Message to Billy Bodin

[Gulliball]

Good job Billy is Welsh then. The continental mind-set will benefit him.

[Dave]

Here are some of my thoughts. Young English footballers do not relish practice and training like youngsters in other countries, where they see the importance and enjoy the practice of skills, tactics and a variety of set plays. English youngsters mainly get bored (and cold) so quickly and they really only enjoy playing 5-a-side or practise matches. Like I say, the climate doesn't help. In Italy for instance, youngsters might warm up properly, then practice some skills, then play a practise game followed by practising different corner-kick routines and free kicks......then play another game...they enjoy the variety in the good weather....they are enthusiastic for it......the variety and yet discipline of practice...... and so pressure doesn't really come into it. English youngsters just really want to play games at an 100 mile an hour and also keep warm and are not so disciplined................. one feels that continental players are more professional and disciplined at a younger age........

Not questioning your right to an opinion or what you base your opinions on, however personally I think what's written above is one of the most stereo typical views on young English/British players, and one the most blinkered views on young continental players I've ever seen, travel across the U,K and Europe wide go through local youth football to soccer development schools and on the professional academy's you will find a fairly equal percentage of lazy players, those with bad attitudes, and those in all countries that are self driven.

Cold ? Sorry but what on earth are you talking about, I, with my U16 squad have virtually a 100% attendance at training every week, come rain, wind or shine , the players believe it or not have under armour/warm gear , some even wear stockings hard to believe I know, but they do, some times I spend a bit of time watching the younger age groups at our club right down to mini-kickers they have good attendance what ever the weather.

Are players allowed to run around 100 mph to keep warm, no of course there not, professional academy's tend to suck the life out of players by far, far to much technical skills coaching, at a local level we do not allow our players to do that either, and I've been invited to watch training at other clubs as well, difference we try to find a balance, between technical skills, working on set-pieces, and letting the lads just have a bit of fun, by chucking in a game football tennis, or playing 5 a side, but letting them make up their own rules.

Of course pressure can effect players during a match that shouldn't need a detailed explanation, and just because either Billy Bodin or the team for the that matter look as if they don't do the right things in training, doesn't mean to say that's the case, the key to every thing is confidence, when confidence is high decision making becomes automatic, no one was questioning Billy Bodin's decision making two season ago, when Swindon were offering him a new contract, and when both us and Crewe were trying to sign him.

Of late, there has been plenty of signs that Billy Bodin is returning to some kind of form, all needs now is to hit the back of the net a few times , that will come, as in the last few games he has shown the confidence to try a few things, that he wasn't doing a the start of the season, what he needs is some backing from us fans, and I don't mean this to be rude, not seriously daft messages suggesting to him what he should be doing in training.

[portugull]

My post was all about one thing. The players with ability, and Billy has plenty, that succeed are the ones with desire and passion to be the best they can. Hundreds of players have proven ability but fall by the wayside simply because they do not work hard enough.

I am going to see Ronaldo play in Seville on 18th Jan for Real Madrid. He is a truly great player but when he first went to Man Utd he was nothing like the player he is today. He has become an all time great by sheer hard work which most people forget.

To be noticed in pro football you have to be scoring goals, lots of them, and Billy could be. I genuinely believe Billy can be a 20 goal a season player if he works harder on his finishing. I tell you if this guy starts scoring regularly his confidence will soar and his career will really take off.

Go on Billy prove me right you have everything to gain and nothing to lose!

[Banging_Them_In]

Not questioning your right to an opinion or what you base your opinions on, however personally I think what's written above is one of the most stereo typical views on young English/British players, and one the most blinkered views on young continental players I've ever seen, travel across the U,K and Europe wide go through local youth football to soccer development schools and on the professional academy's you will find a fairly equal percentage of lazy players, those with bad attitudes, and those in all countries that are self driven.

Cold ? Sorry but what on earth are you talking about, I, with my U16 squad have virtually a 100% attendance at training every week, come rain, wind or shine , the players believe it or not have under armour/warm gear , some even wear stockings hard to believe I know, but they do, some times I spend a bit of time watching the younger age groups at our club right down to mini-kickers they have good attendance what ever the weather.

Are players allowed to run around 100 mph to keep warm, no of course there not, professional academy's tend to suck the life out of players by far, far to much technical skills coaching, at a local level we do not allow our players to do that either, and I've been invited to watch training at other clubs as well, difference we try to find a balance, between technical skills, working on set-pieces, and letting the lads just have a bit of fun, by chucking in a game football tennis, or playing 5 a side, but letting them make up their own rules.

Of course pressure can effect players during a match that shouldn't need a detailed explanation, and just because either Billy Bodin or the team for the that matter look as if they don't do the right things in training, doesn't mean to say that's the case, the key to every thing is confidence, when confidence is high decision making becomes automatic, no one was questioning Billy Bodin's decision making two season ago, when Swindon were offering him a new contract, and when both us and Crewe were trying to sign him.

Of late, there has been plenty of signs that Billy Bodin is returning to some kind of form, all needs now is to hit the back of the net a few times , that will come, as in the last few games he has shown the confidence to try a few things, that he wasn't doing a the start of the season, what he needs is some backing from us fans, and I don't mean this to be rude, not seriously daft messages suggesting to him what he should be doing in training.

So much of what you write does not add up to me mate, especially when you look at the dominance of superior foreign players in our domestic game, and an utter inability of our players to play as a team and also to have an ability for said teams to keep possession of the bleddy football. I just will not have it that coaches are being that successful here as yet.

[Dave]

B-T-I you said , young English footballers do not relish practise, get bored and cold, and only really like playing 5 a side also English youngsters just want to games at 100mph and just keep warm. Sorry mate, not trying to call you out here, but that isn't questioning the standard of coaching, that's questioning the attitude of young English players .

You then went on to say, one feels that continental players are more professional and disciplined at a younger age........ To me that is implying that continental football doesn't suffer in general the same attitude problems that English players, sorry mate, all I am saying is, you're so far wide of the mark it's untrue, they have the same attitude problems in the continental game, as we do.

The reason why some many continental players seem superior is the standard of their youth development football coaching over a number of years, continental coachs are allowed to work longer with their players, they play small sided games with lots of players, none of this U12's playing on full sized pitch's that can happen here , one reason why continental players often seem to have so much time on the ball, and look so comfortable on the ball, these are just a couple of reasons, of many, in my opinion why continental players for some years have out shone ours.

However it's not all bad news, we've been catching for a few years now, still a long way to go, things like the national coaching centre up at Burton, and new development rules under eppp will help the bridge the gap further.

You only have look around the premier league and championship to see more and more young English players getting games, at the big clubs as well, then have a look at our current national first team squad and some of their ages, add that to current very impressive U-21 to know there is plenty of evidence out there to suggest the state of our game has never been stronger, and evidence to suggest this time it's not a false dawn. This world cup has come to early, just take a look at the euro's and following world cup, then see if I am right.

[Trojan 67]

Ever since Stevens went I've been looking for a new target.

My message to BB : get your f in finger out !

[Banging_Them_In]

B-T-I you said , young English footballers do not relish practise, get bored and cold, and only really like playing 5 a side also English youngsters just want to games at 100mph and just keep warm. Sorry mate, not trying to call you out here, but that isn't questioning the standard of coaching, that's questioning the attitude of young English players .

You then went on to say, one feels that continental players are more professional and disciplined at a younger age........ To me that is implying that continental football doesn't suffer in general the same attitude problems that English players, sorry mate, all I am saying is, you're so far wide of the mark it's untrue, they have the same attitude problems in the continental game, as we do.

The reason why some many continental players seem superior is the standard of their youth development football coaching over a number of years, continental coachs are allowed to work longer with their players, they play small sided games with lots of players, none of this U12's playing on full sized pitch's that can happen here , one reason why continental players often seem to have so much time on the ball, and look so comfortable on the ball, these are just a couple of reasons, of many, in my opinion why continental players for some years have out shone ours.

However it's not all bad news, we've been catching for a few years now, still a long way to go, things like the national coaching centre up at Burton, and new development rules under eppp will help the bridge the gap further.

You only have look around the premier league and championship to see more and more young English players getting games, at the big clubs as well, then have a look at our current national first team squad and some of their ages, add that to current very impressive U-21 to know there is plenty of evidence out there to suggest the state of our game has never been stronger, and evidence to suggest this time it's not a false dawn. This world cup has come to early, just take a look at the euro's and following world cup, then see if I am right.

Forever mate. You come across as intelligent and knowledgeable, for sure. I just have an eccentric idea of how young players need to be trained. It comes from a combination of believing that footy is the game of the poor (all you need is a ball made of something) , and hence I admire the way players used to come up to be world greats from the poorer places of the East End, Glasgow, Belfast, and still do in the rough areas of south America, Africa, etc, etc, where they understand skills, team work, practice, discipline and hunger. George Best wrote that the ManUre team of '68 became great as much for the kick abouts that Matt Busby insisted took place actually on the concrete of the old Stretford End......I guess it encouraged balance, technique, alertness and toughness.....I feel that the continental players have a more enthusiastic and disciplined attitude to training and will also be more open to experiment more with approach and maybe do not need to be encouraged to play on the terraces to toughen them up, etc.....

[Trojan 67]

kick abouts that Matt Busby insisted took place actually on the concrete of the old Stretford End......I guess it encouraged balance, technique, alertness and toughness.....

Kickabouts that took place on the tarmac/concrete behind the old Mini Stand. If you survived you joined the other walking wounded and played in the first team. Nice one Cyril.

[Trojan 67]

I genuinely believe Billy can be a 20 goal a season player

[Banging_Them_In]

......yes you contribute to my argument in a way. England 1966 and ManUre 1968 won as much because they were the fittest side in respective competitions......BOTH winning respective finals in extra time after not showing a better technique really throughout the game. England had a superior side technically in 1970, but fitness levels in the heat/humidity wasn't as significant and lost to the Krauts after being 2-0 up. As for that great Cyril Knowles team, other than Lors, the skills factor wasn't that high......but they were fit, tough and a good team. Each of these sides mentioned here did have that diamond in the rough though. Alf Ramsey had Bobby Charlton in '66, Matt Busby had Bestie in '68, and Cyril had Mark Loram..........

[Trojan 67]

......yes you contribute to my argument in a way. England 1966 and ManUre 1968 won as much because they were the fittest side in respective competitions......BOTH winning respective finals in extra time after not showing a better technique really throughout the game. England had a superior side technically in 1970, but fitness levels in the heat/humidity wasn't as significant and lost to the Krauts after being 2-0 up. As for that great Cyril Knowles team, other than Lors, the skills factor wasn't that high......but they were fit, tough and a good team. Each of these sides mentioned here did have that diamond in the rough though. Alf Ramsey had Bobby Charlton in '66, Matt Busby had Bestie in '68, and Cyril had Mark Loram..........

What Cyril's team did was make 5-3-2/3-5-2 work. That "system" worked because of the way it changed shape as it moved. The key as stated is fitness especially of the wingbacks, and the fitness/positional sense/movement of the "spare man". I played in several teams using that "system" and it always worked better for me than 4-4-2/4-3-3.

[Banging_Them_In]

We had a couple of tough Scots defenders in that team as well remember.......


.......and it's good that the Jocks have further developed their ideas of zonal marking :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/scotland/25568803

[Trojan 67]

We had a couple of tough Scots defenders in that team as well remember.......

Aye, Jim and Tom