What needs to be done to make England world beaters?

[Goring Gull]

After our obvious short comings were exposured by an average Italian side what must english football do to produce a team of world beaters for the future.
I believe we need to look at what Germany and Spain have done and start at grass roots level with kids, Take out the competiitve matches until kids are at least 12 and just work on passing and skills because as long as i've been watching england we have been totally inept at keeping hold of a ball and succesfully passing it around. It became blatantly obvious when Andy Carroll came on and England had one idea jump hoof it up to him. Surely we can't just put our heads in teh sand and let this carry on forever?

 

[itszamora]

You're absolutely right. The good thing is that the FA recently voted through big changes to the youth coaching setup in this country which will hopefully see exactly this happening. Problem is, of course, it'll take 10-15 years for the difference to be felt. And there are still some dinosaurs knocking about, particularly in the county FAs, who voted against the proposals. The sooner they are weeded out the better, because I'm sure somewhere you'll still get pushy parents and neanderthal coaches going for the win at all costs approach with 10 year olds and just lumping the ball forward to a lad who's bigger than everyone else.

I remember Danny Mills telling a story on the radio about how he'd contacted the local league his young son plays in to suggest banning long kicks out by goalkeepers. The response he received was that no, it's important for youngsters to learn how to challenge for headers and "control the long ball."

 

[Minge]

Theres nothing wrong with england, its the other countrys who are jealouz of us and they invented penalties to stop us winning every time.

platini hates us because we invented the hovercraft, Marmite and lager top, and he uses the hated Human RIghts act to stop us from being world number one. get rid of platini and penalties and we will win, none of this passing noncense, its boring.

 

[JJB]

the EPPP will help greatly, as the very best players will get the very best training and will be used to playing with each other.

 

[Scoffers]

It starts with the kids. It always has and always will.

 

[Mo Gosfield]

Its not rocket science and some of us have been banging on about it for ages. The OP is correct...you have to get back to basics...rip up the blueprint...and re-create the ' street/playground ' environment..i.e getting kids to play with tennis balls, learning close control and passing. No organised youth football before the age of 10....no ' headless chickens ' rushing about chasing a big ball, watched by rows of baying parents, who only know what they have watched on tv or read in the Sun and coaches with badges and nothing else but ego.
You will only succeed in any sport by first mastering the basics. We have footballers in this country, earning millions, who have poor first touch...can't beat an opponent...can't take an accurate set-piece...regularly pass to an opponent ( under no pressure )..and cannot head the ball properly.
It is a scandal that British football has been allowed to decline to this level. The lack of technical ability is frightening. George Best fired the first warning shots years ago when he said that Carlton Palmer could trap a ball further than he ( Bestie ) could pass it. It went unheeded, of course, in the headlong rush to climb aboard the gravy train. And now we are paying the price.
We owe it to the kids coming through to change the system and we need some boldness at the top of the game to do it.

 

[Uter]

The development of St George's Park and the recent changes voted through by the FA can only help, but as others have pointed out, this will take time. The frustrating thing is why has it taken us to cotton on to the sort of changes needed that have were implemented in other countries years ago. Given our population and wealth our record at tournaments is abysmal. The biggest obstacle I think is probably ingrained attitutes and resistance to change.

Really, the whole English mindset needs to change, from top to bottom, in order to produce players more comfortable on the ball, able to retain possession, pass accurately and unafraid to improvise and try new things. It will take a lot of re-education.

 

[nwgull]

When people suggest removing competitive matches, do they mean getting rid of leagues and cup competitions for kids, or abolishing competitive matches altogether where the winner is the team that scores more goals?

 

[matt]

Invade Spain - easy.
Invade Germany - not so easy.

 

[fly high]

Invade Spain - easy.
Invade Germany - not so easy.

Damn, that was my best idea too.

 

[Napper]

Change the philosophy of the national team , poyet did it with players of half the skill . Problem is the players don't get together enough to do this and secondly Roy probably isn't the man to do this .

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

All the time the majority of our professional clubs practice kick and rush football nothing will change. One can only wonder as to what coaching goes on at clubs where the first team is based on percentage football. And let's remember that the bulk of any new talent we have will spend 99% of their time being coached at such clubs. I have watched lower league football in Germany, France and Italy and it is a world away from the style we practise. You do not need many fingers to count the English clubs which pride ball retention above all.

Also, how many times have we had this type of post-tournament discussion? Nothing changes. We don't long term planning in the UK. I am pleased more and more people are now openly admitting the problems as opposed to getting sucked up in the usual hype surrounding the national team. But, there is a long way to go before the balance is tipped and there is meaningful change.

 

[Icy Gull]

There is not the slightest indication that this will ever happen, so I'd stop worrying about it.

 

[BigGully]

Its a very complex issue, climate, temperament, culture all have a part to play but I think maybe the Academy system has some responsibility here too.

How is it that after years of introducing the Academy system we havent really produced anyone nearly as good as those players of a generation ago.

The system sucks in the 'best' kids from the age of 8 and inadvertently REDUCE they practice and playing time, encouraging those 'elite' youngsters NOT to participate in other sports or play any other football for their schools, local sides or representative sides, bizarrely standing watching their peers play unhindered practices and games.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

the EPPP will help greatly, as the very best players will get the very best training and will be used to playing with each other.

What's the EPPP?

 

[itszamora]

What's the EPPP?

I think it's that scheme whereby youth systems are graded in one of four categories, and effectively higher-ranked ones can sign youngsters from lower-level ones for very little compensation. The Football League were effectively forced to adopt it by the Premier League threatening to withdraw their "solidarity payments" to the FL unless they did. From a selfish point of view, the good news is that our new facilities, when built, will be in the top grading.

 

[BigGully]

EPPP is a difficult one to judge.

It has certainly prompted BHA to upgrade their structure. which is a good thing, but only time will tell if the coaches really can deliver.

Overall I think the EPPP is a good thing, but cannot help thinking the main driving force was just to ensure the bigger clubs can access any player cheaper.

 

[Bakero]

Rafa Benitez has this to say on the matter:

There are many changes required in the way this country develops its young players. To make them more competitive, England above all need the clubs to decide on the style of football they want to play, from academy right through to first team. They must then coach the coaches in that style and then coach the players.

For me, there is a very big weakness in the system when the players reach 18. At that age, a player in England who is not quite at the required level to play in the Premier League has to go off on loan to a League One or Two team, where it is very difficult for him to develop the basic skills in the way he would at his club. The style and standard of coaching will probably just not be the same.

Those players who are of a slightly better standard but still not quite good enough to play in the Premier League will end up sitting on the first-team bench, and could be stuck there for years. Take Scott Carson, for example. He was the best player at Leeds United and then joined us at Liverpool, but he hardly played a game for three years.

When I arrived at Liverpool, this problem struck me and I said that our reserve team should play in the Football League pyramid. I wanted to use the experience of my years as a player and manager of the Real Madrid reserve team, which played in the Spanish second division. Joining the pyramid was important, but nobody wanted to hear or listen and I was told that I was going against an English tradition by suggesting this. I think people can see the problem a little clearer now.

If we assume the English reserve teams will not be allowed to compete in the pyramid, the only way to create matches for these young players is by making the Reserve League a proper Under-21 national competition, which allows teams to select a limited number of first-team players to help them recover from injury or keep match-fit. I know the Premier League is working on this for next season. It must be a competitive Under-21 league in spirit.

But it is the introduction of the same style of play throughout a club – and seriously investing in the coaching system to make that happen – which underpins the creation of more technically equipped players, and it was in the final year at Liverpool that we linked the academy and club more closely to make that possible.

There are plenty of myths about this idea of one style of football running throughout the club. For example, just because Barcelona have become such a successful club, everybody now talks about wanting to play "like Barcelona". But we were talking about having a consistent style throughout the club at Real Madrid over 15 years ago. How can you play "the Barcelona way" if you don't have Xavi, Iniesta and Messi?

It is more realistic to decide on a system; deciding, for instance, that you want to play the ball on the floor, not in the air, and then you need to create a philosophy at your club where everyone has the same one. You stick to it, no matter who is manager, and you appoint a manager with that vision. (If it's a non-football person who decides on the vision, it could be a problem.)

At Liverpool, we created this link between the academy and the first team by appointing Pep Segura, who had been at Barcelona, as the academy's technical director, with Rodolfo Borrell as Under-18s coach. We agreed which systems we would use and which style. In England, the individuals who are asked to coach the coaches and help spread the playing philosophy are very, very important. You can't just work with computers and databases of young footballers.

I have also been advocating for several years that clubs should be allowed to recruit young players from anywhere and that change, now allowed for in the Premier League EPPP document, cannot come soon enough. At Real Madrid, we trialled hundreds of boys a year from Madrid and all over Spain. If the best cannot work with the best, they will not progress.

I don't think England should be too worried about the number of overseas players in the Premier League. The country's young footballers can learn from those players, their different styles and ideas. And I don't think that the 4-4-2 system which Roy Hodgson used at the European Championship will prevent technically talented players being put to best use for the national side. The 4-4-2 style can become 4-2-3-1 when a team attacks. It's the football philosophy that counts, not the system.

It is a question of what you want to do when you are in possession and what you want to do when you are not in possession. It is about people having more ambition, more confidence in their game to try things out and to get into the box. The improvement in basic technical skill that we are talking about and the confidence in a philosophy which is instilled into players will solve the problems. I have been saying this for a number of years but it is very hard to be heard sometimes!

England have to look forward. Finding top players is not the problem. The potential is out there, all around. It is how to develop it which people should be talking about.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/rafael-benitez-england-have-the-talent--but-not-the-philosophy-7881158.html

Allowing Prem reserve sides in lower leagues is obviously not going to happen, nor should it. He's right about the problem of players stagnating in the reserves or their development being hindered by lower quality coaching whilst on loan though. This highlights the real issue that he fails to mention; the lack of qualified coaches working in the English game. The number of professionals with a UEFA Pro or A license is far higher in other major European nations.

 

[narly101]

There is not the slightest indication that this will ever happen, so I'd stop worrying about it.

I have to say that, regardless of all the FA is trying to do, the above quote is pretty much spot on. It's also one of the very reasons we, as a nation, have become largely indifferent to the National Football side and what it can or can't achieve. We do not invest in our national football in regards to change, but insist on bringing in players from other nations who can play football, that we just simply aspire to.

Even Gus is now seeing that the only way to play his way is to buy from abroad (Calderon, Reyes, Vicente, Assulin, Bruno etc) as he will not be able to produce the football he wants (quickly) with homegrown players. Of all the players in the Albion side, Calderon is the very first one I've seen who has an incredible first touch. Some of the English players may have shown sparks of ability, but Calde 99% of the time can catch a ball in the air, and bring it under control like no other player I've seen.

As long as clubs like West Sham can get promoted from the Championship with a largely ugly game of hoofball, there will be no dramatic change.

 

[bhafc99]

The FA needs to dictate what the PL can and can't do, in terms of number of English players vs overseas, winter breaks, youngsters and so on.

And that is NEVER going to happen. Ever.