The England team will never achieve anything unless we all lighten up. Also, last season was simply Joe Hart's 'Frog Chorus', and 80 per cent was a conservative estimate of turds in the Liverpool punchbowl...
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Anything to get off your chest? Mail the afternoon Mailbox. to keep it going.
Let's Get Positive
I just wanted the lovely folk of the mailbox to clear something up for me - since when was optimism and positivity a bad thing?
Time and time again I read sardonic and mocking articles and posts ridiculing Liverpool (and other team's) fans and players for daring to take the positives from a disappointing season and turning them into hope for the next. As a (fairly recent) ex-pat I'm ashamed by these attitudes and I can't help thinking it reflects in our national team performances, or perhaps more accurately lack of them.
More than one English pro has retired and mentioned how pleased they are to be out of the spotlight, away from the negativity and relentless criticism that accompanies every single mistake made in an England shirt and subsequently in their club colours.
That's sadly the national inclination; compensate for your own insecurities and shortcomings by pointing out those in others, and anyone who doesn't think that it has a negative effect on those on the receiving end needs to go and read a basic psychology book.
At the moment I'm putting together a training programme which will teach people the basics of Person-Centred Therapy (I work in Healthcare). It's actually an approach to life which everyone could benefit from understanding, and it boils down to three basic principles - take the time to understand a person, give people respect without judging them, and be yourself without hiding behind who you would like to be. If you have issues or negative feelings towards another person then guess whose problems that is? It's yours, and until you work out where those feelings come from then you have no right to judge anybody else.
I know this probably isn't an appropriate email for what is supposed to be a tribal and flippant forum, but wouldn't it be great if we could focus more on supporting our own teams instead of obsessively pointing out the shortcomings of our rivals?
Here's a tip - if at your home games your fans are holding up banners and singing songs about your rivals even if you're not actually playing them, then there are some serious emotional and/or maturity issues on display. Same goes for any of our lot who would rather spend time abusing opposition supporters instead of concentrating on our own positives and issues.
Joel, South Africa (all we are saaaaying.....)
Joe Hart > Paul McCartney
I've just read the exceptional piece on Joe Hart and I agree with every word. It said everything I have felt and it almost made me cry. It was like I had a piece published on football365 under the pseudonym Daniel Storey. I have always liked Joe Hart and feel it incredible he is treated in such disregard by many. Many people I know will always point to his complete loss of form last year as proof of his eternal incompetence. I find this like burning your Beatles records because the Frog Chorus proves Paul McCartney is sh*t. Unlike Macca, Hart has come back from his meltdown even better.
Howard
Screw You Guys, I'm Going Homegrown
So, I don't know if you guys are familiar with the underpants gnomes from South Park, but they were basically gnomes that stole underpants hoping for huge profit. Their business plan went like this:
Step 1: Steal Underpants
Step 2: ?
Step 3: Profit
I feel like the proposal for more homegrown players has gotten its inspiration from the underwear gnomes. I'm pretty sure in some secret meeting room at the English FA there is a whiteboard that reads:
Step 1: Increase % of Englishmen in top flight
Step 2: ?
Step 3: Win multiple World Cups.
I honestly don't understand what they hope to gain from more Englishmen. I mean, I just looked at Eibar's squad on Wikipedia, and 22/25 are Spanish. I don't think they will be winning La Liga/forming the spine of the national side anytime soon.
At the same time, Real Madrid's preferred midfield of Kroos, Modric and Rodriguez with Ronaldo, Benzema, and Bale up front sure does contain a lot of Spaniards.
Increasing the number of Englishmen in the top tier doesn't suddenly turn you into Germany or Spain, I can't begin to fathom the logic behind it. But assuming it does work, how do we guarantee the national side starts performing like the Germans and not like Peru, which also has a high percentage of Peruvians in their top division.
Carlos, Peru (maybe I should shave a bald spot into head and gain 50 pounds and I'll be rich like my uncle)
Computer Says No
With talk about home grown players and finding the next Harry Kane, I thought I'd share some work I've just started on around data analytics in football at work.
Over the last couple years there has been a big uptake in interest in data as clubs have access to ever greater volumes of information about the performance of players (and perhaps more important for this debate, youth players in development).
Increasingly they're able to measure every aspect of performance and training. Then learning how to maximise the effectiveness of fitness, dietary, training and recovery programs all to improve performance. Practically this then reflects how a player's development is shaped, maximising the effectiveness of training to reduce chances of injuries etc. Its all about trying to gain that extra percentage advantage which at a key time in a match can make all the difference.
But lets take this a step further. How do you identify the next Messi or Ronaldo. What do they look like as they develop? Are there patterns we can start to see which suggest potential? How can we maximise potential or help it develop?
These are all questions being asked by clubs and something which is going to see huge leaps in the coming years through data analytics. Will this lead to more players developing or a high calibre of youth players?
I'm not sure, as it requires a change in attitude in football. If you're thinking now why is data involved in football, imagine how the industry itself (which rejects technology in favour of tradition) thinks!
In fact if you're interested in finding out more about data and how it's used look into Prozone and its creator Simon Wilson, who charts an unsuccessful start at Southampton in 2005 under Redknapp (after losing 3-2 'why don't you get your computer to play against theirs'), to a successful involvement in Man City's title winning side in 2011/12 where he's still at.
Tom, Saints (Using data from the last ten seasons of the Premier League the value of a goal scored and the value of a goal conceded were compared. It was found that scoring a goal, on average, is worth slightly more than one point, whereas not conceding produces, on average, 2.5 points per match. Ergo goals win you matches, clean sheets win you titles with statistical proof!)
A Bridge Too Far For Chelsea's Kids
I'm sure you'll probably get a lot of these but...
In Wednesday afternoon's mailbox, Mark Treadwell CFC took ire with another correspondent who had claimed that Chelsea "don't really care about developing young English talent" - he pointed to the fact that Chelsea have an impressive youth system, an excellent recent record in the Youth Cup and many England internationals at youth level. All admirable stuff.
But what's the point of all that if you're not going to play these guys in the first team? If they really wanted to nurture young talent, why only go 90% of the way and then stop? John Terry is the only Chelsea first-team regular to have risen through the ranks at the club - if Chelsea's youth payers are so great, then why aren't they given a chance to make that final step in their development?
The current crop of young Chelsea players looks extremely promising, which makes it all the more sad that such potential will likely go to waste. To illustrate my point, here is Chelsea's 16-man winning squad for the 2010 Youth Cup final (with current whereabouts in brackets):
Sam Walker (Colchester Utd), Billy Clifford (unattached, previously at Walsall), Rohan Ince (Brighton), Jeffrey Bruma (PSV), Aziz Deen-Conteh (Port Vale), Conor Clifford (Southend), Jacopo Sala (Verona reserves), Aliu Djalo (PS Kemi, in Finland), Gokhan Tore (Besiktas), Josh McEachran (still at Chelsea, now 22, always on loan), Marko Mitrovic (unattached, last at Brescia), Milan Lalkovic (Barnsley), Aldi Haxhia (unattached, ex-Kettering), George Saville (Bristol City, on loan from Wolves), Ben Sampayo (unattached, last seen at Grays Athletic), Anton Rodgers (Swindon).
So of those, only Bruma and Tore really "made it" in the upper echelons of the game, and neither of those are English - just imagine how well any one of those English players may have done if given the chance to play and learn alongside the likes of Mata, Lampard, Drogba etc. on a regular basis, instead of being frozen out, their development stunted at the crucial final phase.
Ryan F (PS Patrick Bamford is a product of the Nottingham Forest youth system, Chelsea paid a seven-figure sum for him)
Put Restrictions On Transfers, Not Money
There have been a few mails lately on the fair play rules, and being a massive know it all with no responsibility whatsoever, I figured I might as well share my solution which requires the current system to be thrown out completely like you would a toaster that doesn't.
The idea behind the rule is to even out the clubs and stave off financial ruin that comes from idiot chairmen chasing success at any debt or leagues with clubs so doped it becomes boring. What drives the debt and success is largely the cost of players: wages and transfers. With EU labour laws making a salary cap almost impossible (and if you review other sports with them, they are easily corrupted) UEFA have gone the route they've gone. But it's overly complicated and impossible for fans to easily understand it without first becoming an accountant. I see a better way.
Don't try and restrict the flow of money which can be hidden and manipulated (Switzerland, I'm looking at you), instead place more restrictions on the flow of players. It's much harder to hide real people than money.
Basically my idea comes down to two things:
1. The mandatory transfer listings for all players at all clubs in all leagues who don't start at least 10% of league games. The ability to set the price also needs to be taken from the 'selling' club and should be set at a maximum of what the player was transferred for in the first place. This will: make players think harder before switching clubs in the first place; make stockpiling of players almost impossible; make clubs more wary of spending on transfers; see young players stay longer at the club that develops them; give players who fall foul of a manager have a way of escaping; and it will make squad rotation more interesting.
2. Ban loaning of players. This supports the above and prevents the whole system from being manipulated.
I believe this will benefit football far better and much closer to the grassroots than the current system that can't be policed properly anyway.
UEFA, if you want me contact the editor and they can pass on my details.
Or my idea is sh**e and because I have sh**eforbrains I simply can't tell.
Sincerely,
Briggsy
Only 80 Per Cent?
I feel the need to take umbrage with the chap who referred to 80% of Liverpool fans as turds in a punchbowl. I can assure him the figure is much, much higher than that. I am often to be found facepalming when yet another FKW circulates with the gurning simpleton in question wearing the famous Mersey Red. The blind defence of Suarez was a particular low point from the Scouse Army!
Still; if it's any consolation all big clubs suffer this blight. The world over you'll bump into a clueless, telly-clapping, glory-hunter with a Red Devil on his chest. More recently he'll be as likely to be sporting Machester Blue, London Red or London Blue. As you wrote, success (however fleeting in our case) does seem to attract this certain type of person. You'll often find their vehemence to be in direct correlation to their actual worth/knowledge as a supporter. Hence why these United fans tend to get ever so shouty when challenged.
All that written, I tend to find the match-going support fairly decent in most respects. The average match going fan tends to be pretty sound... albeit that's based on the occasional chat in a pub or walking back to the station etc. In fact, caught on their own even the average bitter can be entertaining in small bursts.
I'd say the turds in a punchbowl figure is about 90% for Scousers and about 99.9999% for the other big clubs; natch!
Gregory Whitehead, LFC
When He's Not Wiping His Arse With 20s...
It's an international break, which for a Canadian is rarely a time for joy, so I thought I'd write in this observation from last Saturday night. I had to stay awake to collect my daughter from work so I watched a number of MLS matches.
Firstly, the Impact defended resolutely (that's the word one is supposed to use, right?) when down to ten men. I watched the Kaka show. The commentators were speechless when Vancouver scored with almost the last kick of the match to snatch the three points. Not the narrative they were hoping for. One nice Kaka dribble though.
The reason for the subject line is that I also watched the Portland v. Kansas City game. Has anyone else seen the man bun/ beard combo that Liam Ridgewell is sporting? He's taken living in Portland very seriously.
Richard (Toronto FC, WHUFC) Cumberland Beach
PS Having seen John Carver as manager of Toronto FC, I would never had predicted his performance at Newcastle. (Did the sarcasm font work?)