The English player myth

[goonertux]

Overpaid, Overrated, Oversexed, Overpampered, Overindulged, and over here! Young English players (with a few exceptions) are just rich versions of a lot of young English lads these days. Unfortunate but true.

[worthing_gooner]

Most of this has been covered by others in the post, but having coached young players this is something which is close to my heart, and it really gets on my tits seeing these suits talking about the Premier League and how they don't give young English players a chance. The reality is, if they're good enough they will make it. Unfortunately, by the time they're in their late teens, as a previous poster said, they're already technically inferior to their European counterparts.

You could go to any park in the country and see kids as young as 10 playing on full size adult pitches. The pitch is so big the only way to get it up top is to hoof it long and let someone chase it. It's absolutely ridiculous. Pitches should be half that size, if not smaller. The key skills for young footballers should be touch, pass and move - technical attributes. That can only be achived on small, tight pitches where they're encouraged to think ahead and play short passes, touch the ball to where they need it to be to make the next pass.

Finally, there has to be a change of attitude from parents and coaches screaming at their kids from the touchline. Who cares if your 12 year old wins the match? Seriously. It's about developing them as a player, not winning the league. Kids shouldn't be shouted at for trying some skill which doesn't come off. They should be encouraged to develop their skills, to make the right decisions at the right time.

Football at grass roots in this country is fucked beyond belief, and the FA haven't got a clue.

[DB10GOONER]

You could go to any park in the country and see kids as young as 10 playing on full size adult pitches. The pitch is so big the only way to get it up top is to hoof it long and let someone chase it. It's absolutely ridiculous. Pitches should be half that size, if not smaller.

And then even OneBard Ewok might get a game. Aahh.... look at his little legs pumping...

[SoreSack]

Most of this has been covered by others in the post, but having coached young players this is something which is close to my heart, and it really gets on my tits seeing these suits talking about the Premier League and how they don't give young English players a chance. The reality is, if they're good enough they will make it. Unfortunately, by the time they're in their late teens, as a previous poster said, they're already technically inferior to their European counterparts.

You could go to any park in the country and see kids as young as 10 playing on full size adult pitches. The pitch is so big the only way to get it up top is to hoof it long and let someone chase it. It's absolutely ridiculous. Pitches should be half that size, if not smaller. The key skills for young footballers should be touch, pass and move - technical attributes. That can only be achived on small, tight pitches where they're encouraged to think ahead and play short passes, touch the ball to where they need it to be to make the next pass.

Finally, there has to be a change of attitude from parents and coaches screaming at their kids from the touchline. Who cares if your 12 year old wins the match? Seriously. It's about developing them as a player, not winning the league. Kids shouldn't be shouted at for trying some skill which doesn't come off. They should be encouraged to develop their skills, to make the right decisions at the right time.

Football at grass roots in this country is fucked beyond belief, and the FA haven't got a clue.

this more than anything hits home to me and i only played at a local school level

we were never really that great and i was never really that great i'd just run all day and tackle anything that moved but we regularly came up against sides in tournaments who were there to win at all costs and looking back on it its really quite disgusting

poor corner kicks, being offside, scoring own goals, not playing the ball into the box, missing a penalty, failing to get past an opponent, misplaced passes, poor goal kicks are all things i heard coaches and grown adults berate CHILDREN for. the worst, a striker being reduced to tears at the end of the match because he didnt score, 'you always score' 'are you really not going to get a goal against this lot' were some of the things that were said and it wasnt necessarily the comments, it was the fact they they just didnt lay off him, it was constant.

must be infinitely worse at a high level.

[LeftfootlegendGooner]

Racists

[Belfast Boy]

I don't know if anyone remembers this thread about the impact of foreign players on the Premiership and the English game as a whole viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4317&p=58544&hilit=calling#p58544 started by a guy called PremWatch who was conducting surveys on every clubs' forum cos it was way back when IHH was still writing in CAPS just to annoy everyone myself TS and even Steary (remember that mad bastard ) spent time addressing his points - now that was over 5 years ago and it makes you wonder what all these so-called knowledgeable people are gettin paid 6 & 7 figure salaries for when the reasons behind Greg Dyke's speech are there for everyone to see and have been for years

Even on this thread today several people have mentioned pitch sizes, IMO the importance of this cannot be overestimated as it stands to reason that you are not goin to learn close control when the nearest player is another 11yr old who is going to take twice as long to put pressure on you than he otherwise would on a 1/2 or 3/4 pitch

[Number 5]

You could go to any park in the country and see kids as young as 10 playing on full size adult pitches. The pitch is so big the only way to get it up top is to hoof it long and let someone chase it. It's absolutely ridiculous. Pitches should be half that size, if not smaller. The key skills for young footballers should be touch, pass and move - technical attributes. That can only be achived on small, tight pitches where they're encouraged to think ahead and play short passes, touch the ball to where they need it to be to make the next pass.

It has changed. Just. Starting this season.

Under 11's, so you're 10 year olds this season are set up 9 vs 9 on an 80X50 max pitch. They won't hit a grown up pitch till U-14's I think. Might be u13's. Stepping in the right direction but we're talking a generation or more for it to filter in. That's if you take a current 8 year old and imagine in 10 years he'll be playing 1st XI in the premier league.

I think we're looking at 15-20 years to get any benefit from it.

The coaching really has to change and the mindset. Its all laps round the park, sprints, fitness that kinda bollocks.

In a one hour session, I'll do 10 minutes running and everything else is with the ball at their feet.

[g88ner]

It is no coincidence to me that france and spain's international sides only started to win trophies when they started exporting their players to England - it was there that their players learned the importance of commitment and aggression and they could then merge that with their own technical skills to make themselves better all round footballers.

Spain don't owe England anything, Augie.

The team that won the world cup was: Casillas, Ramos, Pique, Puyol, Capdevila, Busquets, Alonso, Xavi, Iniesta, Villa.

The team that won their first Euro's was: Casillas, Ramos, Marchena, Puyol, Capdevila, Senna, Iniesta, Xavi, Cesc, Silva, Torres.

You say it's no coincidence Spain only starting winning trophies when they started exporting players to England, but I'd say it's just that. Coincidence.

The heart and soul of those Spain teams are born and raised in Spain. Only Pique, Alonso and Cesc can really point to an English schooling, and I'm not sure they're the 3 main players behind Spain's extraordinary success. Nor am I convinced it was their move to England that was the game changer.

Coincidence for me mate. Spain are awesome.

[northbank123]

In the paper today both journalists covering Dyke's speech praised him effusively for telling it as it is. As far as I could see his speech was just full of vague soundbites.

England probably won't win either of the next two World Cups? Wow, either Greg Dyke is boldly honest or he's just not insane. I'd have had more respect for him if he would have just ignored setting major tournament targets at all - it's not helpful in the long run and while seemingly harmless shows how keen it is to please the media and get soundbites out there.

It's easy to say we should pick players based on technical ability rather than physical attributes and something that nobody really would disagree with but unless he's actually going to implement the radical and probably unpopular policies that will make real changes he's no different to any of the others.

[mcdowell42]

I reckon england will win next years WC

[the playing mantis]

You say it's no coincidence Spain only starting winning trophies when they started exporting players to England, but I'd say it's just that. Coincidence.

The heart and soul of those Spain teams are born and raised in Spain. Only Pique, Alonso and Cesc can really point to an English schooling, and I'm not sure they're the 3 main players behind Spain's extraordinary success. Nor am I convinced it was their move to England that was the game changer.

Coincidence for me mate. Spain are awesome.

i think the rise of spain can be correlated with a certain mr fuentes....

[Red Gunner]

You say it's no coincidence Spain only starting winning trophies when they started exporting players to England, but I'd say it's just that. Coincidence.

The heart and soul of those Spain teams are born and raised in Spain. Only Pique, Alonso and Cesc can really point to an English schooling, and I'm not sure they're the 3 main players behind Spain's extraordinary success. Nor am I convinced it was their move to England that was the game changer.

Coincidence for me mate. Spain are awesome.

i think the rise of spain can be correlated with a certain mr fuentes....

England need to sign him him up then... He'll turn Joe Hart into Casillas, Cleverley into Xavi, Milner into Mata and Ashley Young into David Silva.

[the playing mantis]

too late, isnt he doing a stretch?!

[Red Gunner]

too late, isnt he doing a stretch?!

Nope. He's a free man.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22353145

Maybe we should secretly sign him up. We need someone to fix Diaby

[Nos89]

The key to sustaining international success is putting players through the youth, u-21, systems. Success at that level shows that players can achieve on the international stage. Spain, Italy, French and Germany have all experienced success and moved on to the full international. We seem to neglect that and introduce players to the the bigger international stage too soon, making the young player believe they have reached their goal a full international cap, and then it goes tits up. I would say the best thing to happen to Theo was being left out the 2010 world cup squad.