londonblue
Topgun Pilot
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2004
- Messages
- 19,195
Why exactly? Do we even have the players to counter quickly? We need someone in midfield capable of pivoting and driving forward, either with the ball or with an incisive pass, and nothing I’ve seen from Henderson or Dier has shown me they’re capable of that. Also, when was the last time England ever countered with great consistency?
This, for me, is one of the biggest problems holding England back. After Spain won consecutive competitions we spoke of our need to take better care of the ball, particularly in midfield and in the 5 and 6 roles. So we spent time and dedicated coaching resource into working on that. Then Germany came to the fore with a slightly more dynamic approach and suddenly we’re not quick enough going forward.
We haven’t, for decades now, had our own identity. We’re too preoccupied with parroting someone else’s after periods of success. Until we’re actually comfortable in our own skin, and are confident enough to produce players to fit a desired ethos or culture, then we’ll only ever amount to being a copy of a team that has since moved on.
I’d argue France are a fantastic example of this at the moment too. They’ve some wonderful players, probably one of the most complete squads on the national scene at the moment, and yet they’ve made hard work of qualification and Deschamps has no idea what he’s doing with that squad.
Yes. We do. Our problem is that we don't have players that can break down teams that play with 10/11 players behind the ball. We have the pace to turn those defenders, but we need to create the space to do so, and that is achieved by counter attacking. I think Glenn Hoddle was spot on when he said all of that. This is nothing to do with how Germany play, it has everything to do with playing to our strengths, and those strengths are our pace on the break (especially with someone like Vardy), not trying to break down teams by playing the ball along the line in front of the defense. We need to turn the defenders, and get in behind them.