The folly of admiring the “Blood and Thunder” is costing England dear
Want to know the problems behind the England national team’s demise? Then cast you eye over this morning’s English press, or listen back to the utter drivel that came out of Sky commentator Andy Gray’s mouth last night (picture). Gray, once a fine analyser of the game, has lost much of his credibility over recent years, and his thoughts and insights during last night’s encounter between Newcastle and Arsenal left many viewers frustrated and perplexed.
The Magpies went into the game on the back of some terrible results and coach Sam Allardyce was under mounting pressure. Yet Newcastle’s one point was derived from a bruising, one dimensional performance which was hardly worth the praise and glorification that it has since received. In fact, Newcastle’s style of play, coupled with the media’s appraisal of their long ball tactics, represents everything that is wrong with English football.
Take an incident early in the first-half. Joey Barton (you know, that foul mouthed English hooligan who we are all so desperate to see more of) took-out Arsenal’s Gilberto Silva (that polite, ultra professional foreigner that we want to be rid of) with a late, cynical barge long after the ball had gone. Rather than condemn Barton for his poor and malicious challenge, commentator Andy Gray chose to view the incident as merely Barton letting Gilberto “know he was there”.
The portly Scotman then spent the next five minutes berating Arsenal’s Ivorian defender Kolo Toure for actually having the nerve to care that his fellow team mate and friend had just been dispatched by yet another of Barton’s unsavoury challenges. It is this acceptance of the stereotype that English players are nasty and ugly, that considerably undermines the principle of actually playing the beautiful game how it is supposed to be played. Beautifully.
Isn’t it high time our commentators realised that a mistimed tackle is not a sign of heart and guts, but a sign of inferiority to a quicker, more talented opponent?
Technique, speed and grace are the characteristics that English footballers need to adopt. Yet why should we expect them to, when they are constantly being applauded for acts of talentless aggression?
Joey Barton wasn’t Newcastle’s only Englishman to be lauded for his antagonistic “in your face” approach last night. Alan Smith picked up the man of the match award at the end and while it is certainly true that the Yorkshireman gave the Arsenal back four a torrid night, it is also true to say that if England keep producing the likes of Smith, then they are destined for further failure on the international scene. Reckless and volatile, Smith is forever being praised for his never-say-die attitude and battling qualities. The same battling qualities that saw him flatten, to the approval of Mr. Gray, Arsenal’s William Gallas when the ball was no longer there to be won.
Adopting the correct attitude is certainly a prerequisite at the top level of the sport, but more is needed if one is to truly succeed. Filippo Inzaghi broke Gurd Muller’s all-time goalscoring record in European competitions on Tuesday night.
One would be hard pressed to find an Englishman who celebrates with, and displays more joy and passion for the game as the wily Italian, and this in turn makes Inzaghi a prime example of an individual having the necessary love, will and determination to win, coupled with the tactical know-how that is missing from so many English players.
Newcastle, a side filled with more Englishman then most, played a high tempo, kick-and-run game last night. They harassed the artisans of Arsenal and refused them time to play. That’s all well and good on a cold windy night in the North East, but it will get you absolutely nowhere in the energy sapping, high-level environment of a World Cup or European Championships. To be successful on those stages a team needs patience, mobility and possession.
It is widely agreed that sides struggling would be foolish and careless to allow a high flying opponent the time to strut their stuff. Yet this should not be interpreted as a side’s tactics for the evening being based solely around kicking their opponents as hard as possible. There are weak sides in Italy and Spain too, and when they play against the likes of Inter, or Barcelona they don’t simply alter their style of play to hoofing the ball up field, snapping at ankles and hoping for the best. Especially at home.
The brawny, often violent approach of the underdogs is a “genius” game-plan devised in England, and fortunately for the rest of the European Game, the disease has not spread.
If England want to progress, and if the country wants to start encouraging more young footballers to start playing the game as it is supposed to be played, then we have to stop applauding the bully-boy tactics often seen in the Premier League. Newcastle’s point was a good one last night, but that’s all it was. Please don’t go dressing their performance up as heroic. On the contrary, their failure in attempting to show the slightest bit of belief in their ability with the ball at their feet, and their insistence on nudging into an opposition player at every opportunity, was almost cowardly.
It’s time for the likes of Andy Gray to stop waxing lyrical over the “art-form” of an English late challenge. After the hefty knock he took, Brazilian Gilberto was certainly made aware that Joey Barton “was there”. Yet as he rests his aching wounds at home today, he will be forced into a wry smile, as he views the gleaming World Cup winners medal resting on his mantle piece.
Safe in the knowledge that it is something that the likes of Barton and his fellow English bruisers, can only dream of.
