World Football thread

[Scott Brehaut]

Hell, I thought that work was the only thing that could put me to sleep but Gullscorer seems to have managed to do that too with this post.

:na:

[Gullscorer]

I've improved it since then. Read my edited version. Hypnotic, wouldn't you say...??

With a bit of luck, it should even send Andy to sleep... :~D

[AustrianAndyGull]

Just watching Austria take apart Sweden on a live stream. Maybe there is some hope for us yet of sneaking 2nd spot in the group. Weimann is playing well.

[AustrianAndyGull]

The Confederations Cup

What is the history behind this and is it a serious tournament or just a series of friendly games?

I have to be honest and say I've never seen one nor know what they are really about. Is anyone seriously interested in it?

[Jerry]

I think it's basically just a test event the year before a World Cup to make sure everything is up to speed.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Is it played in Brazil then Jez?

[Plymouth Gull]

It's contested by the teams that win each of the 6 different continent competitions (e.g Spain who won Euro 2012), then it is also the host country of the next WC (Brazil) and the WC holder. Italy are in it because they finished runners up to Spain, who won the WC and the Euros.

[Jerry]

Is it played in Brazil then Jez?

It is this year. If the stadiums are ready. :}

[AustrianAndyGull]

Cheers both

[AustrianAndyGull]

England U21's failure. Why? Because they aren't bothered about being there that's why! They already earn loads of cash even at that age and so it's club or nothing. Money is why. National pride is all well and good but as England U21's don't have any then it allowed what happened to happen.

Money money money , must be funny, in a rich mans world.

I wonder how many of these youngsters have cleaned a terrace or cleaned someones boots?

Hey, why should they? They are still teenagers and have already made it. Why bother anymore.

[Plymouth Gull]

Because the PL is severely restricting us in terms of allowing English players to come through, as any English player with potential is priced massively so clubs and foreign owners will decide to get a cheaper player from abroad for just as good.

I would go on but until we get some sort of rulings that set a number of home grown players in a matchday squad, I think we will always be miles behind other countries, though it will be interesting to see what happens with the St Georges Park.

At the minute I would class us in the same bracket as teams like Ukraine, Croatia, Russia, and not the footballing heavyweights like Spain, Germany, Italy, Brazil.

Also we need to get out of the mindset that ex-players will make good managers, when they don't always. I don't rate Stuart Pearce as a manager at all.

[royalgull]

Stuart Pearce is the man that put a teddy on the side of the pitch for good luck and also once put David James up front in a Premier League match but because he shouted really loudly when taking a penalty he continually gets jobs in football. Jobs for the boys and English football fans are thick.

We cheer the bloke who can't make a 5 yard pass but makes a bad slide tackle to win it back, it shows 'passion'. We invariably make these sh*t players captain of our club while we boo or have a go at mercurial wingers or strikers who don't 'put any effort in' even though they are the ones who win you games.

Our scouts and coaches look for the 6'1 tall strong 14 year old and not the one who is comfortable in possession or the one who can beat players. If Messi had been English he'd have been told at a club here 'you aren't tall enough son' and let go.

Why can't we ever produce a Messi? a Xavi? an Aguero? It's nothing to do with climates, it's to do with coaching and football philosophy. The spanish, Argentines, Dutch, Brazillian, German etc look for the talent in someone. They don't waste their time coaching kids to kick people or to run about, or 'motivate' them. they teach them how to be comfortable with the ball in difficult areas, the yteach them how to look for the killer pass, they teach them teamwork and cohesion.

When we do stumble on a talent we waste it. Hoddle and Le Tisser two of the most naturally talented players in the last 30 years, barely got a sniff with England. how could they when they wouldn't 'run about' 'put any effort in' or play in a 4-4-2?

There is some truth to what Andy says, footballers and sportsmen generally get too much too soon these days, you see 18 year old apprentices who have played the same amount of first team football as I have driving around in flash cars and giving it the big one.

English football is 'fcuked to tell the truth, it's not one thing but it's rotten from the core. Until our mindset changes, until we make changes with the league structure in terms of making the Premier League a level playing field, until we get better and more coaches in the game and until we encourage footballers instead of 2 bob plodders in our game we'll never get anywhere.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Some good points. James Milner is a prime example of a plodder and he wouldn't get a look in at any of the top countries if he were a different nationality. Don't get me wrong, he works hard and has passion and tries but international quality? Perleeeze.

The thing about ability in players is that if they have it then it will come through regardless otherwise it's never really been there. The reason why England are so crap is that generally speaking the players just aren't very good IMO and those that have some potential have the edge taken off them through training and philosophy of backwards coaches PLUS they already have sackfuls of cash so there isn't really an incentive to give blood every time they go out onto the pitch. Stuart Pearce was a limited player but if every player nowadays had his passion for England combined with their ability then half the battle is won.

Plodders sums it up really Royal. England plod.

[Plymouth Gull]

Stuart Pearce is the man that put a teddy on the side of the pitch for good luck and also once put David James up front in a Premier League match but because he shouted really loudly when taking a penalty he continually gets jobs in football. Jobs for the boys and English football fans are thick.

We cheer the bloke who can't make a 5 yard pass but makes a bad slide tackle to win it back, it shows 'passion'. We invariably make these sh*t players captain of our club while we boo or have a go at mercurial wingers or strikers who don't 'put any effort in' even though they are the ones who win you games.

Our scouts and coaches look for the 6'1 tall strong 14 year old and not the one who is comfortable in possession or the one who can beat players. If Messi had been English he'd have been told at a club here 'you aren't tall enough son' and let go.

Why can't we ever produce a Messi? a Xavi? an Aguero? It's nothing to do with climates, it's to do with coaching and football philosophy. The spanish, Argentines, Dutch, Brazillian, German etc look for the talent in someone. They don't waste their time coaching kids to kick people or to run about, or 'motivate' them. they teach them how to be comfortable with the ball in difficult areas, the yteach them how to look for the killer pass, they teach them teamwork and cohesion.

When we do stumble on a talent we waste it. Hoddle and Le Tisser two of the most naturally talented players in the last 30 years, barely got a sniff with England. how could they when they wouldn't 'run about' 'put any effort in' or play in a 4-4-2?

There is some truth to what Andy says, footballers and sportsmen generally get too much too soon these days, you see 18 year old apprentices who have played the same amount of first team football as I have driving around in flash cars and giving it the big one.

English football is 'fcuked to tell the truth, it's not one thing but it's rotten from the core. Until our mindset changes, until we make changes with the league structure in terms of making the Premier League a level playing field, until we get better and more coaches in the game and until we encourage footballers instead of 2 bob plodders in our game we'll never get anywhere.

Agree entirely, especially the bolded bit. Barca took a chance of Messi when he was very young, they paid for him to have medical care to treat his growth deficiencies. And now they have the best player ever (in my opinion) at the forefront of their club.

Every time we get a youngster who has potential, there is so much hype around them, take Wilshere for example.

Until we buck up our ideas and get some decent coaches coming through, we will always be behind the rest of the footballing powerhouses.

For what it's worth, I came across this article the other day that's worth a read.

[chunkygull]

firstly i have to say to royalgull, that was an absolutely fantastic post. i could not agree more with your points especially about the emphasise on physicality and size with young players.there were a lot of things in there i have thought for a long time.

we will never get anywhere unless we tear up the manual and start again.

i was listening to an english football coach on the radio who has worked in top leagues around the world. he said all the top continental teams focus more on ball work and skill in training, ours is all fitness and physicality.his services have been sought after by many teams here but he wont work for english teams because of the mentality.

top foreign leagues/teams when they come back from pre-season break their players back into a routine gently. again the emphasise is on ballwork, being comfortable in possession, passing etc.they do not absolutely hammer them into the ground, run the b0ll0cks off them and totally beast them like our coaches think it is good to do.

as for st georges park, what a waste of money - what is the point of having a state of the art, shiny, brand new theatre if you dont have the decent actors or directors needed to put on a performance worthy.

every england manager we have had since hoddle has been a safe, negative playing choice.
i dont dislike hodgson but his philosophy is to not get beaten, rather than let players go and play their natural game and have a go.

too many managers these days are more frightened of losing than trying everything to win.and the excuse of limits as to what is available is crap. any group of footballers at pro level, with a decent coach should be able to string 3 meaningful passes together.

bloody erikson started all that diamond formation,5 man midfield, holding/defensive midfielder sh1te.its the bloody defences job to defend and if you lose the ball up front then the whole team should be working hard to get it back. (barcelona 7 second rule).leaving a midfield player back when you are in the ascendency and an extra man forward could get you a goal is ridiculous, 2 men back is bloody criminal.

its true england players at u21 and full level look half frightened to play, it looks like they dont know what they are doing.the game they are playing is alien to them. let them play their natural game. a lot of the top england players are good enough we see them do it week in week out in the prem and champions league.they are some of the most famous and well paid players in world football.we may only have a small pool of talent these days thanks to the mentality and greed of the premier league but those that break through must be bloody good to play at that level

too many managers/coaches over do it with tactics these days rather than letting talented players do their stuff. when you see some of them stood there with those big flipbooks pointing at stuff i just want to grab the book and shove it up their arse. does all that crap really win matches?