Booby Charlton has said we don't have enough top quality English players and our ability to produce them is being hampered by the number of European and other imports. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19479616# Question should there be a more draconian limit on the number of home bred players per Premier League side? or do we just accept that in order to have the most exciting League in the world teams should bring in whoever they want? What do people think?
Nah, just be happy & content that we won't ever win it. Works for me. But, if the sky money ever runs out, then we should kick everyone out & just have the home nations..........& still never win the world cup!
My order of priority: Saints >............................................................................................................................................................................................England
I generally concentrate my nationalistic fervour on teams that deserve it, i.e. rugby, cricket, and McLaren in F1.
He said shortly before we played Italy that he "genuinely believes that we can win it [the Euros]." Hmm...
It doesn't take a genius to work that out, our present team is no where near as strong as many over the last twenty years and we haven't exactly threatened the world of football durin that period have we?
England can confidently write off 2014 and 2016. We might have a reasonable generation by 2018, but the won't win it without getting very lucky. Foreign players rule the PL because the English players just aren't that good. Spanish players are well represented in La Liga because Spain nurtures talent well and has good players. You don't need to be that old to remember the time when Spain won **** all and Real Madrid had their team of global superstars. La Liga is just as money-driven as the PL. One of the legacies of the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 was to create a youth development culture that would become the envy of Europe. Germany, Holland, Belgium and even France have put their own stamp on a better development model. Despite the best efforts of academies like our own, we can only work with what we get from the grassroots and that is where our problems lie.
Hart, Cole, Gerrard, Rooney and Wilshere when fit, they're the only class players we have. Spain and Germany must have about 15-16 class players. What I think sums up our lack of quality against the top sides best is the fact that when we played Spain they brought on Fabregas and Mata, we brought on Downing! No idea how we won that game.
Hart - Fair enough, he is good. Cole < Lahm, Alba Gerrard < Every Spanish or German midfielder Rooney < Ozil/Gomez, Torres Wilshere - Wasn't bad before he got crocked, but he still wouldn't play for Spain or Germany. We're flattering ourselves by calling that lot 'class'.
I only rate Casillas more than Hart, Cole is only behind Lahm IMO, just Falcao and Ibrahimovic ahead of Rooney for me. Fair enough on the other two, Gerrard's lost his legs and Wilshere just had one great season. I think this ongoing injury has seriously affected his potential.
I honestly struggle to get behind the england team. Too many "superstars" who rate their latest sponsorship deal far above what it means to pull on our national shirt. If i was England manager I would make the squad all out of championship players. There are lower league players who would sweat blood and tears for the cause. Whats the worst that can happen? Its not like we're getting anywhere with the current set up
I'm not going togeeet my soap box out just yet, I'll save that for another day. However I will just confirm my previously posted thoughts that we will not produce the quality of English footballer to match the best in the world until we change things at grass roots level. We must stop 7-14 year olds being coached to win at all costs. It is the only way we will develop them properly
Which speaks volumes. Let's look at it this way; in order for England to do well in major international championships they must have great players. You only get great English players if you coach them from very young. Terry Paine was a product of the Saints Youth system of the 1950's. Mick Channon and Martin Chivers were products of the Saints Youth system of the 1960's. All very good England players. You see what I'm saying - bring them through the Academies and you'll get your great players. It seems that only Saints, and one or two others appear to be following the time honoured route. The problem is, Saints are still unfashionable, so it takes someone of truly exceptional talent to make through to the national team, while players from bigger clubs get an international pass with their first professional contract. And the biggest clubs will bring on a player from overseas as readily as a homegrown one. Saints conveyor belt Academy may be exceptional, but it can't supply one generation of an England team all on its own. Well, not yet anyway.
In the early years of the 'invasion' we were told that it was improving our home grown players, that they were learning more techniques from the foreign players. Now it is the invasion that is hampering it? The main problem in my mind is purely the money. That being the English players that could play premier league football chose to sit on someone else's bench earning more money rather than play every week for someone else!!! I don't buy the 'we don't have good enough players' argument because we do, however we need firstly a manager that will wipe the slate, ignore the media, ignore the public and then play the 'best players' rather than the 'esatblished' players in a formation that works and doesn't pander to the media and public clamour for 11 workhorses on the pitch. And that isn't going to happen any time soon
We need to improve the way the kids are coached.Get the UK out of the EU.Put a cap on the number of foreigners in the starting XI, then we will will see some improvements.
