Now the dust has settled on England’s exit from Euro2012, the time for pragmatism is nigh. Despite exiting on penalties for the 3rd time in 4 major tournament finals, Sunday’s defeat to an average Italian side highlighted just how far England are lagging behind the major footballing nations.
Prior to the game, there were cries of Shakespeare’s “Henry V” from Wayne Rooney but unfortunately, at the hands of Andrea Pirlo, England were forced to endure a night of relentless Roman bombardment, forged in Turin.
Alessandro Diamanti’s spot kick was the final nail in England’s coffin, sending the new-look England packing in all too familiar circumstances. But while no one enjoys penalty heartache, as Paul Hayward pointed out, England’s quarter final exit spells the end of the Chelsea analogy: that you can win a major tournament with guts, defending and luck.
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It closes the door on this chapter of English football and opens a new one, a chapter which gives Roy Hodgson the opportunity to really put his stamp on the national side.
Although the low expectation surrounding England was justified partly by the short time Roy Hodgson had to prepare his England side, many feel this was, ultimately, of an irrelevance. Indeed, Chris Waddle accused England of an inability to pass the ball from A to B. And while this is slightly simplistic, England seem incapable of retaining possession like many of their European counterparts, typified by the fact they enjoyed less than 40% of the ball against the Azzurri in Kiev.
I think it would be unfair to brand players such as Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney and Ashley Young as lacking in ability, however. Many of England’s players are the focal points of some of Europe’s leading club sides, so why is it that they seem incapable of recreating this form for England?
Unfortunately, I believe the nature of British club football is the prime contributor to the stagnation of the England National side, all the way from academy level, right up to the first team.
The Premier League may be the most entertaining league in the world, but it is a league which does not reward possession like La Liga and Serie A. The tempo of league games suits a more direct style of football, as players are rarely given the time to play the sort of football many would like to see. This is exacerbated further by the short-sightedness of many within the domestic sphere. Fans are fickle, owners are ruthless. Gone are the days when managers are allowed time to develop squads on a regular basis, unfortunately, and if success is not instant, the men in charge won’t give you the time of day, if you’ll pardon the pun.
Agree with most of your thoughts, though to call this an average Italian team is off the mark; individually they still have four or five world class talents and collectively they have proven themselves to be quite a unit, looking to control possession and play to win rather than play on the counter and avoid defeat…. I’d say based on their qualifying performance, along with their play this tournament they are a highly impressive Team. I’ve certainly seen many italian teams with bigger names perform alot poorer!
They were awful prior to the tournament and weren’t greatly impressive in the group stages. They certainly aren’t one of the best italian sides of the past, but yes, they have formed an impressive unit.