Showing posts with label England. Show all posts
Showing posts with label England. Show all posts

Thursday, 9 June 2011

Why are the english fans so expectant and demanding?

At the end of every major footballing tournament all England fans seem to be disappointment and will find scapegoats and excuses for why yet again we failed to win a major international competition. Why are our expectations so high for a nation who have never held the number one ranking spot since the introduction of the system in 1992 and the highest ranking of 4th place be so expectant of success?

England's average ranking in the 19 years of this system being in place is 10th so a quarter final appearance on average should be classed as a success but yet when England crash out in the world cup at the quarter finals the national tabloids display discontent and disappointment with England and class it as a failure even though our ranking suggests that quarter finals is the stage we should be getting knocked out at.

One of the main reasons we are disappointed every major tournament is not our national teams performance but our traditional pre tournament national team big up claiming that we are going to win the world cup even though they are clearly better teams. To put this in comparison in premier league terms it is like before the start of the season Everton claiming they are going to win the league, there is no disputing Everton are a great team and have a chance but they are clearly a few better teams who stand a more likely chance of winning the league and everton fans do not expect to win the league so why should England fans expect to win?

Another reason why we are disappointed is that the whole nation manages to find scapegoats and excuses for the defeats which superficially knock us out which adds to the disappointment as we never as a nation admit that we were outclassed and deserved to go out. Even in the 2010 world cup when we were completely outclassed by Germany we still made excuses and blamed Rob Green for which was a huge error the whole failure of the world cup was placed on his shoulder which was wrong. People said it knocked England's confidence which it may have done but they are professionals and one mistake in the first game of the tournament should not affect the whole tournament

Maybe if we accepted our defeats rather than thinking what could have happened and blaming referees, cheating Argentinians, linesmen and penalty shootouts. The nations habit of making excuses just adds to the ignorance of us believing we are the best football team in the world and deserve to win every game when we unlike other western European countries which are the best football team in the world. If we admitted defeat maybe that would spur us on to make severe changes to improve our nations footballing system as it clearly is not working for whatever reason and making excuses makes it appear that we have been unlucky in tournaments which I'll admit we have been quite unlucky but every single winner of the world cup has deserved it and i don't think we have deserved to win a world cup

Another reason could be our geographical position in Europe. The most successful countries in the past 40 years in Europe are Italy, Germany, Holland,Spain and France which are all predominately in the centre of Europe but the country's which are on the outskirts of Europe such as England, Scotland, Sweden, Norway, Russia and other Baltic, Balkans, and former soviet countries all have been unsuccessful in international football. This can be all link to geographical reasons as due to the distance from the "core" of Europe leads to less information been spread regarding tactics, fitness, lifestyle and training which puts the out skirted countries further behind the core European countries as due to geographical reasons networking is easier for inner core European countries even with modern developments.

The only team to prove this thesis wrong is Greece at the 2004 Euro which the nationality of the coach was German which are a key member of the core European group and therefore maybe having an Italian managing England is such a good thing just like having a swede (who spent managerial time in Italy) as this will bring about the Italian knowledge and more networking into England which could only benefit England.

Another underlining reason is the amount of English players in the premier league and perhaps more importantly the lack of English players playing abroad. With most industries foreign imports (which in football represent foreign players) benefit the economy (premier league) as it makes the economy quality improve due to improvement in efficiency which benefits the premier league money wise but does not improve the national game and therefore it may not be possible to have the most successful and best league in the world which the premier league claims and proves to be and the best national team in the world which the English fans claim to have but fail to prove. 

If more English players were playing abroad they may be able to learn more skills and techniques which are associated with those leagues as similar with another economic reference a way to improve a certain industry you learn on the job which in football is playing and therefore playing in different countries and leagues would surely benefit the English players. 

So is the reasons why we all feel disappointed at the end of a major tournament all because of bad luck and a poor performance or are they even more deeper issues built into English football that are uncontrollable and should we just accept that we wont be successful and world cups and maybe hope for more achievable goals so that we don't feel disappointed, discontent, angry, gutted and many other feelings whenever England are knocked out of a major international competition

The only success England have ever and perhaps will ever achieve

Saturday, 4 June 2011

England Vs Switzerland Review

The game as most England games usually are was rather disappointing with the final score reflecting what was quite a frustrating afternoon watching England and the result leaves uncertainty if we can qualify for the Euros and has obviously made qualification a lot more difficult. The final score finished at England 2-2 Switzerland with Barnetta scoring two for Switzerland and Both Frank Lampard and Ashley Young Scoring for England

I think the biggest shock at the start of the game was Fabio Capellos decision to start James Milner over Ashley Young who in his recent England game had impressed and the decision seemed to be a strange one to all football fans and also Peter Crouchs absence from even the bench despite having a tremendous scoring record internationally.

 In the first half an hour of the game both teams had their chances but Joe Hart was the busiest keeper. On 30 minutes England were forced into making the first substitution of the game when Ashley Cole was replaced by Leighton Baines. The first Switzerland goal came from a Barnetta free kick which in retrospect look to be a cross rather than a shot which uncharactertisally Rio Ferdinand missed the header and resulted in Joe Hart been unable to save the cross/shot at the back post. A few Minutes later Switzerland scored their second goal of the game with another free kick from Barnetta this time the goal came from a James Milners error separating from the wall at the last minute leaving a wide gap for the ball to go through and beat Joe Hart at the front post. However 2 minutes after the last Switzerland goal Jack Wilshere was fouled inside the box from his Arsenal team mate Johan Djourou which led to a penalty which Frank Lampard drove to his bottom left which the Switzerland keeper was unfortunate not to save.

 At half time Switzerland led 2-1 and England's first half performance was below par and they showed huge signs of fatigue. At the beginning of the second half Fabio Cappello made a bold decision to sub off the goalscorer Frank Lampard for Ashley Young. The substitution paid off 5 minutes into the second half when Leighton Baines cleverly chested the ball to Ashley Young for him to skillfully put past the keeper. After the equaliser Englands shape looked far more comfortable and tactically seemed to be improved and England created a few clear chances two of which thrown away from the natural goal scorer Darren Bent who missed two clear cut chances, Jack Wilsheres fantastic run and superb pass set up Darren Bent perfectly but he was denied by a brave plunge by the Swiss goalkeeper and then a few minutes later he missed arguably a clear goalscoring opportunity when he side footed a shot over the bar which if it was on target would have been a certain goal, as the second half progressed both teams had chances to score and win the goal but nobody was successful and it highlighted Fabio Capellos mistakes in his team selection when another substitute Stewart Downing who could well have started had a great chance in the last minutes of the game.

This draw leaves Englands position at the top of the group in danger and have certainly made life even more difficult to qualify for the Euro 2012 competition and adds more doubts in the capability's of the manager Fabio Capello
Joe Hart - 7
Glen Johnson - 7
Ashley Cole - 7
Rio Ferdinand - 6
John Terry - 7
Scott Parker - 8
Theo Walcott - 6
Frank Lampard -7
Jack Wilshere - 8
James Milner - 6
Darren Bent - 6
Leighton Baines - 7
Ashley Young - 8
Stewart Downing - 7