The England Dilemma: How to Fix What Is Broken

John Nicholson’s interesting article on “England’s Problem” raises more than one perplexing question. If England’s difficulties on the world stage are indeed a result of the historic, endemic mindset of the English game, what can or should be done about it?

Do England just keep on doing their thing and hope through some weird alignment of the stars that they will one day catch lightning in a bottle? Does inserting Harry Redknapp as manager somehow increase the possibility of that happening……England playing like Spurs?

If not, is it possible to change the mindset of an entire league? Should you even try? After all, playing in the Prem is about winning that title. So teams play the style of football that seems to give them the best chance of doing that……the English game.

It’s not as if we don’t see highly skilled players in the EPL. They are everywhere. Unfortunately, when you go to pick a national squad most of those truly gifted players seem to be from another country. England is left with, well, English players. Back to square one.

I realize I have created a circular argument here and that is my point. It does seem like the world game may have passed England by, but I’m not sure what you do about it, even if it’s true. Or is it all down to the manager? Is it just that simple? In any event, scurrying around and mouthing off like Chicken Little every time England “fail” accomplishes nothing. As John pointed out in his article, given their style of play, why should anyone be surprised?

Is there really a “solution” or are we just a bunch of dogs chasing our tails?