Legohead
Banned
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2016
- Messages
- 6,762
I'm not a fan of the Belgians. They have had a weak underbelly for quite some time now and although they are packed with talent in every position, Martinez is unlikely to address the key issue for them which is solidity and mental toughness.
The one thing that sticks in my mind about England is the period after Euro 96 and the change in playing style. I vaguely remember Mexico 86 although i was only a wee bairn but certainly England's style following that and including Italia 90 was based on a tough tackling no no nonsense fast tempo game like the Premier League is much of the time. England got close to the final of Italia 90 and also the Euro 96 tournament playing this way and then they seemed to want to change styles and copy the Spanish / Germans / Italians / whoever it was in fashion to want to copy at the time.
Pundits endlessly telling us we need to be able to keep the ball and keep possession which IMO wasn't correct. You can have 99.9% possession of the football in a game then suddenly the opposition sling a corner in, a big guy nods it in and you lose 1-0. It's not how long you have the ball but what you do with it when you have it. Slowing the game down and probing just isn't in England's DNA and the players seem more comfortable playing a fast paced, in some cases 'hoof it' game than one in which they try to retain possession of the football and end up either going side to side all day long or getting caught in possession. England don't have, and rarely have had the calibre of player to be able to carry this off.
Spain have been a huge success but they had the balance of players right and the players to be able to keep things ticking over. That said, some of the Spain games i have seen have been the most boring to watch i can recall. Slow, lethargic, probing and eventually they just wear out the opposition and the class tells and they win the game. There is no urgency with teams who like to keep possession and the good ones like Spain always know a goal or two will come but it's boring to watch.
England have some really good players but compared to Belgium, France, Spain, Germany, possibly Italy they aren't good enough to compete with those sides. If they played a style of football that suited them and were more gung ho then that that old fear of playing against England back in the 80's / 90's would slowly return as we will have our rightful identity back.
England cannot play the likes of the teams i have mentioned at their own game and beat them so they should go back to what made them feared and develop that style further.
The one thing that sticks in my mind about England is the period after Euro 96 and the change in playing style. I vaguely remember Mexico 86 although i was only a wee bairn but certainly England's style following that and including Italia 90 was based on a tough tackling no no nonsense fast tempo game like the Premier League is much of the time. England got close to the final of Italia 90 and also the Euro 96 tournament playing this way and then they seemed to want to change styles and copy the Spanish / Germans / Italians / whoever it was in fashion to want to copy at the time.
Pundits endlessly telling us we need to be able to keep the ball and keep possession which IMO wasn't correct. You can have 99.9% possession of the football in a game then suddenly the opposition sling a corner in, a big guy nods it in and you lose 1-0. It's not how long you have the ball but what you do with it when you have it. Slowing the game down and probing just isn't in England's DNA and the players seem more comfortable playing a fast paced, in some cases 'hoof it' game than one in which they try to retain possession of the football and end up either going side to side all day long or getting caught in possession. England don't have, and rarely have had the calibre of player to be able to carry this off.
Spain have been a huge success but they had the balance of players right and the players to be able to keep things ticking over. That said, some of the Spain games i have seen have been the most boring to watch i can recall. Slow, lethargic, probing and eventually they just wear out the opposition and the class tells and they win the game. There is no urgency with teams who like to keep possession and the good ones like Spain always know a goal or two will come but it's boring to watch.
England have some really good players but compared to Belgium, France, Spain, Germany, possibly Italy they aren't good enough to compete with those sides. If they played a style of football that suited them and were more gung ho then that that old fear of playing against England back in the 80's / 90's would slowly return as we will have our rightful identity back.
England cannot play the likes of the teams i have mentioned at their own game and beat them so they should go back to what made them feared and develop that style further.
