The England Inquest

[DMnumber4]

Less than a day has passed since England’s humiliating defeat at the hands of the old enemy and our apparent rivals, Germany.  Though after yesterdays showing we can hardly be considered equals. There are still questions murmured and many shaking heads scratched in bewilderment around the streets of England. What is that feeling? I’m disappointed naturally, yet not angry. Nor am I surprised at our exit from a tournament which has all but finished unfortunately in my eyes.  

There is one word which best describes the response to a result which no one can legitimately argue with: disillusionment. For a decade or so we have been fed the ‘golden generation’ talk by the media. “The time is now” and all that propaganda. It is now a lost generation of talented individual club footballers such as Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and John Terry who could only reach the quarter finals of major tournaments on a couple of occasions. I say only, what would we do to be in one now?
One common question must be of a positive, look-to-the-future nature: ‘what now?’ rather than nit picking at what went wrong. Anyone who watched the Bloemfontein debacle could pick pretty much any moment in the game and point here, there and everywhere to errors that led to our dramatic downfall.

Sure, had Frank Lampard’s ghost goal been awarded and the game levelled at 2-2, the complexity of the game would have totally changed. But the England players only wanted to play when things were going their way and did not prove that they could come out on top in the face of adversity. I’m sure many England fans could not have cared less had the boot been on the other foot and it was the Germans hounding their countryman Sepp Blatter for goal-line technology. A win is a win no matter how it comes and we should allow the Germans to revel in a victory that was thoroughly deserved and worked for.

If the England football fan has any motto it should be ‘expect the worst, hope for the best.’ For that is all we live in when watching the three lions...hope. The Germans taught us at Italia 90 how to take a penalty or five. We did not listen or learn and have consequently gone on out of tournaments on penalties on four separate occasions since! Hopefully after yesterdays lesson we may sit up and take note of how to play football in general. The players in red acted as a simile for our football methods; slow, out-dated, regimented and jaded. The efficient Germans by contrast looked bright and hungry and as a result, did not just cut a wound in English football, but smashed it to pieces. Pieces which must be picked up by someone as soon as possible.

We cannot see it as Fabio Capello’s duty to completely reform the way football is played in this country. Obviously he can set an example of the way in which it should be players, but he cannot portray it without the necessary tools. At a junior level we do not craft footballers; we build robotic players who play to their strengths rather than enhancing their weaknesses to become more rounded players. Franz Beckenbauer was right, we are kick and rush, however much that home truth hurt. Changes to the top level also need to occur. A recent figure quoted there are nearly 180 foreign players at the world cup who play in the English leagues. These are 180 places where English players are restricted and Mr Capello himself cannot pick from nearly eight squads worth of talent.

What good would it do to sack Capello? I too wish we had an Englishman at the helm, but I want the best for my country and if that means that 3 South African born batsmen and an Irishmen help England win international tournaments at cricket, then so be it. After all, the Germans had a half Ghanaian left back, two half Polish goal scorers and a half Turk by the name of Mesut Oezil who ran the show! The general public would generally agree on the side Capello picked for the games, just as we did when Eriksson and McLaren were in charge, the team picks itself and now thankfully ‘The Don’ can mould his own. It may look something like this:

GK-Joe Hart
RB – Phil Jagielka / Dan Gosling
CB – Gary Cahill
CB – Michael Dawson
LB – Kieran Gibbs
RM – James Milner / Aaron Lennon
CM – Jack Rodwell / Jack Wilshere
CM – Tom Huddlestone
LM – Adam Johnson / Ashley Young
CF – Wayne Rooney
CF – Gabriel Agbonlahor / Theo Walcott

At grass roots level we need to play smaller sized games with emphasis on technique similar to Holland where players do not play 11 aside games until the age of 14. The kick and rush culture must stop. At the Premier League level everything from a winter break, salary caps and quota on home grown players should be considered.

Until changes are put in place, our fortunes at tournaments will differ little. If anything it may get harder.

[fudgepacker]

Completely agree, maybe the FA will sit up and take notice now. Something needs to happen and it will fall upon them to do it.

Although there are so many foreign players in the english leagues I don't think it is causing too many problems though. It's restricting progress of some youngsters but it ensures that the ones that come through are of better quality. They surely get technically better by training with the foreign players who are technically streets ahead of what we have.

I do think though that with the debt that some clubs are under they'll be forced to turn to young talent sonner rather than later.

[not on facebook]

what worrys me is the gap between some of the african nations and likes of japan are getting a lot closer to where ENGLAND
are in the ratings

as for sure were not pushing forward,iam sure just because football was born within british/english shores and 1966 finals
win that in the betting odds england are far shorter than top african sides

the gap is not that far and closing all the time,to the day when the 3lions will be beaten on a knockout stage game by a so called  far lesser nation

only then will the powers that run english national/league/cup
football wake up and smell the coffee and start to act

[I-was-there1976]

fudgepacker wrote:

Completely agree, maybe the FA will sit up and take notice now. Something needs to happen and it will fall upon them to do it.

Although there are so many foreign players in the english leagues I don't think it is causing too many problems though. It's restricting progress of some youngsters but it ensures that the ones that come through are of better quality. They surely get technically better by training with the foreign players who are technically streets ahead of what we have.

I do think though that with the debt that some clubs are under they'll be forced to turn to young talent sonner rather than later.

i agree that there are too many foreigners in the Premier League full stop. When Portsmouth can pay £80 k a week for some shite upfront is beyond me. Surely there are players in the British Isles that are as good.

What next ? You ll be seeing teams like Doncaster Rovers scouring Europe to bring in players cos they cant find any here


Oh wait a min !!!!!