You of all people, I’m surprised to read that from. As
@giorno said, there’s a sizeable technical gap between the two squads.
It doesn’t ultimately matter, if England combined their technical ability with their superior athleticism, it’s more than enough as an equaliser, but fat chance of that happening under this coaching and managerial team.
I'm not just talking about the squads here at this tournament. I'm talking about the whole talent pool. We produce so many technical players nowadays, and it doesn't look like it's stopping anytime soon. We just need a manager who embraces these types of players.
Watching the two games yesterday Spain are so far ahead it's not even funny.
Everyone looks better than us, to be fair!
I think the pundits/media have tried to convince us that we are, but given Spain look head and shoulders more technically capable, and the fact that English clubs are regularly shown up by their Spanish counterparts in European competition, I just don't think it's true.
I'm also beginning to suspect that the players that shine at City (looking very much at Foden) might be "system-players", similar to Kagawa looking excellent at Dortmund then quite lost for us.
All fair points but, personally, I really rate these players. You may be right about Foden as he's really underwhelmed for England, but I wouldn't class the rest as "system players" because they've all excelled in teams that are fluid with their styles.
A system can only compensate for so much as well. Like, it can make some players look good, but it can't hide all of their deficiencies as players, which is why I was against signing the likes of Mkhitaryan, Mata, Donny, etc, because I could see that they didn't have the ability to play well without the proper support. For a player to be able to do that, they need to be really good at shielding the ball under pressure, which isn't just about strength but about how you position your body inbetween the ball and opposition player, good at dribbling, and possess the agility to turn away from an opposition player. These aren't the only attributes you need, sure, but they're the ones most commonly missing in players who flop outside of systems. The aforementioned players lacked these attributes, and there are so many English players now who possess these attributes which is why they excel in teams that play counter attacking or possession football. For the ones who play for top teams, I don't think they look out of place next to their teammates either.
Even if it turns out that the majority are system players, that's not a horrible thing. We just need a manager that can coach a style that makes up for our deficiencies. Look at Ruiz for Spain. At club level, he's been very underwhelming for PSG. I've also never really been a fan of his at either Betis or Napoli before that, myself, too. Then he comes into the Spain team that has a specific system and is one of the best players of the tournament. Spain have system players, too, but they're fortunate that they're a team that are actually coached to play cohesive football. If we finally start doing the same, I think we could look just as good.