Tragic Football Stories - Let us Kick Around the misshapen Jabulani that is English football right here

fwiw i've been watching england under 18/21 teams for along time now, and i don't think they lack talent at that level.

It's what happens after that that seems to hold ye back at international level?

lol xpost

I think it might be as simple as lack of resources. In Spain you have thousands of coaches all working to a plan that seems to have been developed over a couple of decades, in Germany the FA has big machinery behind it too. England has a fraction of the coaches, parents filling in the gaps, and so far as there is a plan it seems to be a handful of guys and/or incompetents either making things up (bad) or copying France or Spain or whoever's on top at the moment because that genuinely is the best possible option available.

As for developing a uniquely English style, everything I've read about Charles Reep makes going that way sound horrendous.

jeez, massive xps, must type faster

Finishing is "technical" too, this U21 team looks good in most respects but not that one.

fuck 'england' btw

there is no good 'england' and they will never be more than remedial cunts

nah i'm saying your managers pick a shower of bad attitude spoiled brat cunts to represent the country, and the attitude of that group sucks complete ass.

Pick the u21 team for the next international, add dawson and a few other players untarnished by association with terry et al, then discipline them.

What they're hearing about themselves at their clubs and from the media is affecting them more than it does other countries, or at least other countries that produce similar levels of young talent. Dunno what to do about it, i think trap's having to deal with the start of a similar issue over here with mass dropouts and what have you.

you a Team GB man then? xpost

fuck the rest of them too

Team British Isles, guys, get this Icelandic crop of youngsters involved

fuck everyone who cares

oh no, turns out they're as rubbish as old Schteve

fuck ireland for being so much like england

xxp yeah, i dunno where the english finishers have gone since owen.

Defoe used to have it, iirc, no idea who since then, and he's near 30

i don't mind iceland though

Finishers aren't a thing anywhere anymore though

huh nakh's a provo now

Walker, mancienne, both centre halves, rose, both strikers all look good players in that first half

shane long's a finisher, in your face

Well sure attitude is a big fucked up chunk of the problem, like the lack of ability. But I was discussing TACTICS, fucker.

xpost

Hernandez

i think franny jeffers killed the finisher in england

doesn't really matter how many reasonably good players are elsewhere if there is no midfield at all, as covered upthread

Tragic Football Stories - Let us Kick Around the misshapen Jabulani that is English football right here

wilshere, scholes, hoddle and that's p much it

fabrice muamba is not a midfielder

there's no point devising tactics for a shower with that attitude sam. Successive coaches since sven have discovered that.

Sven convinced this group that their personalities and desires mattered. Poison tbh.

fucker

Higuain's the only finisher I can think of at the top level right now, and I'm probably doing him a disservice.

And Pippo of course.

Hernandez. I'll just keep posting it

higuain can finish but that doesn't make him a 'finisher' since he has other competencies too

similarly klass jan huntelaar is 'a finisher' even if he scored 10 goals in the bundesliga

Haha, he's more than that though. I'm talking guys who contribute goals and that's it.

hernandez is really

saviola with guts

Falcao

I meant Hernandez is, not Huntelaar xp

The post that started this detour said they lack finishing (a skill) not "a finisher."

yah i read you the first time xp

hernandez is totes 'a finisher' imo

i like chichipoopoo but he is a lot closer to michael owen than say aguero or rossi

yeah

lols tylers commentary there, lamenting spain's refusal to play with epl strength and spirit and pace

crafty foreigners are passing it around england and won't stand toe to toe for a fair fight

it's similar to the vietcong

2108: Heart-in-mouth time for Danny Welbeck as he scythes down Javi Martinez with a lumbering challenge, minus the nasty intent, but referee Strombergsson decides there was no intent there from the Manchester United striker and ignores the silent Spanish pleas for a second yellow card. Good officiating.

was thinkin the big fella collins tbh

haven't heard henderson's name once, except for tyler enthusing about him for absolutely no reason when spain have it.

2125: Shit-in-mouth time for Pranav Soneji as he scythes down the english language with a lumbering challenge, minus the nasty intent, but liveblog king Nult decides there was no intent there from the liveblogging trainee and ignores the world's silent pleas for a summary dismissal. Good officiating.

decent work

spanish centre soft

silent pleas...i don't understand

Liverpool's new £20m midfielder has done little so far to suggest he is worth all that money

excellent

Hands clasped, beseeching look? god knows really. xpost