Much has been made of the fact that during Italy’s schooling of England in the quarter-finals of Euro 2012, our most frequent passing combination was Joe Hart to substitute Andy Carroll. In a game controlled by the wonderful passing and finesse of Andrea Pirlo, this statistic has been pointed to as emblematic of everything wrong with the England national team and the ‘outdated’ English style of football in general.
Following the dominance of Spain and Barcelona at international and club level in recent years, it seems the British public has become enamoured with the diminutive, flamboyant and downright un-English passing game demonstrated so effectively by the likes of Xavi and Andres Iniesta. We stare on enviously at these graceful little Europeans, teased by their countless trophies and perfectly maintained gelled quiffs whilst at the same time despairing at another long ball driven downfield towards the less-than perfectly maintained hairdo of Wayne Rooney.
We drool over players like David Silva and Juan Mata, who bring their continental panache to our very shores. So close, almost close enough to touch, yet, as another late Scott Parker tackle goes flying in on their fragile ankles, we realise it is so very very far.
Tiki-taka has knocked the Englishness out of England. Once the most powerful nation on Earth, we have traditionally been criticised for maintaining the arrogance and haughtiness which we alone feel is deserved. “The English way is the best way” has been the prevailing attitude for almost all areas of life for hundreds of years and this includes football, in which there was a belief that no-one can match the physicality and determination of the English. This thought lasted far longer than it should have and was always going to come crashing down, but it has crashed too far down. The self-belief has gone from English football, replaced by the voyeuristic, desperate attitude so prevalent today. We no longer want England; we want a Spanish England – Inglaterra, if you will. Where has the pride gone?
This widespread shame can not only be seen in the fans, it’s blatantly obvious that the players feel it too. The defeat to Italy was cowardly and devoid of any passion. The word ‘Brave’ is thrown about the press on a far too frequent level, and refusal to leave our half and subsequent penalty-shootout loss was anything but ‘Brave’, despite what tabloid journalists would have you believe. It was spinelessness which cost England and embarrassed the nation not just in the Italy game but also against France and Ukraine. Italy, without their chief centre-back Giorgio Chiellini, were there for the taking. Instead of Hodgson basing his entire game-plan on stopping Italy, he could have shown traditional English gumption and started with width instead of tucking the wide men in to the middle to counteract the narrow Italian central quartet and looked to get crosses in for Carroll, the man who Chiellini would have been marking. But no, Carroll started on the bench and Milner and Young were essentially central midfielders. There’s being hard to break down, and then there’s being cowardly, Roy. Hodgson feared Italy (and France and Ukraine for that matter) to an excessive and embarrassing level.
I, for one, would much rather we went out to impose the English game upon our opponents. Rather than trying to imitate the Spanish by getting Gareth Southgate to change grass-roots football to a more “technically conducive environment” and chasing Italians with fear in our hearts, let’s revive that “Up and at ‘em!” spirit! Yes, it hasn’t won us anything for over 40 years. Yes, it isn’t likely to win us anything for another 40 years. And yes, getting passed off the pitch by elegant Snape-lookalikes will be excruciating to watch. It will, however, be a damn sight less excruciating if we went out having represented OUR country and OUR principles. For the moment, no-one is going to out-play Spain or Barcelona, barring a Chelsea-esque run of luck of course. I ask you English readers out there, what would you rather – shameful and gutless penalty-shootout defeat, or a glorious attempt at imposing traditional English values (Andy Carroll’s elbows) upon those smug, wealthy continental passing angels? We’d lose, sure. But, as an Englishman, I would rather lose with my head held high and my opponents bruised than in the way we lost to Italy this summer.
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I’m sorry, but how exactly is losing 3-0 every game to mediocre opposition because we are playing outdated tactics that don’t work anymore going to restore confidence in the national team? And if we lose every major game because we’re playing outdated football just because it’s “English”, why are the players going to start playing with more heart? After a string of defeats they’ll lose all enthusiasm entirely, because who wants to play for a team that is doomed to under-performing?
This is all like saying that when the Allies’ progress stalled during the Battle of the Bulge in 1940, they should have responded by bringing back the tactics of Agincourt, 500 years earlier. Sure, Hitler would’ve won and conquered Europe, but we would have lost nobly and that would make decades of Nazi oppression acceptable. Right?
Hi there, I understand what you are saying but I don’t think you have completely grasped my point. I am not saying that I would rather we lost 3-0 to mediocre opposition than winning, not at all. I am saying that I do not believe we will ever be able to compete with the Spanish, for example, at their style of football. As I said in the article, it seems like the whole of England wants us to play the tiki-taka way but we’re never going to be able to play it as well as the Spaniards. Therefore, if we tried to out-tiki-taka Spain, we would lose. My main point was that I would rather we lost with a bit of pride than like this. If development would ever actually bring about success (like you clearly believe, each to their own etc…) then of course this would be preferrable – obviously I’d put winning ahead of losing 100% of the time. Using your example, military developments helped us win the Battle of Britain and thus deciding to try and tactically and mechanically progress was 100% the right thing to do. Churchill clearly believed trying to develop would be beneficial and was proved right. I am saying that trying to develop/imitate the Spanish like most want us to try and do would NOT be beneficial. We’re going down anyway, let’s do it with some pride. This brings me on to your next point – why would the players be enthusiastic about playing in a team destined to lose? Would you not rather attack the opposition and go for it than sit back in the cowardly way we did this summer. I think it’s fair to say that Wayne Rooney would have preferred it, for one. I’d much rather we tore into Italy, with the off-chance of nicking a goal or two than losing in the cowardly way we did this summer and I think this would be the same for a considerable amount of professional players in England.
A naive view on football. Liverpool UTD Forest, Villa played total football when we all dominated europe for a decade. It was a mix of quality british players who could play on the ground with one touch passing and also revert to plan B in the air when playing italian sides. Paisley and Clough played 3 dimensional football and I actually think that those sides would give Barca a run for there money because we could get physical when required and then leave opponents chasing shadows.
Hodgson had a few weeks to prepare. Of course he went with compact and hard to break down. In addition we had a severe injury list and new blood coming through and we still got to the quarters as jamie caragher put it in the worlds toughest football competition. Nothing cowardly about defending for your life and running until you drop with exhaustion
Stupid Article
I suppose there is something to be said for sticking to your guns. But the problem is that, metaphorically, you’re still firing a muzzle-loading musket while Italy, Spain et al are wielding ICBMs. You’d be like the icky French in WWI sending thousands of men on valiant bayonet charges out of the trenches to be mown down by machine gun fire. You’d display plenty of pride, power and pace, but realistically you wouldn’t be able to compete with teams that simply have exponentially more technical ability and tactical knowledge. Miracles occasionally happen, but nobody wins the World Cup on miracles.
You can keep on losing while maintaining good, old English values in your football, but I think most people would rather win…