Ewell Posted 10 August, 2014 Share Posted 10 August, 2014 According to Sky Sports News Rod Liddle says the future England football team will be made up of players from Arsenal, Liverpool and Southampton and then goes onto describe all 3 teams as also rans! Is this fair comment? He is responding to Rodwell's comments advising young English players not to sign for Man City as they will not get an opportunity. Liddle's argument seems to centre around young English players like Rodwell not being good enough to hold down a first team place at a big club. FWIW I think he has a point and the sooner young English players adopt the attitude of striving to achieve rather than that of I have made it already then their careers will more likely be better for it. Whilst I have linked the article you can only read it in full if you have a subscription. http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/sport/football/Premiership/article1444977.ece Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Convict Colony Posted 10 August, 2014 Share Posted 10 August, 2014 Young and restless Rodwell’s advice that English players should avoid the Etihad disguises the fact that he failed to make it at that level Rod Liddle Published: 10 August 2014 Comment (0) Print Rod Liddle WERE you aware that Jack Rodwell was still alive? He is, he is. Last week he signed for Sunderland for ten million quid, a couple of million less than Manchester City paid for him from Everton in 2012. In the two seasons he spent at the Etihad he played a total of 16 Premier League games, just five of them coming last time around. No, he wasn’t injured — just not good enough to hold down a regular first-team place. Rodwell was one of the players we talked about with much hope and optimism at the start of the decade, part of a new generation of English players who were young, dynamic, adept with the ball — ready to step into the national side and vanquish all that came before them. Well, we saw how that worked out, to a degree, in Brazil; less the golden generation, we were tempted to conclude, than the zinc generation: distinctly modest in both aspiration and ability. Unfair, perhaps. But I wonder, too, if it was the hyperbole heaped upon the likes of Rodwell — and to a lesser degree Scott Sinclair and Adam Johnson — that was the clincher in convincing them they could cut it at Manchester City, become regulars on the team sheet instead of merely being wheeled out for Carling Cup matches and maybe the early rounds of the FA Cup. Or was it their grasping agents and the lure of unimaginable amounts of wonga? Or simple hubris? Rodwell seems to have regretted ending up in Manchester and, in interviews just before the weekend, urged other young English players to think twice before signing on to play alongside Aguero and Kompany et al. It is better to be playing regularly for a lesser team, was the gist of Rodwell’s advice. It seems likely to me that Rodwell would have been in the England World Cup squad had he stayed at Everton — all the more so given the recent arrival on the scene of a similarly exciting midfield partner, Ross Barkley. Samir Nasri, Rodwell’s former City colleague, suggests in an interview with Martin Hardy on the facing page that players make pragmatic decisions based on what is good for their careers, and that the money is only a contributory factor. Perhaps. It has to be said that despite being close to ever-present for Manchester City last season, Nasri couldn’t force his way into the French World Cup squad, but that’s another issue. You might expect Rodwell to reinvent himself successfully at Sunderland, much as Adam Johnson has, of course. I’m not sure how big the distance was between Johnson being a member of Roy Hodgson’s squad for Brazil and being on the stand-by rota; it must, by the end of an excellent season for the born-again Mackem, have been very close. England have become adept at producing wingers of the week — young, fast players who sparkle briefly and everyone thinks they are the second coming before they fade perceptibly over the course of a few games. Remember when we believed that Shaun Wright-Phillips was the business? Or Andros Townsend? Or Aaron Lennon? The jury is still out on Raheem Sterling, I suppose. But Johnson, less mercurial than the aforementioned, knows better how to cross the ball and score the occasional goal — and it wouldn’t surprise me to see him back in the England squad sometime very soon. His time at the Etihad was fraught and uncomfortable; I wonder if Rodwell looked at Johnson’s move to Sunderland and thought, “Yep, that’s what I should do, right now.” The young British players who really can cut it at the very top Premier League clubs are few and far between, and mostly Welsh. Both Aaron Ramsey and Gareth Bale could expect regular starts for Manchester City, I suspect. Who else? England’s Danny Welbeck and Jordan Henderson? You’re having a laugh. I doubt Daniel Sturridge would get many more starts in pale blue than he did while wearing the navy blue of Chelsea, either. Successive Manchester City managers look at English players and see value only in the humble and honest water-carriers: James Milner and Gareth Barry were close to ever present in various City sides over the past seven or eight years. Oh, and Joe Hart, of course. How did that happen? The suspicion is that City and Chelsea will battle it out for the title this season so I suppose it is no coincidence that these are the teams where young English players find it most difficult to break through and instead will watch their careers dissipate from the bench, at best. They fare much, much, better at Arsenal, where Smokin’ Jack Wilshere, Ramsay, Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain and Theo Walcott have all thrived during Arsène Wenger’s period of not winning anything whatsoever *****il May). And that’s probably the hard truth of it, proven in Manaus and Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte: they are simply not quite good enough. The nucleus of future England sides will be playing, this season, for Arsenal, Southampton and Liverpool; anyone want to take a bet that all three teams end up as also-rans? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelman Posted 10 August, 2014 Share Posted 10 August, 2014 it frustrates me that he doesn't focus on the bigger picture in that PL is broken. When will a journo actually address the real problems at hand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuncanRG Posted 10 August, 2014 Share Posted 10 August, 2014 it frustrates me that he doesn't focus on the bigger picture in that PL is broken. When will a journo actually address the real problems at hand? They do, quite a lot - all the broadsheets have great commentators but David Conn and Rory Smith have been especially good on that subject. Rod Liddle is a provocative columnist, not a full time sports journalist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david in sweden Posted 10 August, 2014 Share Posted 10 August, 2014 (edited) ....it has to be said that many of the young(er) players who get a chance to play for England do so purely on the strength of their passport....even when they can't even get on the bench for a Prem. game. The " Big Four...or Top Six " (choose your own classification,)... are over-populated with foreign stars who freeze out the English prospects - even when " the said clubs" have an Academy that they ignore. This is due, in no small measure, to the unflux of foreign managers who, naturally enough, choose big money foreign signings who fit the style that they like to play. It's not so long ago that the other " home countries " searched through Championship and L1 clubs to find someone with a grandmother / father from N.I./ Wales / Scotland... in order to qualify them to play. Nowadays, it's the English national side that suffers that fate, and even if we accept that there is a generation change in the present England squad, (having lost Beckham, Cole, Defoe, Lampard, Gerrard and Terry) - it's clear that by the next World Cup, we must have a strong nucleus of top class players for the coming decade, or we'll sink in to the abyss of FIFA ratings in the low-30's and lose whatever " super-status " we once supposed that we deserved. Despite calling ourselves " the best Premier League in Europe ".... it's of little benefit to young players, when many English lads can't even get on the team sheet. As Rodwell pointed out; (regardless of talent /skill); players like him and Sturridge had little chance of getting regular game time in their parent club(s), despite having gone through those Academies. Edited 10 August, 2014 by david in sweden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goatboy Posted 10 August, 2014 Share Posted 10 August, 2014 Liddle is a c**t. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwoPints Posted 10 August, 2014 Share Posted 10 August, 2014 Liddle is a c**t. Wish I'd read this first as it would have saved me reading the article! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostBoys Posted 10 August, 2014 Share Posted 10 August, 2014 The article is crap and Liddle has missed the point entirely. Rodwell is largely irrelevant and it is debateable whether he will play for England. If you are English and young and inexperienced it is unlikely you will get a run in the Manchester City side and Rodwell may just not be good enough. It will be interesting to see how Shaw gets on with the pressure at Manure in terms of his form. Also Billy big ****** Lallana at Liverpool if he spends his time on the bench. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Munster Posted 10 August, 2014 Share Posted 10 August, 2014 I would be over the moon if we can get as high up as "also-ran" standard this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aintforever Posted 10 August, 2014 Share Posted 10 August, 2014 Did he write this before the summer or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Tender Posted 11 August, 2014 Share Posted 11 August, 2014 I think that we should be greatly encouraged that we are mentioned in the same breath as Liverpool and Arsenal. But if we continue to produce England national standard players, then soon Arsenal and Liverpool will be comprised of more ex-Southampton players than the rest of their team. But presumably including us with them was to take a sideways swipe at them, rather than to praise us. A shame though that having raised this subject that he didn't have the gumption to take it further by making suggestions on how the situation could be resolved by the footballing authorities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted 11 August, 2014 Share Posted 11 August, 2014 I think that we should be greatly encouraged that we are mentioned in the same breath as Liverpool and Arsenal. But if we continue to produce England national standard players, then soon Arsenal and Liverpool will be comprised of more ex-Southampton players than the rest of their team. But presumably including us with them was to take a sideways swipe at them, rather than to praise us. A shame though that having raised this subject that he didn't have the gumption to take it further by making suggestions on how the situation could be resolved by the footballing authorities. what on earth do you mean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 11 August, 2014 Share Posted 11 August, 2014 how the situation could be resolved by the footballing authorities. what on earth do you mean? I would imagine something along the lines of "not enforcing a salary cap which means that every team not in the Champions League is prevented from spending as much money as those in it", for a start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redslo Posted 11 August, 2014 Share Posted 11 August, 2014 I would imagine something along the lines of "not enforcing a salary cap which means that every team not in the Champions League is prevented from spending as much money as those in it", for a start. That alone would not make the different. We would need revenue sharing much like that in the NFL which is never going to happen so long as relegation is a possibility. About the only thing that will make the first division of English football fair is an European Superleague which would take out the top 6 or 7 teams. Of course, the BPL would operate at a much lower level and Superleague teams would snatch up all the new BPL's good players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shurlock Posted 11 August, 2014 Share Posted 11 August, 2014 In relation to the OP, one suggestion might be to set up a central pot to which all clubs contribute (perhaps it could be funded progressively, with the richer clubs contributing more). Whatever the formula, teams that field an English player for more than 60mins in a game are then paid a bonus out of this kitty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Tender Posted 11 August, 2014 Share Posted 11 August, 2014 In relation to the OP, one suggestion might be to set up a central pot to which all clubs contribute (perhaps it could be funded progressively, with the richer clubs contributing more). Whatever the formula, teams that field an English player for more than 60mins in a game are then paid a bonus out of this kitty. A good idea. Other possible solutions are discussed in detail in this article:- http://www.thehardtackle.com/2014/english-fa-the-issues-of-the-home-grown-rules-and-the-difficulty-of-central-planning/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearsy Posted 11 August, 2014 Share Posted 11 August, 2014 Liddle is a c**t. his opinions are as bargain basement as his shop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Tender Posted 11 August, 2014 Share Posted 11 August, 2014 his opinions are as bargain basement as his shop He had Aldi time in the world to get it right Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now