True, EPL is every year for a large portion of it, whereas big international tournaments are not, and they are brief, so yes, I agree with you there.

But, everyone moans like buggery about England's performance, the fans seem very passionate about it, so people do seem to care about how they perform.

 

There was a lad on the radio the other night who made what I thought was a very interesting point.

He'd had trials at Man City when he was younger and was amongst other youngsters from around europe and he'd noted how the european youngsters were already at a better level than their British counterparts, making it a lot easier for City's coaches to get more out of them.

His belief was the coaching standards in the UK for young developing kids was nowhere near the standard on the continent.

I've heard the argument before about the amount of qualified coaches abroard compared to here and the restrictions our potential coaches come across, one being the exorbitant costs to get your badges here and the lack of funding.

Plus there is an argument to picking a "team" that can play together rather than picking the best 11 players.


We pretty much invented most of the major sports on the planet but we now lag behind the rest of the world in all of them, even the cricket has only had a purple patch for 3-4 years in the past 40 that I can remember.

 

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ieOAiQVnE6Q

Trialled at Man City but chose Athletico Madrid.

 

yeah sure I take your point - although I don't moan about England's performance TBH - I keep my expectations low, and in fact on the World Cup thread I am on record as saying I thought we played quite well (in large parts of the 3 games)

where just not very good as a National team - and I am sure the EPL has something to do with it, both because our home-grown talent gets crowded out and because of the success and excitement the EPL delivers as a football spectacle - month in month out

at least Brazil are sh1te too so we are in good company

anyway roll on the Euros

 

Anyone currently watching the overhyped, overpaid, massively underachieving Prima Donnas?

 

Saw about ten seconds, about 8 too many.

 

Ze Chermans - 2
Greaseballs - 4

But the Argies killed the game scoring all their 4 goals first!

Who'd've thunk it.

 

England won 2night. They have got a long way to go though.

 

I thought it was appallingly bad. Yes Norway kept everyone behind the ball but you have to be able to deal with that tactic and Hodgson clearly has't got a clue on how to break down a team that plays that way.

As much as I wasn't happy Arsenal signed Welbeck he made a difference when he came on and I was impressed with the short time he was on the pitch. I may well end up eating my words about his signing.

 

Very few british players have done well in foreign leagues consistently. I think that helps improve our understanding of the world game.

As for the Bundesliga they have two of the top 4 best club attendances in europe, capped ticket prices and tv deals where you can see every one of your teams league games. They know what they are doing.