Why dont England players have any balls

[Bear]

Now I am an England fan in all sports and always have been, and am not writing this as a fan of another country knocking England.

As a fan of England, I have watched many games over the years of all different type of sports but Im talking mainly of football, rugby and cricket. Why do England choke in games when the pressure is on more often than not ?? When the pressure is on, we dont have players that put on the shirt and stand up and be counted and give it their all with the exception of the odd player.

I have virtually given up watching England play football as I end up feeling genuinely angry by the end of the game although the game against Russia was actually worth watching.

The rugby was painful and embarrassing to watch and the cricket was very fustrating with a poor performance and stupid batting selection with Snape being picked ahead of Mascarenhas who can slog them

So what is it that makes England fall over when countries like Australia or Germany will and do fight/battle to grind out the result they need when they need to. Its not even the losing thats the problem, if we battled hard and lost then I would be happy we gave it aur all and lost but more often than not we just flop.

 

[Gilly]

It depends. Sometimes I think 1. we're just not good enough or 2. the individuals are talented but don't have the fight in them.

John Terry, Martin Johnson, Kevin Pietersen. You can tell they have the fire in their belly.

 

[The Running Man]

3, we're not as good as we think we are.

we are a small rich country.

the people who want to play Tennis, or Football do so because they can and because they want to.

The average Brazilian kid will come from a poor background, have to toil each day, play football with bare feet on bad floors, and realistically have no other way out.

so on one hand you have Tin Henman, the rich blighter who could and on the other some brazilian who has had t strive their whole life to break away from street thuggery etc...

(extreme example, but im trying to point out that we have it relatively cushty, without any real pressure to suceed, wheras those from other less fortunate places show so much more character and determination that it is no wonder that we dont conquer all on the world stage, despite being English!)

 

[Gilly]

Then explain to me how Italy, Germany, etc. are always better than us. How the Aussies have had cricket sorted for so long...

 

[The Running Man]

Then explain to me how Italy, Germany, etc. are always better than us. How the Aussies have had cricket sorted for so long...

always better than us? Well the aussies are only good at cricket so it gets a lot of national focus. Italy mainly good at football, as are germany.

We do tend to spreadh ourselves a bit thin in thinking that we can compete internationally in Cricket, Tennis, Rugby, Football, Motorsport, plus A.N.E.Other Sport. We have a small population of underachievers.

we ahve a poor climate, no real "need to suceed" and therefore suck, despite heavy expectations.

 

[Gilly]

The Aussies are only good at cricket?

Try telling that to their rugby team.

 

[SteveOBHave]

The Aussies are only good at cricket?

Try telling that to their rugby team.

Aye - The Wallabies are machines.

 

[StooM]

The biggest single issue I think sportsmen (and women) from this country have is that they believe that they have a god given right to win and thus take the foot off the gas.

Now I dont for one second believe this is the fault of the particular person, rather the attitude of the media/fans/environment around them and this rubs off on them over time.

The press (with whom I have a particular dislike for various reasons) hold far too much sway on some subjects - One thing I have really noticed lately (probably with all the high profile sporting events on lately) is how negative they are about everything. This has a much larger effect on people than is widely accepted.

The british press may pride themselves on their gritty objectiveness with their view on the events of now but whatever happened to a bit of encouragement for the national teams. Their negative approach is rubbing off on every aspect of life nowadays imo.

The rest of the world is going to **** (crime, chavs etc) why do they have to make the same happen to the things that we are supposed to enjoy.

 

[Robert]

always better than us? Well the aussies are only good at cricket so it gets a lot of national focus. Italy mainly good at football, as are germany.

We do tend to spreadh ourselves a bit thin in thinking that we can compete internationally in Cricket, Tennis, Rugby, Football, Motorsport, plus A.N.E.Other Sport. We have a small population of underachievers.

we ahve a poor climate, no real "need to suceed" and therefore suck, despite heavy expectations.

Oh lmao

 

[platypus]

Then explain to me how Italy, Germany, etc. are always better than us. How the Aussies have had cricket sorted for so long...

I think the main problem we have (especially in comparison with Australia) is sports funding. We just don't have enough in this country. Also the climate in this country means athletes will suffer when it comes to certain events, which can be countered through funding. Which we don't have enough of, etc.

As for Football, the removal of the foreigners rule has hurt it greatly.

As someone said, the press in this country is a joke aswell.

 

[dannyjo22]

I think the main problem we have (especially in comparison with Australia) is sports funding. .

America will win the world cup before England or an african nation. The sort out and make sure grass roots is sorted. The training, the coaches, the facillities.

Its getting harder around towns to even find a bit of grass for kids to kick a ball as 5-8 year olds let alone a full pitch.

 

[Gilly]

I said the US would win a WC before 2020. I said that a few years ago, when I heard that proper football was starting to be played in schools.

 

[The Running Man]

America will win the world cup before England or an african nation. The sort out and make sure grass roots is sorted. The training, the coaches, the facillities.

Its getting harder around towns to even find a bit of grass for kids to kick a ball as 5-8 year olds let alone a full pitch.

yea they seem to have the same problem in Brazil, and Argentina, but somehow the kids their provail and go onto become the most sought after players in the world...

it, again, comes down to attitude and level of desparation. The kids here think, oh theres no grass, i CBA, ill go XBOX it up instead, or smokedown someones shed...knowing they can get job seekers, benefits etc.

Did you know Evra used to be involved in street fighting?! yea he had a tough life before he came into football...

 

[HangTime]

The Aussies are only good at cricket?

Try telling that to their rugby team.

They also punch well above their weight (population) in Athletics and Swimming.

Moving back on topic, I don't think you can lay the blame for our failures soley on a lack of bottle. In fact in some ways you can argue that the likes of Beckham are 'over-committed' at times, blinkering him to the fact that he's not fit, or trying to win the game with every pass.

 

[Twinblade]

In fact in some ways you can argue that the likes of Beckham are 'over-committed' at times, blinkering him to the fact that he's not fit, or trying to win the game with every pass.

Beckham is one of the few England players who play for England with pride. Some don't seem to care that they are representing their country and their lack of emotion and grit and determination show this. If more people played their sport with pride and as if they wanted to be out there, then we wouldn't do half as badly as we do. Look at the Scotland v France game for example of a team playing with pride.

Not just down to the players though. It starts at grass roots level. There is not enough emphasis on sport in schools and therefore children aren't given the training and support they need to help them recognise a talent that they have. The government dont help to support this either. A vast majority of gifted sports children are from families that cannot support them financially, and therefore they give up.

Furthermore, the coaching in England is tactically inept compared to other countries. We dont train players properly, especially in football. Children should be encouraged to express themselves on the pitch, and learn to want the ball and use it. Look at the way the Dutch and brazillians teach their youngsters to play football. Brazillians use tennis balls to learn to play close control football.

 

[dannyjo22]

Beckham is one of the few England players who play for England with pride.

Only at the start and that game against greece, then he seemed to just go through the motions for years until he was dropped. Then he realised what it meant and what he had lost.

The trouble with England and lots of international teams is it's 2nd rate football. Most can't be bothered with friendlies and find any old excuse to not play. It didnt take Rooney long to lose the desire of playing for england after plying his trade alongside a team of class players and passers. Then turn up for england and look up for the long ball. Maybe it was different when he played for everton, playing then for england was a step up.

It can't be any coincidence that players like Healey and Mcfadden star at international level but look average plodders in league football.

To be honest I think if I was a player on 130k per week playing for a top 4 club, I would find it hard coming back down to earth having to play with a team of players playing out of position chasing punted balls and knock downs The fickle press and most of all fickle england fans. I think i'd rather have summers off and prelong my club career.

 

[C64]

Because world cup after world cup we have bad luck and our best players get injured.In 1990 we pretty much had an uninterrupted squad and hey we almost won it.Whens the last time you saw germany or an italy brazil win anything with key players injured and not in the tournament.
Another excuse is fitness levels as i don't think our squad arrives at tournaments as fit as other squads
our players drink do drugs eat bad food other countries do not,they arrive in perfect condition.
By the time we reach the third games our players usually look tired and shot with nothing more to give.

Until the silly f.a takes tournaments seriously and changes the start/end of the premiership so they get a longer rest/organization before tournaments start we won't win a thing.

 

[Gilly]

Only at the start and that game against greece, then he seemed to just go through the motions for years until he was dropped. Then he realised what it meant and what he had lost.

I don't think so. He still had drive behind him he just lost his way. Tried constantly playing multiple positions, etc.

Because world cup after world cup we have bad luck and our best players get injured.

All the other countries have to deal with the same thing.

In 1990 we pretty much had an uninterrupted squad and hey we almost won it.

And hey we had a decent manager.

 

[C64]

We can compare ourselves to holland, now they are underachievers always have a fantastic squad yet fail miserably same as spain so we have to maybe start pointing the finger at desire and management.
I still think we always seem to enter tournaments with our best hopes not playing though or out injured early and missing the knockout stages.I'd like to see brazil without ronaldinho and kaka or italy without
Andrea Pirlo & Gennaro Gattuso.

 

[regimentaldj]

Easy to moan about Kids not playing sport when they are young. But where is the support for the youngsters in the UK? Go to any highschool/college game in the US and hundreds to thousands turn up. There is very little support this side of the Atlantic for any non-professional/school sport matches.

The states are of course assisted by forcing players to go to college to play professionally. And to do that here we would need to have a few more sport scholarships available