The Champions league will be played this week and it does not look good for the English teams, it is time the English FA and the Premier League admit that they are not good enough for the Champions League, technically teams from Spain and Italy are far better compared to their English counterparts.
When England do admit this, we can see them going far not just at the club level but also at the national level. In-terms of tactics England can match them,but be aware even this is on a decline, tactics can be built only on technique, disagree? Refer to case study Brazil 1958,62,70,94 and 2002 World Cups.
The current situation (and complain) in England is that clubs are hiring foreign players and there is not enough local talent. Well, how do we explain English clubs (Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa) holding the Champions League (European cup at that time) from 1977-1982 (six years in a row), no country has ever held the cup for that long. All these clubs had a wealth of English and British players, but yet England did not qualify for the 1974 and 1978 World cups, so the excuse that foreign players are flooding the English league and causing the decline of the English national team is lame.
England did not qualify for the 1994 World cup too, but that was down to the ban of English clubs for six years from 1985 , so there you have a valid reason, but the managerial talent has also declined, add to that you can't find good Goalkeepers, at one point any of England's goalkeepers could have walked into any national team.
The main problem here for England is that development has taken a back seat. When France lost in the semi-finals of the 1986 World cup to West Germany, the French FA all sat down to embark on a development programme that resulted in talents like Thierry Henry, Nicholas Anelka, Laurent Blanc, Zidane and whole army of others that resulted in them winning the World cup, European championship and the Confederations cup, but here is the irony, while the French national team is doing well the clubs are not, why? Because a French player is an important import for most of the other clubs around the world in Italy, England, Spain and Germany, most of the top French players play here.
What England needs is a good coaching infrastructure, this needs to be placed, after that technical development needs to take place, the British or England have been sleeping and their arrogance of not admitting how bad they are might just be their downfall, instead of blaming Jose Mourinho of being arrogant perhaps the English should look at themselves first.
I don't see any of the English clubs going through to the next round accept Liverpool and even then I don't expect them to go to the semi-final. Manchester United and Arsenal have a mountain to climb. Chelsea perhaps have the easier task, but I think Barcelona will rise to the occasion, United need to close down the Milan players fast when they have the ball, Milan did this brilliantly in Manchester when they won 1-0, they hunted like a pack of wolves chasing the united players back to their own half, a master class in tactics. England, we thank you for giving us the beautiful game, but don't live in the glory of the past.
When England do admit this, we can see them going far not just at the club level but also at the national level. In-terms of tactics England can match them,but be aware even this is on a decline, tactics can be built only on technique, disagree? Refer to case study Brazil 1958,62,70,94 and 2002 World Cups.
The current situation (and complain) in England is that clubs are hiring foreign players and there is not enough local talent. Well, how do we explain English clubs (Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa) holding the Champions League (European cup at that time) from 1977-1982 (six years in a row), no country has ever held the cup for that long. All these clubs had a wealth of English and British players, but yet England did not qualify for the 1974 and 1978 World cups, so the excuse that foreign players are flooding the English league and causing the decline of the English national team is lame.
England did not qualify for the 1994 World cup too, but that was down to the ban of English clubs for six years from 1985 , so there you have a valid reason, but the managerial talent has also declined, add to that you can't find good Goalkeepers, at one point any of England's goalkeepers could have walked into any national team.
The main problem here for England is that development has taken a back seat. When France lost in the semi-finals of the 1986 World cup to West Germany, the French FA all sat down to embark on a development programme that resulted in talents like Thierry Henry, Nicholas Anelka, Laurent Blanc, Zidane and whole army of others that resulted in them winning the World cup, European championship and the Confederations cup, but here is the irony, while the French national team is doing well the clubs are not, why? Because a French player is an important import for most of the other clubs around the world in Italy, England, Spain and Germany, most of the top French players play here.
What England needs is a good coaching infrastructure, this needs to be placed, after that technical development needs to take place, the British or England have been sleeping and their arrogance of not admitting how bad they are might just be their downfall, instead of blaming Jose Mourinho of being arrogant perhaps the English should look at themselves first.
I don't see any of the English clubs going through to the next round accept Liverpool and even then I don't expect them to go to the semi-final. Manchester United and Arsenal have a mountain to climb. Chelsea perhaps have the easier task, but I think Barcelona will rise to the occasion, United need to close down the Milan players fast when they have the ball, Milan did this brilliantly in Manchester when they won 1-0, they hunted like a pack of wolves chasing the united players back to their own half, a master class in tactics. England, we thank you for giving us the beautiful game, but don't live in the glory of the past.
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