Its not that long ago that people were worried that england were falling apart and the standard of players was dropping. Say 2010 or whatever. Are there reasons why this has improved to the point that theres so many decent english players? Or is it all coincidental? E.g. Club trained & home grown rules in the prem? Academies? Unlimited investment in city and Chelsea youth structures? Transfer fees being so high youth is more attractive? Ending england elite academy? Premier league 2 being u23? UEFA youth league? Something else?
Pep Guardiola and to a lesser extent Jurgen Klopp. Improved relations between the top clubs has also helped. English football has migrated away from Old Boys Network type mentality and put greater faith in players below 6ft to carry the nation forward. TAA and Foden are generational talents but in previous regimes their weaknesses would have been looked at more than their strengths. I really do think things have changed for the better.
TAA weaknesses still are. According to most fans and pundits he can’t defend rather than the fact he’s undisputed number 1 RB for one of the 2 best teams in Europe over the last 3 years. But Walker is stronger faster and makes more recovery runs so is a better option despite the fact he gives away more fouls and pens
I honestly think there are less ‘world class big name’ players around the world at the moment. go back to England’s golden generation and you had players like xavi iniesta puyul Torres villa in the Spain squad henry trezeguet makelele Zidane inzaghi Buffon maldini nesta pirlo totti cafu carlos Ronaldo Ronaldinho kaka Kahn lahm klose ballack Yes there are lots of great players around now but I feel a lot less of them dotted around.
Are there "more talented players" in the english clubs and going out to european clubs? England 2010 James, green hart Johnson Cole warnock Dawson Terry upson carragher king Gerrard lampard Barry carrick Lennon cole milner Wright phillips Crouch rooney Defoe heskey When I look at that and today's squad there are key differences in the type of player. I dont think the keeping has got any better. England have loads of right fulls but choose the worst two to play Left full has some decent kids but chilwell is being **** on by both tuchel and southgate. Not better really. CB for england with stones and slab head and mings isnt any better either. At cm england can match 11 years ago with negative blockers in rice and Phillips but the biggest difference I am seeing is the very function run and cross types are rarer and the more technical types like foden are starting to be more common. Lennon and Wright Phillip's etc v grealish etc? The england forwards in 2010 were limpt it st them or defoe fox in the box etc. Overall england probably have now 40 players to pick from minimum so they will always have a good 11 to play the qualifiers but have had a couple good tournaments where its opened up for them after playing will not lose football. Foden, grealish, sanchez, saka, trent, a very different type of player and style
I think the FA actually put a plan together after the 2010 WC to develop the setup, based on the German FA model. This included coming up with a team "identity" or playing style based in possession football that would be used right through the different age groups up to the senior team. They invested in coaches and St Georges park and it seems to be working.
I'd love to know whats gone on like this for sure. the top 5 rated academies in england are: Arsenal - currently saka in there but smith row and willock are there as well as miatland niles. southampton - shaw at utd, ward prowse but there are a few young lads form different countries as well that have come through ranks man utd - henderson, rashford, greenwood and a few others. Liverpool - beleive it or not is currently rated higher than utds. Trent, Jones, wilson, kelleher, and a few others as well as hoovering up talent. Cheslea. 13 clubs in the prem have a cheslea academy graduate playing. =Mount, James,Christensen, hudson odoi, Gilmour, Abraham, chabolah, loftus cheek, ampadu, gallagher, city don't even register but have foden and sancho. how much of this england driving a consistent approach top to bottom and how much is the clubs doing it for different reasons? I wonder whats the top 3 reasons?
I meant more within the confines of the FA themselves. The Clubs are obviously free to come up with their own playing styles. However, this article lays out fairly well the bare-bones of a plan post 2010 WC. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2010/dec/05/fa-england-world-cup-2018
I also found this on the homegrown rules in the premier league. Also 2010/11 so this would also have encouraged clubs to both buy british and grow their own. https://www.google.com/amp/s/syndic...n-rules-explaining-epl-player-quotas.amp.html
Stopping youngsters under a certain age (can't recall the age) playing competitively probably helped. Let's them focus on their game rather than the "must win at all costs" attitude
Hmmm that's true. I wonder then if banning u12s heading the ball will then also change the game radically?
It obviously would, it's changing a key element of the game that we know and therefore would be a different game.
There seems to be a strong movement in favour of this change. I find it hard to imagine what the game would be like without it. It's easy enough to keep the ball low in 5-a-side, but it'll be the end for most set-piece ploys and the punt up to the big lad on the full pitch. It'll be great for the short-arses like us, but it's come a lifetime too late for me.
I presume the stages of this will be some form of increased punishment for impacting an opponents head will be applied. In rugby they have gone so far its radically altered tackling and not for the better. Seeing guys dive in and effectively doing anothers knee ligaments low while one tried to hit and stop mid body is really odd given the increasing levels of serious leg injuries the game is having. I imagine red cards for elbows in the head will become more common and sin bins might be introduced to gain acceptance of players climbing and hitting someone else. (both have hands raised) If we look today we have already seen two rafts of change by influencing keepers. the back pass rule and now the let players stand in the box on goal kick rule has radically altered the game. the amount of long punts has decreased. The issue for me is not the general head tennis though, its the goal scoring. heading at goal is a fundamental part of football. I don't see how the authorities can remove it.
"current" players who get call ups. Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford 27 Everton FC Goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale 23 Arsenal FC Goalkeeper Sam Johnstone 28 West Bromwich Albion Goalkeeper Dean Henderson 24 Manchester United Goalkeeper Nick Pope 29 Burnley Right-Back Kyle Walker 31 Manchester City Right-Back Kieran Trippier 31 Atlético de Madrid Right-Back Trent Alexander Arnold 23 Liverpool Right-Back Reece James Chelsea Centre-Back John Stones 27 Manchester City Centre-Back Tyrone Mings 28 Aston Villa Centre-Back Fikayo Tomori 23 AC Milan Centre-Back Conor Coady 28 Wolverhampton Wanderers Centre-Back Harry Maguire 28 Manchester Utd Centre-Back Joe Gomez 24 Liverpool Left-Back Luke Shaw 26 Manchester United Left-Back Ben Chilwell 24 Chelsea FC Defensive Midfield Declan Rice 22 West Ham United Defensive Midfield Jordan Henderson 31 Liverpool FC Defensive Midfield Kalvin Phillips 25 Leeds Utd Central Midfield James Ward-Prowse 26 Southampton FC Central Midfield Jude Bellingham 18 dortmund Attacking Midfield Phil Foden 21 Manchester City Attacking Midfield Mason Mount 22 Chelsea FC Attacking Midfield Jesse Lingard 28 Manchester United Left Winger Jack Grealish 26 Manchester City Left Winger Bukayo Saka 20 Arsenal FC Left Winger Raheem Sterling 26 Manchester City Left Winger Marcu Rashford 23 Manchester United Right Winger Jadon Sancho 21 Manchester United Right Winger Mason Greenwood 20 Manchester United Striker Harry Kane 28 Tottenham Hotspur Striker Tammy Abraham 24 AS Roma Striker Ollie Watkins 25 Aston Villa senior players not getting a look in Centre-Back James tarkowski 28 Burnely Centre-Back Michael Keane 28 Everton Central Midfield Harry winks 22 tottenham Central Midfield ruben Loftus Cheek 25 cheslea Right Winger Callum Hudson Odoi 20 Cheslea Attacking Midfield James Maddison 24 Liecester Attacking Midfield Dele Alli 25 Tottenham Attacking Midfield todd Cantwell 23 Olympic diving squad england U21s Goalkeeper etienne Green 21 st etienne Left-Back Luke Thomas 20 Leicester Right-Back Max Aarons 21 Norwich Right-Back Tariq Lampety 21 Brighton Right-Back Valentino Livramento 18 Southampton Left Midfield Curtis Jones 20 Liverpool Central Midfield Conor Gallagher 21 Chelsea Attacking Midfield Angel Gomes 21 Man Utd Striker Eddit Nketiah 22 Arsenal What i see is a huge bias towards younger players now but they all deserve thier call ups. Very few old stagers hang round as they are not that good (rose for example) Thats a massive list with few "gaps" in terms of when we used to see england jog up with no left winger for example. I'm sure i missed a few. My thought is whatever was done (and good reason were highlighted here) there is an increase in the number of lads playing for their clubs and more and more younger players. Henderson tripper and walker are complete outliers in the squad and TBH not even the best in thier positions. the world cup will certinaly be thier last hurrah if they even get picked. i counted 51 players there without really trying too hard.
Because it's pointless. We are not breaking many skulls. Its concussion which is the brain hitting the inside of the skull. I know of 3 skull fractures but 100s of dementia cases
Most are from when the ball was a lot heavier and harder than it is now. Plus 100s from how many? 100,000s...?