Big Fat Sam's England

Everybody's view changed of the national squad post South Africa and the end of the so called golden generation

Truly feel that there is less expectation, less pressure and now is the time to build for the future

 

Hmmmm...if you've got the time takes a listen to these two programmes by the, very funny, Ellis James. He discusses that fantastic point that Wales' rise in football was slightly tarnished by their Euro grouping with us in the finals: the focus was no longer "...what a fantastic achievement..." to "...who will win the Battle of Britain..." I imagine the Jocks are going through *exactly* the same thing now.

I think the PL is a cancer for the development of English football (sorry) and that "INGERLUND" is the same for the development of British (and Irish?) football.

 

You what? ... I can and I will. FFS the whole of Iceland has the population of Basildon!

 

...and their women are better looking.

 

Something that never ceases to amaze me whenever Rooney's in a white shirt: how "not very good" he is with a dead ball. I suppose it results from watching too much Beckham over the years.

 

England has the highest paying domestic league in the world and the players can't speak a word of other languages. Of course they are 1000 times more likely to play domestically than a well educated Icelandic player in a league that pays buttons. What is your point? Do you have one?

 

I'm not sure I've ever been to Basildon, but I can absolutely confirm that the overwhelming majority of Icelandic women are utter hedge pigs.

 

I think he just proved my point for me beautifully.

 

I know the focus of the argument I'm about to make is more on u21 tournaments rather than friendlies and qualifiers but... Haven't most people been in agreement that the likes of Rashford should indeed be gaining experience in the u21s?

Yes England are boring and the game was **** and Rashford is probably too good for that level but I've no problem with him and others playing in the lower age groups for a while.

Of course it needs to be more than just one star, it has to be a consistent process to not push our kids too soon.

It's a bit like Watford of old. We don't want to play these guys because we have to, we need to play them when they're ready.

 

He got three last night with BSA in the stands watching.

 

Yes hence the discussion.

Wasn't too long ago people wanted to see players kept on in the u21s (although as I said, largely in tournament football) to gain experience, like the German and Spanish teams. He got 90 minutes against Norway, would he be getting 90 minutes in the Seniors? No.

Does he have a chance to play competitive tournament football this season? Yes, at the under 21s, so keep him and that team together. Our senior squad, as boring and frustrating as they are, should be able to make sure he gets the opportunity to play in 2018.

 

There should be rotation. Keep Rashford in the U21s, call him up for games against the weaker countries or friendlies. Slowly introduce him to the senior team.

 

Not into coaching like yourself, but whenever I have seen Rashford play for England, he has seemed to have done really well, and usually better than just about everyone else.

Why keep him out the team? I would have though an introduction against the weaker teams (and they are all pretty weak, in our qualification group) would have been ideal.

 

Good call. Talking of friendlies - why didn't 'we' have any/one this international break?

 

Would he be starting for the main England team though? Doubtful.

The answer would be, which would be more beneficial to a players development:

A) Train with the senior team but get limited/if any game-time
B) Train with the U21s (bearing in mind most of them are established PL players themselves still, and all older than Rashford) but play a full 90 or a large proportion of the match.

For this international break, i'd say option B would be the most beneficial, aka the right choice. But it needs to be carefully managed, for the qualifying games against Malta and Lithuania, i'd call him up but start him, then he's training at a higher level and playing in a highly competitive tournament (against weak opposition which would suit him well). Then in friendlies against some better teams, call him up and play him (that way he's being tested at a higher level which will further his development) whilst acclimatizing to the demands and needs of international football (as well as learning/socializing with his team-mates). A slow introduction until he becomes a fully fledged member of the England team. That's (in my opinion anyway) the right way of doing things, it needs communication, planning and an understanding of what's best for our players. Which means we have no chance of doing it properly.

 

Big Sam felt the time was better spent on the training field working with the squad ... which is fair enough IMO.

Personally I'm very happy with his appointment, Woy could never command the needed respect for the job but Sam has that in spades.

 

I thought that as well but as soon as he said he can't tell Rooney where to play in the formation it became clear he is too small for the job. He's Hodgson mark 2. Rooney is a heavy weight around this team in terms of development potential and nobody has the courage to cut him out.

 

He just reached that point in his career where he was happy to take a big wage for just saying yes to whatever the FA ask him.

Respect? Nah.

 

Tell anyone over the age of 24 to **** off and throw the youngsters in - get them playing together and then you have a team that can play together for the next 8 years.

Stick Rashford in now

 

Yes, I understand all that and it makes sense even to me.

Which is why I would never have been a coach.

I'd stick Rashford in to give the others a kick up the arse. i think he should have trained with the ful;l squad and then played on Sunday. Then played at least one of the next two games too. As for training with top players, he does that week in week out at Man U and under a good coach, at least i think Mourhino is better than Southgate.

 

It doesn't really matter where he plays for a couple of days when his day-to-day is with Mourinho and Man Utd.

He's not starting every game for Man Utd yet mainly, again, due to the Rooney factor. Once he is and performing well, he should play for England. Until then, he should stay with the U21's with the rest of the Premier League reserves.

 

Big Sam'll sort it so don't judge him on his selection for one game ...

However it needs to be organic and gradual, only recently have we switched to the tried and tested German method of using selected under 21's within the 1st team squad for training and non critical games, slowly bringing them up to speed. It's pretty much what we did with Kane, it works and it's how we must continue ... And don't worry, Rashford will get his chance.

 

He's not an owl though.

 

The "Year Zero" approach is very tempting after the (non)performances in Brazil and France, but do you think a winning team could be built in two years?

 

That's always been the problem with England, too short sighted. If we build a squad of 24 and below players then they should have enough to qualify from the group, they will be up to 26 in WC2018, if they get to the knock phase then that would be progress and experience for them; then the real goals can be Euro 2020 and WC2022 when the majority will be coming up to their prime.

However the issue is grassroots. I only coach rugby to 8-11 year olds so I don't know what the FAs plan but I do know the RFU has a very detailed progression plan from 6-18 year olds where different facets of the game are introduced bit by bit. Also it is not allowed for any age group below the age of 13 to participate in a league and tournaments are simply a round robin system where no awards are given. This is to educate the youngsters in the technicalities of the game rather than worry about winning because for those kids it shouldn't really matter.

 

Yes, a good enough team to qualify and then a good enough team to get some tournament experience in the WC 2018. We have a fairly young team anyway, we only need a 2/3 more with another 2/3 on the fringes. Then look towards 2020 and 2022.

 

30 years of hurt will be 100 soon enough.

 

I'm 100% with you. I'm an ex- 'minis' and 'midis' coach (tow cohorts up to the 'full' game). Don't forget that the RFU introduced the whole 'continuum' of development because of the failure of the national squad on the world stage (sound familiar?). Also the 'continuum' looked at both developing players skills and abilities and, perhaps more importantly, that of their coaching staff.

[anecdote] Brendan Ventner's son was in the same team as my son. He (Brendan) was absolutely gob-smacked by the minis, midis set-up and route to the game. It was rumoured that his return to SA from Sarries was, in part, to take this back to SA. [/anecdote]

 

Over the last 5 - 10 years there has definitely been a new, changed, refreshing and positive approach to sport in the UK. I see it with the RFU, we saw it with improving Olympic results since the 1996 disaster, even in tennis at the US open where we had 4 singles players in the 4th round. The only sport where improvement is not being made is football.

 

If only football could get some sort of funding ?

 

How about that, 'Mr Honest' is as crooked as all the rest.

He'll survive as there's no one else, but make no mistake, it's really quite shockingly bad.

 

More to come by the sounds of it. Given the Telegraph have been sniffing around third-party ownership and other such esoteric transfer arrangements, I just hope we've kept our noses clean...

 

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CtTzI9AXgAAQwpw.jpg

 

I have only read the comments he has made in isolation rather than the full newspaper article, but it doesn't look like he has broken any rules or laws on face value. He can talk about, or enter into agreements to assist 3rd Parties get round the ownership rules, but unless he actually goes as far as doing it, then he commits no more of an offence than the undercover bogus businessmen setting it all up in the first place.

So he'll probably get away with it.