***England World Cup Alert*** Ok.. here goes with a bit of a rant about ‘England’ in a footballing sense. I took great joy at watching Luis Suarez destroy England & effectively sending them packing from Brazil, but not because I hate the English players… in fact… on the contrary! As individuals I think England have a great squad, and I honestly expected them to beat Italy in their opening game - thinking that their pace and energy would have won over the experience and solidity of Italy. Alas, It wasnt to be. I did however expect them to struggle against Uruguay, an opinion that I did not share with one single television pundit from England and it is here my despise for ‘England’ is fuelled. Without a shadow of a doubt, one pundit in particular has, in the last 3 major tournaments, gone out of his way to talk up England at all costs, being incredibly disrespectful to his country’s opponents and indeed to the ‘home nations’ who have no option but to endure his constant rumblings of “We’re gonna do it boys” and “Come On England”. I’m not even going to name this particular pundit. Everyone who has bothered to read this far is fully aware who I am talking about! The frustrating point for me though is that for the next few weeks, during the analysis of World Cup matches, a post mortem of England’s failed campaign will take centre stage. The irony being that one of the main reasons for the failure is the incredible pressure on the England team to win, created almost exclusively by the very English media who question the failure! I feel really sorry for the players, it’s not their fault, but you can see they are being held back by trying so desperately not to fail at all costs – inevitably doing just that. It’s been difficult to listen to the furore leading up to England’s games, unfortunately as the autopsy unfolds, it’s not going to get easier before it gets worse. Another wee nugget as to why England are not the best team in the world, despite being home to what I would consider one of the top 3 Leagues in the world. Since the turn of the century, no English born player has been the Premiership’s top scorer in any one season. All the big countries have BIG players – England have players who are BIG in England. Premiership Top Scorers 2000 - 2014 2013/2014 Luis Suares 2012/2013 Robin Van Persie 2011/2012 Robin Van Persie 2010/2011 Dimitar Berbatov 2009/2010 Didier Drogba 2008/2009 Nicolas Anelka 2007/2008 Cristiano Ronaldo 2006/2007 Didier Drogba 2005/2006 Thierry Henry 2004/2005 Thierry Henry 2003/2004 Thierry Henry 2002/2003 Ruud Van Nistelrooy 2001/2002 Thierry Henry 2000/2001 Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
Posted on: Fri, 20 Jun 2014 01:45:37 +0000
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