Originally posted by gunners
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You need to get away from this, trying to emulate Spain thing, that its some kind of phase, cause its simply a case of trying to improve the way you distribute the ball in order to retain possession, which is essential at this level.
As I say, its not about trying to copy another teams style, as most!! European, South American teams play a short patient passing game, have been doing for years, its just that Spain have an abundance of CM who can all pass the ball, and because they have been successful recently, people use them as a point of reference, although when all said and done, its nothing to do with Spain, its simply HL's how important technique is, ability to keep the ball.
Where has (fast, direct, effective) football ever got us? England can barely string 3 quick passes together (precisely) without losing it, which is probably why they prefer to play the long ball, they also over-commit too many players when they play that attacking football, which leaves them open to counter attacks when the move breaks down. If football was simply a matter of attitude, England would of won something post 66, cause the money in the game has only got out of control in the last 20 years or so.
Germany beat England cause they outnumbered us in the middle of the park, but also because when England try to pass the ball short, they lose tempo, and when they lose tempo, they cant catch the opposition out of position, and so have no options, so they go side ways and backwards, then one of two things happens, either they play too many long balls and surrender possession, or they over-commit men and try to force openings, which is where Germany took us apart.
I defeated my own argument here, as that suggests that trying to pass the ball short is counter productive, but whats the other option? cause by playing long ball your still constantly turning over possession to the opposition, inviting them to attack you, sooner or later there has to be a shift away from the way we have been playing for the last 40+ years, and luckily, we are starting to produce players who will be able to play that kind of football, so why would you advocate sticking to the same old same old that's failed us time and again?
It has nothing to do with attitude imo. I remember England fans claiming we lacked heart when Croatia beat us at Wembley, which stopped us going to the Euro, but the truth is, we showed too much heart, and not enough intelligence. England were overcommiting themselves and eventually paid for it.
Ironically, the heart on the sleeve attitude is why their technique is not very good, as from an early age our players make attitude and endeavor a priority at the expense of their intellengence and technique.
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