Carragher scared of playing for England

[The Spanish]

Whatever, all I know is I've witnessed decades of failure, decades of finger pointing and blame, and decades of it never ever being the players fault. One day though, the excuses will run out, there will literally be nothing or no one else to blame. Then, maybe, the England players might just take a look at themselves.

There was a pundit during the world cup who said being a supreme athlete is not just about your technical ability but also your mindset. This is what separates you from the rest, your ability to turn it on anywhere, anytime and being able to adapt to different climates, conditions and situations. This is all you need to know about the England team.

i have witnessed world cup and euro semi finals, countless successful qualifying campaigns often unbeaten, some thrilling games, penalty heartbreaks, frustration beyond belief, towns trashed by our whatever you think of them unique support, its been brilliant.

yes at the moment the whole thing is at a very low ebb with cntish egotistical players and FA, and lots of embarassing supporters who will pay silly money to watch kickabouts, but it will come back again. thats football. its just harder when its england as you get a sniff every two years. the set up isnt great but its just all very english crying stinking fish in your own back yard. that will never change.

 

[Simster]

An interesting debate and it's easy to cherry pick some of the valid points that a lot of people have raised.

* But the bottom line is this: the FA need to take a look at how they do things. Only 2,769 English coaches hold Uefa's B, A and Pro badges. Spain has 23,995, Italy 29,420 and Germany 34,790. Go figure. If they don't sort it out, the government should step in and sack the whole f***ing lot of them - this is the national team we're talking about. But when a player is asked what he thinks went wrong with the last campaign, he is not going to look at the overall picture, he is instead going to offer anecdotal evidence.

* I understand Carragher's point about being scared to put a foot wrong, but he fails to see the bigger picture. English fans expect to see WHY they are paid £200k a week when playing in their national shirt. He shows a lack of mental character even suggesting he is affected by this. You can't imagine the world's best sportsmen being affected by this sort of thing. Look at someone like Federer or Nadal, or the challenges faced by those playing football for their country in a fragmented country like Spain.

* However, Tricky is right - being bored in a hotel is shite and worth pointing out as a problem. Shit management from £6m a year, Capello.

 

[alan partridge]

Just out of interest, how did you deal with it? Did you whine and moan to anyone who would listen and then not bother to turn up for the work engagement? Or did you just get on with it?

whine and moan? I can't remember, but wasn't it Rooney who said they were bored? Once.

Think it's also unfair of others having a go at Cappello. We couldn't get enough of his disciplinarian attitude before the WC.

 

[Simster]

Think it's also unfair of others having a go at Cappello. We couldn't get enough of his disciplinarian attitude before the WC.

True, but this is because we slaughtered everyone in qualifying, and managed to get players to realise that if they faked injury before friendlies, they would be out on their arse. I remember Gerrard getting a wake up call when we beat some decent team or other 4-1 in a friendly without his stupid hollywood balls and getting in Lampards way. Funny how he was quick to declare his availability nice and early before the next one.

 

[Brovion]

...
* I understand Carragher's point about being scared to put a foot wrong, but he fails to see the bigger picture. English fans expect to see WHY they are paid £200k a week when playing in their national shirt. He shows a lack of mental character even suggesting he is affected by this. You can't imagine the world's best sportsmen being affected by this sort of thing. Look at someone like Federer or Nadal, or the challenges faced by those playing football for their country in a fragmented country like Spain.

...

I accept what you're saying, but I feel one of the major problems is, rightly or wrongly, that our players can't handle pressure. Never is this more obvious than during penalty shoot-outs. This should actually be something that English players are good at, or at least no worse than anybody else: after all it doesn't involve vision, accurate passing or good ball skills, all they've got to do is kick the ball once. And yet time after time we 'choke' during shoot-outs - especially against the Germans.

 

[alan partridge]

* I understand Carragher's point about being scared to put a foot wrong, but he fails to see the bigger picture. English fans expect to see WHY they are paid £200k a week when playing in their national shirt. He shows a lack of mental character even suggesting he is affected by this. You can't imagine the world's best sportsmen being affected by this sort of thing. Look at someone like Federer or Nadal, or the challenges faced by those playing football for their country in a fragmented country like Spain.

That is a good point. Whilst I would love to play for England, I don't think I could handle the pressure of playing in a World Cup. Then again I haven't been brought up from an early age to do that. So, I have sympathy for the players, but you're right, why are they not able to cope? The Italians get greeted with rotten tomatoes, but they seem to manage alright (last summer excepted), even when their team isn't that great.

 

[Brovion]

That is a good point. Whilst I would love to play for England, I don't think I could handle the pressure of playing in a World Cup. Then again I haven't been brought up from an early age to do that. So, I have sympathy for the players, but you're right, why are they not able to cope? The Italians get greeted with rotten tomatoes, but they seem to manage alright (last summer excepted), even when their team isn't that great.

But is that maybe just a one-off event? The Italian team lose, they fly home, they're greeted with rotten tomatoes, and then by the next day everyone's forgotten all about it. In England it's scorn, derision, boos, comments about lack of pride, passion, etc etc etc - right up until they win the next game when they're suddenly worldbeaters again.

 

[alan partridge]

But is that maybe just a one-off event? The Italian team lose, they fly home, they're greeted with rotten tomatoes, and then by the next day everyone's forgotten all about it. In England it's scorn, derision, boos, comments about lack of pride, passion, etc etc etc - right up until they win the next game when they're suddenly worldbeaters again.

could be yeah, dunno really. Certainly the British press could wind their necks in a bit. When I say 'a bit', I mean 'a f*** of a lot'.

 

[samtheseagull]

If i was lucky enough to pay for the Albion and England, Im sure i would rather do well for my club over country!

 

[Brovion]

could be yeah, dunno really. Certainly the British press could wind their necks in a bit. When I say 'a bit', I mean 'a f*** of a lot'.

Yeah, I dunno either. I think the one thing we all do agree on is that there is no one definitive answer. We've all got our own pet theories but I think we all agree that it will need an entire cultural shift from players, administrators and yes, fans as well, as opposed to just changing one thing (like the manager) and then thinking everything else will fall into place.

The media don't help I agree. It would be nice if they could even so much as recognise that there is a middle ground between being putative World Champions and being completely shit.

 

[Simster]

It would be nice if they could even so much as recognise that there is a middle ground between being putative World Champions and being completely shit.

When you consider the resources we have at our disposal, that middle ground ought to be England around 5th best team in the world on average. Sometimes 2nd or 3rd, sometimes 8th or 9th.

In my opinion we haven't been anywhere near 5th for 2 decades. Therefore, the whole set up is clueless and shit, and the FA do f*** all about it even when the evidence is presented to them in the form of a report by one of England's most intellectual and knowledgeable coaches.