Good theory Volfgang

The 300 ain't to shabby either ............

what a thriller !

http://metro.co.uk/2017/10/11/tito-jackson-is-moving-from-la-to-wolverhampton-and-he-thinks-brother-michael-would-have-done-the-same-6992972/

comment by Vicious Wolf (U8869)
posted 2 hours, 18 minutes ago
Staggering how good these Portuguese players are at such a young age.
My theory is that the English game is based on physical fitness and toughness where a 25 year old is always going to be better than a 19 year old.
On the other hand the Portuguese game is based on skill and athleticism where the 19-year-old can be the equal of the 25 year old
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If you look at the England team, all the player's main attributes are their athleticism. Players like Welbeck, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Henderson, Sterling, Walker, Rose etc. That is the model the FA has used when bringing through young players and is the reason the Premier League is one of the most fast paced.

The trouble is, you still need creative players. We don't have any creative players, as all of the major clubs have a foreign player as their creative source. The only real creative players England have are Wislhere (who is always injured and has never met his potential) and Lallana (who is also injury prone). Both are good, but neither are world class.

Athleticism isn't a bad thing and none of those England players (bar possibly the Ox) are terrible, we just don't have a creative source. We play at a slow pace (which goes against any of our players strengths) and have no way of breaking teams down. There needs to be a fundamental change at grass roots level and the FA to change its focus for this to change.

we are saying the same thing tam.
the english athleticism is of the muscular 100 m. runner, the portuguese is of the wiry 1500 m. runner.
whatever there is a greater emphasis on skill with the foreigners.
even with defenders i think the only cb we've had with the skill on the ball of boly and miranda was frank munro

Paul Lambert in the frame for the Scotland job apparently.

#poisenchalice

Christ I hope not, just when we were starting to make progress.

Soon ..........

This thread has been rather pleasant Gem.

Have you considered moving into the match thread domain?

Certainly think a match preview thread would be a worthwhile addition the day before a game Gem

With regard to the comments about fitness and skill, sometimes referred to as huff and puff v ability, I don't think the divide is often there or necessary to differentiate. Just because a player runs around a lot doesn't mean they aren't skilful, just because a player has good ball skills doesn't mean they are going to add great value to a team. The really good teams have combinations of lots of different characteristics and don't just focus on one kind of player.

If possession and passing and control were the most important things in the game then Arsenal would have been league champions every season since Wenger was in charge. But they have missed the qualities that Viera bought to midfield, and Henry to the final third for many years. In fact if they had the likes of Paul Ince in midfield and Steve Bull up front they would probably have won many more titles.

Love how the match thread fans are gagging for it

https://youtu.be/jhtS1zzU-yY

Nuno speaks, we listen

Your just a teaser Halfy and you lost the vote for giving us the thread the day before. More get outs than Brexit.

Cardiff losing, we can go top tomorrow

Champions Cardiff on the slide and third place Bristol city failed to win.

comment by Wolf OftheWrekin (U16313)
posted 3 hours, 39 minutes ago
Your just a teaser Halfy and you lost the vote for giving us the thread the day before. More get outs than Brexit.
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True, the match threads went to the democratic vote and were vet'oed for being premature.......that sits comfortably with H


Night threadsters x