[alex_front2]

Ok so for the next 2 or 3 years the Ballon D'or will probably be dominated by the Barcelona front line. And we know even the best goal keeper wont win. But why are England not producing players good enough to get onto the BD long list?

Don't get me wrong England have had BD winners such as Steve Mcmanaman, Michael Owen. Becks was once shortlisted iirc.

And there have been great English players over the years, Seaman as GK, pre 2010 Rooney, Gascoigne, Ashley Cole, Rio F, Matt Le Tisser (barely any England caps due to Gazza). But the greatest GB players have always been non English: Best, Law, Gigs, and now Ramsay and Bale.

Take Arsenals Jack Wilshere, would he get into Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid (let alone Real or Barcelona) or PSG sides. Well he's playing for our current best side.

I am not asking for a Scunthorpe born Messi, he and Ronaldo are one offs. But where are the English Neymars, Lewandowskis, Dani Alves, Mascherano etc. People will say well England coaching doesn't favour flair but even our defenders are second best. Only John Stones (and maybe Luke Shaw) are international quality.

We can't blame population size as we are same sized to France and Germany. China population is 7b, Uruguay with Suarez and Cavani have 3.5m

[Denver]

No because they like to choose the same players from the same 2 teams ever year

[alex_front2]

Originally Posted by Adam.

No because they like to choose the same players from the same 2 teams ever year

Next years BD will be chosen from just 1 team. As long as there are no injuries and Suarez keeps his teeth to himself.

[Alf]

Had injuries not hindered their careers then the likes of Paul Gascoigne (the best player in the World in the summer of 1990) and Michael Owen who was World class at the age of 17 (just like Pele was) those two could have gone on to huge things.

The brightest prospect for us at the moment is Ross "The Boss" Barkley


But individual awards really mean nothing in a team sport, all the award winners couldn't do what they do without their teammates doing their jobs. It's really just for the media to flick their beans over a certain individual in a team game.

It doesn't excite me at all.

[King Gizzard]

Sterling might run it close one year when Messi and Ronaldo are well into their 30s

[alex_front2]

Insightful little article on Why English football will not produce a Messi.

http://whitehouseaddress.blogspot.co...r-develop.html

The importance of culture and opportunity key to Messi’s rise to greatness
Lionel Messi has broken nearly every goal scoring record imaginable, and he is still only 27 years old. It is an incredible achievement and we are fortunate to be living and witnessing his mercurial talent. At times I think many fail to comprehend what he is truly achieving, what Messi has done is make us all believe that greatness is now commonplace, that every game he is to provide moments of genius and magic. That is the level he has set.

Messi is everything about the 21st century game, he is fluid, quick, skilful and intelligent. He has shown, along with his teammates at Barcelona that small can succeed, in a game where Olympic style athletes appeared set to dominate. What Messi & Co. prove is that intelligence allied with technical excellence can overcome strength and power. Post-Guardiola has not been as fruitful or beautiful for Barcelona yet Messi has continued to shine and impress, his individual talent will do that. Barcelona do miss Guardiola, and while Messi may not rely on Guardiola now, he did before. In fact the tale of Messi on the road to football greatness is filled with those key ingredients, luck and opportunity. And it is this reason why English football may never develop a Lionel Messi type player.......................

Why culture dictates the pathway
Why do I think that English football struggle to produce ‘small’ players? Because the culture for the most part dismisses technical skill and intelligence and favours brawn, strength and height. The culture has not changed significantly since the days of Charles Hughes. It appears embedded in our cultural beliefs, especially the ‘decision makers’ who are often products from that culture. By this I mean there is a new generation of coaches who have a different appreciation of the game, and player development. Yet often the choices of who 'progresses' is left in the main part to old school thinkers.

So why do Messi and Aguero prosper in Argentina? Well their culture has as their “God” figure Diego Maradona. Therefore their approach to developing players comes from the want and need to ‘find’ the new Diego. Hence the progression of players like Javier Saviola, Pablo Aimar, Ariel Ortega, Carlos Tevez, Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero. All these players follow the similar pattern of type. Argentinian football has sought to develop a player based on their cultural beliefs.

[Alf]

The big award used to be European Footballer of the year, Stanley Matthews was the first ever winner of that, Bobby Charlton also won it and Kevin Keegan Won it twice back to back, despite competition from Michel Platini, and Michael Owen was the last Englishman to win it.

And if we're talking Britain, then Denis Law and George Best also won it.


At the moment we're just not producing the talent, simple as that.

[alex_front2]

I agree with the key point in the article, that England youth coaches prefers speed merchant guys and strength to finesse, football intelligence, technical skills and ability on the ball. I bet coach Gary Neville is allowing his "foreign" players at Valencia to play a certain way that he would never allow England players.

An 11 year old English school player with potential to be a Messi type, who was short, would be dismissed from academy as too short. We also prefer dumb players who are fast and strong to intelligent players who may be small or slower. We will never produce an English Pirlo , Xavi, or Iniesta.

It's really telling that when an English player makes an intelligent pass, or score an "impossible" goal the pundits will say "he got lucky there, Jim" or "he didn't mean to do that". As if only foreign players are allowed to show flair or high skill. That's really sad.

In 2010 This Hiddink spoke to FT and hit nail on head

Guus Hiddink sits drinking his ritual drink, the cappuccino, in his natural habitat, the five-star hotel. This one happens to be in Istanbul, where the Dutchman pops in now and then to coach Turkey. However, the sage of global football also keeps a close eye on England. From his comfy chair, he delivers a masterly analysis of their shortcomings.

In 2006, Hiddink was briefly favourite to become England’s manager. But partly because he didn’t fancy British tabloids besieging his relatives, he became manager of Russia instead. Last year, he heightened his understanding of English football by working as Chelsea’s caretaker coach. This summer, he watched the World Cup at home in the Netherlands amid friends and family. Whereas some English pundits have blamed England’s failures on lack of spirit, Hiddink diagnoses a lack of footballing intelligence.

Specifically, he says, England’s players don’t “coach” team-mates during a game. There are exhortations, but no specific instructions. Take the midfielder Gareth Barry in the game against Germany, says Hiddink. “He could play more intelligently. But because he doesn’t coach, he ends up playing left-back or right-back, which isn’t his strength.”

Barry wasn’t alone, adds Hiddink. “Defensive midfield and central defence is really the nerve centre. It wasn’t sending out any impulses saying: ‘This is how we must do it.’ You can see if coaching is happening, and there was none or almost none.” Hiddink’s diagnosis suggests why England’s players perform better for their clubs: there, their foreign team-mates coach them. At Chelsea, Hiddink managed two of England’s senior players, John Terry and Frank Lampard. Surely they have football intelligence?

“Terry does coach. Frank is more a ‘box-to-box player’, as they call it in England, and he doesn’t coach much. Although he can do it: sometimes at training he’ll go and play in the back of midfield. But you have to limit them. You have to say: ‘This is your territory and this is your task.’ I don’t know how that works with England, but if you don’t do that, they often do too much. Frank has so much energy and drive. When I began at Chelsea, he’d come back to his defence, collect the ball, then worm his way through the midfield to the front, and,” Hiddink chuckles, “he’d actually score quite a lot, I must say. In his energy-eating style.
“Occasionally we’d sit down and talk about it: ‘Gosh, we really should be able to build up from the back and get the ball to you. Then you can be efficient, and more easily get through a season of 60 matches without being broken every four weeks.’” Lampard would reply, “Yes, yes. I’d never thought about that.”

In training, Hiddink sometimes assigned him a zone, and made him stay in it. He was trying to teach a great player tactical discipline.

Watching the World Cup, Hiddink again saw overeager Englishmen straying beyond their zones. Far from doing too little, they were doing too much. Steven Gerrard, for example, kept collecting the ball in defence and then running forward with it. That gave opponents time to assume their positions at leisure. No team-mate corrected Gerrard.

The status of players is also a factor, says Hiddink. “At a certain point players get a status – sometimes rightly, sometimes forced – that creates a sort of screen around them. Others think: ‘Oh, I can’t touch him or make demands on someone who’s such a big name in England.’ ” Often the high-status player wants to be coached, says Hiddink. But nobody dares do it.

And so you get the disjointed England team of the World Cup. Take the pairing of Wayne Rooney and Emile Heskey up front: “You didn’t see that they were a pair that gelled, even though they’ve perhaps played together a lot and know each other from the English league.”
It is tempting to think what might have been had Hiddink been in charge, but it will never happen. At 63, he says Turkey should be his last coaching job.

©The Financial Times Limited

[alex_front2]

England youth set up should be more like Argentine coaching

http://cleatbeat.com/cleatbeat-resou...-youth-factory

[alex_front2]

Why not develop a futsal culture amongst kids and young people?