It’s been a week now since England were embarrassingly dumped out of the World Cup by our old foes Ze Germans. The dust has finally settled and every commentator, pundit and blogger has offered a multitude of reasons why the English football team has failed again: The weight of expectation from the fans and media; the fact our players aren’t as good as we make them out to be; the manager’s decisions; the fact we underestimated and under rated the German players; the lack of young English talent as a result of old fashioned English football coaching culture; tiredness from a long grueling Premier League season….and so on.
I’m not here to pin point one reason. In fact I’m here to say that they are all valid reasons for why the England team has failed and will continue to fail until we address these issues. And in this article, I will address the 3 most important ones.
England Expects
The English are a proud and passionate bunch. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why. Perhaps the very fact we’re an island and have experienced many attempts from other nations to invade our shores which has turned us into fighters. Or perhaps it’s the once glorious yet non existing British empire which has continuously reminded us that we are apparently a great nation. Our perhaps it’s the fact we have been on the winning side of two World Wars and triumphed in the face of adversity.
Whatever the reason, pride and passion are clearly evident in our attitude towards war and competition. And because the English can no longer throw their military weight around like they have done in the past, we focus our attitudes and expectations towards competition particularly through sport. Tennis, Rugby, Cricket…Football. And yet, whilst a little bit of patriotic pride is healthy in uniting a nation; our media and fans often take it to monumental levels whenever the England football team begin a tournament. This places enormous pressure on our players who know that should they fail, they have a whole country read to tear them apart on their return. Yes, we all experience pressure in life, but to have 60 million people breathing down your back should you founder is an entirely different matter.
And whilst some may point out that all the other teams in the tournament have expecting fans and media, I personally do not think they are as demanding as the English. Take the French team for example. They may have failed spectacularly in the world cup, but rather than the focus being on their poor performance, attention was paid more towards the way the players the humiliated the nation through their behavior towards each other and the manager rather than the lack of results on the field.
Brazilians are perhaps the closest when it comes to expectations of their football team. Yet at the same time, Brazil have 5 world cup and 8Copa America’s to their name. Such a rich history of successes gives the team confidence and inspires them towards victory. England, on the other hand, have 1 World Cup win and have lost all but one penalty shootouts in all competitions. When you’re an English kid who is aspiring to be a professional footballer, and you are repeatedly taught this history, this has a massive a psychological impact which hangs in your head as you step on to the field having worked hard enough to make it as a professional and be called up to the England team.
Our players aren’t as good as we make them out to be
The majority of our players aren’t world class. The Premier League is the most watched league globally and this is in no small part due to highly effective marketing. However this marketing also serves to hype up any English player with any semblance of talent. Their images appear on adverts all over the world and their names are shouted with ferocity by commentators in a hundred different languages.
The problem is, that just because you’re English, famous and play in arguably the best football league in the world, it doesn’t make you a world class player. Within the England team, I see only 3 world class players. Wayne Rooney (although now debatable given his failure to perform at both World Cups he’s been in), Ashley Cole and Rio Ferdinand.
The rest of the bunch are pretty damn good. But world class? Definitely not.
Take Steven Gerrard for example. Quite clearly, the lad has talent. In fact, in terms of technique and technical ability, he is one of England’s best. But his lack of a football brain hinders him from using his talent effectively and ever being world class. Too often I see him taking the wrong decisions on the field. Trying to force the killer pass when he should be playing it simple to retain possession, playing a stupid Hollywood long ball that again results in possession being conceded, shooting from ridiculous positions etc.
A commentator on the England vs Germany game said that only 1 player from the German team could make it into the England team. Rubbish, pure arrogance and lack of respect towards some very good German players.
Yes I’m telling you now, we have barely any world class players and worryingly, we have very little coming through the youth systems. And this brings me on to the third issue:
Old fashioned, English football coaching culture
The writer of Arseblog.com, the unofficial Arsenal blog summed it very well in his piece immediately after England’s defeat to Germany:
“foreign players are far, far better technically. They learn a different game as kids, they're not stuck on a full sized 11-a-side pitch at 9 years of age and told that passion and spirit are what will win games. They learn to pass, control the ball, move off the ball, retain possession, slow things down and not do everything at 100mph. Technical ability counts at this level, having players who don't think they're the best in the world is a good thing too.”
For a nation that is obsessed with football and has arguably the best football league in the world, our approach to how we play the game and teach our kids to play the game is laughable. As the Arseblog writer correctly wrote, we do indeed stick our kids on full sized pitches at far too young at age and pressure them into winning rather than playing good football. The biggest, strongest, most athletic players who can punt the ball the furthest up the field succeed whilst skill and technical ability are coached out of them.
We also get the most inexperienced coaches to look after youth football when really it should be the most experienced ones as it is at this age when most young footballers develop their skills.
Arsene Wenger once said that to create a successful player, you must approach it like building a house. The basement represents the key technical, football skills which every footballer needs and keeps the structure standing. No basement means the house can never be built. The ground floor represents the physical aspects of the player – whether he has the strength and athleticism to keep up with the game. The 1st floor represents the tactical aspect of player - whether he can understand the game and how it should be played. Finally, the roof represents the desire and passion of the player to become a professional.
Unfortunately, most English coaches of football prefer to build bungalows with no basements. As a result, too many English players are hard working athletes rather than footballers.
