Possession football? It’s the bland leading the blind
BOOTING the television screen was the preferred option of expressing frustration.
But that would have resulted in a verbal volley from the missus so a cry of anguish had to do instead.
The tranquility of Thursday afternoon in suburbia shattered because of a shocking showing by England’s Under-21s.
In the likes of Callum Hudsonodoi, Eddie Nketiah, Emile Smith Rowe, Dwight Mcneil, and Eberechi Eze, there was enough talent on the pitch to make it a match to remember. Instead it was a match I’d really like to forget.
I’d been asked to preview tomorrow’s game against Portugal and the best way of assessing England U-21s was to watch them in action against Switzerland.
But if that 90-minute display is an accurate portrayal of where we are as a nation, forget any success in future international tournaments.
England had one direct shot on goal. That came from a Hudsonodoi free-kick.
At the back, England pinged the ball from side to side, going nowhere, threatening nothing. And attack after attack fizzled out. “Ah, but we dominated possession,” said coach Aidy Boothroyd in his postmatch interview. Yes, but only in uncontested areas.
So, drop it in the bin with the rest of the statistics – along with boring, unimaginative football and the clear inability of anyone to think on his feet – and let the England kids play with their souls.
Why should this matter? It makes a difference, that’s why. It excites people, it results in chances being created and goals – the currency of the game – being scored. Hudson-odoi and Eze can produce something different to turn a game but against the Swiss they played with the hand-brake on.
It is the showmen in any game, the ball-players, the men who make the best use of the time and space to find a killer pass or produce a moment of exquisite skill, who ultimately win matches.
That’s always been the case.
But as football said a fond farewell to Frank Worthington, one of the original mavericks, this week, it is to be wondered if we will ever see his like again.
The 70s spawned plenty of players like Worthington. There was Peter Osgood, Stan Bowles, Tony Currie – the list goes on.
Men who could think outside the box and operate skilfully within it. When teams do it well – like Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City – it’s keep-ball with a purpose.
But so often it’s bland, soulless rubbish. And yet everyone trots lemming-like to the edge of the cliff, prepared to die at the altar of possession-based football, forgetting that there has to be a point to ball-retention.
We have the talent. It needs licence to thrill. Just let them run riot up front and do what they like.
Play off the cuff, excite yourselves, try that flick, rabona or trick – passing from side to side is merely passing the buck.
We need to get out of this safetyfirst mindset and let the modernday mavericks thrive.
Or else another English generation is doomed to fail.