Weekend Reading: It’s not all McClaren’s fault, you know

November 24th, 2007 | by: Matthew |

In today’s Times, Tony Cascarino condemns Steve McClaren in terms so damning it’s a wonder the man isn’t the latest incarnation of Satan. He defends England’s players, the English youth coaching system, foreign players in the Premier League, and lays the blame for England’s failure to qualify, in its entirity, at McClaren’s feet. He makes a good point, but it’s worth some consideration before we accept it.

Sven-Gorran Eriksson is a superb manager by any estimation, as shown by his transformation (albeit with a hefty cash injection) of a moribund Manchester City into potential big-four contenders. He proved incapable of turning England into a winning team, and during the last World Cup campaign the team didn’t really look world-beating either. He did a damn sight better than McClaren, which demonstrates the difference a great manager can make to a team at any level, but surely there has to be some problem with the skill-level of English players in general.

I agree with Cascarino that youth coaching in England is a lot better today than it was even ten years ago. It is indisputable that young English players receive better training now than they used to. That’s not to say that English youth coaching is up to scratch with the rest of the world, but I’ll leave that for another time. Where I really break with Cascarino is here:

“…it’s logical that only a couple of English players will prove good enough for Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United or Liverpool. Because only a couple of Spanish players are good enough for these clubs, only a couple of French players, only the very best from Africa. England have only one Wayne Rooney – but Spain have just the one Cesc Fàbregas, Argentina only a single Lionel Messi. Manchester United produced a remarkable crop of kids in the 1990s, but that was a freak generation.”

This is true. The thing is, though, that the Spanish national team can call on a host of skilled players from La Liga, just as the Italians can call on a host of players from Serie A. Are there any English players in any of those leagues today? The Premier League might only have the very best foreigners, but there are still plenty of others playing top-flight football in Spain and Italy who play in their national sides alongside “the very best” who play in the Premiership. Only a few English players play for England’s top clubs, but no English players play for any of Spain or Italy’s top clubs.

What does this international deficiency mean? It meant that when Ashley Cole was injured for the match against Croatia, England were forced to rely on the (let’s be honest here) Championship-standard Wayne Bridge. When Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen were injured, the only even remotely world-class striker left was Peter Crouch, a perpetual late-game subsitute at Liverpool. His only potential partner in the attack was Jermaine Defoe, Tottenham’s third-choice striker and one who has barely played a game this season. Until English players are good enough – and cheap enough – for them to play in Italy and Spain in large numbers, England will continue to have a serious problem with maintaing depth in the international squad.

Much as I’ve criticised English youth coaching in the past, there are a lot of reasons to be positive about young English footballers: check out England’s under-21s, who have been nigh-on unbeatable in their qualifying campaign so far. I have no doubt that England will never have a problem finding 11 world-class footballers for the national team; the question that remains to be answered is where the second-choice 11 will come from and at which clubs they will learn their craft. On current evidence, the answer is more likely to be Norwich City than Real Madrid.

More reading for the terminally-compulsive link clicker:

The Times’s analysis of England’s selection problems reflects pretty much what I just said – who do we have when Rio Ferdinand and John Terry are injured? How bad do things have to be when our best replacements are Sol Campbell and Joleon Lescott – one virtually a geriatric, the other playing like one?

Sid Lowe has an excellent run-down of Fabio Capello’s pluses as the Italian becomes one of the pundits’ favourites to take on the England job. The Times reckons that Capello is a shoo-in for the job.

The Guardian canvasses 10 Premier League managers for their view on the next England manager. Weirdly, Derby County’s Billy Davies makes the most sensible comment:

I think it is important to understand the culture, the environment, the fans and the way they think. I still think the England job is a great job but a really difficult one and it is getting harder because of unrealistic expectation. Croatia are a good side and yet some people think they have a divine right to beat them. Why?”

Case in point: as far as I can tell, my match preview last week was the only one on the Internet (at least, the only one turned up by Google) that gave any analysis whatsoever of Croatia’s team selection. I got the impression when researching mine that none of the national newspapers (or major websites) seemed to care who Croatia fielded, since such a small and insignificant country couldn’t possibly threaten England’s god-given right to be in Euro 2008. Maybe I’m reading too much into it.

Then, depressing news: The Times runs down just who is likely to be in England’s qualifying group for the 2010 World Cup. It doesn’t make pleasant reading.

Ever wanted to know how many times McClaren changed the team lineup while England manager? The Times has you covered.

And that’s it for the weekend. Enjoy.

Tags: Euro 2008 Qualifiers, Group B

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Comments

By Learn Spanish » Weekend Reading: It’s not all McClaren’s fault, you know | November 24th, 2007 at 7:30 pm

[...] You can read the rest of this blog post by going to the original source, here [...]

By Blog de Jogos de PC! » Weekend Reading: It’s not all McClaren’s fault, you know | November 24th, 2007 at 7:36 pm

[...] JackHammer wrote an interesting post today!.Here’s a quick excerptWeekend Reading: It’s not all McClaren’s fault, you know By: Matthew | November 24th, 2007 | No Comments » In today’s Times, Tony Cascarino condemns Steve McClaren in terms so damning it’s a wonder the man isn’t the latest incarnation of Satan. He defends England’s players, the English youth coaching system, foreign players in the Premier League, and lays the blame for England’s failure to qualify, in its entirity, at McClaren’s feet. He makes a good point, but it’s worth some consideration bef [...]

By aamutar » Weekend Reading: It’s not all McClaren’s fault, you know | November 24th, 2007 at 7:56 pm

[...] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerptWeekend Reading: It’s not all McClaren’s fault, you know By: Matthew | November 24th, 2007 | No Comments » In today’s Times, Tony Cascarino condemns Steve McClaren in terms so damning it’s a wonder the man isn’t the latest incarnation of Satan. He defends England’s players, the English youth coaching system, foreign players in the Premier League, and lays the blame for England’s failure to qualify, in its entirity, at McClaren’s feet. He makes a good point, but it’s worth some consideration bef [...]

By Footballers-Life.com | November 24th, 2007 at 8:25 pm

About english players … whay they dont play in any top team in italy or spain … what i think it is becaue u got in england such a great league and big money that they don’t need to leave UK. Anyway a lot of times for example Bracelona was asking for a Lampard but they never let them go because in England managers want to keep english players no matter what price is

Posted from United Kingdom

By khandni » Weekend Reading: It’s not all McClaren’s fault, you know | November 24th, 2007 at 9:07 pm

[...] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerptWhen Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen were injured, the only even remotely world-class striker left was Peter Crouch, a perpetual late-game subsitute at Liverpool. His only potential partner in the attack was Jermaine Defoe, Tottenham’s … [...]

By truhorizon » Weekend Reading: It’s not all McClaren’s fault, you know | November 25th, 2007 at 3:33 am

[...] You can read the full story here [...]

By England Gambler | November 25th, 2007 at 2:21 pm

Interesting read, thanks.

I’m not entirely sure why English players are more likely to stay in the English league. But you have to look at what happened to David Beckham, Michael Owen, Steve McManaman when they left to go to Spain (Real Madrid). I think only Beckham was the only one who got a decent spell in the starting line-up and still he was openly criticised for a lot of these performances.

Whether this is putting players off, I’m not sure. Maybe the English scouting system is better than other nations’, so we can pluck young talent from all over the world. Or maybe the players know they are playing in the best league in the world and it would be a stupid decision to leave it.

Posted from United Kingdom

By Beckham Says It’s Not the Foreigners’ Fault - Europe - The Offside - Soccer News and Opinion from leagues around the world | November 25th, 2007 at 3:37 pm

[...] My brother-in-blog Matthew has also covered this topic over at the England page at World Cup Blog, so be sure to stop by and read his thoughts. . . Words of wisdom from our Becks. And he’s [...]

Posted from United States

By katzing | November 25th, 2007 at 3:46 pm

in england case not to qualify comes from their keeper carson.a big game like this such mistake shouldn’t have occur.come to think of defence line,it was very pourous.midfield is a bit ok.england striker never look danerous at all to their opponents penalty area.for the coach,i don’t know what to say.he did his best in selection but things turn around for worst.im begging any incoming coach not to drop beckcham for his sublime delivery and free-kick.nigeria is now suffering from okocha’s top-notch free-kick.if ever i become coach today,i will call them in my first squad.

Posted from Netherlands

By jeff | November 25th, 2007 at 4:12 pm

Well, I was agreeing with you up until you started name-dropping, comparing players, and spewing disinformation. Let’s be honest here, Ashley Cole is rubbish. I’d take Wayne Bridge over him any day. Cole hasn’t been worth a spot since leaving Arsenal. Peter Crouch a perpetual late-game substitute? Uh, no. He plays in a rotation and actually, if you took the time to look at actual stats or just watch matches, you’d know that Crouch is useless as a late-game sub. He rarely scores unless he starts. Also Michael Owen is far from World Class these days.

McClaren screwed up time and time again. He did so by dropping Beckham. He did so by making Terry captain when the players and fans wanted Gerrard. He did so by misusing and mistreating Jamie Carragher which lead to the centre back quitting. He did so by letting Sir Alex tell him which of his players were available and which were not. And last but not least, he did so because he used outdated tactics basking in a swamp of reservation. He took no risks and therefore reaped no rewards. He’s a talentless muppet who hasn’t the vision nor balls to be a great manager, which lead him to be outclassed at every turn of the corner.

Sure, England has it’s issues, but getting a competent manager would at least mask some of them.

Posted from United States

By sweetbands » Blog Archive » Weekend Reading: It’s not all McClaren’s fault, you know | November 25th, 2007 at 4:39 pm

[...] story here Author Kelvin Carpenter Comments [...]

By Matthew | November 25th, 2007 at 7:01 pm

Hiya Jeff,

Have to disagree with you on Wayne Bridge: Ashley Cole played well in several games during this qualification campaign, while Wayne Bridge, in my estimation, looked out of his depth. Still, I see where you’re coming from, and opinions of individual defenders can be pretty subjective. I’ll withold judgment on Bridge until he’s played for England a bit more.

I also disagree with you on Peter Crouch. He’s only started in 68% of Liverpool’s league games since he joined the club (BBC Stats and Soccerbase) and this season (FootballAnorak, 4thegame, SoccerBase) he’s played just 7 league games, starting in 2, coming on as a subsitute in 5, and scoring a grand total of zero (although does have one assist this season against Fulham). Maybe “perpetual late-game subsitute” was a bit harsh, but certainly not “perpetual subsitute” – the man has only played a full ninety minutes once in the league this season, against Fulham. In any case, he’s hardly a top-rate striker playing regularly in world-class fixtures. Even if you add his appearances in the Champions League to his Premier League total, the total this season is just 14 appearances and three goals, two of which were during the freakish 8-0 win over Besiktas, the other at Toulouse. Last season is, if anything, more telling, especially when you consider that Liverpool were without Crouch’s biggest competition, Fernando Torres: Crouch made just 19 league appearances, 13 as a substitute. Compare this to the rest of the squad:

Carragher: 35 league starts, 1 as a substitute
Gerrard: 36 league starts, 1 as a substitute
Alonso: 32 league starts, 3 as a substitute
Riise: 33 league starts, 4 as a substitute
Kuyt: 34 league starts, 7 as a substitute

Crouch actually comes behind Jermain Pennant in appearances, with the latter making a total of 34 appearances, only 14 as a substitute.

Rafa Benitez operates a rotation system, but that didn’t stop him from playing a host of other players far more often than Peter Crouch, and playing Crouch (both this season and last season) primarily as a substitute rather than a starter. Even then, boatloads of other, arguably inferior, players were chosen more regularly than Crouch and given more starts than Crouch – 11 other Liverpool players made more starting appearances (not even counting substitute appearances) than Crouch last season. That’s not a rotation system: it’s Rafa Benitez not wanting to play Peter Crouch.

Michael Owen may have the natural fitness of a pensioner but he plays for Newcastle whenever he’s fit and he scores regularly whenever he’s fit. The same can’t be said for Peter Crouch.

All that said, I can’t disagree with you on McClaren, although I’m not enough of a Gerrard fan to think he would have made a better Captain than John Terry – I honestly have seen very little evidence of Gerrard’s talent when he’s wearing an England jersey over the past year. Here’s hoping we get Mourinho.

By jeff | November 25th, 2007 at 7:54 pm

A few things, first, you forgot to figure in injuries. Crouch’s availability is certainly affected by injury. He’s missed multiple matches throughout his Liverpool career for both major and minor knocks. Second, using league stats as proof is a waste of time, everyone knows Rafa uses Crouch predominantly in Europe. You can’t bounce back and forth or use part of the whole. Third, he’s probably ‘tied’ with Andriy Voronin as Liverpool’s fourth best forward behind Torres, Kuyt, and Babel, so basically his not starting is most likely best for the club in the end.

Finally, Michael Owen is even more useless than Peter Crouch, and I can’t stand watching Crouchy play. Just in league play alone, Peter Crouch has averaged a goal every 185 minutes the last two seasons. If I would bother to calculate it for every appearance it would be much more often considering he’s scored 11 goals in 20 matches of other competitions opposed to the 9 he has scored in 39 league appearances. Owen on the other hand has averaged a goal every 423 minutes in league play over the last two seasons and though it would increase if you added his one other appearance in a non-league match where he happened to also score, it would still pale in comparison to Crouch, who also has six assists over that period compared to Owen who had zero. No manager in their right mind would start Owen over Crouch at this point. Starting them together would be the most ideal situation, but if Rooney is healthy, Crouch is his proper partner as his output has proved. Owen’s best years appear to be behind him, fit or not.

I really don’t care anyhow, international competition hasn’t been legit since the early nineties. The corruption and greed in the sport has thoroughly destroyed it. The only way it would ever return to legitimacy is if you started cutting off the arms of those who have their grubby little hands in the money pot and that just isn’t going to happen. It ceased to be about the sport and national pride a long time ago.

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