Klinsmann recognised that the way forward was to have fitter, faster and more hardworking players who were more comfortable in possession anywhere on the pitch, players who could also interchange positions seemingly at will, surely there is no better way to defend than to dominate possession and dictate the pace of a game.
This idea was bought into by most of the German academies and they now seem to be reaping the rewards. This overhaul has seen the likes of Mesut Ozil flourish, whereas before German coaches tended to look towards powerhouse midfielders such as Michael Ballack, not to dissimilar to English coaches. Using this England could prosper if the age old attitude in England that from a young age players seem to be judged on their physical ability and not technical was dropped.
We have young players such as Jack Wilshere and Tom Cleverley who seem much more comfortable in possession than the midfielders of the ‘golden generation’, neither falling into the powerhouse category. Surely the competition level in the Premier League is an ideal breeding ground for our talent to prosper in with its high tempo, end to end matches. What we should aim to do is combine the tempo with possession, as the Spanish and German national teams seem to be able to do so comfortably.
Another argument could be made towards the English youth systems as La Liga, which is rated as highly as the Premier League, equally has a growing number of foreign players in their team but obviously the Spanish national team is the best that the world has ever seen.
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But, when you look at the Spanish team there are only a few players that aren’t actually players of the El Classico derby. And even fewer that haven’t, at some point, been on the books of the big two in La Liga.
Many of the Spanish players were brought through the youth systems at Barcelona or Real Madrid from a very young age, looking at different skills from that of the typical English coach, with elegance and ability coming more important than physique and power. And that is a totally different contrast to that of the English games with only a few of the English national players actually getting brought through the top clubs youth systems.
Nowadays it isn’t uncommon for English players having to make a name for themselves in the lower leagues before getting signed by one of the top clubs, but even then they struggle for first team football and only a few break through.
For instance, Nick Powell made himself heard in the bottom league of English football at Crewe and was snapped up by Manchester United for a high fee at the age of 18. But whether he will get first team football will be hard to tell and therefore whether the player will grow to his full potential.
But what is clear is that England need to pour a lot of time and resources into developing youngsters if they are to have any more success at the big stage. And should follow the lead of such countries like Spain, Holland and Germany who seem to do this so well and carry on producing the world’s best players.
Twitter: @tom_veitch
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