Observers will have been alarmed at just how quickly and impressively the French have managed to rebuild under Laurent Blanc since their World Cup disaster. Comparatively, England are stuck in first gear, and going not very far, not very quickly. So why is there such a disparity between the two side’s fortunes?
Outclassed, outplayed, out thought. It’s a repetitive problem for England. If France can improve so much in such a short space of time, why can’t England? The answer lies in youth football. England has a major problem with educating its younger players to pass the ball properly, take a touch on the ball and to develop tactical intelligence. It’s important to make a distinction between the flaws of the two sides this summer in South Africa. England were a team made up of supposedly top class players, coached by a genuinely and proven world class manager. France were a team of genuinely world class players, managed by a hopeless manager. A look at the players available to France this summer underlines this point; Phillip Mexes was back up to the squad, whilst England tried to cope with the loss of one centre back unsuccessfully, and neither Samir Nasri or Karim Benzema were considered good enough. Yann M’Vila was left at home whilst England were searching desperately for another defensive midfielder.
It’s not that France’s first XI is better than England’s, but that its squad has both more depth and more variety. Most importantly, they have the right players for international football. Much is made of England’s players all performing well for the top clubs in England in the top competitions in Europe, but those players are surrounded by foreigners with the technique and intelligence required at the top level. To use an analogy, if you want to create a pizza, you need a good sauce as well as good cheese and dough. England have lots of the same ingredient; strong, fast, physical players with no little skill either. But with the exception of Lampard and Rooney, who in England’s side has the tactical intelligence or technique required to compete at the top?
The answer to England’s problem has to be to drum out of young players and coaches the ‘kick and rush, win at all costs’ mentality that blights and is destroying our game. This mentality means that technical, intelligent players will only make it to the top if they are physically strong, tall and fast – like Rooney and Lampard. A player like France’s Mathieu Valbuena or Samir Nasri would never make it in England. Usually in youth football in this country, the moment a player gets the ball, they are shouted at to release it within a milisecond of receiving the ball. Taking a touch on the ball is actively discouraged. Much of this comes from personal experience. The problem in English football is summed up by what a youth team selector once told me after a trial. “You’re very good technically, but you’re not big enough physically.” I knew I wasn’t good enough to be a footballer anyway, but I wonder if Lionel Messi had been in that trial, whether he’d have been told the same thing. And if he made it, the likes of a Valbuena or a Nasri almost certainly would not. And it’s unlikely either of them would have seen enough of the ball to develop themselves into the players they have become.
A key cause of this is that English footballers are discouraged from using their weaker foot, another key error when it comes to developing technique. For a generation now, England have not had a natural left winger. The reason is depressingly simple. English youth football is played on the right side of the pitch, because most players being right footed and not encouraged to use their left feet, will naturally look towards the right and will play the ball down that flank. Watch a game at youth level, and you often spend most of a match watching the right bank launch long balls into the right flank, hoping a striker would get to it before the defender. Left wingers almost never get the ball. If a left winger doesn’t see the ball, he won’t improve, and won’t be spotted by scouts. It’s no wonder that England doesn’t have a left winger.
So how do you explain Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Adam Johnson and Jack Wilshere? Two players at the end of their careers, two at the start, all English midfielders with technique, intelligence and class. The explanation is that they have been educated in another way, at Manchester United, Middlesbrough and Arsenal, three clubs who use short passing 5 a side football to train their young players. They have been educated by those coaches who understand the problems inherent in youth football in this country. The talent and skill of these players owes to coaches who encouraged technique and intelligence over brawn and physique.
We must remember that football is a game played with the feet. The best players in the world have been the likes of Diego Maradona and Pele. The best players now? Messi, Xavi, Andrés Iniesta, Wesley Sneijder, Cristiano Ronaldo. With the exception of Ronaldo, none are or were particularly strong physically, and none run around the pitch like Lee Cattermole. All are, or were, 5″7 or under. The best players have always been, and will always be, intelligent, fast and technically gifted. It’s time for English football to wake up to this fact, or consign itself to the dustbin of world football.
