From : Julian Jacks
Fearful of sounding like a broken record, and acknowledging that all I seem to write in to you about is my high regard for Arsene Wenger, I’d dare to suggest that surely now is the time to accept that the whole mind-set within English football needs to change.
Until football fans, players, pundits and managers accept that England’s kick-and-rush culture is not the way forward, we will never progress. Until it’s accepted as fact that actually kicking talented players out of the game, “sticking it up ’em” is not the way to play football, we will never succeed. Never. And I don’t care what nationality the coach is. English football is broken. Yes, for the reasons you outline. But also because thugs like Allardyce, tactics like those adopted by Pulis and “brave warriors” like Shawcross are still held in high regard.
I’d rather see, Zola, Wenger or Pep take control of England from youth academy upwards then just stick another Englishman at the helm. Let’s not focus on the symptoms, look at the cause! Shawcross breaks a young player’s leg in half – actually in three places – and gets an England call up two hours later!
Bloody hell! BLOODY HELL! Fat Sam crows about Wenger moaning that his team gets kicked until they’re black and blue, yet it’s Wenger that gets painted as the villain. Ferguson instructs his players to kick Reyes out of the game – out of England – but he is the genius Knight of the realm we all have to bow down before. Bollocks.
Teach football properly. Teach possession. Teach passing. Then you can tell anyone who will listen that Wenger is anti-English. Then you can castigate him for not paying over the odds for some other one-dimensional English man.
Or you can wait until the English players being bought up at Colney are in the England team and we have a national side that actually know how to play football then maybe, just maybe, you will give Wenger some credit!
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Myles replies: Great letter, Julian !
Good points. Many issues here.
I’ll give him credit when Jack Wilshere’s played 200 games for Arsenal. Or 100. Or even 50. I still think he would rather sell Jack and play a Frenchman or an African.