5* because I feel guilty about not reading past the second line.

I didn't read it all but what I did read was spot on. 5 stars.

Cheers lads...

i think he knows none of us read all that

so Aquaman will be perfect for this style then, trouble is we will probably get rid again

Yeah, is a bit long but I had a lot to share haha

So did we only start lumping the ball up when Carroll came on? As I seem to remember doing long befor then, you are right though. Every time we do get the ball, we think "we've got the ball. Let's get in the box"

Theres never anyone getting in to space or making it easy for the player with the ball to just lay it off.

Yep exactly, it's all route one. Sometimes that works but not every time. Football is about playing, it is a game so enjoy having the ball as a team...

If you are worse than the other team, then sometimes you have to play to your strengths, granted England didn't play to theirs but if you look at Stoke for example, it's not always best to play possession football. Sometimes you have to make do with what you've got and to get the best out of them, you have to play to their strengths.

I heard on radio that the pass most often played against Italy was Joe Hart to Carroll. Considering he was only on or 30 minutes, that shows how bad we were. It was hoofball.

Even since the England game I've heard people say Carrick or Scholes should have been in the team, but what would they have done? The problem was that the person in possession had no option to pass to as players weren't making themselves available. Scholes and Carrick wouldn;t have made a difference if they had no-one to pass too.

Football is a simple game based on the giving and taking of passes,controlling the ball and making yourself available to receive. It is terribly simple.

Bill Shankly.

Are you a giver or taker fit?

Disgusting.

Even since the England game I've heard people say Carrick or Scholes should have been in the team, but what would they have done? The problem was that the person in possession had no option to pass to as players weren't making themselves available. Scholes and Carrick wouldn;t have made a difference if they had no-one to pass too.

------------

I think most people base that on the idea that no manager - not even Roy - would play football like that unless he had to.

When the reality is that's the only way he knows

It is the only way England knows, Mark Lawrenson said on the commentary it's in our DNA. Hopefully the new changes to youth football and that will see a remarkable improvement all round. Annoyingly that will take 10 or so years. Until everyone starts thinking the same and stops trying to be the hero or the match winner then there will be no improvement... Quality Shankly quote.

Unfortunately I think that Shankly quote is out-dated. Football has in fact become complicated. Tactics are more complicated and intelligent than what they were.

mattjc1990

Maybe hoofing is a part of our football DNA that needs to be addressed. Players like Joe Cole and Scholes were criminally underrated because they weren't particularly big or strong.

I hope the new centre of excellence brings results but we need numbers too, and that won't happen without strict regulations preventing clubs buying in foreign talent instead of training local kids.

It's no use just winning, we've got to win well.
Bill Nicholson

I'm loving all the quote splashing, this has just gone up a notch. At least there is a nationwide recognition that change needs to be made. Unfortunately the managers don't seem to be cottoning on. At least Brendan is for Liverpool's sake. If he can win things with Liverpool playing his football then maybe kids and young adults will take notice and fancy playing short passing rather than replicating the 50 yard passes their heroes are currently show casing.

Bãle's left boot (U9410)

Yup, look what happened to Owen when he was told to muscle up for not being english enough

OP

Read it all, and agree with what you say.

We had a young Brazillian called Rodrigo Possebon who only started a few games for us, but suffered a serious injury and moved on.

The one thing I really liked about him, was that he always came looking for the ball. He always managed to find the space, and know how to maximise it.

Glenn Hoddle, Gazza and Paul Scholes are the best English examples you will see in how to do this.

Anyhow, excellent post OP.

News
Hoofing in British gene pool traced to 1700s
Wednesday, 24 January 2007Agençe France-Presse

By analysing the Y chromosome (seen in the bottom right corner) of over 400 British men, researchers have pinpointed the earliest known Hoofing contributor to the British gene pool as a man who lived in Yorkshire in the 1780s.

In an analysis of British genetic diversity, scientists at the University of Leicester in central England, recruited 421 men who described themselves as British and analysed their Y chromosome, which is handed down from father to son.

One of the men was found to have an unusual type of chromosome, hgA1, normally found in horses. As the man also had an unusual surname, derived from a village in the east of the northern English county of Yorkshire, the team endeavoured to track down other men with the same monicker.

Of 18 such men who were traced and volunteered a sample of DNA for testing, seven were found to carry the same HgA1 chromosome haplotype.

The team then carried out a genealogical probe, discovering that all eight were united by a common ancestor, a man who lived in Yorkshire around 1780. Who that individual was remains a mystery; he could have been a someone just a bit lonely on a horse farm, or a descendant of such a man. It is beleived it is possible he is the great, great, great, great, great Grandfather of Anfield legend Jamie Carragher.

redconn

Yeah! Jamie the master of hoof!

Cheers Vidicschin, appreciate that.

Yes the Liverpool back four has been 'blessed' with an ancestor from that line for many years now. This will change under Brendan I'm sure.