the same way Germany and Spain have been doing. Arsenal have started doing this already as have Southampton and it looks as though Swansea are going the right way.
I haven't seen anything from any young England players since Rooney in Euro 2004 that suggesta glittering international career lies ahead. I even think we Arsenal fans overate Wilshere - he wil not make a jot of difference because I think he has some key weaknesses in his game that will expsoe him at international level. Similar to Ashley Young - effective in attack for United, but kept running into a cul-de-sac at Euro 2012. The players that emerge for the big teams teand to show their colours at the under-17s. Look at the u17 tournamnets and you will see EXACTLY the same failings in those England teams as the seniors. There is a auto-pilot, default, ingrained, hard-wired way of thinking and playing that inflicts the ENglish. As for teh clubs, look throughout the league and you will notice dozens of players who didn't make teh grade at Arsenal and United. The very best of our youth cannot cut the mustard at clubs that have well developed youth systems. I knwo a young lad who was let go by United where he was taught to play the ball out, but when he was let go, United helped him get a place at Huddersfield, where he was told to simply lump it. The poor chap is feeling a little depressed at having to shed all the good things he learned at United. The thing about Greece is that they have given us English, the Scots, Irish and Scandies a hope, a thread of hope, a chink of light with which to think that we can win under simialr circumstances, so it may happen,m but we will never win playing an open expansive game.
Goode at club lev el does not mean good at International level. Some players have the attributes for both - others don't. I am surprised Ashley young has looked so good in the Prem but against decent quality (not good or great but decent) he has looked limited in ability - as he always looks to me. Dumb defenders in the English league make him look good.
Another stupid comment. Sometimes I think your comments are boarderline racist and I'm a little confused as to why you are in fact soo anti-English. So what your suggesting is that defenders in other country's are more 'intellegent' than those playing in the EPL. The EPL is full of defenders selected from all over the world so how do you work that out?? You think they go out scouting for low IQ's or something? If that is the case I'm suprised you never got called up.
Perhaps you are right that Gerrard is NO longer World class. Perhaps he is past it. However I must say he has put in some of the best individual performances I have ever seen. Both in the Champions league and in domestic competitions, the great thing about Gerrard is at his best he would win Liverpool games all on his own. There's a reason a player of De Rossi's calibre calls him ' the best midfielder in the World'.
Every Country produces youngsters with the same level of ability but is how it is holmed. We need to either get youngsters from the age of 5 in Britain playing summer football on small 5 or 7 a side grass pitches so we root out the hoof ball merchant coaches that engrain that into our youngsters and also celebrate the more technical wee player than all just big bruiser types.
So how often have you seen the italian squad play? You cant form an opinion unless you regularly watch their players every week.
