No.

Not with Hodgson in charge

The problem is grassroots. Physical players get favoured over small technical players because they can bully other players at youth level, making themselves look far better than what they are.

Also the mentality of youth football is wrong. It should be more about developing the players in your team, instead for many it's about winning at all costs, which means playing ugly football which doesn't improve any of the players technically.

Grassroots is the problem. Look at the amount of managers we've had who have failed, it comes to a point when you've got to look deeper. Look at the quality of the players and then see why there's a problem there.

I think the last, best chance we had was when we were knocked out by Portugal on penalties in Euro 2004. It's been downhill ever since. Now we've no chance and I'm past caring.

Exactly. How many times are the managers going to get the blame. Year after year, decade after decade. I think it is quite obvious that the players are just inept. Even with people saying, if this manager was in charge etc... That's rubbish too. As mentioned sort it out from the bottom then look at the managers.

England's youngsters get everything laid out on a plate for them by the age of 18/19. Nice big fat contract, 5 year deal, multiple sponsorships, media fawning over them, nice model wag. What's in it for them to improve their game? Far too much gets rewarded far too early. Far too many players get labelled "great" that the word has become a bit of a joke now.

The best chance of them all has to be under Sir Bobby Robson? I wasn't alive, but he has to be England's best manager never to have anything.

he best chance of them all has to be under Sir Bobby Robson? I wasn't alive, but he has to be England's best manager never to have anything.
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I was, and remember andy brehme's free kick looping over shilton and thought to myself "this is'nt going to be our night".

This game is nothing to go by cos the English PL season finished 2 weeks ago so the players will be a bit off form, where as the Irish league is still going so the players are still fully fit. That is why the Irish looked able to compete with the EPL players tonight.

Will England Win A Major Tournament Again?

No.

The grass roots clearly need improving - physical players do get favoured to smaller technical players, but that still not an excuse for decades of underachievement. I'm not saying we should have won a tournament but we should have been better than we have.

We have a style of play so we should play that way. Far too often we play players based on reputation.
We pick the best 11 and fit them in rather than find a way to play and fit the players into that formation.

FatJan.

The players tonight were making basic mistakes with the ball and without the ball. This shouldnt be because the grassroots need improving. I dont know what it is but players who get paid 80-90k a week were failing to control the ball tonight, misplacing passes, overhitting them, underhitting them, running into players and down blind alleys. If we need to change grassroots to stop all of that, then we're further away from the elite nations than I thought.

I dont see why the bigger you are, the less likely you are to play good football. In my opinion you dont need 5ft7 midgets to play good football. Just players with some sort of footballing brain which most of our English players obviously lack.

it's not just tonight though Mr C, it's every f'kin time they take to the field, they come out in the press beforehand bragging what they're going to do and soon as they come up against a team who are comfortable with the ball, they $hit themselves and go into their defensive shell for fear of being made to look a tw4t, good god it was ireland tonight and we still could'nt get it together.

Good point, Mr. C.

Ronaldo is huge but still an exceptional footballer.

"I dont see why the bigger you are, the less likely you are to play good football. In my opinion you dont need 5ft7 midgets to play good football. Just players with some sort of footballing brain which most of our English players obviously lack. "

I'm not saying that big players can't be good footballers, of course they can. It's just at grassroots in England a lot of the smaller more technical players get overlooked because they're weak. But body strength is much easier to train than technique.

Earl - Of course, its not just tonight. Its been like this for years. We see it week in week out in the PL as well.. I see it from the top 5/6 teams. Players on massive salaries but cannot control the ball.

Dog - yeah you're right, they do get overlooked but its just simple things which big and small footballers keep getting wrong. Ball retention is key in international football especially and if you have 4/5 players in your side who are experts at losing the ball then you have no chance.

We need to get the basics right. Passing properly, moving into space without the ball, laying off passes ahead of the player and not directly to the player so the recieveing player can run onto it, crossing and passing using the correct weight and not just blasting it needlessly, we need players who can think 2/3 steps ahead of their opposition.

I dont see why the bigger you are, the less likely you are to play good football. In my opinion you dont need 5ft7 midgets to play good football. Just players with some sort of footballing brain which most of our English players obviously lack.
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the problem stems from the fact that, if you're a tall/well-built player, you're immediately pigeon-holed as a bruiser, or a target man, or a centre-back. youth coaches in this country will categorize young players based on their physique rather than actually pay attention to what they could do with the ball. you could get a small, runty player who has zero control of the ball, and he'll be typecast as a winger without anyone really scrutinising him.

I wonder what the stats are in the prem for time the ball is spent out of play?

Some of the passing is so bad in the prem that it always goes out for a throw in. I doubt the ball goes out for a throw in as much in some of the other leagues.

Might be a pointless stat, but it would reflect how bad some of the premier league teams are in possession of the ball.

Mr C, I don't think people are saying smaller players are better but there has definitely been a tendency towards strength and power over technical ability. And that comes down to the kick and rush football we tend to play. When the ball is on the ground it doesn't mate how big or strong you area

Saying that, we shouln't try to emulate Spain. We need to find our own style. We need to mix it up. We have players like Wilshere, Henderson(I know a lot of people don't rate him but he has good technical
Ability and a great engine), Cleverley and Rodwell coming through. All good technical midfielders with pace and technical ability. Sturridge, Welbeck, Walcott, Chamberlain- lots of pace. We potentially have a team of pace and technical ability. There's lots of good players there.

What we don't want to do is play the likes of Defoe. Poor.

Also the potential bigger problem is the emphasis on success at youth level rather than developing the actual players.

Agree KPPR.

Yeah Darren. Its embarassing to watch.. I get wound up when I see any of our Chelsea players miscontrol the ball or waste possession.

Fat Jan you're right. All this talk about emulating Spain and now Germany has always annoyed me. Just because a German team have won the CL, they're now the blueprint for good football. Next year if Madrid win, we'll all switch to Spain for the blueprint. We have our own style. Direct. Its nothing to be ashamed of. What we dont need is misuse of the ball and players making mistakes in possession. We need players to think its a sin to lose the ball. If you can get some pressing into the England team, get good ball retention from most of the team, then you might end up with a half decent team.

I've said for ages that under Hoddle we were moving in the right direction. He was a proper coach. He wanted to play in a certain way. I know why he got sacked bit since then no manager has had a proper plan.

Whilst we don't want to emulate other countries, one good that Germany did do was plan for the future, sacrificing a tournament or two to plan for the future. Get rid of the older players, Let the youngsters in.

As an England fan I would love for us to take a young team to Brazil, give them experience, for the next tournament.

Mr. C, that's the thing that is often lost in translation. Focussing on technical development does not mean copying the style of whomever is the dominant team.

For a number of years English sides did great in the CL as the combined the right balance of pace, power, technique and tactical ability.

If we can start developing the players that gave those sides their edge - the foreign players - we might be able to produce a decent national team.

The small pool of talent doesn't help. There are promising signs in England that we are taking a step in the right direction. But it will take time to come to fruition.

I'd imagine spain have a bigger pool of spaniards playing in their top league, the same with france, germany, italy and just about every other european nation come to think of it.