2013-14 English Football Season

[Old Manus]

A lot of people talking out of their arse about the state of English football today.

[placeholder post for when I get home from work and am able to write a proper opinion]

What do you know, I get home and can't be bothered to type anything, so I'll now put it in handy bullet point form!

• The Premier League is full of foreign players because they are better than homegrown players.
• If homegrown players were properly taught how to play football (read: ball skills rather than long ball 'stick the head in' medievalball tactics which have been officially proscribed by the FA in their coaching manuals since the late 80s) at a young age, they would grow into better footballers with more of a chance of playing senior football.
• While Germany, Spain, Holland et al put time and effort into revamping their youth schemes at the turn of the century and are now reaping the benefits, England have been left way behind evolutionarily. If you watch clips of Euro 96 you'll most teams hoofing it long. England are the only major team that stuck with it until very recently. Football has long since moved on.
• England last won something in 1966. They've come nowhere near (apart from one or two semi-finals) ever since. This trend pre-dates the Premier League by decades. If anything, the advent of the Premier League has improved their performances! England in the 70s and 80s were absolute garbage. Finishing in the group stages/second round/quarter finals has been par for the course for the last 50 years, and it's baffling why this is suddenly some sort of crisis.
• International-level youngsters also suffer by being put straight into the senior team once they appear to break into a PL first XI. This results in a situation where players in their early 20s have international experience merely in the form of the odd 20 minutes here and there as a sub in friendlies and qualifiers, rather than consistent starts in under-21 tournaments. What the hell is Raheem Sterling doing in the senior squad (yes Psychotic I'm still buttmad)?
• Qatar 2022 winners. We'll just leave that there.
• Chris Waddle needs to go back to doing what he does best, which is missing the target from 12 yards.