However, I also knew what NOT to expect of either team- ball control, patience, tactical fluidity, ball retention, ability to pass under pressure and simply being able to trap something other than a bag of cement.
Now the Irish have an excuse. Small pool of talent and limited resources. Yet the most technically sound performer on the night was James McCarthy, whose development under Roberto Martinez at Wigan is a real feather in the Spaniard's cap. The Republic punched above their weight by qualifying for Euro 2012, and if they reach the playoffs for World Cup 2014, they'll have overachieved again, especially with an improving Austria and Sweden in their group.
But England? Given the money the FA has invested in our national game? Whose FA has handed out some of the highest-paid coaching contracts in Europe to the likes of Sven Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello? Which has its own expensive coaching courses and badges? That contains the most economically profitable league on the planet?
There is not a single excuse whatsoever for the consistent failure to produce a national team that can actually construct a watchable brand of football. Instead, what we do see, nearly every England game, is a team attempting to play it, and failing miserably because the cohesion of the players is non-existent and the vast majority of them have not been taught some key attributes in their respective youth systems. They're taught to rigidly stay in their positions. You're a right-back, OK. Don't waver from your position. You're a winger? Oh. Stay on the wing and punt a cross into the box for the target man. Rigid. Zero fluidity, and zero flexibility.
Now I might sound scathing here, but in my humble opinion Roy Hodgson is a footballing dinosaur who has never left the Dark Ages and never will. However he should not be sacked as manager as he is exactly who the FA deserve to have in charge- they are equally prehistoric. What formation did we see on Wednesday? A rigid 4-4-2. Two banks of four. Ancient. Get with the times or disappear. In the recent past, playmakers like Paul Scholes were under-appreciated, and shunted out to the left side of midfield just so the imbalanced pair of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard could both play together. Despite their abilities, only one should have played alongside Scholes in the middle, because it fits the system like a jigsaw. Yet players then were picked on reputation. Today's version of the ginger genius, Jack Wilshere, who missed the Ireland game through injury, is a rare commodity. He has gifted feet, calmness and also a drive to control games. Pep Guardiola is a big fan of the Arsenal midfielder. When Barcelona faced the Gunners in the Champions League a few years back, he sung his praises. Only to add that he had two or three like Wilshere in their youth academy. Because in Spain, plus Germany and the Netherlands, players of his style are not the exception, they're the norm, albeit on varying levels.
Now, we live in a country where a lot of people don't care about the national team. But have you ever wondered why? It would be a complete fantasy to just assume off the bat that it is because they are all too infatuated with pursuing club success. Do you not think that the way our national side plays turns people off too? I watch more exciting football at League One level. But the difference is there, both teams play at high-intensity pace, don't keep possession and give it away, and that is why there is so much action at both ends. When it comes to international football against quality opposition, England don't get the same chances because superior continental opposition will retain it with swagger and nonchalance. An example of this was the Euro 2012 quarter-final against Italy, in which the Azzurri dominated possession 68% to 32% and completed 815 passes to England's 320. It was daylight robbery the game even got to spot-kicks in the first place, and it was one of those occasions that even a shootout exit could not be described by a spin doctor as a hard luck story.And I think this could be why the Premier League seems to have no interest in helping the England team because the 150 mph pace of a Premier League game, while exciting, does not help English players' technical development. Indeed, the skill and talent comes from the foreign recruits. Yet all I hear is recycled UKIP-style rhetoric about how it's all the fault of these foreigners coming over here. No, no, no. It's our own fault for our staggering ineptitude in terms of producing naturally talented footballers. As Jose Mourinho once said 'in England you are taught how to win, in Spain you are taught how to play'- the only aspect of that I would argue with would be to add other European powerhouses to the latter. Here, there's too much of a focus on winning at a young age. Whether it's to please their pressuring parents whom many take youth football far too seriously, who knows, but too many kids are being taught a winning mentality without the skill and technique to go with it. I have seen an under-10s training session before casually on a local football field round the corner from mine. What activity were they doing? Running laps. WITHOUT the ball. At the age of nine. Jesus. To sum it up, we instruct our kids to be artisans and not artists.
Now, I'm not much of an influence here, and am just a sports journalist writing and commenting for a local radio station. But I think I have a grasp of how we can solve the problem, but it will require many people to put their egos to one side and unite in terms of a common cause. Just changing the age of which to change from smaller games to full sized pitches is not enough. Radical changes are required. Germany for years were like England- powerful, physical and robotic, just with remarkable mental strength and belief, as well as making penalty-taking an art form. When that belief elapsed, their results began to decline sharply, culminating in an appalling Euro 2000 where Portugal tore them to shreds and even Kevin Keegan's English boys scored a win over them. The champions of Euro 96 had put up a horrendous defence of their crown.
Yet what the DFB did, was study, analyse and see where they were going wrong and now they are reaping the benefits. Players like Mario Gotze, Marco Reus, Toni Kroos, Thomas Muller, these players love the ball. It sticks to them like a magnet. When marked tightly they will find their way out, and they will pass the ball with composure. Yet all it took to change their national style was everybody pulling in the same direction. A perfect example of how far the game has progressed in the Vaterland was the fantastic spectacle that was the Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund last week- two immensely talented teams with the ability to be constructive in their offensive game.Now if I was England coach, the first thing I would be doing would be visiting as many academies as possible. Given the Premier League clubs tend to be in it for themselves, because it's all about the money staying up brings, and playing 'survival football' rather than develop young talent, I am not certain I would be welcome at these abodes. But what I would do at the academies if allowed would be to carry out some Q & A sessions and workshops. I would simply ask the players and coaches to write down on flip charts:
- How would you like the national team to play?
- How would you think the rest of the world would like to see you play?
- How would you think the English public would like to see you play?
These answers would enable us to create a national philosophy of football- our own identity, a way of playing that all of our young players from their primary school days up could be enriched in. If I was a young player, I would want to be part of a pro-active, technical style of play with emphasis on patient possession and fluidity, but counter-attacking with pace. A bit more in common with the Dutch and Germans than tiki-taka. I am certain though that a similar way of playing would be the answer drawn up if we presented these workshops. Jurgen Klinsmann and Joachim Low carried out similar research as the German restructure was progressing.
However the problem in this country is getting both the FA and all of the clubs in the top two divisions to sign up to it, because the egos are too big. The money matters too much to some people. Even though in the long term the improved quality of English academy products could enable them still to be sold on for much bigger fees than the overpriced, mostly overrated homegrown players that are on the market nowadays. Having our own philosophy and all of our clubs complying to teach it makes it easier for our youngsters to be comfortable with it, and can enable the national side and club teams to resemble each other like twins. An identity we could all be proud of. That would be a true legacy for St George's Park.But it's getting there that is the problem. There'd be short term pain due to the transition. But the long term rewards could be ever so rich. As an Englishman, there's a side of me that always roots for the national team at major competitions- until I watch us play. And it's my firm belief that many others feel the same. It's not just a 'we're not English, we're scouse' or 'People's Republik of Mancunia' thing, as some Liverpool and Manchester United fans have a fondness of retorting when queried as to why they dislike the Three Lions. It's a lack of quality, identity and pride.
I'd love to, in 10 years time at the 2022 Qatar World Cup (don't get me started on that topic) be able to watch an England team that is interchangeable, skillful, composed and pro-active, and to have the ball stick to them like glue. But unfortunately, unless we initiate a revolution, and pile on the pressure for those who run our game, we'll still be seeing the same old giving the ball away cheaply, poor first touches, sprinting around like headless chickens and long hoofs into touch, no matter which manager is being blamed for the team's failings at the time. Steve McClaren was savaged for not qualifying for Euro 2008, yet he is saying the exact same things I am.So let's get the following: the FA, the Premier League, the academy directors of all of the top two divisions' clubs, the PFA and the LMA to sit down together and unite. Let's build something exciting and let's get out of this Jurassic era of English football and create a new, innovative one.
