World Cup 2018 countdown!!!!

[Mark TKO]

Didn’t watch but had a fiver on mbappe to score.

They said the England side was too young to win it this time yet France younger.

Why do we not produce flair players ??

[Memphis]

I think produce is the wrong word. These players aren't produced. If they were, we'd all have them all the time. They are born that way and along their football journey from boy to man they are encouraged and nurtured to become the talents we see at senior level.

When I was playing football at a pretty decent standard as a 15/16/17 year old, really talented players were being overlooked in favour of the biggest fittest fuckers who could muscle a ball into a net on a monotonous basis. Which was great, until the playing field started to level out physically and they were out of their depth technically. I could see it happening before my own young dopey eyes. We're not talking Sunday league fuck abouts here with managers who just happen to be free on a Sunday morning or have access to a van, proper coaches at championship clubs who really ought to have known fucking better even back then.

I think we've learned many a lesson over the last 20/25 years and we have started to see the fruit of those lessons in the players we have being far more technically accomplished than their predecessors and able to retain possession of a football much better. The real x factor players though, you cant teach that, you cant create a training drill to build a Hazzard De Bruyne partnership, you cant give them what they've got. You can help it along it's way, but it has to be there from the beginning.

With a bit of luck coaches are a bit more switched on these days and can spot the real players with the brains and flair to unlock defences and give them a go rather than binning them off in favour of a big lump who can run.

[Master]

Excellent post Memphis.

France have talented players in a great team that is what is needed to win the tournament. They may dominate like Spain did for the next few years.

[Mark TKO]

They could well dominate was thinking that.

Oh for another gazza - one with his head screwed on

[Memphis]

http://www.soccerbase.com/players/pl...?player_id=393

This guy right here is everything that has been wrong with English football and coaching at junior level over the years. I don't mean any disrespect to the bloke, he played pro football, better than I did and fair play to him for that. He was 5,10 11 stone at 14/15 years old. Literally running through or over players and banging in the goals, there was no way to stop it. Then, they get picked up by a professional club and nothing really changes for them, their game doesn't change. In fact, in his case at least it gets worse because this kid who has spent his life galloping through on goal with no one able to catch him, has suddenly got a whole lot more room to run into on a pro pitch. You wonder where the person was that takes this kind of kid aside and says look son, you need to have a bit more about you than just strength and speed. Once he'd lost the edge physically, he became basically redundant.

The challenge for these young players is to get game time, proper game time not farting about with a few league cup appearances. Players like Phil Foden who everyone raves about have got to be able to progress over the next year or two and be looking to light up the Euro's or next World cup.