Euro 2012 (Football)

[MD_Titus]

take over was in 2008, so that's four years. it's just two years of winning something. and it was certainly aimed at me.

i've always "believed" in the premier league set up, even when we weren't part of it. although how it is something to "believe in" i'm not quite sure. if you really think the reason the england national team performs badly is the influx of foreign talent then you are, quite honestly, parroting the slightly xenophobic excuse mongers among the tabloids. why were we rubbish before the premier league?

i knew a lad who, when he was 11, could hit a 60 yard ball to feet. this was around the same time that gullit was playing for chelsea, and him hitting a long cross field pass to feet earned replays. this lad was told he was too small - not tall enough and not broad enough, and got knocked back from a few trials he had with top flight clubs as a result, although he was, i believe, due to sign a youth contract with bolton shortly before he discovered fags, booze and recreational narcotics was more fun than the training involved. he would've made a superb false 10 - slight, wonderful close control, fast on the ball, eye for a threaded pass... all the kinds of things that people pay through the nose to watch someone like david silva do. coaching in this country, not the foreign players, is the problem. we play god awful football, and don't nurture talent. we'd turn players like iniesta and xavi into cloggers, or worse - injure them when they were kids, or bore the passion out of them with endless non-ball training.

[Osprey]

Originally Posted by MD_Titus

take over was in 2008, so that's four years. it's just two years of winning something. and it was certainly aimed at me.

i've always "believed" in the premier league set up, even when we weren't part of it. although how it is something to "believe in" i'm not quite sure. if you really think the reason the england national team performs badly is the influx of foreign talent then you are, quite honestly, parroting the slightly xenophobic excuse mongers among the tabloids. why were we rubbish before the premier league?

i knew a lad who, when he was 11, could hit a 60 yard ball to feet. this was around the same time that gullit was playing for chelsea, and him hitting a long cross field pass to feet earned replays. this lad was told he was too small - not tall enough and not broad enough, and got knocked back from a few trials he had with top flight clubs as a result, although he was, i believe, due to sign a youth contract with bolton shortly before he discovered fags, booze and recreational narcotics was more fun than the training involved. he would've made a superb false 10 - slight, wonderful close control, fast on the ball, eye for a threaded pass... all the kinds of things that people pay through the nose to watch someone like david silva do. coaching in this country, not the foreign players, is the problem. we play god awful football, and don't nurture talent. we'd turn players like iniesta and xavi into cloggers, or worse - injure them when they were kids, or bore the passion out of them with endless non-ball training.

Firstly, it was aimed at glory hunters, and you were talking like one. I don't include Man City in that group, most real fans don't, because all of the armchair plastic fans choose clubs with more recent titles.

If a player is not an athlete first then he won't make it wherever he is, no matter how good he is with his feet. Of course some will be missed but that happens anywhere. I assume you know that Messi was rejected early in his career? That said I already cited the failure of the FA and their old boys club in coaching from that very early age. Foreign players, who are better, make sure that a lot of young talent doesn't get first team football and the new EPPP will make that even worse - this has nothing to do with what idiotic tabloids write. I haven't time to complain about it now, I want to go home, and frankly there are better places than here to talk about it anyway. Go post your opinion of the EPL @ www.cpfc.org They aren't morons there like most football sites, well mostly, so you get a sensible debate.

And no, we weren't rubbish before the EPL. In fact, just before it in 1990 we were damn unlucky not to have won the World Cup, it was a very strong England team which came off the back of English domination of the European competitions up until Heysel got us banned.

[MD_Titus]

Originally Posted by Osprey

Firstly, it was aimed at glory hunters, and you were talking like one. I don't include Man City in that group, most real fans don't, because all of the armchair plastic fans choose clubs with more recent titles.

If a player is not an athlete first then he won't make it wherever he is, no matter how good he is with his feet. Of course some will be missed but that happens anywhere. I assume you know that Messi was rejected early in his career? That said I already cited the failure of the FA and their old boys club in coaching from that very early age. Foreign players, who are better, make sure that a lot of young talent doesn't get first team football and the new EPPP will make that even worse - this has nothing to do with what idiotic tabloids write. I haven't time to complain about it now, I want to go home, and frankly there are better places than here to talk about it anyway. Go post your opinion of the EPL @ www.cpfc.org They aren't morons there like most football sites, well mostly, so you get a sensible debate.

And no, we weren't rubbish before the EPL. In fact, just before it in 1990 we were damn unlucky not to have won the World Cup, it was a very strong England team which came off the back of English domination of the European competitions up until Heysel got us banned.

already seen a large influx of fans of the plastic ilk, since 2008 tbh. quite how i was talking like a glory hunter i do not know. there's a difference between being a plastic and revelling in success.

england have been quarter and semi-final fodder for ages, which isn't that bad really and makes out 8th place in the global rankings rather accurate, but we failed to even qualify for the '94 world cup. that the young talent doesn't get first team football is a bit of a fallacy, they just don't get it easily with the top premier league clubs. the emphasis of athleticism over ability is exactly part of the problem imo, the entire way the game is coached from 5 and up means we get athletes rather than players. you're right, they do need to have that athleticism, but if it is at the expense of nurturing skill then it's not being done with the right balance.

[arthursmedley]

Anyway.................really looking forward to tonights game.
Come on PORTUGAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jatta Raso]

yeah this is EURO 2012 thread, not 'The EPL model development thread'

[MD_Titus]

lol

aye

spain v portugal should be an interesting game. can the spanish tiki taka keep the ball away from ronaldo and nani? not sure spain have quite the same explosive threat in attack, but they are overall a better outfit than portugal.

[Jatta Raso]

sorry if it sounded like a pun.. the hour's coming and i'm starting to get restless... it's not everyday we have the chance to send Spain home

[Osprey]

Originally Posted by MD_Titus

......more recent titles......

You need a few seasons of there or there abouts to join in that awful club. I preferred Man City when they brought 8000 down to Selhurst Park under the Niall Quinn Disco Pants era, real supporters, not some fat kids with London accents in the away stand like we get for the likes of Man U and Liverpool.