Why are England so toothless as an international team?

[Txiki Txiki Bang Bang]

Quoting Guardiola

"You have to play football with courage"

And it stems from the England coach that we don't
I think the last one who did encourage it was Venables

Shame we didn't apply this philosophy at the UCL final.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

Apart from the odd players every generation, the English disease is that English football players cannot fucking pass a football.

This goes back as long as I’ve watched football and my Father says it has as long as he has. It was supposed to have been shown up when we got stuffed by the Mighty Magyars 6-3. And it was supposed to be the case back at the birth of football in Victorian England when the English players just wanted to run with the ball and smash it, whereas the Scots wanted to play a passing game.

No matter how much our Academies have changed the way they develop players (and they’re much more technically proficient these days, first touch, turning with the ball, evading tackles, dribbling), they still can’t pass the ball.

Stones is the only good passer of the ball in the team.

 

[stan bowles]

Apart from Southgate's obvious limitations as a coach, the most important thing would be to find a goalkeeper comfortable with playing out from the back. England just don't have such a player. I would also argue Kane, like Rooney before him, is a liability and should be dropped. Having to play them just because they are captain seriously limits England as an attacking force.

 

[jamesha]

I think Southgate is trying to play too complex a system for the players. We know how long it can take players to adjust to Pep's system and he has them training almost every day during the season.

The England team seems to be trying to play like us but Rice is just not good enough at progressive passing for the DM role and does not offer passing options like say Rodders does.

Also the fullbacks do not offer enough and do not know when to get forward. Finally Kane seems to be a passenger and offers almost nothing during buildup.

I think that England do have some good players but the wrong ones are being picked in a system that does not suit them.

I would drop:

Rice for Henderson if fit - he is more positive in his passing
Grealish for Sterling - based mainly on this season's form
Kane for Calvert-Lewin - the latter would get about more and pose more of a threat.

 

[wayne71]

Half of the England team played in the UCL final a few weeks ago. Not many international teams can say that.

Our players have been hugely overrated in the past but I really think this squad could do something with a decent manager.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

I think a huge amount of England's problems historically has been not having a clear system. There seems to be this idea that if you pick the best players on put them on the pitch, they will perform. But the problem is that certain players (e.g. Sterling) are only great players when they're played in a system that gets the most out of them. They're not the sort of players who are good enough to play in any system and thrive. So Sterling at his best for City is great because of his movement off the ball, making runs for the likes of KDB to pick out. For England, he's often given the ball in front of the defenders and expected to beat them or play a great pass to an attacker, which is not his game. So if you want the winger to do that, you should pick someone else, but Sterling is our best winger so he plays regardless of whether he fits the system, but apparently not good enough to build the system around.

We have the same issue with overrating youngsters at the moment, and seemingly mistaking talented youngsters for world class players. Mount, Foden and Sancho are extremely effective for their clubs, but it's worth mentioning that all are surrounded my experienced professionals at their clubs and play in a system designed to get the most out of them. So it's not surprising that a system that seems to just rely on individuals "making something happen" rather than the system making something happen, that the most eye-catching (if not necessarily effective) player is often Jack Grealish, who basically plays the same role at Villa as the player who everything has to go through.

England really seem to struggle with any cohesive pattern going forward. I had hope in the first game where he picked some controversial options that Southgate was actually picking them based on the system, but it turned out seemingly not. When you see someone like Rashford coming on for Kane, you think "What's the plan?" Are we playing a system where our striker is supposed to hold the ball up and bring in the surrounding attackers (Kane) or are we knocking it over the top for a quick striker to run onto (Rashford).

And the final issue with the current team is the midfield, which is functional at best. Which would be fine if there was the sort of movement from the whole team that you see for City (or Germany tonight), but the lack of a clear pattern of play going forward means you're relying on functional players to pull a bit of magic out of their arse, or more often, the defense to go really directly and really quickly to the attacking four missing out the midfield. And the result is that England look like a shit Liverpool. Just wait til Henderson's inevitable return.

 

[rowarta]

England managers since the start of the century, tell me one name there that inspires a team to go out and win a tournament. Reason why I've not bothered with England since 1990, I couldn't afford to be let down by both City and the National team.

Last night playing with two (no 6) defensive midfield players, the full backs not pushing up to provide width and pace, no real number 8 to increase momentum of the game........once again a talented squad with a manager who it clueless

 

[LongsightM13]

There is no way an England coach would (or would be allowed to) pick a squad like Spain or Italy did purely on merit eg with not a single Real Madrid player

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

England managers since the start of the century, tell me one name there that inspires a team to go out and win a tournament. Reason why I've not bothered with England since 1990, I couldn't afford to be let down by both City and the National team.

Last night playing with two (no 6) defensive midfield players, the full backs not pushing up to provide width and pace, no real number 8 to increase momentum of the game........once again a talented squad with a manager who it clueless

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Virtually all of them are negative defensive managers. The only one who perhaps isn't is Sven. Pearce, Hodgson, and Allardyce were all dinosaurs.

 

[bluefandk]

All Citys fault, ruining football since 2008.