I'm quite proud of managing to watch the first 15 minutes of the U21 game between England and Ukraine. But after 15 minutes my senses could take no more pain. It was like watching a 3rd Division Derby County in the 1980's. Fifteen minutes of my mother-in-law dragging her finger nails down a blackboard to a James Blunt soundtrack would have been less torturous.
The media response has been predictable, and to an extent understandable: young players in England are technically poor and hopeless when it comes to possession soccer. Personally I think this reaction is slightly misplaced. Compared to certain nations like Spain or Brazil there is a technical shortfall. But the problem is more with the managers: players in England, especially young players, just aren't given the chance to play possession football. The teams turned out by Poyet at Brighton or Martinez at Swansea show that English players can pass the ball to success. But trainers like England's U21 manager, Stuart Pearce, while talking about the importance of playing like Holland, Argentina or Spain, just wont allow the chance of that happening.
Ukraine U21 0 England U21 0: Pearce in a panic as limp Lions fail to roar
Sparkling Spain sink Czechs
No comments:
Post a Comment