The problem with English football

Leading

The problem is that the English public’s values regarding what skills and attributes make a good footballer are in fact contrary to reality. For years we have admired Beckham execute a pin-point cross-field pass, Owen flying past a defender and Gerrard retaining possession with a crunching challenge, believing we were watching world-class players perfecting the art of football. However, I suggest that the English public has in fact been misguided regarding the following aspects of the game:

Intelligence - Football fans in England are too quick to downplay the significance of a player’s shrewdness and intelligence and to over-emphasise that of effort. Take Dimitar Berbatov, a player frequently lampooned for his laziness. Although acknowledged as a skilful player, he is not held in as high a regard as the hard-working Rooney and Carlos Tevez; yet it is Berbatov who leads the scoring chart this season, and by a considerable margin.

Berbatov’s ‘laziness’ is often a sign of his intelligence, as rather than mindlessly chase the ball he will instead subtly glide into dangerous positions. Chasing back to retain possession a la Rooney and Tevez may look impressive but the influence it has on the outcome of a match is nowhere near that of knowing where to position oneself.

Wing-Play - When it comes to wingers, the English value quick players over skilful dribblers. The so-called ‘show-boating’ of players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani is frowned-upon as unnecessary and arrogant but it is exactly this imagination that the latest generation of English wingers, such as Aaron Lennon and Theo Walcott, have lacked. Their pace can give defenders a very hard time, but without the skill to do a step-over or two or the tenacity to pick the best option in the final ball, their game is too one-dimensional to be considered world-class.

Central Midfield - The term ‘box-to-box midfielder’ illustrates exactly how the English misunderstand the role of a central midfielder. It describes those players with ‘big-engines’ who spend 90 minutes heartedly running up and down the pitch. Yet they’re only inclined to run so much because they are so frequently giving the ball away.

Primarily, a centre midfielder’s job is to monopolise possession and supply the more attack-minded players. Spain’s midfield is full of technically gifted players who do this (Xavi, Iniesta, Xavi Alonso, Fabregas etc) and, lest we forget, they are the world champions. England’s midfield, however, is littered with box-to-box midfielders, such as Gerrard and Lampard, whose athleticism fails to make up for their technical inferiority to players like Samir Nasri, Wesley Sneijder, Andrea Pirlo and Juan Roman Riquelme.

To improve their fortunes, England must embrace technically gifted central midfielders and abandon this prioritising of the box-to-box midfielder. Only in England could some fans consider Jermaine Jenas a better player than Luka Modric and this needs to change.

Passing - When the English think of a good pass, they imagine a long, high ball played from one side of the pitch to the other. But the true art of passing is the short pass, which, when perfected, can help maintain possession for long passages of play and thus control the match.

The one truly world-class midfielder England has produced in recent times, Paul Scholes, is a master of this; he has the accurate long-pass in his repertoire but also recognises the right time to play a short pass, one-two or through ball, and has the ability to execute it perfectly. The likes of Beckham may be lauded for their long-passes but they essentially lack these other passing skills.

Physique - All too often have we heard the claim that a Premiership club’s new signing is ‘too small’ or ‘too slight’ to succeed here in England, only to be proved completely wrong: Andrei Arshavin, Luka Modric and David Silva have all suffered from this label in recent years, but have since shone in the league.

This scepticism of players’ stature stems from the English’s over-emphasis on the importance of physical strength and height in footballers. This is particularly prominent in the English’s fondness of giant target men to hoof long-balls towards strikers. Peter Crouch, Carlton Cole and Emile Heskey are all examples, winning many headers but scoring few goals. Some target men, most noticeably this season Andy Carroll, do manage an impressive haul of goals and are good with their feet, but when a player’s only talent is being able to jump high they are never going to be good enough to lead the line at international level.

Encouragingly, there are young English players who possess the technique, intelligence and invention to shine at international level. Jack Wilshere looks like the central midfielder England have craved for years, Adam Johnson has the confidence and skill of a great winger, and, when on form, Rooney is a world-class player. Put aside these misconceptions of what makes a good footballer, and there is hope still for English football.

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