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This idea that England aren’t comfortable with the ball is ridiculous. It’s a cheap shot that comes about every time our national team play poorly. There is a huge difference between not being good enough ability wise and not being good enough technically wise. And if you’re saying England aren’t comfortable on the ball then effectively you’re saying we are not good enough technically.
What were the cries when we failed to beat Croatia and didn’t qualify for Euro 08? We aren’t good enough technically, that’s what the cries where. So how do you explain almost the identical squad of players passing and playing Croatia to death just a year later?
Rio Ferdinand (not at this World Cup) is one of the most accomplished footballers in the world in posession of a football. Glen Johnson and Ashley Cole are very comfortable with the ball at their feet, so too are the likes of Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard etc.
It’s just a cheap shot to say that England aren’t comfortable on the ball. Ability wise, as a team/a unit or whatever you want to call it, England are just not good enough, and certainly not consistent enough. On our day, we can beat 90% of teams in the world, but more often than not a few of our guys are not at their best and we fail. That’s nothing to do with how comfortable they are on the ball, it’s down to them (sometimes) being over paid Prima Donna’s who think they just have to turn up to win. The mentality is wrong, not the technical ability.
That’s an interesting post, One Eye, some good points and plenty to think about.
I just wonder why, so often when they are under pressure, they resort to lumping it forwards, or getting rid of it in a hurry. Is it then, that they have the technique, but they don’t apply it or they are used to playing perhaps a faster tempo game in which their skills are not fully utilised? Or does the fast-pace game in the Premier League not encourage them to be ‘thinking’ footballers, like the aforementioned Sheringham?
The performance against Croatia was pretty good and as I don’t have the time to look it up now, I will take your word for it that both sets of players were the same. This at least gives us hope that Capello will get the most out of them.
Anyway, there is more to this tournament than England and though the football hasn’t always been great, I’m enjoying it so far.
Another interesting point, which I wasn’t aware of before (apologies if it has already been mentioned) is that the new ball in use for this World Cup has been used in domestic football in several countries, including Germany, but not in the Premier League, so England need a little more time to get used to it perhaps.
Regarding the ball Andrew, every nation in the world was given the option to use it from March onwards, I’m not sure how many nations took FIFA up on that offer however.
The question that derives from what I’ve just said however is why was the ball used throughout the whole season in the Bundesliga, yet every other nation was only offered this ball from March? Apologies if I’ve got any of this information wrong.
Regarding our previous discussion (England’s technical ability) I firmly believe that we are ok with the ball at our feet, and that the reason we lump the ball forward is because that’s what the coach is telling them to do. Capello, and previous managers, for some reason seem insistant on playing 4-4-2 with a Crouch or Heskey up front. And as soon as those players are in the team we just lump the ball forward.
I’m quite confident that if we played just one striker up (Rooney for example) and played the likes of Cole, Gerrard, Lampard, Carrick etc in the team (by the way, Carrick is one of the best passers of a football in the world) then England would demonstrate without doubt that they are comfortable at playing the same way as Spain. United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea have done great in the Champions League in recent years, and even though there’s a lot of foreigners in those squads, there’s also a lot of good English players who are just as comfortable as the likes of Fabregas, Ronaldo, Alonso, on the ball.
I’m not saying England are as good as a Spain or a Brazil, far from it, I’m just saying that this "we’re not comfortable on the ball" excuse is a way over-used one just because the players are being told to play a long ball game.
But then we come back to the question as to why an Italian coach would ask England to play the long ball, when there are apparently so many technically gifted players in the team and when he had got them playing a different way as you point out, against Croatia?
I agree that we need to set the team up differently, 4-4-2 with a big man up front isn’t going to cut the mustard. The last two times that we have looked serious contenders in a major tournament were 1990 and 1996. I know that in 90 we switched to a sweeper system that allowed the creative players more freedom and I have a feeling that we played with wingbacks in ’96 (though stand to be corrected). The best two players in the team are Rooney and Gerrard so the team should be built around them.
On the subject of managers, I will go along with you to an extent – for whatever reason, successive England managers have tended towards the defensive and the cautious rather than packing the team with creative talent and seeing just how good we can be.
Rio Ferdinand (not at this World Cup) is one of the most accomplished footballers in the world in posession of a football. Glen Johnson and Ashley Cole are very comfortable with the ball at their feet, so too are the likes of Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard etc.
It’s just a cheap shot to say that England aren’t comfortable on the ball. Ability wise, as a team/a unit or whatever you want to call it, England are just not good enough, and certainly not consistent enough. On our day, we can beat 90% of teams in the world, but more often than not a few of our guys are not at their best and we fail.
England aren’t good enough because of their lack of technical skill – techical skill does include keeping hold of the ball, which is something they find very hard to do.Next time England play a half decent side, count how many ‘unforced errors’ they make which result in them losing the ball. As good as he is for Liverpool, Steven Gerrard is guilty of this more than most in an England shirt.
I said it before and I’ll say it again, we can beat teams with pace and power – even the very good ones on our day – but, inevitably, blood, guts and passion will only get you so far.
On the topic of mentality, it has nothing to do with how much they earn. Complete f***ing bollox, in my opinion.
There is a problem with our general mentality in this country, however.
We are not a nation of sporting winners
. I remember Boris Becker commenting on this a few years ago in response to Tim Henman’s failure to reach a major final.
Oh, how we laugh at the antics of our American and Australian cousins. The fact is they are winners. With confidence, they go into every sporting contest expecting to win. The Germans have it. The Italians have it. We don’t. Period.
There is a reason why we generally come out second best in a penalty shoot-out.
What would your reaction be if our potential second round tie with Germany went to penalties? Says it all,really.
We will beat Algeria. We will beat Slovenia. Then the pressure is on and we have to meet some very good teams and questions will be answered.
The ball was used in the Bundesliga from December 2009 in a "number of top-flight matches"
http://africanfootball.mtnfootball.com/ … m_ID=26017
According to this srticle here:
http://blog.taragana.com/sports/2010/06 … ll-111580/
"Schaikvan [Adidas spokesman] said the Jabulani ball had been used extensively in Germany’s Bundesliga as well as by France and Argentina – who are sponsored by Adidas – and other leagues such as Austria, Switzerland, Portugal and United States." … "The use of the Jabulani is clearly tied to sponsorship deals so the Premier League is prevented from using it because it has its own contract with Nike."
I think England will come through their group ok after a less than convincing start against the USA. I think the media & certain pundits build the team up so much & I’m sure the manager & the team would rather not have that huge weight of expectation on their shoulders, although I suppose the majority of them are on £80k+ a week & ofcourse you would expect pressure, because the majority of us will never get anywhere near those wages in our lifetime.
If England Win their group & Germany come second or if Germany win their group & England come second then, they will meet in the last sixteen & that would be a difficult task for England, as the Germans have been the most impressive team so far in what has been quite a dull tournament to date & certainly lacking goals.
Mark
Hi Bosranic, apologies for not being able to quote some of your comments as I’m not sure how to do that yet
You clearly believe that England don’t posess the required technical skill to win a tourmanment of such magnitude whereas I am of the opinion that we simply aren’t good enough ability wise (perhaps tactically) and that it’s nothing to do with technical ability.
You even said yourself that Gerrard is great for Liverpool but he is guilty of giving the ball away more than most when playing for England. So what are you saying? That his technical ability deserts him when he puts on an England shirt, that he forgets how to pass when he is with England. I don’t understand what you are getting at.
The reality is that when he is with England he gets asked to play a game that he isn’t familiar with, more often than not simply to get the ball forward as quickly as possible. It’s the same for Lampard, the same for Barry, the same for Cole etc. With their clubs they can keep the ball for ages and pass it sublimly, because that’s football and that’s how they like to play. With England, we play with a eight foot striker and they get told to get the ball up to him, it’s ridiculous.
I find it amazing how anyone can say this England team don’t possess technical ability. Lack of technical ability was blamed for England’s defeat to Germany a decade ago – under a different manager the same bunch of players beat the Germans 5-1 playing some brilliant passing football. Lack of technical ability was blamed for England’s failure to beat Croatia but yet again, under a different manager, the same bunch of players passed Croatia to death less than a year later. How do you explain these sudden turnaround in results if initially the defeats were put down to not having the required technical ability? Same players remember, same players who turned the form around.
How can anyone accuse Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard of not having technical ability? These are players who score tens of goals a season from midfield, a lot of them virtue of brilliant technical long-range shots, controlled half volleys etc. How can anyone say Wayne Rooney doesn’t have technical ability, just look at some of the volleys he’s scored for United.
I know it’s all about opinion but I just find it staggering that every time England fail to win then the old ‘lack of technical ability’ excuse comes out. We failed to beat the USA because we played right wingers at left midfield, an out-of-form striker up front and then just lumped the ball up to him etc.
Yes, we aren’t as good as the current Spain team at holding on to the ball and passing it around but not many teams are.
Did you watch Italy last night, Serbia the other day, Portugal this afternoon? All these teams have been mentioned as having far better technical ability than England yet their performances were dreadful. Those poor performances have been put down to not being good enough on the day – I only wish some people would use the same reason for England when we play poor, and not that it’s down to a lack of technical ability.
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