Good morning.
It’s Saturday and I am somewhat hungover. Sometimes I look around a bar I’m in late at night with envy because I see people and think ‘I bet none of you lot have to get up and write something first thing tomorrow morning’.
Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the bar is full of secret bloggers who have to do exactly that. Like the chap who runs MyLittlePugblog where he dresses his pugs up as My Little Ponies and makes them have adventures and all those strange people who like My Little Pony read them and start their day with a smile before they think about how they’re going to dispose of the people they keep captive in their basements.
However, I doubt it. If you run a blog like that my guess is you don’t spend a lot of time out late at night because you like to stay indoors and do things to yourself. With implements, and that. If I’m unfairly stereotyping then I apologise.
Us football bloggers are, of course, the epitome of normality and quotidian existence. I mean, what’s more everyday than getting up every day of your life to write about some chaps who like to welly a round sphere around some grass for living?
Exactly.
There’s not a lot happening, as you would expect. Danny Welbeck apparently played well for England last night as they beat Lithuania 4-1. He scored and got an assist so he’ll be feeling good about himself this morning. His oats or granola, or whatever he’s going to have for breakfast, will taste extra delicious. However, the fact that he’s returned to us with ‘knee tweak’ is something of a worry, so let’s keep fingers crossed it’s nothing serious.
Meanwhile, Arsene Wenger has spoken about new FA proposals which would require top-flight clubs to have 12 ‘home grown’ players in their squads. As you would expect, he’s not a fan, saying:
I believe that we are in the world of competition. Competition means either you or me is the best one. We have to accept that. That means as well that the rules of the game must be structured to favour the best or we are not in a competition anymore.
So we can say one of two things – we protect the mediocre or we produce the best players.
I am in complete agreement. For some reason England’s lack of success in international tournaments is seen as being the most important problem for those who run the game to solve. I think we all remember back in the 1970s and 80s when foreign players were rare and England won the World Cup and European Championships all the time, but then foreigners arrived and they took our jobs and now England are terrible at football.
So clearly the way to solve that is to hamstring club sides because that’s where the issue us. And then when English clubs get knocked out of the Champions League at an early stage we can see the problem will be because the foreign players in the squads are keeping the super-talented English boys out of the team and new schemes will be put in place to make sure that each squad has 25 players all born within a vicar’s jizz of the stadium of said team and that local spirit will see them bring success and glory back with a jolly how do you do, a throw of their flat cap in the air and manly hug for all around them and certainly not a continental kiss on each cheek.
I think most people want to see local players do well. At Arsenal we’ve certainly given them plenty of chances and made room for them in squad. The much vaunted ‘British Core’ is great to see but ultimately those players should only play if they’re the best players, not because of their passport or where they were born. It’s up to them to fight their way into the team, because if they’re there by default then it will do absolutely nothing to raise the standard of player which, I assume, is the thinking behind such a scheme.
Could the FA not consider more investment in youth football, better coaching, a focus on skill and technical ability above and beyond stamina and aggression, and countless other measures that would improve young players? That’s what will make them better, and give them a better chance in a truly competitive environment rather than one that has been artificially weighed in their favour.
It’s the real-life equivalent of giving every player in your FIFA team 100 speed, winning every game you play with a doctored team, but then wondering why you’re still losing when you have to play with everything reset to normal. But then actual joined up thinking regarding football, especially by those who have authority, is rare, so I don’t think we should be surprised by this proposal despite how stupid it is.
Right, that’s about as much as I can manage. Catch you tomorrow, have a good Saturday.
