What the Euros Have Highlighted

KingEric7

I would've put this in the other forum, but it's going to get deleted soon and this is more of a general topic anyway.

• Diving. The diving amongst most of the teams in these championships has been nothing short of disgraceful and before anyone gets started on the fact that it is a minority, i'd like to point towards the final tonight, and then also towards Portugal, Italy, Turkey and probably a few other teams. I am of the opinion that it is far too late to stop now and the fact that it isn't exactly frowned upon by other nations suggests that this is only going to continue. One of the few things i do find refreshing about Mark Lawrenson and some of the other mongs commentating in our land is that they are quick to ridicule the divers where as i have actually been told that other nations look upon diving as a clever skill. Say what you want about English football, but diving over here is absolutely nowhere near as bad as it is in the other nations and i'm proud that we've at least managed to avoid resorting to that utter shite.
  
• Technical ability. It's become quite apparent that most of the nations participating in this competition have many players who are completely comfortable with a ball at their feet. There are many players who are not just satisfied with moving the ball and there are those who are also willing to run with it to open up space. This is my greatest problem with the English coaching system at the moment and it pains me to still see kids being taught to move the ball as opposed to taking on their men. It is the downfall of our nation and it is the reason why we will never (unless the FA take heed of Trevor Brooking) be able to compete with the Brazilians or even the Portuguese. Over the years, there are only a handful of players that have been exempt from this general ruling of negative football amongst attacking players; players such as Gazza, Rooney, Le Tissier, etc have been an unpleasant rarity. We should be trying to produce players such as Iniesta (minus his ridiculous antics) who have a genuine footballing brain and a license to express themselves. Players such as Lampard at their best are excellent, but it's no good if you have too many static players in one team. What then tends to happen is a complete lack of ideas when it comes to the final third of the pitch, followed by a ridiculous amount of sideways passing and loss of possession.
  
• International football is back. This tournament has been a breath of fresh air as far as football on the continent is concerned. It's been a delight to watch and it seems as if every other game has been an absolute cracker. There has been no outright favourite from right the way through it, giving many teams an equal chance of winning which only adds to the entertainment element. More coaches should aspire to follow in the footsteps of Guus Hiddink and encourage their players to express themselves instead of restricting themselves at the possible cost of entertainment. Holland, Russia, Spain etc have all been a joy to watch as far as their ability to use the football is concerned and that is one more thing England should be looking towards, although under Capello this probably isn't a reality.

Name Changed

Yea I'd agree with most of that. FIFA need to take action against diving. But if anything they seem to be doing to opposite by trying to make football non contact and by giving preferential treatment to the Spanish/Italian sides, etc.

The technical ability on show was brilliant. There were some really good matches with some really good players. It was a joy to watch.

Hopefully the next World Cup will be more like this championship.

RedRover

I couldn't agree more. We have seen teams with players no one outside of their country has heard of - yet they can all control and pass a football - a skill many players even at the top level lack.

England seem to be light years away from the top international sides and the reason can only be because of the grass roots coaching in the UK, coaching which seems to champion the physicality of the game rather than teaching kids to actually play football.

Why are we persisting with Beckham's slowing play down every time he gets the ball, over the skill and ingenuity of the likes of Bentley? It seems to sum up the attitude of English football from a certain level.

The problem with football is not the numbers of foreign players, indeed we could learn a thing or two from their approach to the game.

carpy

World Cups are rarely as good as the Euro's simply because the games at the Euros are usually more competitive. There are always a few absolutely useless teams in the World Cup who just aren't anywhere near the same level as the opposition. The gap between teams is usually far smaller in the Euros.

peterstorey

Although the tournament has been very exciting the quality of football hasn't been anywhere near the standard of top club football. Most teams have serious structural weaknesses due to the fact that they have a limited pool of players to call on. Plus the lack of real team cohesion/understanding is really apparent in everybody's defence and most team's midfields. It's been great fun and it's a great improvement on the last couple of international football tournaments but compared to the CL it's not been great football.

Name Changed

That's true. The group stages of the world cup are normally very poor because some of the teams are so poor. They are so abysmal technically that the games are not even enjoyable to watch.

KingEric7

Exactly. Cristiano Ronaldo, for example, is a player that will hopefully change the way this country's youth play football. People will aspire to dribble past players in a similar fashion and hopefully more exciting and technically astute players will be produced as opposed to those we currently have who very little attacking instinct.

The only hope for youth in this country is if more Ronaldos and other such players are plying their trade in the Premiership. I can only hope that footballing wise they are used as role models as the coaching system in this country will ensure that players are never encouraged to be creative. A bad thing that could come out of this however is that youngsters may start diving......

LLMU

Adding to this .. we see nations like Spain, Russia, Turkey , Portugal having really good young players coming up through the ranks.
I don't see enough good young players from England right now.

Paddy

Not for long. 24 team Euros are just around the corner

ave fenix

It has highlighted that I miss the Premier League and I don´t care about International football.It sucks.

KingEric7

Yes, that has become quite apparent over the last few weeks......

Lot 49

Diving is going to get worse and worse as long as the people in charge of the game like Platini refuse to support video replays and the use of extensive 'after the incident' reviews aimed at clamping down on the cheats. This won't happen though because Platini is a spastic who thinks that the job of UEFA president is to whine about the Premiership as much as possible.

You say that you're happy that English football has less diving in it than on the continent but I reckon the only way we could get UEFA to act against it would be if it was the reverse. Until the Premiership leads the way in diving and all our teams achieve European success in the manner of Mourinho's Porto then nothing will happen, however on the day Platini sees a Premiership team knock out a continental side by virtue of conning the ref we'll see a sudden reversal of policy with teams containing players who dive facing substantial fines and bans from European competition.

KingEric7

If the Premiership goes down the same route as the other leagues then there will be very few people to oppose it. It needs to be sorted out now before it takes a firm hold of our league.

Mr. MUJAC

I would challenge the initial assumptions a little......

I believe that Scholes and Carrick are as technically competent as anyone participating in the Euro's.

The fact that Ericsson decided to play Scholes on the left wing and Capello has completely omitted Carrick are two questions that continue to perplex me!

I think we have the technical players in our game......I think apart from one or two clubs most teams are so scared of losing (there is a lot of money at stake) and half the division has a fear of relegation so why play attractive football. Derby County could have decided half way through the term (when relegation was already a certainty) to just go for it......

Is that the players (David Jones couldn't get a kick yet is a great ball player) don't want to express themselves or the coaching tactics suppress it???

KingEric7

I was actually going to mention players such as Scholes as exceptions, but what you've gone on to talk about in regards to their usage says everything about the state of the English national team. I have no doubt that if Scholes was in the English team right now, the midfield would have that creative element, and with Carrick you would have a player who doesn't actually run around like a head-less chicken.

However, these players such as Scholes and Carrick are still in the minority in my opinion and regardless of negative tactics, it's quite noticeable that many players in England are able to slow down and speed up player appropriately by controlling the football. Let us take Jamie Carragher as an example. He is seen as one of the best defenders we have to offer, yet if you pass him the ball he shows the composure of a one legged man crossing a minefield. I appreciate that a defender isn't a good example to use here so i will move on to players such as Steven Gerrard, who is a ridiculously good footballer. Why is it that players such as Gerrard still feel it necessary to lump ridiculous balls upfield in the hope of Rooney or Owen outjumping a centre back built like a brick shithouse? The difference between our players, and other players around the globe is that our players are very rarely technically astute, but even those that are decent in this aspect lack a footballing brain.

When i look upon the England team, the only player who i could dismiss from this general rule is Wayne Rooney and what really takes the piss is that he is continously played out of position. I believe that this is one of the examples that you could use to argue your case when talking about footballers being restricted by tactics, but i'm not sure this really applies to that many footballers.

zing

Watching the Spain vs Russia game, I was thinking that the only English player who wouldn't look out of place in that midfield is Paul Scholes.

Canuckred64

How do you sort it out when half of the world see diving as a clever ploy to con the ref? English players are quilty of diving as well, but it is not seen as part of the game here.

KingEric7

Indeed. It may be too late to stop, now.
On the topic of English players diving, that really is a minority in comparison to La Liga which is actually unwatchable now.

Mr. MUJAC

You make some fair comments King....

Scholes and Carrick apart.......I believe that at United Rio and Rooney fall into the technically astute camp with Rio particularly outstanding this season.

From other clubs I would add Joe Cole who (keeping club rivalries out of the discussion) is an exceptional player, Gareth Barry, Kevin Nolan is seriously under-rated but you would get loads of people arguing about his technical ability and lump him into the Gerrard camp...

After that I am really struggling to come up with names. Certain players have shown glimpses but very few have been consistent.

When watching the Spanish midfield, even their holding player Senna was class on the ball.