Anyone watching this awful England performance??

[Carborundum]

Scalleysdad's remarks about confidence resonated with me.  I'm not quite as pessimistic as some about us being stuck with a bunch of robots.  We have players who are capable of artistry, but something happens when they put on an England shirt and they face teams who park the bus.  They stop doing things that work in club football.  They stop gambling.  The main exception to this is Lallana who I can see trying to do things in an England shirt that so memorably put Fulham to the sword when he played for Southampton.

I've just watched two season of Ross McCormack creating unusual problems for defenders that generally go wrong for Ross and right for the defenders.  But enough go right that he ends up with the goals tally he does.  The England players are at least as skilful. Frankly the defences they are up against are not going to be much better than the Championship defences, except for your Germanies and Italy's of this world. 

I agree with Allardyce that he can't tell Rooney where to stand.  But he can tell him who to mark when we don't have the ball and hold him accountable.  When the opponents park the bus that becomes a bit irrelevant though.  Rooney is good value for me because of the confidence factor - he genuinely believes he is better that the opposition. 

If Allardyce can breathe confidence into the attacking players we will improve. 

[ScalleysDad]

Could not agreed more with scaleysdad when he said about flair and confidence is coached out of the young talent. They really are robots coaches to play a certain way and that way only.

Having recently done my level one coaching certificate it seems that the FA are trying to encourage young players ( between 6 - 10 ) to express them selves on the pitch. They was quite a lot of emphasis on encouraging them to deal with situations on a pitch and work together to figure out the best way forward. May be we will see a team in years to come that can think outside of the box a bit. For what it is worth, our academy appears to produce players that can do exactly that

Allowing players to flourish within their own environment is a big step forward from a couple of years ago so progress of sorts. I used to assess Level Ones and one of the more constructive comments in the classrooms was why do talented players get wrapped in cotton wool and stopped from playing with their mates in league games and friendlies. It was always a shame to see good junior players turn up at tournaments wearing all their new 'stash' but not able to join in. There's is a saying along the lines of battles won on the playing fields of Eton. If the cotton wool is now off we could see games won on the mud heaps of council provision football where flair will also have to learn to graft and literally apply some thought.
Good luck utilising your Level One. The most important thing is down to you. You set the tone!

[Al]

Could not agreed more with scaleysdad when he said about flair and confidence is coached out of the young talent. They really are robots coaches to play a certain way and that way only.

Having recently done my level one coaching certificate it seems that the FA are trying to encourage young players ( between 6 - 10 ) to express them selves on the pitch. They was quite a lot of emphasis on encouraging them to deal with situations on a pitch and work together to figure out the best way forward. May be we will see a team in years to come that can think outside of the box a bit. For what it is worth, our academy appears to produce players that can do exactly that

Allowing players to flourish within their own environment is a big step forward from a couple of years ago so progress of sorts. I used to assess Level Ones and one of the more constructive comments in the classrooms was why do talented players get wrapped in cotton wool and stopped from playing with their mates in league games and friendlies. It was always a shame to see good junior players turn up at tournaments wearing all their new 'stash' but not able to join in. There's is a saying along the lines of battles won on the playing fields of Eton. If the cotton wool is now off we could see games won on the mud heaps of council provision football where flair will also have to learn to graft and literally apply some thought.
Good luck utilising your Level One. The most important thing is down to you. You set the tone!


Very true indeed. First and foremost we should all, professionals included, enjoy the beautiful game. Your enjoyment should be passed on and played out through the players you coach. Big Sam seems a likeable bloke but also has an air of authority about him. He could do well with players, just hope he allows them some freedom to play on instinct as well