top foreign teams

18 - 4

Good post, I've begun to think much the same thing recently, for both the argument that we overrate the top teams and underrate the others.

I'm wary of judging from just watching the European games (I don't watch much or any of the Spanish and Italian domestic leagues) but a lot of teams seem to be put forward now with randoms saying player X or Y is great. It's like these teams are packed full of "new Zidanes" or "new van Bastens" and the concept of a solid team has now been lost. In almost all cases these so called hot prospects seem like a mbuttive let down. The Liverpool match for instance. All I read on Internet messageboards was how Zambrotta was some kind of deity and Emerson would boss Gerrard. FFS, the former was owned by Finnan and even Nunez when he came on, and the latter cried out after four minutes and spent the rest of the match ball watching (come a long way since his Boro days tho' ;) ).

I suggest that with the rise of mbutt publisher communications media such as newsgroups and messageboards a wider range of players get hyped more than ever before, and with little reason. The trouble is that too many of these publishers are just Football Manager players. I know, I'm guilty of it myself, I remember bleating about how John Curtis would be England captain eight years ago after reading about him in FourFourTwo...

Continental sides still have the edge when it comes to controlled play, technique and possesion. I don't think continuous all out, all action direct play is necessarily the best way to go, and I think we have learnt from that. When we (English clubs) first came back from the European ban we were caught out because our style had become honed from just playing each other. We had no idea how to build up play slowly, and too many of our teams relied on the big hoof (look at Blackburn's success in the league, then their "attempts" at Europe).

I think we should recognise our strengths and use them where appropriate, a home game for instance, but be prepared to fall back and develop our technique and tactical understanding to aid us through away games, games in environments not conducive to running around for 90 minutes etc.

Dan