Why are our footballers so technically inept?

[Rich]

I'm sorry but this is all a bunch of arse. To play to one's strengths is essential in football. Whether they are technically good or not is besides the point. The great Irish team of the late 80's early 90's under charlton had little or no technical prowess but what they had was strength and above all, organisation.. Every player knew their job and knew what they had to do. Get rid of ball from back up to big lad up front and feed off the knock downs. Simple, yet effective. It worked.

From an organisational point of view, yesterday England were a total embarrassment. Nobody except crouch really knew where they were playing or what they had to do. Balls were going up to crouch who knocked them down but nobody was there to feed off them. This showed that McClaren went out to play for a point and got exactly what he deserved for being so naive. The FA appoint an unremarkable manager with a poor record at club level and then everyone is surprised when things go tits up. Get a grip people, england have some excellent players and should be qualifying for every tournament with ease.

People are banging on about technical this and keep the ball that, but again thats bollocks. England made croatia look good by allowing them such space to move the ball around. There was little harrying, little pressing of the croatian players in possession. I mean where the **** was lampard last night? Did he even touch the ball apart from the penalty. Why leave him on the pitch and take Barry off - nonsensical. Gerrard was als poor. Without a tight grip on his reins by the manager, SG starts to try the hollywood passes which for the most part fail. Last night explained perfectly why benitez subbed him in the derby match. He doesnt know when to keep things simple.

England, you have the players, but your management of them is appalling.

I'm more inclined to agree with this post than many of the others. Every country's team plays a different way, and against Israel and Russia at home, England looked every inch a team comfortable on the ball, organised, and able to play on the floor - which leads me to believe that in the main, the top level English player does have the skills to play that way.

Looking at last night in isolation, and disregarding the obvious and ridiculous lack of sensible tactics and organisation, having a collective back 4 who are ALL so uncomfortable with the ball at their feet (with perhaps the exception of Richards) showed up the team. (To a similar extent we see this at Liverpool too) A team which has the "luxury" of being able to comfortably play football across the backline, breeds confidence in the midfield, but also provides much needed space in the middle of the park; how many times did Campbell, Lescott, Bridge and Richards look uncomfortable on the ball and in a hurry to release it - I lost count, which then made the team careless and lose the ball.

The team was fundamentally flawed from the start last night; but to say the country is light years behind other nations isn't correct and IMO an over-reaction to having a piss-poor manager, and a shambolic FA. That's not to say we shouldn't look to improve grass-roots footy, but you can't tell me that other countries aren't envious of the way England and English teams can rise to the occasion (the old Blood and Thunder approach) in a way other teams can't/don't. PLAY to your strengths.

[enema of the state]

You are not allowed to play a very aggressive, direct, physical game in the international games. The refs don't allow it.

[enema of the state]

I think it's cultural.

Continental European football has - certainly post war - has had an emphasis of possession of the ball as being a fundamental to the game.

If you look at the English (including the national one) teams fro the fifties the game is strength and organisation. This is understandable considering football is/was a 'working class' sport where 'hard men' were lauded. And if nothing else, the British pride themselves on organisational ability.

Strength and organisation used to cut it as the Continentals didn't particularly have it. They just had ball skills.

I suppose Germany might have been the perfect blend of the English and Continental styles - and perhaps it's no surprise they won so many titles over the past 50 years.

Problem for England now is that the fans still want 'the most exciting league in the World' - the basic pretext of which is that if you lose the ball you will get it back soon enough.

Not good for the international game.

indeed it is cultural:

the culture in most of the rest of the world is to reward cheating - sneaky fouls, shirt-pulling, deliberate fouls to incur a penalty and prevent the natural course of play. An Italian might call this "cunning" and regard it as a quality. At the same time, an honest hard physical challenge or kicking the ball at chest level - when the ball actually is at chest level! is seen as somehow excessively violent and wrong.

if the price of this is poor performance of the national team then so be it.

the english domestic game - for all its many faults - is the best bar none.

[enema of the state]

I'm sorry but this is all a bunch of arse. To play to one's strengths is essential in football. Whether they are technically good or not is besides the point. The great Irish team of the late 80's early 90's under charlton had little or no technical prowess but what they had was strength and above all, organisation.. Every player knew their job and knew what they had to do. Get rid of ball from back up to big lad up front and feed off the knock downs. Simple, yet effective. It worked. ..

this paragraph is basically shyte: that ROI side had a number of really good technical players: likes of sheridan/houghton/sheedy/staunton/mcgrath/townsed/whelan - even niall quinn was technically good in a similar way to crouch. Aldo didnt score all those goals with bad technique mate!

they didnt just lump it and "feed off the big lad" like england did last night - they usually worked it around and tried to create a good opportunity to put in a decent ball to the "big lad". most of the long ball charlton's side played went into the corners to try and pull out central defenders from sides playing 3-5-2. Those boys - unlike england yesterday, undrstood the formation they were playing and made it work for them. England did just lump it up to the big man and it was too predictable for a side a s good at the croats. 3-2 flattered england.

From an organisational point of view, yesterday England were a total embarrassment. Nobody except crouch really knew where they were playing or what they had to do. Balls were going up to crouch who knocked them down but nobody was there to feed off them. This showed that McClaren went out to play for a point and got exactly what he deserved for being so naive. The FA appoint an unremarkable manager with a poor record at club level and then everyone is surprised when things go tits up. Get a grip people, england have some excellent players and should be qualifying for every tournament with ease..

agree with all but the last sentence. if england picked a balanced side - containing the majority of their best players - with a sensible formation that all the players understood, then theyd USUALLY qualify. i dont think it would be with ease and i dont think wed do any better in these tournaments than we have in recent years. EPL football is evolving into a slightly different sport to international football. i prefer the domestic version.

[fred_plasticine]

indeed it is cultural:

the culture in most of the rest of the world is to reward cheating - sneaky fouls, shirt-pulling, deliberate fouls to incur a penalty and prevent the natural course of play. An Italian might call this "cunning" and regard it as a quality. At the same time, an honest hard physical challenge or kicking the ball at chest level - when the ball actually is at chest level! is seen as somehow excessively violent and wrong.

if the price of this is poor performance of the national team then so be it.

the english domestic game - for all its many faults - is the best bar none.

the english play just as foul as the rest of the world, no better, no worse.
the honest english game, my ****ing arse, take a look around mate. cheating, diving, pressuring the ref - you wanna seriously tell me the english don't do that?

[AFII]

It comes down to two things.

One....What the refs allow the players to do on the pitch.

Two....How you must train a young player and that reflects back on point one.

If the refs allow a tough physical game then you must train very hard physically to cope being kicked around. Then you get less time to train on your skills.

You can train up you physic later but you more or less can't train up your skills and talents that much at a later age, that is the one thing you must train a lot on from an early age.

In England you can't wait to build up your physic because then you will be kicked around from an early age. In Spain you can wait and build up your physic later and base the training on skill instead.

[Neil Young]

Isn't it all Gordon Brown's fault? It usually is.

[Shaggy]

Sunderland boss Roy Keane has slammed England's players following their failure to qualify for Euro 2008.

Croatia secured a deserved 3-2 victory at Wembley on Wednesday evening, ensuring England miss out on next summer's finals in Austria and Switzerland.

Steve McClaren has since been sacked as England boss, however Keane feels the blame does not entirely lie with the manager.

The former Manchester United captain believes the squad is made up of too many egos, and is adamant that the players should step-up and take some of the heavy criticism.

"They certainly have the heart and the passion, but that only gets you so far," he said.

"Technically you have got to be able to handle the ball. These top countries who are constantly qualifying and winning tournaments have that.

Big heads

"Having said that and if you look at some of the England players, they're ****ing good players.

"But certainly if you look at some of the England players and the England set-up, and to be from the outside looking in - just my opinion - there are too many egos in there, too many big heads.

"If you get carried away with any little bit of success, then you're in trouble.

"I look at the England set-up and they don't look a happy bunch, and their body language sometimes isn't great. As good as they are players; good players don't make good teams.

"Steve McClaren lost his job because he did not qualify, and that is fair enough. But the players have got to take responsibility for their own actions.

"I don't think international football is that important to a lot of the players these days. Club football has taken over."

Grassroots debate

There is ongoing debate as to whether England's failings relate to the lack of talent emerging at youth level.

Keane feels the correct measures are now in place, but admits the results of the system are unlikely to surface for 'many, many years'.

"To be fair to the English FA, from the one or two courses I have been on, I think they are working hard on that," he added.

"But you might not see the results of that for many, many years to come. We always talk about patience in football, but with the English national team - people don't have that patience."

[Neil Young]

Sunderland boss Roy Keane has slammed England's players following their failure to qualify for Euro 2008.

Croatia secured a deserved 3-2 victory at Wembley on Wednesday evening, ensuring England miss out on next summer's finals in Austria and Switzerland.

Steve McClaren has since been sacked as England boss, however Keane feels the blame does not entirely lie with the manager.

The former Manchester United captain believes the squad is made up of too many egos, and is adamant that the players should step-up and take some of the heavy criticism.

"They certainly have the heart and the passion, but that only gets you so far," he said.

"Technically you have got to be able to handle the ball. These top countries who are constantly qualifying and winning tournaments have that.

Big heads

"Having said that and if you look at some of the England players, they're ****ing good players.

"But certainly if you look at some of the England players and the England set-up, and to be from the outside looking in - just my opinion - there are too many egos in there, too many big heads.

"If you get carried away with any little bit of success, then you're in trouble.

"I look at the England set-up and they don't look a happy bunch, and their body language sometimes isn't great. As good as they are players; good players don't make good teams.

"Steve McClaren lost his job because he did not qualify, and that is fair enough. But the players have got to take responsibility for their own actions.

"I don't think international football is that important to a lot of the players these days. Club football has taken over."

Grassroots debate

There is ongoing debate as to whether England's failings relate to the lack of talent emerging at youth level.

Keane feels the correct measures are now in place, but admits the results of the system are unlikely to surface for 'many, many years'.

"To be fair to the English FA, from the one or two courses I have been on, I think they are working hard on that," he added.

"But you might not see the results of that for many, many years to come. We always talk about patience in football, but with the English national team - people don't have that patience."

Back to your old editing tricks, eh?

[Shaggy]

Back to your old editing tricks, eh?

Nope! :bird:

Check the original story on Sky Sports' website...the foul-mouthed tug that he is! He's nutt'n but a tug!

[fred_plasticine]

Sunderland boss Roy Keane has slammed England's players following their failure to qualify for Euro 2008.

Croatia secured a deserved 3-2 victory at Wembley on Wednesday evening, ensuring England miss out on next summer's finals in Austria and Switzerland.

Steve McClaren has since been sacked as England boss, however Keane feels the blame does not entirely lie with the manager.

The former Manchester United captain believes the squad is made up of too many egos, and is adamant that the players should step-up and take some of the heavy criticism.

"They certainly have the heart and the passion, but that only gets you so far," he said.

"Technically you have got to be able to handle the ball. These top countries who are constantly qualifying and winning tournaments have that.

Big heads

"Having said that and if you look at some of the England players, they're ****ing good players.

"But certainly if you look at some of the England players and the England set-up, and to be from the outside looking in - just my opinion - there are too many egos in there, too many big heads.

"If you get carried away with any little bit of success, then you're in trouble.

"I look at the England set-up and they don't look a happy bunch, and their body language sometimes isn't great. As good as they are players; good players don't make good teams.

"Steve McClaren lost his job because he did not qualify, and that is fair enough. But the players have got to take responsibility for their own actions.

"I don't think international football is that important to a lot of the players these days. Club football has taken over."

Grassroots debate

There is ongoing debate as to whether England's failings relate to the lack of talent emerging at youth level.

Keane feels the correct measures are now in place, but admits the results of the system are unlikely to surface for 'many, many years'.

"To be fair to the English FA, from the one or two courses I have been on, I think they are working hard on that," he added.

"But you might not see the results of that for many, many years to come. We always talk about patience in football, but with the English national team - people don't have that patience."

spot-on again.

[Shaggy]

spot-on again.

Thank you

[Frank Leroux]

Sunderland boss Roy Keane has slammed England's players following their failure to qualify for Euro 2008.

Croatia secured a deserved 3-2 victory at Wembley on Wednesday evening, ensuring England miss out on next summer's finals in Austria and Switzerland.

Steve McClaren has since been sacked as England boss, however Keane feels the blame does not entirely lie with the manager.

The former Manchester United captain believes the squad is made up of too many egos, and is adamant that the players should step-up and take some of the heavy criticism.

...ok...this from the guy who walked out of the Irish camp on the eve of the Japan/Korea WC finals....

[fred_plasticine]

...ok...this from the guy who walked out of the Irish camp on the eve of the Japan/Korea WC finals....

and rightly so imho. at least he puts his money where his mouth is.

[Shaggy]

...ok...this from the guy who walked out of the Irish camp on the eve of the Japan/Korea WC finals....

I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought that.

Keane is a ****ing tool.