The Woes of English Football.

Well, well! Some good comments for once on FFF-I. Steven Cohen: The English game "is rotten from top to bottom". Both Steven Cohen and fellow presenter Nick Webster made it clear that they don't care that England have not made it to the Euro 2008 finals, so poor is the national team. Of course that's easy to say now. Let's imagine for a moment that England managed to progress to the finals, would these two be saying the same thing? Funny that it takes non-qualification to clear the mind of blind adulation.
We saw in the last World Cup Lampard's inadequacies at this level, as well as the danger Peter Crouch poses to defences at any level. Yet since Germany it has been Crouch who has been doubted: "The only thing he did in an England shirt was a silly dance"; and it has been the pedestrian non-dribbler Lampard who has been showered with praises. Even for just scoring the penalty against Croatia.

What are England's woes, and how do we solve them?

1. The team has not has a left side for a long time. We saw in Sapporo England struggle to hang on against Argentina because the Argentinians knew there was no attacking threat from the England left. Joe Cole has been forced to play out wide and he is a threat because he is one of the few English players with ball skills. Imagine what he could do if he were freed of his left-sided duties.
Solution: play a left-winger.

2. Now Scholes has gone, there is no inventiveness from the centre of the pitch.
Solution: Joe Cole.

3. Owen has had his day. Next to Crouch there is Darren Bent, Agbonlahor, Lita to choose from and other will emerge as the next-gen forwards gain experience.

4. The England team doesn't now possess a true stopper in the mould of Butt. Let's hark back once more to Korea/Japan 2002 World Cup. The first match was against Sweden and England had the first half. From the stands the hole between England's midfield and defensive line looked horribly large, so when Sweden realised that to be the case they created danger every time they had the ball. This gap disappeared with the return of Butt from injury in their next matches. Maybe Hargreaves can do it, maybe not.

Solution: England coaches must study Italian defensive patterns from way back till now. How is it that Italy are so successful? (Yes, there is the unfair FIFA seeding system, but there must be something other than a single line of players stretched across in front of the goal to stop opposing teams. I wonder what it might be.)

5. Something needs to be done to rekindle the thrill of goalkeeping, an area in which England has been traditionally strong. The FA should investigate the state of the coaching of this position - back to basics: "the collapsing save" for example.

6. The media should be dealt with in the way that the Italian national team dealt with them during the 1982 World Cup: "We won't talk with you because you are being unreasonable." Let's see - oh yes, it was Italy that won that particular edition of the World Cup. The FA should protect the team manager. The manager should be able to say, "Please refer your questions to the FA. I am too busy trying to create a successful team to deal with questions concerning the team or my personal life."

7. Expectations of achievement must be realistic, given the under-developed nature of English football. To catch up with the (among other things) superior nutrition, tactics and individual technique of players from the leading countries, time and a lot of money will be necessary - as well as new ways of thinking about the game. If the FA wants England to be successful, it will have to say to the clubs: "The national team comes before your interests." It will have to ask itself why there are practically no Asian players in the professional leagues. The "Kick Racism Out" campaign has clearly failed in this regard.

8. Futsal must be made more widely available to players through the establishment of more pitches throughout England. This is a great way to develop close ball control.

9. Reader, please add to these solutions. Write to the FA.