There’s been much debate since the Champions League semi-finalists were decided about whether the presence of three English sides proves the Premiership is better than La Liga or Serie A… Personally… who cares?
Three of the four best teams from the quarter-finals happened to be the English teams nothing more, nothing less. Let’s not forget it was only days before their 7-1 annihilation of Roma that Man Utd were being humbled at Portsmouth and who would bet against Barcelona with Eto’o back on form not beating all of the four semi-finalists? I’m not really sure where the debate about the best league gets anyone. It’s not like there’s an All Star game to prove anything is it? Although that could be fun...
People support teams and countries not competitions… there’s no Premier League shirt to wear or scarf to hold up so why bother with the argument?
However the presence of three English sides does again raise the issue of the inability of England to produce a national team which gets anywhere close to equaling the sum of its individual parts. You simply cannot say that England don’t have the quality necessary to compete as you could pick a relatively well-balanced England team out of players who will shortly be lining up in the semi finals of the Best Club Competition In The World™.
Okay I’m struggling for a keeper so let’s borrow Paul Robinson from the UEFA Cup.
Here’s the outfield ten:
Right back – Jamie Carragher
Left Back – Ashley Cole
Centre Half – John Terry
Centre Half – Rio Ferdinand
Right Midfield – Steve Gerrard
Centre Midfield – Frank Lampard
Holding Midfield - Michael Carrick
Left Midfield – Joe Cole
Centre Forward – Peter Crouch
Centre Forward – Wayne Rooney
Now… there’s two of the four captains in that side and scorers of seven quarter-final goals… so these are not fringe players… they are key players in key roles but it’s only two weeks since this team of club achievers were booed from the pitch by their own fans twice in two days for failing to beat Israel and huffing and puffing their way past the part-timers of Andorra.
Is the Champions League now more of a motivator than playing for your national team? Maybe… but what a sad state of affairs that is…every football fan I know would die for the chance to play for their country yet these very rich young men seem to feel it’s a right more than a privilege to play for their country and their only commitment seems to be to earn their next ridiculous pay rise. I’ve never booed a team I supported during the game…..at half time – occasionally…at full time – a fair few times (I’m a Villa fan remember!) and I fully agreed with John Terry’s request for the fans to save their frustrations until the end of the game rather than during the game…but it’s a two way street and the fans will always give players backing if they are obviously giving everything for the shirt… just like everyone of those fans would given the chance.
Clearly coaching plays a critical role although I’d to think that collection of players could sit in a dressing room on their own and work out how to beat Andorra.
Looking at the coaches of the four semi-final teams tells its own story… of course there’s not an English coach in sight… the best we’ve got apparently coaching the England team… but that’s a whole other blog!
Interestingly the four coaches bucks the school of thought that suggests that to be a world class coach you need to have played at the highest level. Of the four coaches only Ancelotti represented his country and whilst he was part of a great Milan side of 89/90 and played in the 1990 world cup you wouldn’t see his name make many fans dream Azurri team.
So that’s the next question? Is playing at the highest level the best preparation for being a world class coach… increasingly it would suggest not and in today’s more scientific football world man/ego management, motivation, tactical awareness and an ability to get men far wealthier than you do what you want them to do unquestioningly on the pitch is arguably more important than a cupboard full of medals from yesteryear.
What’s certain is that in today’s football world the coaching and man-management methods are paramount… how else can you explain the current disconnect between the performances of the English players at club vs country level?
One thing’s for certain… if Steve McLaren can’t get to grips with it quickly the England players listed above will all be having the 2008 summer off international duty to spend some of their millions and stay fresh for their clubs…hang on… maybe there’s a conspiracy theory there…
Three of the four best teams from the quarter-finals happened to be the English teams nothing more, nothing less. Let’s not forget it was only days before their 7-1 annihilation of Roma that Man Utd were being humbled at Portsmouth and who would bet against Barcelona with Eto’o back on form not beating all of the four semi-finalists? I’m not really sure where the debate about the best league gets anyone. It’s not like there’s an All Star game to prove anything is it? Although that could be fun...
People support teams and countries not competitions… there’s no Premier League shirt to wear or scarf to hold up so why bother with the argument?
However the presence of three English sides does again raise the issue of the inability of England to produce a national team which gets anywhere close to equaling the sum of its individual parts. You simply cannot say that England don’t have the quality necessary to compete as you could pick a relatively well-balanced England team out of players who will shortly be lining up in the semi finals of the Best Club Competition In The World™.
Okay I’m struggling for a keeper so let’s borrow Paul Robinson from the UEFA Cup.
Here’s the outfield ten:
Right back – Jamie Carragher
Left Back – Ashley Cole
Centre Half – John Terry
Centre Half – Rio Ferdinand
Right Midfield – Steve Gerrard
Centre Midfield – Frank Lampard
Holding Midfield - Michael Carrick
Left Midfield – Joe Cole
Centre Forward – Peter Crouch
Centre Forward – Wayne Rooney
Now… there’s two of the four captains in that side and scorers of seven quarter-final goals… so these are not fringe players… they are key players in key roles but it’s only two weeks since this team of club achievers were booed from the pitch by their own fans twice in two days for failing to beat Israel and huffing and puffing their way past the part-timers of Andorra.
Is the Champions League now more of a motivator than playing for your national team? Maybe… but what a sad state of affairs that is…every football fan I know would die for the chance to play for their country yet these very rich young men seem to feel it’s a right more than a privilege to play for their country and their only commitment seems to be to earn their next ridiculous pay rise. I’ve never booed a team I supported during the game…..at half time – occasionally…at full time – a fair few times (I’m a Villa fan remember!) and I fully agreed with John Terry’s request for the fans to save their frustrations until the end of the game rather than during the game…but it’s a two way street and the fans will always give players backing if they are obviously giving everything for the shirt… just like everyone of those fans would given the chance.
Clearly coaching plays a critical role although I’d to think that collection of players could sit in a dressing room on their own and work out how to beat Andorra.
Looking at the coaches of the four semi-final teams tells its own story… of course there’s not an English coach in sight… the best we’ve got apparently coaching the England team… but that’s a whole other blog!
Interestingly the four coaches bucks the school of thought that suggests that to be a world class coach you need to have played at the highest level. Of the four coaches only Ancelotti represented his country and whilst he was part of a great Milan side of 89/90 and played in the 1990 world cup you wouldn’t see his name make many fans dream Azurri team.
So that’s the next question? Is playing at the highest level the best preparation for being a world class coach… increasingly it would suggest not and in today’s more scientific football world man/ego management, motivation, tactical awareness and an ability to get men far wealthier than you do what you want them to do unquestioningly on the pitch is arguably more important than a cupboard full of medals from yesteryear.
What’s certain is that in today’s football world the coaching and man-management methods are paramount… how else can you explain the current disconnect between the performances of the English players at club vs country level?
One thing’s for certain… if Steve McLaren can’t get to grips with it quickly the England players listed above will all be having the 2008 summer off international duty to spend some of their millions and stay fresh for their clubs…hang on… maybe there’s a conspiracy theory there…
