Why are England light years behind Spain, Germany etc?

[kuzushi]

And will we ever catch up?

[vonuber]

Because we like the type of football than can be played on a wet Wednesday night at the Britannia, not any of this stupid control and technique bks.

Come the new season, everyone here will be safely back watching The Greatest League In The World and forget this ever happened - until the next tournament.

[Jw Vw]

We will never catch up until we produce players who use possesion wisely instead of kick and rush and give the ball away all the time tactics!

[Puggit]

I think this is where the problem lies. We are the world's greatest kick and rushers, and so can brush aside many international teams who aren't as good at it. This builds up the false expectation, which then sends are hopes tumbling down in a dishevelled wreck.

Every time

[skeeterm5]

Although we dont try and play kick and rush at international level.

S

[Audi 525i]

Question for you............how many of the English squad play abroad?

I think alot of English players could benefit from playing in the Spanish, Italian, German or French leagues.

[vonuber]

Audi 525i said:

Question for you............how many of the English squad play abroad?

I think alot of English players could benefit from playing in the Spanish, Italian, German or French leagues.

I suspect a lot of the teams wouldn't want them.

[Olivera]

They are technically not good enough for the modern short-passing and possession game. Having successive managers that play a rigid 4-4-2 formation from a bygone era doesn't help. Lastly the premiership has as a percentage (by some margin) the least amount of home players featuring each week out of the large European leagues.

The Premiership's ridiculously large TV deals do not really bring any benefit, as it is simply spent on higher player wages and larger transfer fees. How else can you explain Pirlo - free transfer, Nocerino £1m, versus Downing £20m, Henderson £15m, Milner £20m, Carroll £35m...

[Audi 525i]

vonuber said:

I suspect a lot of the teams wouldn't want them.

Maybe not the top teams, but they should be an attractive proposition for the 2nd tier of clubs in those leagues.

[vonuber]

Audi 525i said:

Maybe not the top teams, but they should be an attractive proposition for the 2nd tier of clubs in those leagues.

In the semi finals, Nani, Meireles, Silva, Balotelli, Mertesacker, Mata, Torres and Reina (8 out of the 96 squad members; n.b not my stat!) are playing in the Premier League, the alleged Best League In The World.
Again, why would other leagues want technically inferior English players? And surely we should be aspiring to have the in the Top Tier, not the equivalent of our Championship?

[glassspares]

I think the whole set up is a joke within the FA talk about organising a p**s up in a brewery who else would appoint a manager a few weeks before a tournament and at that not the one the fans really wanted. Fair play to Woy and the boys they did better than most expected but until they have a clear out at the top we will keep going in to tournaments unprepared. As for the squad i had higher hopes after Woy decided to drop Rio and bring a younger side and gain experience for the world cup but for some reason stuck with Ashley young who i thought had a shocker i'm sure had Young still been at Villa he wouldn't of played as much. Time will tell now if he brings Lampard back in and Rio i for one hope he doesn't and i know this will look like an attack at Man Utd players but Rooney should of come off the bench clearly not fit and has been poor in the games he did play.

[The jiffle king]

Look at the academies which train the players in the UK. How many are truly great academies which encourage the players to practice first touch each and every day. Here in Barcelona, you can go and watch the youngsters play and their first touch is way way beyond most English Premiership players. Was it George Best who said "Carlton Palmer can trap a ball further than I can kick it"?

The solution is in the academies of the clubs. My own team Southampton even when in league 1 were producing players who can actually keep the ball. You can argue the quality of Walcott, Oxlade Chamberlin, Bale, Bridge, but they all came from the academy and there are more players on the way. If each Premier league team produced 1 player they could introduce to their first team every year, then the problem would be solved. It requires a long term financial investment and ´today´s businesses require results now, so they buy in talent.

Fergie did it with Beckham, Scholes, Giggs, Nevilles etc, we just need some more

[ijm]

vonuber said:

Audi 525i said:

Question for you............how many of the English squad play abroad?

I think alot of English players could benefit from playing in the Spanish, Italian, German or French leagues.

I suspect a lot of the teams wouldn't want them.

Its a bit more than 'a lot'.

I can only really recall Beckham in the last 10 years out of all of our so-called superstars being wanted by enough to actually be bought by another prestige team in Europe.

[dickymint]

Simple solution. Set up a team in the Championship called England! Pay them the going rate, manage it financially like any other club. They play together as a team week in week out and win the next World Cup - sorted.

[The jiffle king]

ijm said:

Its a bit more than 'a lot'.

I can only really recall Beckham in the last 10 years out of all of our so-called superstars being wanted by enough to actually be bought by another prestige team in Europe.

This is true particularly given that the wage structure in England is higher than in most other leagues, so average players can command more money here than in La Liga.

[Nom de ploom]

there is a theory that in england alot of players (and I'm talking mostly top level but not exclusively) look upon football as a means to make money, garner fame, attention etc...

the attitude of alot of foreign players is that they look upon professional football as an opportunity to BE professional....

Rugby league in england v australia is a good example...attitude and professionalism has carried australia when it got tough. this has no doubt contributede imho to the gulf in class between the two nations - yes we can win the odd game but over the course of a tourney we can;t back up...

similar with the football

[croyde]

dickymint said:

Simple solution. Set up a team in the Championship called England! Pay them the going rate, manage it financially like any other club. They play together as a team week in week out and win the next World Cup - sorted.

I like that

[NormalWisdom]

Because from the age of "very young" kids are actively encouraged to "participate" - "compete" is a dirty word. We live in a namby-pamby age run by clueless do-gooder wimps.

[croyde]

Probably mentioned before but many of the top English teams are mainly populated with foreigners which is why England did so well against Germany a few weeks back, sorry I mean Chelsea against Bayern.

[dickymint]

croyde said:

dickymint said:

Simple solution. Set up a team in the Championship called England! Pay them the going rate, manage it financially like any other club. They play together as a team week in week out and win the next World Cup - sorted.

I like that

I'm being serious too.