There is nothing wrong with England’s effort
New Zealand tied Italy, the Swiss beat Spain, Serbia beat Germany, Algeria held England, and North Korea gave Brazil trouble in the first half. More and more we’re seeing determined defenses have success against what are considered potent attacks. Lot of the commentators and pundits are criticizing the favorites for not putting forth the effort in these matches, this is especially true of the English press which has been very harsh on England so far in this World Cup. This criticism has been mainly undeserved, at least on the basis of effort.
Watching these matches, it is evident that the teams are putting forth a tremendous amount of effort and playing with a sense of urgency (except for France), yet they can’t seem to find a way to goal. The cold hard fact is that for a team that has decided to defend for 90 minutes, it is easier to absorb pressure and stand your ground than it is for the other team to break them down. It requires real quality and teamwork to score against a set defense, and as Arsenal fans we should be the first to know this. Week in and week out we see the likes of Wigan, Birmingham, Stoke City, Hull City etc. put 10 men in the box and hold us for 75 or so minutes. Once the mind and body get tried, that’s when Arsenal tend to score because they are consistent with their quality and have experience in these situations.
That experience and quality is too often missing from the national teams, who don’t get a chance to blend together as a team but are picked by a manager and asked to play together without the needed training time, which happens very infrequently. So to ask Emile Heskey and Wayne Rooney to break down an Algerian team that has its heart set to defend, or asking Spain to crack a Swiss team that only knows how to defend is not an easy task. I don’t doubt the effort level of the Spanish or English players in these matches, simply put, the task in front of them is difficult.
The same could be argued the other end, shouldn’t defenses run into the same problems of inconsistency and unfamiliarity as attack? Yes, but defending has more to do with will, determination, focus than with actual talent. It is no doubt that talent is involved in defending, but not to the degree as it is in midfield or a forward position.
That’s actually perfectly observed.
With the double 6 in the midfield, which most of the teams in the worldcup support, there’s always one or two defenders more.
It may not be nice to look but regarding tactics it’s a perfect move for teams who face a strong offense.
North korea, japan, new zealand and so – they don’t have the quality in the offense but regarding their defense and tactics, it’s still a joy to watch em.
England will improve as well will spain. The 2nd day of the group phase has been ways better then the first.
And the 3rd gonna be perfect. Looking for wednesday and hope thqt ghana gonna take out germany.
And i say that as a german. Wanna see an african team at least get to the semifinals.
Trust in kevin-prince
btw … We should get the nigerian goalkeeper, eventhough he made a small mistake.
If it wasn’t for him, nigeria would have gon down 0-4 or higher…
great post i was thinking the same thing
all the top teams are failing and are critisiting their players
*van persie. however its only early days and only one team is out (cameroon) and france (really they not gonna get far )
but really the english media here is mad they think wayne rooney is their only hope but wer all know he is no messi i believe gerrard is key but CAPELLO DOD SOME DUM DECISIONS TOWARDS THE WORLD CUP
As I said in “Bendtner goal” comment section (sorry if this is regarded double-post), I would like to know whether Vela was injured for osme time or if he will recover for next match.
Anyone know?
@Einareen:
A german newspaper, “Die Zeit”, says, according to a mexican newspaper, that Vela will only miss the coming game but after that he’ll be available for the Mexicans.
Injury is a light strain in the right pelvismuscle, they say…
that doesnt explain why england counldnt put 3 passes together in algerias half. it was still very poor, at least the likes of italy, spain, germany having decent shots on target, unlike england, who i think had one shot on target in the whole game.
I disagree. I think Italy, Spain and Brazil all created more chances against superior opponents.
Hey hey,
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the banner saying ‘Fabregas always a gunner’
i know alot of you wanted it so here it is
Nabz,
Poor France ;-( I want them to win so bad…
Despite being an England supporter I still think there were very many problems with how we played.
Though it is true that the smaller teams have a defence strategy against the bigger teams, it’s the quality that the bigger teams have that forces such high expectations of them; if the team really tried they could’ve easily pummelled through the group, but they were far too unmotivated to attempt to put forth a worthy effort.
I got what you intend, saved to bookmarks , very nice site.