I for one did believe the fact Heskey started in most England games laughable, the fact there could be no footballing reason to why he should play ahead of Crouch or Defoe bewildered me. During the tournament, tactical reasons such as; "Heskey allows Rooney to score more goals" or "he's the target man" sounded plausable, however Rooney didn't score any goals and Heskey barely provided. In fact, the best skill he performed was a touch in the Germany game which was a mere fumble and a shocking waste of a one-on-one against our American cousins.
However, the caveat to these observations is that Heskey didn't pick himself, Cappello did - and McLaren and Eriksson before him. Therefore, despite barely playing for Aston Villa or indeed scoring any goals in the Premier League, he was chosen. The issue here is that there is an undercurrent of fear in the England camp which is inherited like some genetic impairment preventing England managers choosing young talent and opting for the reliable player - even though they lack serious talent (you can hardly call Heskey "World-Class"?).
As discussed in an earlier post, many teams are indeed developing their youth academies, Arsenal for one. However, while our young up-and-comers are winning caps and games in the U17 and U21 tournaments, they find a glass ceiling between them and the main team, which is much to the detriment of their progression and the ability of England to win major trophies. An example is the German side who, despite crashing out to a superb Spanish team, promoted Thomas Muller, Marko Marin, Toni Kroos, the excellent Mesut Ozil, Jerome Boateng and Holger Badstuber - this was the team who humbled England 4-1.
Photo courtesy of www.worldcup2010mania.com
So if other Nations can do this, why can't England?
Take another example, Spain had the following players in their squad; Pedro Rodriguez, Javi Martinez, Sergio Busquets, Juan Manuel Mata and Cesc Fabregas, these are all players of between 21 to 23 years old. Despite having a relatively mature defensive back four, the Spanish have youth to rely on which, unlike England, they play and utilise to win matches. Therefore, while young players lack international experience, they are used for their pace, strength and no-fear attitude which can often surprise and intimidate any opponent. Any neutral watching Germany couldn't have helped to be impressed with how Ozil and Muller commanded the midfield and crafted many assists and attempts to help the Germans crush many teams by a four goal margin, while the Spanish (despite being a little goal shy by their high standards) controlled games and provided excellent examples of their passing game to the World.
So what is England's problem with fielding emerging talent? As a fellow football fan and non-professional, I could say it would be a combination of fear, lack of belief, spend-happy Chairmen and the expectation which England are put under (by the English and on one else) to win tournaments. After all, a surprising fact that came out of the World Cup 2010 was that both Spain and Holland had never won the trophy of trophies, and these teams are light-years ahead of England in ability. However, despite always being nearly-men or non-runners (McLaren anyone?) we have always placed a massive amount of pressure, branded "England Expects" on these players, which if your dealing with the likes of Lampard and Gerrard, make them fold like leaves in a gale.
England managers don't believe in youth and fear it. Despite paying much lip-service to young players and the media, Walcott was never used in Germany 2006 (perhaps too young, but the pace was indeed a rare asset) or (in 2010) Johnson, Walcott, Agbonlahor, Banes, Huddlestone (or "Manystone" depending on your allegiance) and Bent weren't utilised. In addition, Bent has been one of the most prolific English strikers in the Premier League - so why didn't he play? The answers to these questions will allude as all, as we don't know what the FA or England manager thinks when deciding their preliminary squads. The cynic inside me believes commercial deals struck pre-tournament have a bearing on who gets on the plane, however I wouldn't like to think that's true.
Picture courtesy of www.zimbio.com
Youth are the wild-cards, the unpredictable entities in a squad. It seems a player who is consistently awful is chosen over an unpredictable youth as you always get the same sub-standard performance. However, Walcott pretty much saved Arsenal's Champions League campaign last year and scored important goals to propel the Gunners to 3rd spot, demonstrating a belief in youth pretty much always pays off. However, I don't want to sound blinkered so other examples include; Everton with Jack Rodwell and Dan Gosling - now hot properties after helping to surgically unpick Man Utd's defence. Aston Villa with Gabby Agbonlahor and Ashley Young - also targets for bigger clubs. Finally, dare I say it, Tottenham Hotspur have almost 17 British players, including the superb Danny Rose, who could all feature for England and Wales in upcoming tournaments. The trend, you may have noticed, is that there are non from the traditional Sky Four. However, while I would like to say a word for the others, Arsenal have 6 young English players emerging who could one day represent at International level.
All these young players have shown their ability and have subsequently come under the gaze of Chairmen like the repulsive Garry Cook at Man City. Here we have a middle manager, a Phil Brown, who's head has expanded with Man City's bank balances. Willfully throwing money at other clubs, he has been nicknamed "Santa Claus" as he is the man to secure your club's financial future if you have an overpriced diamond to sell. Others including Hicks & Gillett (formerly Rick Parry) and David Gill have bankrupted their clubs chasing expensive foreign players to buy success and have succeeded at heavy prices, time will tell if Liverpool and Man Utd can be fully self sufficient clubs.
Chairmen at wealthy clubs need to stop buying overpriced talent and focus more on youth development, trusting the youngsters who emerge in their Academies (providing they have Academies in the first place) and play them, regularly. Cook and Man City have spent almost c£300m on players to date and very few have been English players. Whether this can possibly continue is another matter, however it highlights the shocking ability to spend gross sums of money and not on individuals who are of the same nationality as the country in which they play.
It is my belief that the England team needs a major overhaul, and not the changes McLaren made and subsequently un-made during his black days in charge. Players such as Lampard, Green, Terry, Lennon, Upson, Carragher and Barry need to be dropped like stones as they are either lack the ability to play at an international level, are weak in temperament or, like Terry, are selfish and think only of themselves. Despite players declaring their love and pride in pulling on the England shirt, they rarely prove it and frankly should not be paid for the highest service you can provide in your profession. In addition, can you really call players like these World Class if they never perform at that level? For me its like labelling a 100 meter sprinter as an Olympian when they have never been to a Games in their career - perhaps I am being a little literal there.
In order for England to challenge again, I believe they need to follow these steps in order to mount a realistic challenge in 2012 or 2014;
1) Drop the aforementioned players.
2) Promote and replace these players with those from the U21's to add more youthful and able players. Scout the Championship for squad players who are used to physical football.
3) Develop the Burton Youth Academy.
4) The FA need to ensure the awesome spending of rich clubs is curtailed to ensure they are self-sufficient and look to their own Academies and reserve sides to bring players to the fore.
5) Play better teams in friendlies, we will never beat the likes of Spain. France or Germany if we never play them.
The England managers job is a tough job and I am not pretending that I can do better. However, as an observer and football fan, it is plain to see changes are needed. It is frankly embarrassing when an International Tournament comes around and our players fail to perform and fail to live up to their hype and reputations. Perhaps what I have written is a little Utopian and it can all be fixed in a moment, however, as the saying goes, we must put our money were our mouths are and start proving we are a World Class team, instead of talking the talk and taking the eventual walk.
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