by Joey Davies
@theonejoeydI watched Schalke 04 against Hannover 96 on a Friday night a few weeks back and thoroughly enjoyed it. Great crowd, lively atmosphere, plenty of choreography and creative banners, and the on the pitch action lived up to my hopes.
The home side won 5-4 and while some of the defending was at best questionable in its standard, some of the attacking football was more vibrant, dynamic and skillful than anything I've seen in the Premier League or even La Liga this season.
German football has come a long way. It used to be about ruthless, robotic efficiency. The 1990 and 1996 sides bored its way to major international titles. After humiliations at the 2000 and 2004 European Championships, Jurgen Klinsmann and his then assistant, current Nationalmannschaft head coach Joachim Low, underwent a project aimed at improving the national team's fortunes.
They visited kids in schools and football academies and asked them all what style they would like to see the national team play- the answer was a dynamic, fast-paced technical attacking game. And all levels of German football adopted this blueprint in its coaching, from the children upwards. The results of this project have been there for all to see at the last three or four major tournaments.
Yes, Germany have not won any of them. But they have come remarkably close, and have entertained the footballing fraternity with some exhilarating attacking performances in the process and it won't be long before that brand of football delivers another international trophy to the Vaterland.
All this has occurred while English football and its dinosauric approach lag behind. There is no point building St George's Park if they do not use it in the proper manner. By that I mean the coaching setup- coach the coaches in the right manner. Put talent first- technical ability over physical strength. That is why England cannot challenge for major tournaments because they do not have the technical skills to retain possession and take on the big nations such as Germany, Italy and Spain in a legit footballing contest.
Learn from how German football has evolved from the Dark Ages- decide on a way of playing, bring in coaches who can teach that style and then allow them to coach our young, aspiring coaches so they can teach our youngsters to be artists first- then any ugly bits can be the cherry on top.
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