How do we fix English football?

[Crayo]

Today is the day our Under 21 national played its final group stage match, and lost for the third consecutive time. That's 3 games, 3 losses, against teams we should beat every single time (Italy [okay, they're decent], Norway, and Isreal). We weren't competitive in any of the games really and looked like we didn't want to be there. You could put it down to younger players being more assured with themselves now, aka cocky, and thought they were above the championships where their team-mates at their clubs were on holiday. Or you could put it down to yet another case of England under performing in important championships due to our ridiculous style of play. You're in for a long thread.

The style of football we play simply doesn't compete with anything any more. Football has evolved so much because the game just gets quicker and quicker with modern technology and sports science. Our long ball football died ages ago, and now it's a case of our players not being confident enough or talented enough to keep the ball and dictate play. Look at Spain. I know comparing England to the best team in the world (both senior and under 21) might be unfair, but their rise to dominance in football wasn't just a good generation of genetics. From the ages of like 6 years old, kids are taught that keeping the ball the longest means you're the winner, and the "win at all cost" approach of England football at grass-roots is non-existent there. They are taught how to keep the ball and play with confidence, and not encouraged to do whatever you can to get the result because the "result is what matters".

The reason why Spain are so dominant is their coaches at grass-roots. They have a nationwide program for coaches at that level that their federation has committed to, and in 2008 they had 15,000 Uefa A and Pro Licence coaches (couldn't find an updated report). That's more than double the number of any other European nation. And that is despite the 750 hours needed to get a pro licence in Spain. Guess how many England had? 245. Every single one of those Spanish coaches teach the kids the exact same style of football. Before this regime, their best place finish was like 6th in 1950 or something (cba to Google that; that's based on memory). So I think we know one deadly secret to their success.

So investment in grass-root coaches is the fix? It helps a LOT, but there are more issues for England football. The Spanish league is dominated by Spanish players, funnily enough. The English Premier League - the best league in the world - is dominated by foreign players and foreign managers. While that may add to the excitement and revenue the league gets, it certainly damages English football exponentially. Not many English players are starting weekly at their top sides. Most of our national team now are substitutes in the big teams. How many young players for England play every single week? They're not good enough, and they don't play, it's a deadly cycle that results in our national team - once a force in international football - flopping at every turn. The annoying thing is we do have some talented young players like Jack Wilshere, but not enough.

Maybe I'm overreacting seeing as Germany went out the same tournament within their first two games as well, and got dominated by the Spanish in one game. The thing is though, Germany are revamping their football regime, and are improving. I'm not trying to send out a message that English football sucks and Spanish football is amazing. This was bitter-sweet to write seeing as I was born in Spain and my family is predominantly Spanish but raised in England all my life. I guess that contributes towards my love of the game, I get to taste the success AND the distraught of the best sport in the world. What does England football do to catch up with the rest? Because although we're ranked at 5th or whatever it is, we are certainly not that high up in terms of worlds best teams imo.

 

[Gav back in the championship]

simple., destroy the premier league ok not literally but they need to clamp down on the big clubs stealing young players from foreign teams how can the young english talent come through if all these foreign imports are coming over they also need completely revamp how players are developed smaller pitches ect also they need to encourage more teams to improve the standard of there youth academies just a few of many things that need doing

 

[Crayo]

simple., destroy the premier league ok not literally but they need to clamp down on the big clubs stealing young players from foreign teams how can the young english talent come through if all these foreign imports are coming over they also need completely revamp how players are developed smaller pitches ect also they need to encourage more teams to improve the standard of there youth academies just a few of many things that need doing

Whilst English players not playing for their big clubs is an issue, it's not the biggest imo, and certainly isn't a "simple" fix. Other leagues like Bundesliga and Liga BBVA don't have such policies on international players as far as I'm aware, yet their own national players dominate those leagues. It all comes down to English players not being good enough. If big clubs like United want to compete in Europe, how would it be fair for the BPL to restrict their access to BETTER players even more? The coaching at youth level is the #1 issue imo. They have done alright revamping the national training ground, but they need to change all coaches who don't encourage better more technical football imo.

 

[seabs]

The coaching needs changing absolutely but so does the entire English philosophy of football, we're so caught up on physical attributes it's scary. Plus the hype our youngsters get is phenomenal even when they're not particularly that good, I'm a fan of using the Spanish model of B teams which can't be promoted tbh most championship fans aren't but I see a major upside from England's perspective, the only rule I'd enforce is these B teams must contain X players eligible to play for England.

 

[Gav back in the championship]

great article btw the longer we leave it the worst we'll get it doesn't help either when players like sinclair and rodwell are following the money instead of wanting some sort of legacy wage cap would help resolve that imo won't happen though

 

[Crayo]

The coaching needs changing absolutely but so does the entire English philosophy of football, we're so caught up on physical attributes it's scary. Plus the hype our youngsters get is phenomenal even when they're not particularly that good, I'm a fan of using the Spanish model of B teams which can't be promoted tbh most championship fans aren't but I see a major upside from England's perspective, the only rule I'd enforce is these B teams must contain X players eligible to play for England.

Yeah when I meant coaching that's what I was talking about. The philosophy that is drilled into youth. It has a significant impact on what kind of players the country produce. Kids need to be confident on the ball and understand that teamwork, energy, skill, confidence, and POSSESSION is how you win football matches. England are the worst "top team" in the world at keeping the ball, and that's actually a fact. Only Ireland had less percentage of the ball in the latest European championships than England. Scary.

great article btw the longer we leave it the worst we'll get it doesn't help either when players like sinclair and rodwell are following the money instead of wanting some sort of legacy wage cap would help resolve that imo won't happen though

Thanks for the compliments. I didn't consider this an article but I guess I rambled on a lot lmao. And I agree. Too many English players are satisfied at being bench-warmers for the big pay cheque and the prestige of playing for a big club. This is what I meant by the youth now'adays being overconfident and thinking they've made it by just being a professional footballer. Sol Campbell said the same recently; the majority of young English players lack ambition.

 

[Ovaldinho]

Just look at Belgium, over the last decade, the Belgian FA has invested sufficient amounts of money in the right areas to nurture the youth of Belgium into professional footballers. 10 million euros was invested in youth development after their embarrassing display at Euro 2000.

Courtois, Mignolet, Vermaelen, Vertonghen, Kompany, Witsel, Defour, Fellani, De Bruyne, Lukaku, Dembele, Hazard, Benteke and Mirallas are all players that benefited from the ethic of the Belgian FA.

If the English FA was to research what the Belgian FA have done, then perhaps England would have better insight into what needs to be done.

 

[Zach]

Courtois, Mignolet, Vermaelen, Vertonghen, Kompany, Witsel, Defour, Fellani, De Bruyne, Lukaku, Dembele, Hazard, Benteke and Mirallas are all players that benefited from the ethic of the Belgian FA.

So pretty much the current national team...

 

[Robbie Coletrain]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...fashion-England-forget-football-identity.html

Hard to type right now so I'll just post this article by the GOAT that basically sums up my thoughts. :gary:

 

[Crayo]

I agree with Neville there completely btw. This isn't a rant about how we should all become like Spain. The most underrated quality of both Spanish and German football is the work rate. Barcelona chase you like a pack of dogs around the field, as do Madrid when they want to, and we saw Bayern destroy Barcelona because of the work rate. Because both of their wingers - arguably the best two wingers in the world - tracking back like full-backs at time. We even saw Ribery save two one on one chances in defence in the final... yeah, Ribery. However, those tactics won't work in international football for all the games. Possession is once again KEY if you want to have that much work rate. England simply do not have players capable of keeping the ball for that amount of time, and it is - in my opinion - the biggest problem for English football. We don't possess the technical skill or confidence to keep the ball from the top teams.

 

[Brad.]

There are literally dozens of reasons English football is fucked and we could be here all day.

One of the more important issues is the lack of proper coaches at grassroots level. When you're a kid and playing for a local team in Britain, your coach is likely to be someone's dad who doesn't know much about football and who spends the match shouting from the touchline pointless comments like "run faster" or "boot it" etc. I saw a stat saying that in Spain they have roughly 10x the amount of qualified coaches than in England.

The argument that the Prem is somehow destroying the national team is bs. La Liga and the Bundesliga are stronger leagues and the Spanish and German national teams consistently do better than England at tournaments.

 

[Brad.]

double post

 

[Ovaldinho]

So pretty much the current national team...

I didn't say Van Buyten or alderwield, Buytem came into football much earlier than the majority of the Belgian squad so he doesn't really come into the point I was making. Alderwield is good but the others I mentioned are preferable to me.

The fact I mentioned nearly the entire shows just how effective Belgium's investment has been.

I also went to see Belgium under 16's play at Jenner Park; My local team Barry Town's stadium, they were very very good and yet another good sign for Belgium.

 

[Ovaldinho]

So pretty much the current national team...

I didn't say Van Buyten or alderwield, Buytem came into football much earlier than the majority of the Belgian squad so he doesn't really come into the point I was making. Alderwield is good but the others I mentioned are preferable to me.

The fact I mentioned nearly the entire shows just how effective Belgium's investment has been.

I also went to see Belgium under 16's play at Jenner Park; My local team Barry Town's stadium, they were very very good and yet another good sign for Belgium.

 

[Ovaldinho]

England U21's actually defeated Belgium U21's 4-0 in qualification :O

But England actually had players like the OX for that match.