Future of England

I've been looking at England recently, the reasons for the consistent failure, and I've come to the conclusion that not only is it the consistent need to be a hero that people like Gerrard epitomise, it's the divisions between clubs. You look at the Spain side which recently won the World Cup, 5 of the front 6 were Barcelona players, the two centre backs were Barcelona players, the first guy off the bench in time of crisis was a player who knew how to play the Barcelona way. These are guys who have grown up playing in the same way, there are exceptions like Alonso, but they're not really very important, and the other positions that aren't occupied by Barcelona players are not the most important on the field.

You look at the most recent England team though, and what is there


3 limited players from different clubs in the midfield who can hardly play with each other. 3 forwards that are crap, and all play for different teams. And a defence that has one player who can't defend, one who is well past it, and another who can no longer cover for his ageing partner. In addition to this, 5 of the players are around 30 years old, and another one of them starts almost every game when he's fit, England's hero Gerrard. What England need to do from the start of 2012 is introduce a radical overhaul, start the first game of the year like this


With these revolutionary changes, England's long term future would be elevated. All of the midfielders are fine passers of the ball, eliminating in one swoop England's problems in retaining possession - two of them player together at club level, and Cleverley and Wilshere would have years to form a partnership as England regulars. Upfront, Rooney and Young will be playing together regularly at club level, forming a partnership that will serve both club and country well. In defence, the ageing John Terry is replaced by the young and powerful Jones, with Chris 'Solid' Smalling replacing the liability Glen Johnson. Ferdinand remains a first choice player due to his exceptional talent, however he too would be phased out, with Liverpool's young defender Martin Kelly coming in on the right, or Manchester City's Micah Richards, with Smalling replacing Jones maintaining the strong partnership and understanding that comes from training with each other week in week out at the centre of defence. Walcott's still crap, but I'm not a miracle worker. Lennon maybe?

Thoughts on my revolutionary ideas?

Revolutionary chances? No thanks.

No.

Carrick is in no way good enough for a team trying to win an international tournament.

What other alternatives are there to Walcott

Cannot disagree with the rest of the team though

Read a good article recently that was saying Spain have a country-wide approach now in how to develop youth players, basically there is 1 style of play promoted across all the top clubs. That along with them having more coaches and coaches who recieve better instructions on how to drill the Spanish style into youth is the reason why they've been so successfully recently. Or so the article says anyway.

Guess that kind of ties in with the thread, England would do well to copy that youth approach.

Jamie wrote:Read a good article recently that was saying Spain have a country-wide approach now in how to develop youth players, basically there is 1 style of play promoted across all the top clubs. That along with them having more coaches and coaches who recieve better instructions on how to drill the Spanish style into youth is the reason why they've been so successfully recently. Or so the article says anyway.

Guess that kind of ties in with the thread, England would do well to copy that youth approach.

They have.

Most English clubs promote mindless physical hoofball.

My future England team would be something along the lines of:

The ???'s are the positions where I still feel we don't have top class players. Also the reason I didn't actually put Henderson is because that midfield is very attacking. Wilshere could play the defensive role like he does for Arsenal, but It's still not completely reliable. We'll have to wait and see.

Chris 'Solid' Smalling, what kind of a shit nickname is that?

Its crazy how Smalling has just become accepted as a RB now, no even bedding in process, he was able to slot in to that position like he's played there his whole career.

Sean wrote:Carrick is in no way good enough for a team trying to win an international tournament.

Cadbury wrote:

Joe Hart

Kelly Jones Smalling Baines

Cleverley Wilshere Henderson

Sterling Rooney Young

My friend, I have fixed your team.

Baines is a decent player, but Ashley Cole is far better for the moment. There's no sense in playing him when Cole's better, there'll be no real benefits in terms of forming a partnership. Dumping Ferdinand, again, I don't see the benefit, it won't help Jones and Smalling's partnership much considering they'll be training together every day, and probably playing together every week before too long, and Smalling is certainly a better option than Kelly at RB.

Henderson I'm wholly unconvinced by, and Sterling, has he even made his debut?

Sterling's better than everyone tbf.

Can you honestly say Carrick was a major contributor in winning that Champions League?

Jord wrote:My future England team would be something along the lines of:

Hart
Kelly - Smalling - Jones - Baines
???(Henderson maybe) - Cleverly -Wilshere
??? - Rooney - Young

The ???'s are the positions where I still feel we don't have top class players. Also the reason I didn't actually put Henderson is because that midfield is very attacking. Wilshere could play the defensive role like he does for Arsenal, but It's still not completely reliable. We'll have to wait and see.

Well mine's more for the immediate future, obviously Rio isn't going to last very long, but that's the team we should be going into EURO 2012 with if everyone's fit. Will stand us in very good stead for the future, and give us a reasonable chance at winning it.

Carrick is exactly what England has been missing for the past years he should be playing instead of mindless thugs like Gerrard who do their best to encourage hoofball.

It's not Revolutionary at all, i was thinking the same thing the other day with all the young players coming through at Man United. Installing that chemistry in the England national team would be a great idea. Not sure about Carrick, but England are really lacking in holding midfielders.

Cadbury wrote:Sterling's better than everyone tbf.

He has never played for Liverpool and he should never play for England, no matter how good he is.

http://www.thehardtackle.com/2011/the-success-of-spain-a-lesson-for-every-football-nation/

That is the article I was talking about if you want to read it, I enjoyed it anyway but then I'm a Spanish bumboy.

Wouldn't Smalling be better used in the centre? I mean there really isn't anything wrong with Kelly and I'm sure he'll show that once gets his chance(rumors were that he was going to be called up before he got his little knock in the Bolton match). Like I said though, all in due time and we'll see when 2014 comes.

ResurrectionRooney wrote:

Cadbury wrote:Sterling's better than everyone tbf.

He has never played for Liverpool and he should never play for England, no matter how good he is.

He has lived in England for 15 years, why not?

England need a defensive midfielder to come through.

I'd say move Smalling to centre half and put Richards right back, dropping Jones, that being the only formation change, Smalling seems much more set to handling international football than Jones, a lot calmer in a sense, Walcott is actually a good choice, knowing Rooney he'll drop into the hole a lot and what better 'winger' is there to tuck in and play as an inside forward, Rooney to supply him passes to score.

The pairing of Cleverley and is a fantastic one because they share many important aspects but differ if other important ones, both great passers and both very mobile, Wilshere's got the silkier touch but Cleverley has the movement and instinct to bomb forward from midfield, not only to score but assist too, so the 1-2s where Cleverley lays off a simple ball to Wilshere, darts forward, Wilshere controls it and moves away from any marker simultaneous instantly creating a passing lane to get it back to Cleverley, he weights the pass back brilliantly to Cleverly who is in a dangerous position, then Cleverly score and the crowd go wild.

I don't rate Carrick highly but he'll do.

You could try Walcott on the left and Downing on the right too.

If Frimpong stops being silly and plays for England instead of contemplating Ghana then we could possibly have that sorted. (Defensive midfield)

Jord wrote:Wouldn't Smalling be better used in the centre? I mean there really isn't anything wrong with Kelly and I'm sure he'll show that once gets his chance(rumors were that he was going to be called up before he got his little knock in the Bolton match). Like I said though, all in due time and we'll see when 2014 comes.

I don't think so, Ferdinand is still better. There might not be anything wrong with Kelly, but Smalling would be preferable. Playing with 3 central defenders offers a massive advantage when defending set pieces, particularly when you aren't employing a large forward.

Dan wrote:

ResurrectionRooney wrote:

Cadbury wrote:Sterling's better than everyone tbf.

He has never played for Liverpool and he should never play for England, no matter how good he is.

He has lived in England for 15 years, why not?

Because he isn't English.

Jord wrote:Wouldn't Smalling be better used in the centre? I mean there really isn't anything wrong with Kelly and I'm sure he'll show that once gets his chance(rumors were that he was going to be called up before he got his little knock in the Bolton match). Like I said though, all in due time and we'll see when 2014 comes.

You do realise he's being biased?

The Bat-Man wrote:I'd say move Smalling to centre half and put Richards right back, dropping Jones, that being the only formation change, Smalling seems much more set to handling international football than Jones, a lot calmer in a sense, Walcott is actually a good choice, knowing Rooney he'll drop into the hole a lot and what better 'winger' is there to tuck in and play as an inside forward, Rooney to supply him passes to score.

The pairing of Cleverley and is a fantastic one because they share many important aspects but differ if other important ones, both great passers and both very mobile, Wilshere's got the silkier touch but Cleverley has the movement and instinct to bomb forward from midfield, not only to score but assist too, so the 1-2s where Cleverley lays off a simple ball to Wilshere, darts forward, Wilshere controls it and moves away from any marker simultaneous instantly creating a passing lane to get it back to Cleverley, he weights the pass back brilliantly to Cleverly who is in a dangerous position, then Cleverly score and the crowd go wild.

I don't rate Carrick highly but he'll do.

You could try Walcott on the left and Downing on the right too.

Downing is shit, why would I have him over Young?

ResurrectionRooney wrote:

Cadbury wrote:Sterling's better than everyone tbf.

He has never played for Liverpool and he should never play for England, no matter how good he is.

Racist!

Drop Jones?

you can't ask Wilshere to be a holding midfielder, that's a horrible waste of talent, Henderson doesn't have a place in the team, I rate Cleverley higher, if he's injured then Henderson might get a sniff.

As for the DM, I was thinking Frimpong but he chose Ghana, who in all fairness are the better nation.