Posted 24/07/10 13:22
Courtesy: Paul little, Football365
As part of the fallout from England's inept performances at the recent World Cup, I have become concerned that should my two-year-old son one day become a professional footballer in these islands he will become just another one of those useless automatons we saw in South Africa.
To avoid such a sorry fate, I have come up with five strategies to mould him into a gifted, intuitive, creative, visionary livewire. I intend to implement some or all of these steps for the good of my son and the good of football. And as the FA considers the development of National Football Centre, perhaps they could do worse than track the progress of my program when they are planning the structures required to return English football to the summit of the international game.
1 - Instil hunger, drive and ambition
It is often argued that the greatest talents of the game honed their talents in slums where kicking a rolled up sock whilst avoiding state-sponsored death squads was the only diversion from their poverty stricken upbringing. To that end, we will holiday in the slums of Rio over the next few years with a view to a permanent move. Whilst I work on arrangements for that, I will be bringing up my son in a cardboard box in the back garden.
2 - Nurture natural balance
Some years back former Ireland boss Brian Kerr remarked that in his latter years in charge of the Irish youth sides the players coming through the system lacked the natural balance and fluidity of movement of their African and South American counterparts. He blamed this on the fact that kids in Ireland no longer played as actively outdoors as they used too. Over-protective parents, computer games and telly were at the heart of this sorry evolution. Kids no longer climbed trees, rode bikes, and tottered along high walls surrounding electricity sub-stations.
To try and counter this, my boy will be denied technological distraction in his early years. He will also have to traverse a narrow beam over a pit on a unicycle to get his meals of chicken, beans and pasta. When he is older, I will have him hunted by a pack of rabid dogs to encourage him to run and climb.
3 - Low centre of gravity
I have noted that many of the world's great players at the present are short in stature. Xavi, Iniesta and Messi are the obvious examples. Consequently, I am investigating ways of stunting a young man's growth to ensure that critical low centre of gravity. Does smoking still do the job? Or would placing heavy weights on hid head and shoulders be more effective?
4 - Awareness
Watch Xavi, Iniesta, Messi - their peripheral vision is so impressive that surely there is more at play? Have their other senses - hearing or smell, for example - been enhanced in some way?
It is worth investigation. So, I'm considering some drills where family members will throw objects at the young lad as he plays, to try and get him to get his head up and encourage greater awareness. As he develops, we may increase the difficulty with the use of a blindfold, scented rocks and a large cudgel with small bells attached.
5 - A controlled diet of televisual football
Eventually, the boy must see football on the telly and be encouraged to dream. English football will not be allowed - for there lies only ruin, heartbreak and confusion. I am considering a controlled and rigorous immersion diet of Barcelona in full flow. To that end, I have purchased a set of the eyelid clamps used in Clockwork Orange as visual aids.
Paul Little
Showing posts with label football365. Show all posts
Showing posts with label football365. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Wayne Rooney: Really not all that! (courtesy: football365)
Although I don't agree with all of it, but still its a very well written little mailbox article
Wayne Rooney: It's A Myth
Though it may be unwise to write on the eve of a game where I could well be silenced by the reverberations of a good performance, I thought I'd take this opportunity to ask the media and fellow mail-boxers to stop waxing quite so lyrical about Mr. Rooney.
Aware that my longer and less sensationalist emails are rarely published, I'll try to make this one shorter and unqualified by reasonableness.
1. Wayne Rooney really shouldn't be considered among the best in the world. Certainly he had a good season, but technically it is a little embarrasing to compare him to Ronaldo and Messi, who are just plain vastly better footballers.
2. Wayne Rooney had a good season for Manchester United because the team was built around his strengths. They played a wide 4-5-1 formation that focussed on crossing as often as possible, hence a) he scored an awful lot of headers; and b) Manchester United created an awful lot of own goals. This solution is not applicable to England for several reasons:
i. it would involve having wingers who can cross - and we sent Mr. Johnson home; and
ii. Our other good players don't fit particularly well into it - we'd probably have to drop Lampard, and Steven Gerrard really doesn't have the tactical discipline for any formation which isn't built around him.
Therefore don't expect miracles of him, he'll play for us like a slightly more confident version of the Wayne we saw during the Ronaldo era.
3. Finally, would people please stop advocating a 4-4-1-1 with Gerrard behind Rooney; I'm talking especially to Mr. Shearer. This proposal seems to be built on two flawed presuppositions:
i. this would suit our two most talented players; and
Ii. This has brought the best out of 'Stevie G' at Liverpool.
Erroneous, erroneous on both counts. Gerrard playing just behind a front man requires a front man who actually stays up front all the time, creates space, and finds holes. Mr. Capello tried this formation early on in his tenure, and Steve came off the pitch and said to the media it didn't work because Wayne wouldn't stay high enough. He's a good striker in his own way, but he's not the same type of striker as Fernando Torres.
Furthermore the formation which brings so much out of Gerrard is acutally a 4-2-3-1, not a 4-4-1-1. This may sound trivial, but the former requires two holding players, one of which is a fantastic deep-lying playmaker. Frank Lampard is many things, but a Xabi Alonso type player he is not. Take Mr. Alonso away from that formation and replace him with someone average and/or ill-suited to the role and the end product is a p***-poor season for both Liverpool and Gerrard.
Essentially: leave it to Fabio, there is absolutely no doubt he's already considered your ideas and ruled them out because his appreciation of the finer points of the game are derived from years of footballing experience, not from Championship Manager.
Rant over.
Luke Johnson
Wayne Rooney: It's A Myth
Though it may be unwise to write on the eve of a game where I could well be silenced by the reverberations of a good performance, I thought I'd take this opportunity to ask the media and fellow mail-boxers to stop waxing quite so lyrical about Mr. Rooney.
Aware that my longer and less sensationalist emails are rarely published, I'll try to make this one shorter and unqualified by reasonableness.
1. Wayne Rooney really shouldn't be considered among the best in the world. Certainly he had a good season, but technically it is a little embarrasing to compare him to Ronaldo and Messi, who are just plain vastly better footballers.
2. Wayne Rooney had a good season for Manchester United because the team was built around his strengths. They played a wide 4-5-1 formation that focussed on crossing as often as possible, hence a) he scored an awful lot of headers; and b) Manchester United created an awful lot of own goals. This solution is not applicable to England for several reasons:
i. it would involve having wingers who can cross - and we sent Mr. Johnson home; and
ii. Our other good players don't fit particularly well into it - we'd probably have to drop Lampard, and Steven Gerrard really doesn't have the tactical discipline for any formation which isn't built around him.
Therefore don't expect miracles of him, he'll play for us like a slightly more confident version of the Wayne we saw during the Ronaldo era.
3. Finally, would people please stop advocating a 4-4-1-1 with Gerrard behind Rooney; I'm talking especially to Mr. Shearer. This proposal seems to be built on two flawed presuppositions:
i. this would suit our two most talented players; and
Ii. This has brought the best out of 'Stevie G' at Liverpool.
Erroneous, erroneous on both counts. Gerrard playing just behind a front man requires a front man who actually stays up front all the time, creates space, and finds holes. Mr. Capello tried this formation early on in his tenure, and Steve came off the pitch and said to the media it didn't work because Wayne wouldn't stay high enough. He's a good striker in his own way, but he's not the same type of striker as Fernando Torres.
Furthermore the formation which brings so much out of Gerrard is acutally a 4-2-3-1, not a 4-4-1-1. This may sound trivial, but the former requires two holding players, one of which is a fantastic deep-lying playmaker. Frank Lampard is many things, but a Xabi Alonso type player he is not. Take Mr. Alonso away from that formation and replace him with someone average and/or ill-suited to the role and the end product is a p***-poor season for both Liverpool and Gerrard.
Essentially: leave it to Fabio, there is absolutely no doubt he's already considered your ideas and ruled them out because his appreciation of the finer points of the game are derived from years of footballing experience, not from Championship Manager.
Rant over.
Luke Johnson
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