Thursday, March 28, 2024

Wenger: they can’t even head the ball

Arsene Wenger has bemoaned the focus on young players playing competitive football at the expense of training during their formative years.

The Arsenal manager was responding to an FA report released today, and said it’s vital that youngsters are educated as footballers first and foremost.

Wenger has long suggested that the technical skills needed for a career in the top flight are developed early, and that improvement becomes almost impossible after a certain age. He wants to see young players given the coaching they need to give them a better chance in the game.

“You have to balance the training and the competition,” he said. “For me the competition has too much importance and the training too little.

“The time the kids spend on the pitch from the age of eight to 17 in training is too short. The time they spend in competition is too big, so to add more competition does not make sense.

“I have seen too many kids come to the age of 17 or 18 and they cannot head the ball or they have no left foot because they have not practised enough.”

And he warned that restricting the use of foreign players would ultimately be harmful to British players trying to make their breakthrough.

“At every single club, despite the big foreign players, the young players come through when they have the quality. That is what you have to target for. It is not to fight for mediocrity, it is to fight for quality.

“The bigger the players are that we have in England, the more the young players will develop because they develop in contact with those players. To get rid of big players would be a massive mistake for the education and quality of the youngsters.”

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Johnnyboy

It only took walcott 8 years to get his first headed goal!

NorthernGoon

but he did beat Chris Samba to a header at Ewood Park

Lulu

I wonder if the Commision even spoke to Arsene.

True Red

Of course they wouldn’t speak to Arsene because they wouldn’t want to hear the uncomfortable truth

JJG

Why would they, they consulted Danny Mills…..

GoonTang

Of course they didn’t. In the words of Malcolm Tucker from The Thick of It – “You need to listen to the right expert. And you need to know what an expert is going to advise you before he advises you.”

SB

Why? He is one of the foreigners who is not letting talented British Managers like Big Sam, Redknapp, Pulis grow and get an oppurtunity at big clubs.

Here is another thought, the B teams have to be managed by British managers.

Black Hei

Ha ha. Nice one.

Arsepedant

More than a few thumbers missed the subtlety of that one, I think.

Giroulski

Oh look, we have an intelligent manager not bogged down in disguised xenophobia and obsessed with foreign players being the reason for English players being shit.

Who knew?

Modhabobo

British Football has always valued power and pace, blood and thunder over any technical skills. Wenger is just the latest in a long line people to bemoan the state of football training. As long as the big kids play at the back, and the fastest kids on the wings / up front, we will never develop as a football nation. Too many clod hoppers from the 70s still have senior roles at clubs, be it managers or training.

Mr Media

I see them on the park, hoofing the ball painfully around. This is organised football with crowds of parents and the football is awful. No passing, the big ones dominate, no clear positioning and they clearly have had no training in sprinting off the ball. But all kids want to do is play, not train. What you need is more specialist schools which blend football training all day with a reduced timetable. Which of us would have signed up for that when we were 11?

GreekTragedy

Couldn’t agree more, that was my experience of junior footie. No wonder we are miles behind the Spanish at the moment. Kids aren’t taught to be technically gifted as power is considered more important.

Me So Hornsey

This is a problem going back 30 years. More even. The FA has seen France’s Clairfontane, the German, Spain and even the Brazil model and still not tackled the underlying problem. As a youth, the most naturally gifted players never made it to a certain level as they were always given a hard time for being too fancy. The big lumps, the hardest tacklers, the biggest kids for their age always made it as they were inevitably the most competitive and physically strong and winning was far more important to coaches than playing quality football. Also remember we’re talking an… Read more »

arsesicky

umm the ‘brazil model’ is basically to have a massive population live in extreme poverty with football being literally the only escape – and then to put massive pressure on kids at the age of 10-12 to perform and develop. yes it makes a lot of talented footballers, but is that really the model England should follow?

arsesicky

massive too much, I know

Black Hei

That is of course not entirely true.

Otherwise India and China would have been World Cup kings over and over.

Rocky Rocastle

England got more organised football practice than Spain or Brazil. But why then do they not produce the same quality players? Well after footy practice in England, Kids go home and play videogames or hang around at the mall etc. In Spain or Brazil they just play Even more football. Kids walk to school juggling or running with a ball at their feet. They play football before school rings in, they play it in the breaks at school, they play football after school, and football is generally just a vital part of many kids day. In England Kids probably spend… Read more »

SG

I’d always thought there were too many age-grade competitions to allow the young ‘uns truly flourish.
In all honesty though, youth development is one of the trickier aspects of football and very few footballing countries prioritize it.

jalster28

Being a teen of 17 years playing football in the east midlands i know Madhobobo and Mr Media are right; Nobody even attempts to play intelligent passes, just kick it forward and sprint until they reach the goal or get tackled.

Watching Arsenal when i lived in North London in the early 2007 is what got me interested in football so I would always tried to replicate the movement, but if you pass it to anyone don’t expect a backpass or them picking you out when you make a run,just running and running and running for 90 minutes.

jalster28

No but seriously trying getting your coach to explain exactly how he believe his team should play(impossible) or holding the ball up in midfield to get team mates to make runs( they just stand still around you shouting PASS IT FAM!!), there is a surprising lack of tactics management in England.

Big Dave

I remember playing football for local clubs up until about the age of 18 (ate too many donuts after that) and it sounds daft but the emphasis on winning was ridiculous. I mean who cares if we won the south-east 23rd division 2nd hand paint plastic trophy cup. I know Wenger is probably talking on more of a pro level, but it still applies. It’s so stereotypical, but the aggression from managers and parents on the sidelines during matchday just made us young-uns wana go home. It should definitely be about training and playing decent football. You have a natural… Read more »

Arsene Wenger's Penguin Suit

Just ban Wayne Rooney and John Terry on TV screens and all will rectify itself. Trust.

John

Seems giroud know how to use right foot

Aha

Rio Ferdinand was in the commission that tells you all about English football

Eternal Bottlers

English football is mediocre. Why dont they realise this, swallow their pride and refine their tradition? So long as this doesnt change, major tournaments will always feature ridiculous england performances where they hoof the ball and will never beat the big nations.

Mr.MoSS

Hey guys!.I know this is totally off course,but can Mr.Blogger (or anyone who knows) tell me what Phil Collins did to him?..I will be glad to know the valid reason why Old Ole Philly is being mocked by Mr. Blogger.

Morbius

I’m not 100% sure, but I think it could have something to do with the music

Me So Hornsey

Off the top of my head:

1. He exists.

2. He sang in hideous 80s autotune.

3. His incredibly annoying voice is inescapeable if you’re ever trawling through long wave radio channels or have to stop off in motorway cafes.

4. John Terry likes him.

5. He insinuated that he wouldn’t walk past a homeless person in the street pretending he didn’t see him/her. Pffffft…. yeah right…

Neil

Some say he destroyed Genesis (I never listened to ’em so I can’t really say) He’s also pretty right wing, a proudThatcherite (and sings bullshit about the homeless to make himself seem kind. He actually wants to spit on them and tell them to get a job) and a fan of Reagan. Woohoo! How Rock and Roll is that? He keeps marrying young birds like he’s not a fat, bald aging buffoon. He also begged to play with Led Zep at Live Aid. They agreed, but asked him to practice with them. Phil refused, saying he knew all the songs… Read more »

Black Hei

Thanks for the history, not all of us know this.

I never really had a real dislike for Collins. But if Arseblog don’t like him, hey I am in with it too. Kind of like I have never been to Tottenham but I am willing to pretend they are crap you know.

Love the Zep though. They are awesome, but burn out way to fast.

arsesicky

watch the south park episode where phil Collins breaks up jimmy and the lords of the underworld

setabcha

Just heard Dyke blabbing on about the new proposals (on radio 5 live), which completely ignore the woefully inadequate training facilities and coaches available for UK youth. But no doubt his proposals will be popular as they include limiting non – European footballers from playing in the UK. Good players raise the game of their whole team. Dyke’s proposals reek of race to the bottom NOT train to the top. Its an ignorant backward idea and simply urging more of the same, which as we already know isn’t good enough. We need to adopt an approach more like Spain or… Read more »

Wenger's Zipper

I don’t live in England, but it’s frighteningly obvious for anyone to see, in the Premiership, the lower divisions, & the national squads at all age levels, how little attention English football pays to developing the technical side of their game. Blaming foreign players is like trying to lower the grade so your kid can pass.

leighdickson

Nice analogy

Benriz

Could’t agree more

john

Couldn’t agree more with arsene here. If they have no top players to fight with to get to the first team, they will end up being average. If they just had a bit of patience and even took a glance at what is coming through the ranks at the moment in terms of English players, they will see that we have some real players coming through, and they’re that good because they have to be that good to play in the best quality league in the world. All these changes are going to do is produce quantity at the lack… Read more »

midgunner

My son’s at a football academy (Crewe Alex) and they do focus obsessively on technique, close control, skills under pressure. They do tend to get battered sometimes by more physical academy sides like West Brom, Man City etc which is can be demoralising for the players. I think it’s up to the coaches to keep faith in their philosophy and not get drawn in to the whole competitive mentality of it. Obviously its good to win but it’s not the priority at a young age. I remember Bergkamp talking about the same thing in his book, saying how at Ajax… Read more »

Neil

So true. I remember when I was a lad (Hovis music). At my school I played on full sized pitches that were usually in awful condition. I’m talking aged 8 or 9. With a proper football (they were quite a bit harder in the late 70’s). It was hard enough to kick the ball ten yards. Also, an eight year old cannot fill a full size goal very well (I wasn’t the keeper thank god). If you got it on target it was in. The mantra was ‘get into ’em’ and not much else. We did have one mental teacher… Read more »

Andre

Might be why Crewe have such a good record of producing youth players.

GunnerTron

The fact that Wenger’s expert opinion is expressed only when asked by provacative media says it all about the state of the country’s youth set up.

You would think that his input is priceless when it comes to developing a player let alone young players.

Logic is a mythical concept in the FA, it is simply a political party with agendas and inconpetent people running it rather than simply being a governing body of football.

Many other nations have less rescources but better set ups. That is the biggest shame.

Jasonissimo

Ironically, the greatest English heroes impressed because of superior relative technique rather than the degree of “Englishness” with which they played the game.

Wenger is right, of course. In the USA we are trying to reverse trend where youth pay to play too many games and do not train enough. Why is the FA considering the opposite? Ah, £££. Naturally.

m a gunner

How many English players play abroad ? n we still import more foreigners than any other league ! Have we got professional footballers who can’t get a job dose any other countries want them ? Is there to many average foreigners here cause they are cheaper than an English player ?

Neil

Heading the ball? I always wondered why we didn’t get Gervinho to practice his heading. Imagine if he’d connected with a cross with that magnificent forehead of his?

It would’ve burst the net, gone into the crowd, through someone’s guts, through the seat, through the concrete, outside the stadium, through the shops, accross the globe and returned a few hours later.

WengersNoseHair
Jelly Belly
gunnermite

le prof knows!!!

santori

“Englishness”. Suppose to add grit and ‘get on with it’ attitude as oppose to roll on the ground and play act like say…Joey Barton or erm Wayne Rooney. Look at the current Arsenal squad for strength and robustness and you see 4 of our English lads kited up in Lanvin ready to grace the Emirates (Private VIP box). By way of contrast, those whinging effete Frogs are well the indestructable Gourd, or no compromise black booted Flamini or the solid carved straight out of pure hard ebony Sagna, I don’t mind a red card KOscielny, take your pick. There already… Read more »

Rachel

I smirked when I read this, as even the great Thierry Henry never looked like he knew how to head the ball (apart from that goal against Man United)

Jasonissimo

I remember some qoute awhile back where the frenchmen maybe thierry chided jose reyes after he scored a headed goal in training “what are you doing?! the head is for thinking!”

Maybe someone else hass remembered it better.

Penis

If a guy like Cazorla was born and raised in the UK he’d probably be working in a cubicle or something.

santori

Worth noting that the partial reason why foreigners are so cheap is bc domestic players are way over valued. This in itself is a self fulfilling thing as the league in trying to ensure a certain participation for British talent (fair enough) has otherwise set an ‘artificial quota per team. The result is that market forces do not balance themselves out and prices are set artificially high for those players irrespective of talent level. Still kudos to a number of teams that continuously bring up good British players. Southampton and Everton are top on the list and it would not… Read more »

heihaci

he is only stating the obvious.
But the media and the FA seems to lack common sense

Toby

I was taught very little when I played. I played left back because I was slow. I mean I enjoyed the position and it was probably my suited position (but I wasn’t very left footed, because i never practiced), but to me it was just “defend” no technical ability and all the nice little moves I see on tv are completely new to me. It’s not just us though. In norway right now and I’ve seen a lot of hoofing from the kids….

Gooner Jakub

To be honest you can’t be weak and play in the premier leauge, i just can’t imagine Neymar doing well against a team such as stoke and as our youth from here the idea is for the scouts to get a player which would be fit to play for the premier leauge and not to do well in spain so the emphasis is a bitter bigger on players which can take a tackle and take contact rather then just dribble like in brazilian leauges for example.

Highbury_Gooner

There goes Wenger and his excuses. I never heard Ipwsich, Sheffield Wednesday, Charlton, etc not acknowledge our Titles because we had more money than them.

Diego Simeone is winning La Liga. Mourinho won Champions League with Porto. Roberto Martinez just battled Adsenal to 4th place with a quarter of our budget.

When it comes to Arsenal we are always finding creative excuses for our manager. SMH

Sigh…

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