The English Football Thread

[bushman 2,043]

They may win the home tie but I think that over the two legs Juve will be better. Just more quality in depth.

Certainly, Juve have more quality players. Nevertheless, Celtics just may play defensive & surprise. One never know.

On paper Juve is better. On the pitch, we need to wait & see. Celtics played well against Barca & that team is much better than Juve.

[diskoviolente 425]

I think Celtic will have to relay on what is refered to as a spirited performance.
The problem with Juve is that tehy are a very clever team that can switch their style in a game quite quickely, compared to Barca who are very stubborn compared to other teams.

I think Celtic have a small chance, but on paper Juve are just to clever and experienced in Europe, especially with Pirlo, the clever master fuck captain.

[Rmpr 8,977]

Oh where do I begin?!

Lack of effective coaching, the enormous gap between youth football and the next level up, inadequate structuring of youth and reserve leagues & poor allocation of resources. Brazil produce great no10's, Portugal produce great wingers, Spain produce great midfield players. England produces.. Rooney.

That's an interesting debate for another thread. What I will say is that a guy at the gym said something similar about rugby. We have the largest number of registered players in the world, but seem to struggle producing players.

But I've also heard the same thing about cricket, athletics (although that's changed a fair bit) and many other sports and I think that's part of the issue - we try to compete at a large number of sports which means people who might've become great footballers instead go into other sports where they have decent but not world-class careers.

Of course there are a myriad other socio-economic factors as well as well as governing issues (the gap between academies and first-teams is absurdly large and there's no B teams in this country like there are in Spain).

It is a very interesting debate (I know I am not British and have nothing to do with it though). Moved it here for lack of a better thread...

I honestly think the problem with England is the fact you do things all too professional and serious. I feel the problem with English players is the lack of skills and creativity (by that I mean dribling, flair, etc) South Americans show and that is something you dont teach, you let it flourish while the player is very young...

In England, people with 13-14 yo are already having tactical training and are competing in 11v11 matches. I think this fucks with their development because they are treated as professionals but they are far from being one. For me, this reflect into a lack of freedom that will cage their ability and hapiness in the long run. In my opinion, coaches should just let the kids play like they were playing in the streets (no rules and no position).

In SA, young people dont have much training sessions, they dont even have positions. Managers usually divide them into teams of 7 (or even 9) and there is no set of roles, sometimes you are defending and others you are attacking, etc. What managers and scout want from this is to see where the player naturally tries to go (CB, LB, CM, ST, etc) and how good he is with the ball on his foot. Brazilians and Argentines usually only start learning how to play in pre-determined positions and about tactics with 15-16, but with that age all their other aspects of the game have already been developed.

Ultimately, I think the answer for England is to back it off a litle bit. Dont try to do too much , just let things naturally happen. Of course the transition from Youth to Pro is a huge issue, but I feel the immense seriousness is a bigger one!

[zolayes 14,489]

England were the best in the world BEFORE I was born ,,,,since then they have been overtaken by most of the rest of the world ...OUR high FIFA ranking is a joke ... And the situation is NOT going to get better

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Andre Bikey giving the ref a bear hug after Middlesbrough picked up their first points in 2013 :

[Milan 17,853]

I know it's Man United but it can get really funny

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flvxenqv27s

Rooney playing pantomime for example, and the Beckham-Fergie thing

[petr.breu 1,618]

Arsenal 0:1 Blackburn in 73. minute

[Hutcho 8,443]

Lol... Arsenal do really go out of their way to not win a cup.

[Rmpr 8,977]

Lol... Arsenal do really go out of their way to not win a cup.

1 week suspension if they win it... (the game, not the cup of course)

EDIT: Now we can laugh!

[petr.breu 1,618]

Arsenal 0:1 Blackburn, FT... HAHA

[Pizy 18,368]

HAHAHAHAH!

Have fun against Bayern next you bums!

Give Robbie di Matteo a call for some advice, maybe?

[Hannah 200]

Congrats to Blackburn

[DONI. 1,291]

HAHHAHA ! Congrats to Blackburn for the win

[petr.breu 1,618]

[zolayes 14,489]

Im feeling sorry for the Gooners ...we should let them have Benitez and Torres

[Laylabelle 9,351]

Fans mega pissed off...dont think Wengers comments after help in anyway.

[NishC300 1,865]

CUNTINBURG'S REFEREE! THAT IDIOT! He's reffing the City game btw yaya toure what a player. So reliable.

[NishC300 1,865]

Nice pen aguero