âPossession wins nothingâ says Steve McClaren in this BBC article. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18448190
"We have never been very good in possession - that's not our strength. The way we stay in games is by being hard to beat, maybe scoring from set-plays or on the counter-attack.â
Yeh, just like Ireland last night against Spain
âPeople used to criticise us a lot, saying we need to play football like Spain or Brazil. That's not possible - it takes years and years of development to achieve that."
Years and years? We did it in about 4 years! British managers have been saying the same thing for about 50 years; foreigners play one way and we Brits play another. They seem stuck in the past and glorify the kick and rush, long ball, 11 men in your own penalty and scoring from set-plays or counter-attack. Sunday league, non-league and lower league teams play like that and small countries use these tactics when playing the top sides. But what way is that to build generations of skilled footballers if you regard yourself as a major footballing power?
The article works on incomplete statistics of matches played so far because it says `only four of the 14 games so far have been won by the team who enjoyed most of the ball.' But look at the top teams with most possession â its no coincidence that Spain and Germany, the favourites, are there. And I expect the stats at the end of the championships to reflect this.
"We have never been very good in possession - that's not our strength. The way we stay in games is by being hard to beat, maybe scoring from set-plays or on the counter-attack.â
Yeh, just like Ireland last night against Spain
âPeople used to criticise us a lot, saying we need to play football like Spain or Brazil. That's not possible - it takes years and years of development to achieve that."
Years and years? We did it in about 4 years! British managers have been saying the same thing for about 50 years; foreigners play one way and we Brits play another. They seem stuck in the past and glorify the kick and rush, long ball, 11 men in your own penalty and scoring from set-plays or counter-attack. Sunday league, non-league and lower league teams play like that and small countries use these tactics when playing the top sides. But what way is that to build generations of skilled footballers if you regard yourself as a major footballing power?
The article works on incomplete statistics of matches played so far because it says `only four of the 14 games so far have been won by the team who enjoyed most of the ball.' But look at the top teams with most possession â its no coincidence that Spain and Germany, the favourites, are there. And I expect the stats at the end of the championships to reflect this.
This is how England justifies being crap and boring to watch!
