Boxscarf » Mon Jun 25, 2012 8:03 pm wrote:England achieved a QF place which is the best they could have hoped for, they're not a top International side, they never have been and they never will be, unless radical reform takes place at grass roots level and England adopt a more continental approach to training youngsters.
All of England's limitations were exposed against Italy and while the Italians are always a dangerous side, always capable of winning the competitions they enter, England made them look a lot better than they are.
I said at the start of the tournament that England's players lack the basic football fundamentals required to flourish on the big stage. England's footballers cannot pass the ball, cannot keep possession of the ball, panic when under pressure, lack any composure on the ball, lack patience in their build up play, lack a goal threat and have a weak mentality when pressure is placed upon them as shown with the penalty shoot out.
People praise England's dogged spirit, determination and fight and while all these traits are commenable without genuine football ability these qualities on their own will only take a team so far (in England's case the QF's).
I think it's remarkable that teams like the Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Croatia and Russia have a better grasp of ball retention than England.
England last night were terrible, every single flaw within the English game was evident for all to see last night, it was embarrassing to watch, it really was.
People say that England have a lot of top class players, some even use the word 'World Class' to describe some of the footballers and I just don't see it. Wayne Rooney is considered by many to be a World Class footballer and I just don't see it, he couldn't even take on a defender last night, he couldn't even mark Andrea Pirlo properly. Ashley Cole is considered the best left back in the World, yet Jordi Alba and Philip Lahm make him look inferior. People say that John Terry is World Class, Mario Balotelli tore him to pieces time after time without breaking a sweat. These are not World Class footballers by any means. The way people carry on about Ashley Cole you'd think he was as good as Roberto Carlos and John Terry as good as Beckenbauer. It's pure nonsense. Wayne Rooney, England's answer to Pele? That's an insult to Pele. Rooney will never be anywhere near as good as Pele or Gerd Muller or any other World Class striker.
England only has one technically gifted player who in his peak was World Class and that's Steven Gerrard. The only other technically brilliant footballer from England is Paul Scholes who at the age of 38 would have dominated England's midfield had he made himself available for selection.
People slate Hodgson's approach, but he played to England's strengths, in the end a failure at grass roots level to teach children the basics of football keeps bringing up generations of English footballers who cannot even do the basic fundamentals of football. Cannot pass a ball, cannot score more goals than the opposition, cannot keep the ball etc. You don't need to play total football like the Netherlands or Spain to win matches, you don't need the flair that teams like Argentina and Brazil have. You don't need to be as fancy as Ronaldo is with the ball to be a class footballer.
It's high time English grass roots football models itself on German grass roots football. Germany decade after decade produce players of the highest quality. Players who might not be the best to watch on television or who will become winners of the Ballon d'Or, but they are players who are capable of achieving great things at International level as their history has shown. 3 World Cups and 3 European Champions which might well become 4 on Sunday.
People say "well Germany get to the semi-finals or final and lose", yes that has been the case many times, but at least they get to the latter stages of competitions which is more than what can be said for many International teams, England in particular.
