The Footie Thread

[PaulMdj]

There’s a good piece on the BBC site and it says exactly the same. With the outcome of the Bosman ruling Italian football was flooded with the best players due to the then money available. It never helped the younger Italian players.

Sorry mate, how can young players not be helped by playing with, at the time, the best in the world?
Surely that would be a great place to be in?

I get they may struggle with game time, ie, what I think is happening with Foden and the likes, but surely the standard would be immense.

 

[Lucifer MorningStar]

No matter how fed up England fans might feel right now, imagine if you were Italian . Amazing decline. 3 world cups in succession missed now, at a time when it's never been easier to qualify.

As someone with Italian family I can confirm they're more than a little angry at how poor the national team has been performing in World cup qualification. Ironically though they didn't perform to badly in the group stages in the grand scheme of things, 6 wins from 8 games is decent, problem was the 2 losses to Norway that saw them enter the lottery of the Play offs.

Is there a bigger discussion to be had here? That when Serie A was top dog and was flooded by the influx of foreign players due to being awash with money. Did it sow the seeds of its own decline. And watching England's tepid performances of late, is it happening here?

Italy had an influx of foreign players long before the decline of Serie A and it continued to thrive including a world cup win in 2006, the decline began when the Calciopoli scandal occurred and people stopped investing in Italian football as the bigger teams were stripped down bare, the rise of investment in other leagues started and Italy got left behind. This meant the big stars stopped coming, less investment and negligence at club level meant not doing enough to bring youth through. Those issues compounded and left Serie A in a weaker position for a few years but it is starting to rebuild and improve. England's tepid performances are nothing but the state of football in general possession based and focused on not losing rather than playing actual football

In fairness, England have performed well at recent tournaments. QF, SF, Finals even. No wins but they have been there or there abouts.

I think these things tend to go in cycles, Italy are going through a bad spell. I don't know what their youth set up is like, are the foundations in place there?

I'm not sure there are any outstanding national teams right now. Brasil and Germany are shadows of their former selves, Spain have gone right off the boil. France are probably the best at the moment but they are not nailed on. It's a funny time at international level, not in a good way.

Italy youth set up was poor for a number of years due to the lack of investment but it's starting to gain better investment and bringing itself back up to a decent level.

 

[AmandaJR]

I'm confused as to where our golden generation that Southgate failed with have gone? Genuinely.

 

[AmandaJR]

Japan are a great watch. High energy. Super sharp. Nicked the ball so often and yet barely fouled in doing so. Simple. Effective.

 

[Arthur Wedge]

A number of things hasn’t helped Italy

The lack of money within the league due to reduced media rights

And more than anything else - corruption


There are some good Italian players but i reckon there is prob just 4 - Donnaruma , Bastoni , Barella and Tonali

There have very little attacking threat

How many teams around Europes top leagues have a top Italian playing in them ?

The U21 are decent but again no real stars

 

[PaulMdj]

I'm confused as to where our golden generation that Southgate failed with have gone? Genuinely.

To be fair to them, this World Cup is the 1st Tournament post Southgate.

We qualified with a 100% record, first European team to qualify for the WC.

But we batter ourselves in friendlies, Southgate got us to levels we had never seen before and supporters weren’t happy, I believe we thought we’d get the next manager playing a different style of Football and we haven’t.

Let’s just hope it all comes good in the summer, as, imo, that’s when it would be fair to judge both Tuchel and the players.

 

[Swango1980]

Rubbish and got to Finals

See my last paragraph before posting insulting replies. Thanks

 

[clubchamp98]

Is there a bigger discussion to be had here? That when Serie A was top dog and was flooded by the influx of foreign players due to being awash with money. Did it sow the seeds of its own decline. And watching England's tepid performances of late, is it happening here?

Think it’s more iPads and phones.

When’s the last time you saw a bunch of kids playing footy in the park outside the organised teams.?
Never by me and I go through the park most days.

I wonder if Italy has a similar problem.

 

[Arthur Wedge]

Not sure why the likes of Watkins and Wellbeck weren’t in the squad

England have played Kane constantly and it’s not allowed other strikers to get a run

And then the match they rest him they don’t have any other strikers in the squad

It’s all very strange

Even back to Trent not even getting in the squad

The likes of Palmer are overrated

Foden just can’t play in an England shirt


They will rely on Kane and Bellingham

 

[Arthur Wedge]

Think it’s more iPads and phones.

When’s the last time you saw a bunch of kids playing footy in the park outside the organised teams.?
Never by me and I go through the park most days.

I wonder if Italy has a similar problem.

There is thousands of football clubs now with youth teams all the way down to under 8’a etc

You don’t see many kids playing in parks isn’t because of iPhones or pads etc

Many kids in club set ups will be asked not to play with mates and even for the school

Youth set up in England is very good as we can see by their results

It was a rubbish two friendlies but certainly not something to suddenly write off English football

 

[clubchamp98]

There is thousands of football clubs now with youth teams all the way down to under 8’a etc

You don’t see many kids playing in parks isn’t because of iPhones or pads etc

Many kids in club set ups will be asked not to play with mates and even for the school

Youth set up in England is very good as we can see by their results

It was a rubbish two friendlies but certainly not something to suddenly write off English football

I disagree kids are over coached imo . That’s part of the problem .
They need to get back to playing on bad pitches where you learn to control the ball.
Not on immaculate academy surfaces.

 

[Swango1980]

I disagree kids are over coached imo . That’s part of the problem .
They need to get back to playing on bad pitches where you learn to control the ball.
Not on immaculate academy surfaces.

With broken bottles, stones and dog mess in the goal area?

 

[Arthur Wedge]

I disagree kids are over coached imo . That’s part of the problem .
They need to get back to playing on bad pitches where you learn to control the ball.
Not on immaculate academy surfaces.

Why do they need to play on bad pitches?

How does that make them better

During this nostalgic trip back in time how did it help England teams of the past

 

[clubchamp98]

Why do they need to play on bad pitches?

How does that make them better

During this nostalgic trip back in time how did it help England teams of the past

It helped in 1966!

All the best Brazilian players used to say the learned to play on the beach!
Uneven surfaces help your ball control
Maybe it’s why Brazil are not what they were and most other countries.

 

[Swango1980]

It helped in 1966!

All the best Brazilian players used to say the learned to play on the beach!
Uneven surfaces help your ball control
Maybe it’s why Brazil are not what they were and most other countries.

Brazil still have beaches.

 

[clubchamp98]

With broken bottles, stones and dog mess in the goal area?

We used to have councils that looked after things like that but not anymore.

And we took our bottles back where we bought them.!