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Fabio's thoughts

  • Saturday 12 November 2011
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England Manager Fabio Capello spoke to FATV after seeing his side beat Spain at Wembley.

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8 ratings | 903 views | 3 comments

What Do You Think?

  • Well done from me also Fabio! This is the kind of wins we have long been expecting from you throughout these last months. Pity that they are coming so late in the day, when your contract is about to expire! Unless, that is, the FA and yourself do not wish to mutually extend it further than after the end of Euro 2012! That would be good and a ripe time for you, dear Capello, to show your true worth! KEEP IT UP, AND UP WITH ENGLAND! Dr. Mark Said, Malta.By fabfan (17 months ago)
  • Dear Fabio There needs to be a shift away from the focus on "talented individuals" and instead the focus to be on "talented teams" or at the very least "talented individuals within teams". Match facts (Sunday Mail 13/11/11):- England vs Spain (Friendly international Sat 12/11/11):- (1) Spain possession = 70.5% ; England possession = 29.5%; (2) Spain no. of touches in opponent's half = 348; England no. of touches in opponents half = 75. Yes England won 1-0 - but I feel that this was an extremely lucky result for England & if the match facts above were to be repeated - the tournament would not last long for England. The trademark of the Spain/Barcelona approach is the ability to retain possession - leaving aside the old adage that "the opponent can't score if we have the ball" ... One can also understand why the Spanish team has more energy to hunt/chase down the opponent when they LOSE possession. (As soon as an England player had the ball there seemed to be 2 or 3 Spanish players tackling them). I found that the English players looked "pedestrian" in possession - whilst the Spanish looked dynamic. I also noticed that the Spanish players often utilised "flinching" or dummying whilst in possession - thus wrong-footing the English player before they had a chance to make the tackle. I feel that during youth (aged 8 to 16) & senior player training more exercises should be done on testing individuals by having 5 players run at the player with the ball - to test how well they retain possession (possession can be retained by having 4 teammates at separate and equi-distant spaces away available to receive the pass. Also more exercises on movement "off the ball" - so that any player with the ball always has options for making a pass to colleagues available. Having said that - the team should always retain a fluid but rigid structure, with different players able to move to different positions (if required). I feel that it is sad that in general, youth players seem to be judged solely on ability to tackle (reactive) rather than ability to retain possession under pressure (pro-active). I found it depressing the number of times that the English defence won the ball, then gifted the ball back to the opposition! (a complete waste of energy in winning the ball back in the first place). We don't even need to look at Spain/Barcelona for successful examples - 1970s/1980s Liverpool FC - they retained possession wonderfully and also hunted the ball back in packs. The emphasis needs to be more on team development as well as on technique:- (1) Team play (2) Retaining the ball under pressure (3) Support play (offence & defence; with players hunting in packs to win back possession) (4) Defenders happy to play the ball across defence if no forward option is available (5) Goal keeper comfortable on the ball & happy to play shorter passes to the defence. (6) Fitness I really do feel that Youth coaches should keep score of the "Times ball given away / per Youth player" - to help the players judge themselves and improve on this aspect. I myself would much rather watch good team-play & passing (e.g. SPAIN); than the brilliance of one flair player who skips past a player and then makes a sloppy pass or passes to a colleague who then gives the ball away first time (e.g. ENGLAND) ...and I am an ENGLAND supporter! By saintsfan (17 months ago)
  • Well done Fabio, finally a bunch of players that showed that the will to win sometimes exceeds technical ability. Well organised and prepared to complete. There are some lessons to learn from this for sure. One final well done to Frank Lampard who I have been fast to complain about but showed real determination this evening. I would have praised any determined performance but to come away with the win against the best side in the world was fantastic. Thank you from a Fan of old. By Fingle (17 months ago)