Pochettino Is Shaming The Doubters Of English Talents
SteemSports Presenter: @timoshey
SteemSports Editor/Writer: @writingamigo
English football was finished or at least that is what they all thought, as footballers across the globe were seemingly above their English counterparts. It got so bad that top teams in England were drastically reducing the number of English players in their starting eleven. Taking a trip down the memory lane if you tried to picture a classic match like Liverpool vs. Blackburn, you were most likely baffled by the lack of flair and overall quality simply because the two teams were filled with English players. The disbelief went on, and the epileptic situation of their national team did not help at all.
Fast forward to 2017, England won the U-17 and U-20 World Cup competitions. I wouldn’t want to sound too attached to English football, but I would like to believe that is a sign that the new crop of English talents could compete with their counterparts and should not be underrated. We could also choose to consider the early signs we all ignored, such as improved flair, skill, close ball control, e.t.c. Examples of these players include the likes of Sterling, Chamberlain, and Zaha.
Step forward, Mauricio Pochettino, a man who even from his days at Southampton would field five to six English players in his starting line-up, did well enough in terms of gameplay, league position as well as talent development to attract a long-term appointment by the Spurs. A decision which keeps shelling out dividends to not only the club but England as a country. He developed a system of throwing a one or two English youngsters in the midfield sandwiched with flair players like Erikson or Lamela and strong players like Dembele and Wanyama. They all play a well-supportive rotational module in which a player finds himself in any position in midfield is expected to carry out whatever move required at position and situation with instincts. This system lets a player watch and learn the strong points of other players’ gameplay and try emulate it when the need arises. It also made them difficult to predict by their opponents although their lack of silverware made them overlooked.
There was no better occasion to showcase the results of the system than Home encounter against defending champions of Europe on Wednesday night. Dele Alli, an English player who played extremely well and a moment of brilliance when he went past Casemiro with a combination of good footwork, pace, ball control and fitness. It was absolutely breathtaking. Although he needed an element of luck to score eventually, you should agree with me that rising up to the occasion in a match like this is a sign of good learning. I sincerely hope other clubs and even countries would take it upon themselves to continue this good trend, and hopefully, we get to see even better systems than this in the nearest future.
that's great :)
o.O
As I mentioned in a comment under a previous steeemsports post, I think that young English talent is at a disadvantage compared to their peers from other places because of one simple fact. Due to cultural reasons they close themselves off to a lot of the possible routes for development that others are happy to take advantage of.
Most young English players are not willing to go and play abroad and the Premier League is not the most hospitable place for young talent. The league is extremely competitive and managers need to win day in and day out to keep their jobs, so they are much more likely to field experienced players who have shown they can perform reliably instead of youngsters. Very few managers can be sure of their long term position, so fielding a young starting eleven is always a gamble and the manager is unsure they would stay at the club long enough to reap the benefits.
And when a young English player is struggling to get the playing time they needs in order to keep developing, they are not willing to go outside of England to look for it. I'm not saying that every young English player should go play somewhere else, but there are many that would have benefited from a move like that instead of being a benchwarmer who plays 300 minutes a season and starts only in cup matches against weaker opposition. This little playing time condemns them to mediocrity.
Everybody is competing for a place in the Premier League, while the local English players are simply disqualifying themselves for competing for places in the Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A, Ligue 1, the Eredivisie and so on. This puts them at a significant disadvantage as they simply have fewer options than their peers - it's either the Premier League, the Champtionship or a lower English league. And it's not just the playing time, a change of scenery and a change in the style of play can also be quite beneficial.
Think about it this way - do you think Pogba would have been what he is today if he had stayed in England instead of going to Italy?
This is awesome!