State of the English game

Alot of people blame the influx of foreign players into the top level of the English game as the main reason for Englands failings. My opinion? Total rubbish. Have these foreign players been around for 42 years? What then do you blame for all the other years of having no success?

The only thing that having these foreign players in the Premier League does is raise the standard of football played in this country. Should the teams have quotas? Forced to play a certain amount of home based players? This would hurt the national game rather than improve it, due to two major reasons:

• Players should be play based on merit. If your good enough you play. What happens when you throw players in that arent good enough to make the grade, or throw players in before they're ready just to fill quotas? You'll lower the standard of football, and possibly help destroy some youngsters careers before they've even began.
• Secondly, with the way teams are picking youngsters these days, the foreign kids will have been around long enough to be classed as "home based players" anyway. (To qualify, a team will have had to have trained the player for 3 years between the ages of 15-21). Unless the smaller teams begin picking up on foreign youngsters, they will fall behind even further. Imagine Wengers youngters against a team of young English players that arent good enough, but are there to fill the quotas?

On the subject of Wenger, he is one of the people who gets the most blame for the squads he puts out. Did you know that when asked, Wenger said that if he had to pick between an English youngster and a foreign youngster of equal talent, that he would go english all the time because of their passion and hunger? Or what about the fact that the England U16 and U17 teams have more representatives from Arsenal than any other team, and the U18 team they have an equal amount to Manchester UTD?

The fact is we have to stop blaming other people. The blame falls squarely at our own door. English players lack flair, lack ability on the ball, panic when pressed with the ball, and simply arent as technically gifted as other nations. This, in my opinion, is down to the fact that youngsters are taught on a full scale pitch, where winning is more important for the coaches than developing the players. With parents on the sidelines shouting "Get rid of it!!" and a never ending cycle of youngsters booting the ball upfield.

The answer? Small scale games, ie Futsal (If you've never heard of the game, go here). On a recent trip to Barcelona, I was heading into the city on a train via the surrounding towns, roughly an hour journey. In that time I saw two football pitches, and what must have been 50+ Futsal pitches. This isnt the be all and end all our problems, but it's something that needs to be done, especially with our younger players. Futsal teaches the things we as a nation lack. Because the game is so small and fast, it teaches players the need to create space, to not panic when someone closes you down, to keep the ball and go past players, to pick out a pass in a crowded space. Because the ball is smaller and heavier, it teaches better technique and precision. Other nations have been using this for a long time, players such as Deco, Robinho, Ronaldinho, Luis Figo, Cesc Fabregas have all come through in this way.

Is this a new radical way of thinking? No, the nation is starting to realise this, but it needs a further push across the country. The larger scale games in schools and clubs for under 11's needs to be totally scrapped in my opinion, possibly looking at under 14's. First and foremost technique should be taught, postitional skills etc can be taught easily when the child is older and understands the game better.

The FA realises this aswell, but its a hard task breaking the mentality of the amatuer coaches across the country.