Well there is a lot of press coverage at the moment regarding the state of out national side and that there are too many foreign players in the Premiership. Well here is my view on the matter, for what it’s worth.
They claim, and when I say they the list is endless, from Steven Gerrard to Alex Ferguson and even Paul Parker (what the fuck), that the England national side is struggling and faltering due to the number of foreign players in the Premier league and that they want the FA to introduce quotas on foreign players in Premier League teams.
Well I think that’s a load of old clap-trap and that they are merely papering over the fact that our national side has catastrophically failed in this recent competition due to the manager and the players preparation and attitude. The squad we have in my opinion, given the right leadership, management and organisation should be capable of beating any team in the world and not just in Europe. As you may already be aware, I’m not the biggest fan of Steve McClaren but enough is enough, especially now that they are blaming the Premier League’s foreign players.
We have arguably the best, most entertaining league in the world and that is due to the fact we have the majority of the best players in the world. To scrap this and to quota a teams overseas players would destroy it.
There are other factors that people are forgetting. Before the influx of foreign players, lets say, before 1995 how well were we doing in international competitions? Exactly, poor, we didn’t qualify in 1994 (a squad Paul Parker was a member of) and was this due to the fact that there were to many foreigners in the league? No. We haven’t won anything since 66, foreigners or not so how can all of a sudden this be the blame.
I’m a believer that you tend to raise your game when your playing with quality players and your game also drops when your playing with poorer players, so to me English players playing with the best players in the world can only be good for them. Also, will the standard of players suddenly become greater if less foreigners come to play in the Premier league? Again, No. I would understand it if we only had one league in the whole country to blood young players, but there are five professional leagues with many more semi-professional and that quality will always shine through and be spotted. There are more scouts and academy’s now then ever, so how can young players be getting poorer, because that’s essentially what ‘they’ are saying.
Also English players are already over-priced in the current market (look at Carrick, Curtis Davies, Reo-Coker etc) which is also a reason why clubs tend to shop abroad, but if you have to have a team mainly of English players then the price of the average English player is going to rocket. This also would make a difference for those smaller clubs in the lower leagues who make their money by bringing through young talents to sell to the bigger teams, because the bigger teams would end up signing all the decent and not so decent young players at a really early age (some are even doing that already).
I’m personally blaming the F.A (richest Football association in the world) for employing such idiots at the helm of the national side with no experience or quality. They always come up with a excuse and point a finger at some ridiculous reason for our failure, foreign players, need for a Christmas break, player burnout, but never at themselves for making the biggest mistake in employing a Muppet in the first place. They can sack a decent manager for his dealings off the pitch and then employ him again as a coach and assistant for a manger they’ve employed who is no more than a glorified coach?! How backward is that.
Sorry I’m digressing, anyway, so to stop the import of the Elano’s, Tevez’s, Fabregas’, Ronaldo’s, Drogba’s, Torres’s, Arteta’s and the likes to drag our league to a sub-standard league full of over-priced championship quality players, no, not for me thank.
Come on Israel.
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4 comments:
I have just read a comment made by Ray Wilkins. He reckons that we are technically inferior to the other major footballing nations like Brazil, France, Argentina and Germany because our players are too lazy to work on their skills. He goes on to say that if our players took just 10 minutes every day to work on their skills they would be world beaters.
Maybe he has a point, I don't know but one thing is for certain. We only produce players with world class skill every 5 years or so. I believe it has nothing to do with the clubs either. These rare few have 'natural' talent. I'm talking about players like Beardsley, Gazza, Joe Cole, Wayne Rooney etc. The fact is that since we last won the World Cup our coaching has been robotic. Our players are taught to use the long ball and any sign of dribbling is quickly frowned upon. Coaches like Ron Greenwood, Done Howe, Graham Taylor and many more like nothing more than a 4-4-2 formation with 2 big centre halves and a big centre forward. That is the English way.
If we want to win something then we have to stop thinking that because we invented the beautiful game, we are the best at it. We are not. How do nations like Brazil and Argentina keep producing the most skillful players in the world. Simple - they can't afford to give their kids Playstations and Xboxes. They get a cheap plakka ball and are told to fuck off outside and play with their mates. Obviously this is not the only reason. Another is the coaching set up we have always used. In places like Brazil they don't put a label on players and say you are a centre half and you are a left back, they just tell them to go out and play. We need to get coaches like Wenger in as consultants who can come up with a coaching blue print which we can use for the next generation of coaches coming through.
I agree with the kids and playstation comments, however, the skills and 10 mins comment from Mr Wilkins??? Hmmm I don't really agree here, look at Germany, they aren't skillful but are organised, seem to go onto the pitch with some form of tactics and perform as a team?!
We look un-organised and never have a plan B. I think we need to start with a really good Manager and surround him good coaches.
Then you believe our players are good enough?
I think we are definately lacking in technical ability and it shows when we come across teams who can play a bit. We panic and hoof down the pitch. Most teams don't, they retain the ball. We are practically the only team that still resort to this. Players like Lampard, Gerard and Beckham who are all seen as world class constantly do not play enough football. The defenders in Ferdinand, Terry, Cole Neville to name but 4 will all knock it long without thinking twice when a simple pass might be on. Our keepers never give it short, they too opt for the big punt upfield.
Lawrenson said at the weekend that the reason why England found themselves wanting at the last was because we only possess 1 true world class player....no cigar for guesiing it is Liverpool's Gerrard.
Thoughts sir!
Yes I do think that our players are good enough, coached and drilled correctly. The problem being, there doesn’t seem to be a game plan when they get on the park and that’s why the ball is played long too often and our keeper hardly ever plays it short.
Lawrenson is a fool if he thinks that Gerrard is Englands only world class player. Your telling me, Terry, Ferdinand, Lampard, Cole x 2, Owen and Rooney aren’t? All of which (except Owen) are first team players in teams who are top seeds and favourites to win the champions league.?! The players all have the skill and technical ability. It’s blending them into a winning team which is where we fall down in my humble opinion.
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