That's part of my point though, there's no such thing really as 'the English game'. It does have small differences between the rest of the world, but not enough to make it a completely fresh style of football.
McClaren failed here and succeeded abroad, simply because he could only pick English players for the England team, who were too used to 'their way of doing things'. He did okay with Boro where he could drill new techniques into players who he was working with. I'm not saying that all English players are stupid, but I do think that as a footballing culture we aren't thinking enough, thus it leaks down into our academies. English players do absolutely fine in alternative systems at club level, when they have worked on it for a while.
It's not the philosophy of the English game that he needs to change, because the English game is more continental in its approach than ever. I think that WE need to change our philosophies to reflect the current state of the game rather than the old philosophies. We, as in the fans and the pundits. The people who get paid to win games have no such bias to rely on.
I'll use Ferguson as a classic example. For years, and years and years, people (fans, media, pundits) have talked about his 4-4-2 system and how it is a success. For years and years and years, Ferguson has been trying to tell people that he has never played a 4-4-2 system in his life, he plays split strikers. However, this doesn't fit the mould in the head of people, so they disregard it.
