Football General Analysis: Why do England continuously fail to produce a conveyor belt of technical talent?
Francesc Fabregas, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Xabi Alonso, David Silva; Rafael Van der Vaart, Wesley Sneijder, Robin Van Persie, Arjen Robben; Juan Roman Riquelme, Pablo Aimar, Esteban Cambiasso, Juan Seba Veron. A list of individuals, that all currently play today. Not all of the listed actually make their national side, while some do not hold a place in the first eleven, for their nation. What is the common theme, which links these individuals, and separates them in a rather stark manner, from players of our national side? Technique. Simple as. It could also be argued that tactical nous also plays a pivotal role in the division. They are all players, who of the current generation, are among the elite, in terms of technical ability.
Eleventh of February, earlier this year. The European Champions, Spain, take on an England side supposedly rejuvinated from the great depression of Steve M’Claren’s disastorous reigime, to a side which apparently, could now challenge a side which is arguably the best in the world. However, the Spanish tore into England, passing the ball at will, the sublime skill of thier midfield quartet dominated the English midfield, renderring their height and superiority in strength useless; Carrick and Barry struggled to maintain possession, as the Spanish pressing game prevailed, while Xavi, Iniesta, Alonso and Senna had no issue whatsoever in stroking the ball around with sheer class. The gulf in technique was there for all to witness – the English are far behind their European rivals, in this area of the game at least.
We must remember, that Cesc Fabregas – one of the rising stars of world football, fails to break into the Spanish starting midfield. Not due to the preference of the coach, though because the players ahead of him are tehcnically able, to such a standard. Would Fabregas struggle to make the English midfield? Quite clearly, a balance within the English central area is yet to be discovered, though with the continuous failure of employing the Gerrard-Lampard partnership within this role, a five, or four man midfield would surely include Fabregas.
Cesc: Would surely make the English national starting eleven?
So why is it, that only Paul Scholes added to possibly Frank Lampard, possess the almost natural ability to read a game impeccably, to kill and progress a ball within one movement? Why is it, that English teams suddenly look rather average and languid in terms of technique, when faced against a Spain, or a Brazil? I take you back to November 2005, when Juan Roman Riquelme, aided by Maxi Rodriguez and Cambiasso, ripped the English midfield to pieces – not with pace, drive or power, yet with simple, sublime, deft caresses of the ball, neat imaginitive flicks as well as the eye for a killer pass. Argentina were defeated, though the ease at which Riquelme controlled the game was staggering, and only once he was substituted, did England begin to take a firm grasp on the tempo and fluidity of play.
Holland is a nation, with roughly a population of sixteen-million people, whereas England has a population of roughly sixty-million. This puts to bed the assumption that the size of England contributes to their lack of technical players, due to Holland’s seemingly endless conveyor belt of technical talent, including the great Johan Cruyff – arguably the most technically gifted, and tactically aware, attacking player to ever have played the game. So why is it, that a nation such as Holland can produce such technical talent, whereas England can not? The fundamental issue, lies with grass-roots football.
Cruyff – A product of Holland’s brilliant youth system.
On any given Sunday in Britain, children all across the land play football on turf which could resemble a war zone, on a pitch three quaters the size of a normal playing field, if not greater. The advantage to stronger, quicker individuals in immense, as small, slower, more technically gifted players are outmuscled, out ran by bigger, more powerful players, who come the end of the day, may only possess the technical ability of 1/5th of that of a smaller player. However, the emphasis on power and the nature of the playing conditions, means that naturally, strong, quick, athletic players will be chosen for sides as opposed to smaller kids. Youngsters playing for Sunday League teams are not educated on the tactical aspect of the game, to any degree of the imagination.
In Holland however, youngsters play games on much smaller pitches, usually with artificial, even turf. They are taught further, regarding the tactical aspect of the game and the emphasis on technical ability is much, much greater than that of in England. A recent programme aired on television, in which Chelsea searched for a young player to fit into their youth side, a Chelsea scout announced the following;
It is impossible to make it if you haven’t got pace
One begs the question – has the man ever watched the beautiful game? Has he seen Paul Scholes, the Premier League’s most consistant performer throughout the last ten years, shred defence, upon defence apart. Not with power, pace or strength, yet with positioning, excellent technical ability and fantastic accruacy in a pass. Would it be fair to say that Scholes is the only English player os his generation, that possesses the technical ability and tactical nous to rival that of a Xavi, Sniejder or Iniesta? Even Steven Gerrard, found himself rather bemused at Rafa Benitez’s request that he vastly improove his game to succeed at the top level, upon the Spaniard’s arrival at Anfield.
The fact was, that although Gerrard, for all his drive, power and commitment had the potential of a fantastic individual, he did have the continental variation to his game, via which he could truly control the pace and fluidity of play, simply by a patient game of passing the ball – Gerrard always tried the killer ball, always looked to release a team mate – he did not have the tactical awareness to contain the ball, to dictate the tempo of a game or the patience to do so either, both of which have been greatly instilled in the Anfield dynamo since the arrival of Benitez, and it is evident in Gerrard’s game currently.
TheFA need to note the methods of Spain and Holland, in order to consistantly produce players among the world’s elite in terms of technical ability, or suffer the consequences, which ultimately, amount to an even further period of time without a national trophy. An emphasis on technical prowess, creativity, and awareness needs to be prominent among all tiers of the English game. How this achieved? Instead of using vast amounts of financial resource used to pay Sven-Goran Eriksson for leaving his post, or similar amounts for McClaren and Capello, the grass-roots of the game such be completely rejuvinated, to mirror the conditions of other European contries, whereby the technical aspect of youngsters is favoured and thus allowed to flourish above mere pace, and strength.
The English national side is clearly nowhere near the level of Argentina, Brazil, Holland, Spain or Italy in terms of technical ability, and until this changes dramatically, further years in the darkness, in terms of national success, seem to be what lies ahead.
Great article. I enjoyed reading this and found it very interesting.
I agree with what you’re saying. People get on the backs of managers such as Wenger, for buying foreigners over Englishman. However, there is one reason for this……….. the foreigners are better! I find it astounding that we have much more foreigners in the PRemiership, than in La Liga, but how many Englishman do we have playing abroad?
there isnt a golf in technical ability and fabregas is on the same level as gerrard and lampard he doesnt have the discipline to play barrys role so yes he would struggle to get in the england midfield England played away from home, spain pulled heskey down n should have had a man sent off.. ppl 4get this. England also had a lot of players missing and had walcott, joe cole, gerrard, lampard 4 1st half, rooney, ferdinand missing… take xavi, iniesta, puyol, sergio ramos n torres out of spain they arent as good.. oh yeah england beat spain u21s the other day 2-0 remember that.. u have probably never played the game to a decent level in ur life to say these things.
I will say england dont handle pressure well.. they are world class players but they walk onto wembley stadium and perform badly due to pressure from fans n media.. their first touch is not all there and I agree their technical ability isnt as gd as the likes of spain in these times. Spain can keep the ball better than england I agree with this but england strength n power in midfield means that on neutral turf n a full strength side it would be tough to call.. theres certainly a reason why england have gone from non qualifying suddenly to 4th favourites to win in south africa. Take chelsea vs barcelona.. for example barca dominate possession but create nothing until a wonder goal at teh end.. how many chances did chelsea have in the game with less possession? think about it.. technical ability is just one feature of teh game but tactical awareness is just as important as well as physical attributes.. u talk about imaginative flicks they dont win football matches, yes they look great and are entertaining but what was the score against argentina.. 3-2 and when england were oh so nervous playin back then capello has talked about losing this fear an he is certainly correct if england do this they have a squad to challenge the best
This article is very accurate. Mark’s comments symbolise everything wrong with the people involved with football in this country; narrow minded and defensive.
fans go to football to see one of two things – results and entertainment. I would rather watch a la liga game, any la liga game over a premier league fixture outside of the top four. English football is in a decline. Eng U21’s only beat Spain through bullying them out of the game with the African players in the side and Lee Catermole and “cheated” by knocking long balls for the Aston Villa boy – which they did against Portugal U21s at Wembley – as he is so quick. Portugal outplayed them as did Spain. Those players will improve and evolve whilst the English lads will stick to the formula and soon find it doesnt work at senior level.
I think you’re right when you say that we need smaller pitches and to cultivate better technical and passing abilities in our young players – and our national players could learn something from the way the Spanish in particular play.
But then, our under-21s are a strong side and reaching the semi-finals of major competitions, and the senior side is looking immeasurably better with Capello there – 100% record in our World Cup qualifiers.
Of course, against the top teams we don’t look so good, and I think that some lessons from the Spanish game would be a useful piece of the jigsaw.
Cheers for the comments guys.
@MarkB: You mention how you don’t feel the gulf in technical ability matters much – look at history’s most aesthetically pleasing sides; the Brazil class of Pele and Garrincha, the Brazil side of Gerson, the Dutch side of Cruyff, the current Barcelona side managed by Pep Guardiola, Ancellotti’s Milan side 3-4 years back, the Argentina team Maradona lead to World Cup glory, Manchester United in their treble winning season, the Arsenal invincibles, Shankly/Paisley’s Liverpool, the first galactico era at Madrid, Arrigo Sacchi’s Milan, Cruyff’s Barcelona team, Rinus Michel’s Ajax, Luis Aragones’ Spain in Euro2008. I could go on, and on, and on. Bar Cruyff’s Holland in the ’70s, each and every one of those teams has had firm success at the highest level, and even then, they still reached two World Cup finals.
What’s missing? An England team. What’s the difference between these victorious teams and pretty much every England side that has ever participated in a World Cup since 1980, bar Bobby Robson’s team in 1990? Technique and tactical intelligence. You watch England in the latter stages of a world cup – the reason they look so dreadful is – quite simply – because they cannot keep the ball when under sustained pressure. Why is that? Technique. Simple as. If the FA have any hope of winning a World Cup, they must start producing players of a high technical standard. Where does that start? Grass roots level.
You mention how we beat Spain at U21 level – that means nothing. Players develop. As has been pointed out, only by resorting to ‘power football’ did we gain an iota of success – in 3 or 4 years time, when Spain’s U21s have developed fully and have graduated from their academy’s schooling of technical football, you honestly think the current England U21 side will be able to beat them? You mention the Argentina victory – only once Riquelme was substituted did England begin to get back into the game.
Unfortunately, scouts in England are caught up in this world that pace and power rule – something which is extremely dangerous for English football – it’s ignorant and will only result in more years of a bare international trophy cabinet. Look at this year’s CL final – Iniesta, Xavi and Messi ripped United’s midfield of Park, Anderson and Carrick to shreds – United couldn’t handle the technical ability and tactical awareness of the three – it had little to do with pace or strength – there was much more power in United’s midfield – but at the end of the day, it was the nimble, soft feet of Iniesta and Messi, the excellent understanding of the game of all three, the excellent passing range of Iniesta and Xavi. We saw how ineffective Carrick is at the highest level – Xavi and Iniesta pressurized him relentlessly, and he perpetually lost the ball due to this – he looks some player in the Premier League against Midlesborough, when teams stand off him, but take away the time the lad has to pick the pass and he crumbles. Xavi and Iniesta don’t need this time – they no exactly what to do with the ball before they receive it and know how to execute it in the most efficient manner – something a huge proportion of English players are unable to do.