After every major tournament where England seem to fail to rise to the high expectations that the country and indeed the media set, we as a nation wonder, why? Why can we not compete with the likes of Spain? 'We need to go back to the grass roots of football, and have our youngsters playing "futsal"'. What the hell is "futsal"?! However, England need to quickly realise one major factor into why we do not succeed in major tournaments - We are not good enough!
Today Fabio Capello, resigned as England head coach. Something which should have happened a long time ago as he simply does not understand England's style of play (nor do we understand him - at all). Boasting a record of only two competitive defeats there are certain factions slamming the F.A. for causing this to happen so near to a major tournament and that Fabio Capello changed the way England played. I must say that I never fall asleep during a football match but I actually did during every single one of England's group matches in the world cup. The only one I didn't was the Germany game and that because they were so good! Capello slowed the team down, played Rooney up front on his own, made a scumbag captain again, kicking off when the scumbag captain was racist and stripped of his captaincy, played to narrow, played Theo Walcott and Andy Carroll in the same team, didn't select Joe Hart for the world cup and many more soul destroying factors that have made England the most boring nation to watch play international football.
The EPL is the greatest league in the world without a shadow of a doubt and a lot of 'so-called' world beaters can't seem to hack it. That is because of the pace and power that we play with, the motivation, the aggression, the sheer drive to win; and it's entertaining. A lot of people go on about Stoke City being too physical and slogging there way into EPL consolidation. I thoroughly enjoy it; there is no greater sight than seeing a defence panic because a Rory Delap throw, or Ryan Shawcross going through a player. Stoke introduced themselves on Europe this year and the teams they played had no idea what hit them. God help Valencia with their slick passing and movement, I can't wait to see Miguel trying to mark Jon Walters. It is of my opinion that the past England managers have got it well and truly totally wrong because they don't look at the way we play in the EPL, they look at Barcelona, Spain, Real Madrid, build up play, which is stunning to watch at times, but not a kind of game that England players have the technical capabilities for.
That brings me on to Sam Allardyce. A manager who has gained a reputation for using one strategy; long ball. Allardyce likes to set his team up with a powerful centre forward leading the line with advanced forward players dropping off them. A goalscoring midfielder, wingers, a player who can pass a ball long in the middle of the park, and two aggressive central defenders. His teams play with pace and they play with a hard defensive structure that is extremely hard to break down.
It is these credentials within Allardyce's management style which makes me believe he is the right man for the England job. It's a style that English players do best and no longer would he have to select from the average English National Pool or foreign players, he could pick from the best! No long ball Matty Taylor, Stephen Gerrard. No Slogger Kevin Davies, Andy Carroll, don't need aging Kevin Nolan, have Daniel Sturridge, Wayne Rooney and someone like Oxlaide-Chamberlain picking up the knockdowns. Most importantly, bring back two players who would excel more than anyone with this style of play - David Beckham and Paul Scholes. The quality of distance passing is still second to none and finally Andy Carroll might have quality to rely on rather than a one in ten good ball from Dirk Kuyt.
I can see how an Allardyce squad would look like, I can see how the starting team would line up and I can see how it would go for England. It would not be pretty, nations would berate our "ugly" style of play, but we would win, sure only a 1-0 nil scrap having only 40% possession but if we play with drive, passion and a Sam Allardyce structure, we could just do it - Big Sam, you get my vote!
Sam Allardyce England Squad
Goalkeepers
Joe Hart
Robert Green
David Stockdale
Defenders
Micah Richards
Ryan Shawcross
Chris Smalling
Phil Jones
Joleon Lescott
Glen Johnson
Ashley Cole
Leighton Baines
Midfield
David Beckham
Paul Scholes
Jack Wilshire
Stephen Gerrard
Joey Barton
Adam Johnson
Alex Oxlaide-Chamberlain
Ashley Young
Forward
Andy Carroll
Wayne Rooney
Daniel Sturridge
Peter Crouch
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