Did it bother anyone that we started with NO...

[Chris in London]

And the general responses to the question asked by the OP is exactly why English football is where it is currently...
And to think just over 2 seasons ago we won the league with 4 or 5 English players regularly turning out for us.
It would be truly great if we had English players coming through our system and hopefully in the future they will.

The Premier League has fucked English / British football to the point almost of no return.
If you are happy with that then fine. However, I'm not.

About 20 years ago the Spanish national side was a laughing stock. How can it be, the world's media anguished, that a country which boasts in its league some of the greatest players in the game produces such a mediocre national side? And yet, over time, as the players who were good enough to do well alongside the galacticos came through, Spain started to develop, and became European champions and World cup winners.

The reality is that English players at the moment are not on a level with players we produced 20-25 years ago. We don't (yet) have a keeper as good as shilton, we don't have a defender as good as butcher, we don't have a playmaker as good as gascoigne, we don't have wide players as good as barnes and waddle and we don't have a striker as good as lineker. what we do have is one of the strongest leagues in the world, and it is not hugely surprising that some less than world class players are struggling to command regular places in the starting XIs of the best teams.

FWIW my view is that the future is a fair bit rosier than the present. We have a handful of bright prospects - Hart will be the best goalkeeper in the world in 5 years time unless before then he self combusts or the media hack him to pieces. Baines is a huge talent. Wilshere, Rodwell, Sturridge etc. With a few more years of playing at a very high level in the premier league and champions league we could have a very good group of players, just as Spain do now.

for the time being, i will watch the best City team I can remember seeing, and will continue to enjoy every minute of it.

it isn't City's fault that England doesn't have that many players who are truly good enough to win the English league

 

[Anonymous]

Doesn't matter one bit to me.

 

[vlad06]

Yes, it is wrong.

Need at least Milner starting every game now that Hart is on the bench.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Hansen whingeing in the Daily Telegraph that City have caused Roy Hodgson a problem by dropping Joe Hart. Well tough titty Al. City's primary responsibility is to themselves these days not Roy Hodgson.

And let's be honest, England have generally underachieved for over 40 years now so I don't buy the argument that foreign imports are killing the domestic game. The only times we've done anything are on home soil, in the World Cup and Euros, and Italia 90. In that latter tournament the general standard was pretty poor and we only just managed to beat Egypt in the group then toiled to extra time wins against Belgium and Cameroon in the knockout stages.

The answer is for the FA to completely overhaul the coaching system for young players and train far more coaches. But the problem is that the FA is still largely comprised of the heirs of people like Peter Swales, so will never achieve anything radical or innovative.

 

[stonerblue]

And the general responses to the question asked by the OP is exactly why English football is where it is currently...
And to think just over 2 seasons ago we won the league with 4 or 5 English players regularly turning out for us.
It would be truly great if we had English players coming through our system and hopefully in the future they will.

The Premier League has fucked English / British football to the point almost of no return.
If you are happy with that then fine. However, I'm not.

Strange view considering you've spent the last few weeks slagging Hart off and telling us all how shit he is.

 

[DaveRave18]

It does bother me a bit TBH. Hope this will improve soon when we have the academy working to its full potential.

 

[decmancity]

Couldn't care less.

If I could I would have all of our players not playing international games and instead of spending time flying to Brazil for a friendly for example and instead have them back at home resting for the next City game.

That's not to say I don't want Hart, Richards, Rodwell, Lescott and so on playing its just that if they play they play and if they don't they don't.

The premier league has not killed the national team. The FA has.

When you can pick up players across Europe and S.America that are light years ahead of the ones that are coming through the academies and "centre of excellence" across England at a fraction of the cost then why would/should any club buy British players?
You get the exceptions to this but there aren't many and the ones that are start for the top teams anyway because they are better than the other players in their position at the club.

 

[mancitymick]

One of the main problems is the fee commanded for English players. Milner cost more than both Silva and YaYa (Obviously taking away wages)
2010

James Milner (Aston Villa): £26m

Yaya Toure (Barcelona): £24m

David Silva (Valencia): £24m

Figures taken from MuEN

Also Negredo cost half of what Liverpool paid for Andy Carroll

Milner was 16m plus Stephen Ireland wasn't he? So in hindsight he cost 16m

Are you THFC6061 :)

 

[penalty spot]

You play your best team and at the moment there are no English players. When our academy is in full operation this will no doubt change. I have no problem with it .

 

[greasedupdeafguy]

No, but I would like to see English born talent coming through the academy over the next few years.