Be excited but don’t expect England to win anything for a few years
When Stuart Pearce had his press conference last week it showed that his has matured as a man and as a manager. He talked sense with poise and conviction and came across as a man who was not fazed by the job he has been given. He spoke of a man who was not just caretaker.
In the past 25 years we have not been in a final of any major tournament, getting to only two semi finals, in 1990 and 1996. If we believe our superbole about our superiority and greatness this is not good enough. Yet this is a false hood perpetuated by a media who revel in heightening expectations and take pleasure in seeing those fail. The hopes of a nation always crushed.
What needs to be done?
The England Manager
The Under 21 tournament last summer was a key indicator that we do not value players gaining experience. Pearce was adamant that young players should have gone to the Under 21 Euro’s last summer, yet too many dropped out. This is not conducive to a winning side; players should be playing throughout their age groups to experience tournament play and the feeling of a big games. Spain took World Cup winners Juan Mata and Javi Martinez to the Under 21’s, unlike some English players they did not reject calls from their country, these players did not feel superior to this level and came back victorious, giving Spain more silverware and success.
It shows an arrogance in our nation which is founded on nothing that some players feel above the Under 21’s, that it is viewed as inferior. Players such as Argentina's Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero and Spain's Cesc Fabregas and Germanys Mesut Ozil all gained their first experience of international tournaments at Under-21 level. Were these experiences key to their rise to their levels of quality? It certainly would have helped.
In England we have relied on the same players time and time again. The key players of the past 8 years have been Ashley Cole (93 caps), Terry (72), Ferdinand (81), Lampard (90), Gerrard (89) and Rooney (73) and possibly Defoe (46) and Crouch( 42). This totals 586 caps; that is a lot of experience. Yet as important as that is, it has won us nothing. Looking at this list perhaps Cole and Rooney are the only two who we can consider for the 2014 World Cup. I say Cole only because talent at the left back position is limited.
And so looking at the new generation it is worrying to see such lack of experience and caps. This is why we cannot expect so much too soon, they must be given time to adapt and improve. People talking of a partnership between Jones and Smalling yet they only have 5 caps together. Danny Welbeck and Daniel Sturridge, have a combined four substitute appearances between them and Fraizer Campbell is uncapped. Add into the mix the potential of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and the future may look promising, yet is very unproven.
Where do players gain big game experience? International football is certainly a place to develop yet in club football the key is the Champions League. There is a distinct lack of Champions League experience in the England squad. It is no surprise that as Barcelona won the 2006 Champions League it gave experience to Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol to understand what a winning side needs to do. At the 2008 Euro’s the world saw what Spain had been creating, it dominated the tournament in terms of class and style and deservedly won the tournament with Xavi being instrumental. Winning breeds winning and as the Barcelona side has looked to dominate European football, the national team has benefited also. In the champions league this year there were 81 Spanish players playing for various teams.
A man who has not achieved a lot in his managerial career; caretaker at Forest and two years at Man City is not the ideal candidate for the England job. Or is it? A player with 746 games in club football and 78 caps for his country may be the ideal man to take the reins of the national team. His best asset may be not what he has done but what he said. Since 2007 he has being a part of the England set up. Capello brought him in to coach the senior team also and so he has worked with many of these players at all levels in the national side, this could be invaluable.
Of any of the possible successors to Capello the one with the most experience is actually Pearce. Redknapp has shown his quality at Spurs and this blog supported him getting the job when Capello resigned, mainly because of public support. The press seem set on Redknapp getting the job, with a campaign to turn public support away from Pearce. But after a few weeks one has to wonder if he really is the right man to take the country forward, some of his statements regarding Scholes and the older playersindicates a willingness to stick with the same formula that has resulted in no success. And his only experience with the national side is coaching the celebrity England team, not exactly the same.
Pearce believes that "this job, and the profile of this job, is for a very experienced man with a better CV than I have at this moment in time.” Yet what is required of the new manager? Are we good enough to win anything right now? We brought in Capello and Ericcson because we had a side who we believed were capable of winning tournaments. We were wrong. What is also essential is long term planning and development, which every manager in the past 10 years has failed to do. This job requires a man capable of putting his all into the role for years.
If top quality managers could not create a winning side then perhaps it was the players who were at fault. Perhaps we actually thought too much of them, based on a media which feels the need to hyperbole every English player and proclaims how every tournament is going to be “the one”. The past two tournaments have shown that we are not that good; one we couldn’t qualify for and the other were we humiliated in; by Algeria as much as Germany.
The failings of a country
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| Different place, same feeling |
What have we looked to do about it? Nothing. We change only the manager and hope that will improve matters. Capello was brought in to revolutionise the whole structure, yet many will tell you that he did very little except for PR events. What the FA wanted was him to lay down a blueprint, he didn’t do anything, instead presiding over the same players which have fallen short before, even calling up Scholes and Carragher for the World Cup. He showed glimpses this last qualifying campaign of bringing through some new faces but still relied on the older generation when the games mattered. It is these games which players need experience in, not friendlies which lack the requirement of winning.
The sad fact is that our reliance on a generation which has won nothing has resulted in a future which lacks depth and experience.
What needs to be done?
I have addressed the issues that I believe are needed for the future of England. Expert quality coaching isrequired at all levels. The new EPPP has its advantages but also its flaws, more hours is pointless if the coaching is not good enough. The key is that coaching needs to be a profession and a coach needs to be a teacher to young players. If so, then the quality and pool of talent will improve.
When we have more quality players, quite simply they need to play more when they become professional. And so the issue of the Premier League's 6+5 ruling needs to be addressed. Fifa introduced it to promote home grown talent, however the Premier League twisted this ruling and allowed non English players to be classed as home grown. It has had a major impact on the amount of English talent coming through in the game; by not giving them experience in the top level league the players will not be able to adapt and improve, it is simple. Our 6+5 rule allows foreign players to play more than our own English players, this does not happen in Germany; their rulesforce clubs to play German players.
Do we suffer from a sense of short termism? Always, in my opinion. We are an impatient nation who want success and wealth yet are not willing to put in the time to accomplish our goals. We then blame everything but ourselves for our failings. We need to change this mentality and understand that a project takes time and perseverance, it requires patience and most importanty it requires people to believe in it. If we are serious about developing players and improving our national side we need to give this project time.
The England Manager
In regards to the manager’s job of England; I believe we should have an Englishman in charge of our national team, every other major nation does and it makes an embarrassment out of us to believe we need a foreign manager to lead our country.
We clearly have a problem in producing and developing quality coaches in this country, and this is something that needs addressing by the FA. I have spoken before of the lack of English managers in world football, the lack of world class coaches that are produced in this country is reflected in our production of world class players. There are only 4 English managers in the Premier League; two are over 60, Pardew is 50 and the only other has been a manager for 1 game in Terry Connor. What does this say about the standard of coaching and how English managers are viewed in the game?
The role of the manager is more than coaching the national side, he should be the man who brings all levels together, from grassroots to the senior side. He needs to inspire a nation, which I don’t believe Sven or Fabio did. And so I look at the comments made by Pearce and wonder if this man may be the one to lay the foundations for the future of England. In Pearce I see a man passionate about his country and passionate about developing the future of the team. This role requires more than a world class coach; we need a project manager, one who can oversee 10 years of development to give this national side sustainability.
Pearce is a big supporter of the Germany model and how it has helped develop the players in their national side. "What a fantastic model," Pearce said. "They bedded those players in and took them to the World Cup. Now I have to make sure our young players are ready, too, so when it really matters, it doesn't become too much for them." I cannot agree more, they have revolutionised their development structure and have created world class players and world class team. It has come from a combined effort from all to produce something special.
Are our young players ready?
The point of this article is to explain that England will not win anything in the coming years, and that this is not a bad thing. We need to stop obsessing about winning every tournament, we need to understand our players are not good enough at this time. If we become realistic about the issues needed to address then perhaps we can put in place foundations for the future which give us a better standing for the future. At this time we are in a stage of transition; players need to move on and young players need to be given experience and time to improve.
Experience is the most fundamental aspect of development. By depriving players of valuable time, opposition and circumstance clubs are doing a disservice to them. The 6+5 rule has helped Germany improve their pool of talent without a doubt.
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| Importance of winning |
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| Experience = improved quality |
Experience is the key ingredient
Stuart Pearce’s ideas for England have merit, he should be given the chance to develop them. However we cannot hold out hope that success will come quickly, if at all. We must try something new with a new breed of players. We are lagging behind Germany and Spain in terms of experience and this new generation must be given the next five years to gain this essential experience.
Stuart Pearce’s ideas for England have merit, he should be given the chance to develop them. However we cannot hold out hope that success will come quickly, if at all. We must try something new with a new breed of players. We are lagging behind Germany and Spain in terms of experience and this new generation must be given the next five years to gain this essential experience.
Germany and Spain are the best two teams in Europe and possibly the world right now. So it is interesting to compare the experience that players in their squad who are under 25 have. If we are talking teams capable of being successful for the coming 6 years then players under 25 will be around more likely in that time.
When analysing at the Under 25’s in the German, Spanish and English squads makes for interesting reading.
Germany
Neuer (25),Hummels (12), Badstuber (18), Boateng (19), Khedira (24), Ozil (30), Schurrle (11), Muller (25) ,Kroos (24), Gotze (12)
Total = 200 caps
Spain
Pique (37), Ramos (82), Fabregas (62), Mata (16), Busquets (37), Pedro (15), Martinez (7), Jordi Alba (2), Thiago (3)
Total = 261 caps
England
Hart (16), Richards (12) , Jones (3) , Smalling (2) , Walcott (21), Adam Johnson (9) , Welbeck (3) , Sturridge (1) , Wilshere( 5) , Rodwell (2) ,Lennon (19), Walker (2), Cleverley (0)
Total = 93 caps
This list is not conclusive and is not an indication of a starting XI, however it is interesting to see the players who you would consider to be part of the national side for the next two tournaments. Is it a worry to you that of our potential young players are far behind the experience of the same players in these other two countries. Experience of tournaments is a major factor in improving players and teams in order to win things.
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| Not again? |
We have used the same players too often and not looked to bleed any new players through, enough for them to get comfortable in their surroudings, as Pearce said "What we need is to get one or two of these young faces in there and find out whether they can handle it," Pearce said. "It was too much for me when I went to Italia 90. It took me three or four games. I had 20 caps to my name but it still got to me. I have to try to make sure that doesn't happen to the next generation of players."
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| The future? |
Champions League, a necessity for the national side?
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| Creating a winning mentality |
Looking at players playing Champions League football the past 4 years is worrying for the future. There are too many players in and around the England with no or minimal experience in the biggest club tournament in world football, this is where competition is best, where quality is highest and where players are challenged more. Play well here and international football will not be as difficult. If a player can play in the Champions League then he can play international football.
That being said I would be worried to play players with no Champions League experience, call me elitist but this is fundamental to the development of world class players. Players like Sturridge, Wilshere, Lennon, Jones, Smalling, Richards, Milner, Hart, Lescott, Dawson, Gibbs, Glen Johnson, Gary Cahill all have only minimal experience in this competition, however they are in teams which will be playing Champions League. Scott Parker, Jack Rodwell and Leighton Baines all have no experience in this competition.
I have said already that the team should be built on Hard, Lescott, Carrick and Rooney because they possess experience and qualities required to aid the new generation. I would give the captains role to Rooney and would revolve the team around him. Rooney is a modern Number 10, capable of dropping into midfield, out wide or being a 9 in the box. We have undervalued Rooney in terms of how he is portrayed by the fans and the media, through this we are doing a disservice to him. He is a great player who too often underperforms. We need to support him and give him the responsibility to lead the team and guide this new generation. Like Zidane, I believe he will revel in it and it will make him better.
England project manager – Stuart Pearce
I believe in the success of coaching and of development. I do not believe that money solves everything, especially top down projects. The Premier League needs to do more and it is essential to change the 6+5 rule to enable more English players to gain more experience. We put too much on foreign players and neglect our own players, we release our own players too early, send them out on loan to quickly and prevent their development. Why? Because there are no rules which require clubs to play them. The Germans and Spanish are proud of developing their own and their rules indicate that. Both countries have over 60% of players in their top league who are able to play for their national side, in England it is 38%.
I believe we need to give the job to Pearce. He talks with sense and an understanding that this team requires time. It doesn’t matter if we bring in Jose or Pep, they would not win the next tournament, I guarantee it. Give Pearce licence to develop all the youth sides, allow him to work with Southgate and the FA and Premier League to improve standards of coaching and let us see what we accomplish together, as England.
Without change I cannot see England winning things in the next 20 years. I believe it is essential to give the new generation of players the required caps and experience to develop. They need to be playing Champions League as well international football in order to excel. We need to see the value in playing for all levels of the national side and put more into winning tournaments at 17’s, 19’s and 21’s. If we rely on those players that we have done before then we will not improve, success will not come and all we do is be in the same place again in 5 years time. This is why Redknapp is not the man to take this country forward. Pearce is right when he says we need to develop our national side like the Germans, and we need him, a man passionate about developing a new generation to be in charge of this English project.
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