[punkski]

what Gary Lineker said in regard to FIFA rankings is right. it just hit me that England have only been semifinalists twice in the last few decades. with what may well be the 'best' (highest level, most professional, most investors, prestige, etc.) league in the world in the English Premier League, why is the national team not right up there against teams like Spain and Germany? is it the management? player selection? or perhaps even a lack of motivation on the international stage, because so much is always at stake for the bigger club sides?

[Isometrix]

(Original post by punkski)
what Gary Lineker said in regard to FIFA rankings is right. it just hit me that England have only been semifinalists twice in the last few decades. with what may well be the 'best' (highest level, most professional, most investors, prestige, etc.) league in the world in the English Premier League, why is the national team not right up there against teams like Spain and Germany? is it the management? player selection? or perhaps even a lack of motivation on the international stage, because so much is always at stake for the bigger club sides?

It has little to do with the premier league. It can be regarded as the best in the world, but you have so many quality foreign players in the top teams it makes it hard for English players to break though. The homegrown rule has already tried to address the problem somewhat, but increasing that would make things very restrictive. It simply comes down to the fact that the England squad is not of the same quality as Spain or Germany.

[TRS-T]

We are good.

In fact we are very good.

But we are not quite the best.

[Fried Sock]

The media heaps massive pressure on all the players, so they all feel the need to be the star of the team, which doesn't help. No other country has media as bad as the tabloids in this country for this. Also, we have often lost by such fine margins in these competitions. Especially in penalties where it is harmful to your chances if you care too much about it, making you more nervous.

The players are there, it's just the bad luck and pressure from the media which compounds the problem each time.

[Vintage]

It's also to do with the fact most top countries have a mix of players playing in multiple leagues, Therefore they are all customed to playing in different ways.

No English player moves abroad hardly. They are adapted to one way of playing more or less.

[Moleman1996]

(Original post by Isometrix)
It has little to do with the premier league. It can be regarded as the best in the world, but you have so many quality foreign players in the top teams it makes it hard for English players to break though. The homegrown rule has already tried to address the problem somewhat, but increasing that would make things very restrictive. It simply comes down to the fact that the England squad is not of the same quality as Spain or Germany.

That's always said but its a poor excuse. German league has tonnes of foreigners in it, spanish league has loads as well.

We just refuse to change our tactics for anything, and as such are predictable adn dont cater to the indivudual style of some of our players. Then, when we're gonna play how we do, we don't play carroll who fits our system, we go for Welbeck and Rooney instead.

[Straight up G]

[QUOTE=Moleman1996;38509364]That's always said but its a poor excuse. German league has tonnes of foreigners in it, spanish league has loads as well.
/QUOTE]

Much fewer in comparison to us.

[SneakyDoug]

England just don't have good enough players or squad depth to compete with teams like Spain, Germany and Italy etc.

[Jordan_1]

(Original post by Fried Sock)
The media heaps massive pressure on all the players, so they all feel the need to be the star of the team, which doesn't help. No other country has media as bad as the tabloids in this country for this. Also, we have often lost by such fine margins in these competitions. Especially in penalties where it is harmful to your chances if you care too much about it, making you more nervous.

The players are there, it's just the bad luck and pressure from the media which compounds the problem each time.

Maybe if England didn't play for penalties every game then that wouldn't happen.

[Pitt1988]

I blame the weather. Kids growing up in Spain, Brazil, among other sunnier climes, will spend more time outside playing football. Simples lol.

[1platinum]

(Original post by Moleman1996)
That's always said but its a poor excuse. German league has tonnes of foreigners in it, spanish league has loads as well.

We just refuse to change our tactics for anything, and as such are predictable adn dont cater to the indivudual style of some of our players. Then, when we're gonna play how we do, we don't play carroll who fits our system, we go for Welbeck and Rooney instead.

The Spanish league has foreigners in it but something like 60% are eligible to play for Spain.

[Moleman1996]

(Original post by 1platinum)
The Spanish league has foreigners in it but something like 60% are eligible to play for Spain.

but not that many do
[QUOTE=Straight up G;38509766]

(Original post by Moleman1996)
That's always said but its a poor excuse. German league has tonnes of foreigners in it, spanish league has loads as well.
/QUOTE]

Much fewer in comparison to us.

We had 30-40 years without too many foreigners after 66. What good did that do us? We failed to qualify for some, we messed most of them up if we did get to the final. We're inflexible and the players aren't motivated.

[419]

Brazil do best on international tournament and noone ever questions why their league isnt regarded as the best in the world.

[Jim-Jam]

(Original post by TRS-T)
We are good.

In fact we are very good.

But we are not quite the best.

I love how people negged this. They're cloearly ****ing stupid. We reached the quarters of the finals after getting knocked out only on penalties. Therefore we did better than over half of the teams in the Euros, and we're better than those who didn't qualify obviously.

[Jordan_1]

(Original post by Jim-Jam)
I love how people negged this. They're cloearly ****ing stupid. We reached the quarters of the finals after getting knocked out only on penalties. Therefore we did better than over half of the teams in the Euros, and we're better than those who didn't qualify obviously.

Easiest qualifying group and one of the easiest groups in the Euro, which you still managed to scrape by. How can a team be regraded as good when they can't even beat a team by more than 1 goal. Are Greece a good team? No. So how can England be considered a good team when they use the same tactics to progress. Atleast Greece actually managed to win the Euro!

[Jim-Jam]

(Original post by Jordan_1)
Easiest qualifying group and one of the easiest groups in the Euro, which you still managed to scrape by. How can a team be regraded as good when they can't even beat a team by more than 1 goal. Are Greece a good team? No. So how can England be considered a good team when they use the same tactics to progress. Atleast Greece actually managed to win the Euro!

7 points mate. Only one team did better.

But carry on talking ****.

[TRS-T]

(Original post by Jordan_1)
Easiest qualifying group and one of the easiest groups in the Euro, which you still managed to scrape by. How can a team be regraded as good when they can't even beat a team by more than 1 goal. Are Greece a good team? No. So how can England be considered a good team when they use the same tactics to progress. Atleast Greece actually managed to win the Euro!

Look at the FIFA World Rankings.

There are over 200 teams in the rankings and we are always in the top 10 of the world and you're saying we're not good?

Consistently in the top 5% of teams in world football and we are not a good team?

Behave.

[Alpharius]

We are better than most, but we have one simple problem;

We only develop strong, tall and fast players. We don't produce many technically gifted players. Certainly not as many as Spain, Portugal, Brazil, France, Germany, Argentina, Italy... Without them, we cannot control a game. We rely on bully boy/Chelsea tactics, and after a few games in quick succession of playing like that, the players run out of gas. Hence serial quarter-finalists.

[Jim-Jam]

(Original post by Alpharius)
We are better than most, but we have one simple problem;

We only develop strong, tall and fast players. We don't produce many technically gifted players. Certainly not as many as Spain, Portugal, Brazil, France, Germany, Argentina, Italy... Without them, we cannot control a game. We rely on bully boy/Chelsea tactics, and after a few games in quick succession of playing like that, the players run out of gas. Hence serial quarter-finalists.

Tried playing football against Spaniards the last few days... They're so good, 'technical ability' wise. They learn this **** from really early age. Either that, or I played against David Silva.

[Clip]

Very short memories.

Up until recently, Spain were no different from England. The perennial nearly-men who had all the players but had not won a major trophy for a long time. France, too.

These things come in cycles, and I think it's really silly the way certain teams (Brazil, Spain, France) are nuthugged as if they are the best thing since sliced bread.

An axiom of international football is that in general all teams are rubbish. Occasionally, some come good for a few years before sinking back into mediocrity. Italy have won two World Cups with negative football dressed up as "highly organised defending". France won two major competitions and since then have been an utter shambles. Spain were better than most this year, but hardly set the world on fire. The Germans are always there or thereabouts due to nothing more than a consistent level of average competence.

At some point or other, I'm sure it will be England's turn to have their day in the sun. The players are certainly individually better than most. It's just that in the grand scheme of things, these competitions aren't a good measure of who is the best.

First off, the Euros are much harder to win than the World Cup, due to all the teams being pretty good. You also get very tough groups often with two top nations knocking each other about to a draw filled with yellow cards. A "lesser" team can then come in with a lucky win and go through. It's pretty much a given that if you have a rock-solid defence and a team full of penalty takers, you can get to the semi-finals.

The World Cup, on the other hand gifts the stronger nations- there are normally two sacrificial lambs in each group - enough to get the top teams through in order.