England Outwitted As Usual

Admittedly I only saw two of England's matches in the U21 European Championships, the Final and the Semi-Final. It was funny (in hindsight) listening to Alan Smith's comments when England were 3-0 up. He was talking about the English players pushing on and trying to get their names on the score and that Sweden should at least try to win the second half and restore a bit of pride in the jersey.

England's first half performance was even poor in itself. The goals came from 3 corners which were very badly defended by the Swedes. In fact the goals owed a lot more to disastrous Swedish defending than any ingenuity from the English team. There is always hype surrounding English teams at any tournament. For me, it's strange because I know all the players, feel compelled to watch them and yet I always want them to lose.

There is no reason for that except that I'm Irish and I can't help. It doesn't mean I enjoy watching England any less than anyone else. I just can't say I thought they were all that impressive in either of the two matches.

The England U-21 team were very industrious, hard working but they had little craft. They were very strong and they had some pace but there was little else to admire about their team. In itself there is nothing wrong with this except that reading about them you'd swear they were reinventing the way football is played.

For all the talk about the quality of the Premier League and the quality of these players there was very little sign of it in this tournament. Take Theo Walcott for example. I wouldn't like to criticise the guy because he works hard and he obviously has some talent but I have to point out that he doesn't seem to be able to kick the ball. He is full of pace and has one or two tricks but he kicks the ball like a 5 year old.

I don't know how many balls dribbled in the hands of the opposing goalkeepers from Walcott's many tame efforts. Like so many England players down through the years the guy looks totally overrated.

It is now being said that James Milner is one of the few players to come out of the Tournament with an enhanced reputation. Just because James Milner runs around a lot doesn't necessarily make him a good player. He is no more worth 12 million pounds than Micah Richards is worth 30. England sent a team of workhorses to Sweden and had their arses handed to them by the players with the skills and creativity which are dismissed as laziness in the English game.

Marcus Berg might not have been back helping out his full backs but he still managed to score 2 goals just be being in the right place at the right time. England had no such predator nor had they anyone with the wit of Ozil who opened up their defence at will in the final.

The perceived lazy of this world tend to survive on their wits rather than hard graft or maybe they just view the world differently to the British Islanders. Maybe they didn't rote learn at school, they just waxed lyrical in exams and failed but the only score that counts in football is the final one.

With industry, often comes stupidity but the industrious think their hard work will win through in the end. The England team worked hard and picked up yellow cards like they were bonuses. Stupid yellow cards which in the end left them badly understrength for the final. They weren't helped by Stuart Pearce's attitude on the sideline. He was like a madman which is perfectly if you're playing full back but it's a bit unbecoming of a manager. Passion is one thing but Pearce's hot-headedness simply gives the impression that he doesn't know what he's doing.

Pearce of course is typical of the witless professional to have worn the 3 Lions while players like Matt Le Tissier and Robbie Fowler were so often overlooked and criticised. England got what they deserved in this tournament but as a nation they need to change their approach and mentality in major tournaments or they will continue to be outsmarted by the cleverer nations (which seems to be all of them).