Orlando Engelaar and the rotten foundations of English Football.

Before Holland, the age old total football entertainers, lit up what was a typically mundane kick-start to a euro 2008 with their master class performance against Reigning world champions Italy, it was easy to fall into the heartbreaking romanticism that was England’s non participation in the tournament.

Up and down the country people bemoaned the void that was left in there day to day lives, the three and a bit weeks where England routinely build up their already inflated hopes with some dire performances, religiously sound tracked, live and in full colour, by their zealous patriotic brethren as they conquer every town centre before them.

In a tournament where it was expected the entertainment would wane without those inflated hopes and dreams, it was left to a Dutchman; former failed journeyman striker Orlando Engelaar and his free flowing team-mates to demonstrate why exactly this summer was needed for much needed study and reflection for Capello and his team.

In order for us to fully comprehend the following comparisons, English premiership perspective is needed.

For in this instance, imagine for a moment, Marcus Bent, the journeyman Birmingham front man slotting seamlessly into a central midfield berth within England’s Midfield, Impressing pundits and fans alike with some scintillating performances at a major international tournament. Moment over? Good.

For during Euro 2008 our Dutch counterparts have not only dared to imagine but have actually achieved such an event, take a bow Orland Engelaar.

For those who need a history lesson on Orlando Engelaar, a lesson I myself was admittedly in need of, here it is.

Engelaar is 28 years old, hardly a spring chicken in today’s youth infatuated game and during the match against Italy he won his 8th international cap. (Baring in mind, Phil Neville is currently waiting for his 60th England Cap).

Spending the majority of his career as an unsuccessful secondary striker with Belgian side Genk, he was coaxed back into midfield by his Mentor Fred Rutten at un-fancied FC Twente.

It was there that Engelaar reinvented himself as a perfect modern day holding midfielder, a wonderful mixture of subtlety and power that has driven him into captaining serial overachievers Twente into touching distance of the Champions League.

This rise from mediocrity to notoriety is both surprising and inspiring in today’s game where players are handpicked and groomed from such tender ages.

It is in Engelaar and his surprise elevation into international football and his unproblematic transition into the highest level of the game that we find the hollow soul of the English game, rotting under the cloud of so many questions and very little solutions, Perfectly epitomised by the recent laughable showing against the Czech Republic.

It is in Engelaar’s ability to reinvent himself at such a late stage in his career that we are faced with our first question. Could this reinvention be expected of the Marcus Bent’s of the English game? I feel, if put to a Britain’s got talent panel, the resounding sound would be the intolerable burr of the crimson cross, all three times. Even our very own Amanda Holden, nice guy Trevor Brooking’s finger would be firmly placed on his buzzer. (His own quest for the now successful Burton Football Academy clearly showing his personal discomfort at our game at grass roots level).

The sad fact is our game does not produce enough players, at all levels, that have the underlying technical ability for change and adaptation. And at the highest level of modern day international football, this is unacceptable.

At an Early age English players are placed firmly in their customary positions, normally determined by their size; the tall ones compete for the coveted Goalie gloves/ Central Defender/ Emile Heskey battering ram role; the short ones normally shelved into the full back positions, and anybody with any real ability are usually allowed to play wherever they want. Picture it now, on the local grass roots arena, that one youngster who takes opposition sides on by himself, given the ball at every opportunity by his supporting cast of Team-mates.

It is in this underlying stagnant philosophy at many grass roots levels in this country we find our game breeding a lack of flexibility, which ultimately stunts any potential to become the beauty rather than the serial underachieving beasts of modern day international football (for even the Greek beasts of euro 2004 gained outrageous success).

In order for our game to progress there has to be change. In order to change we have to learn. Step forward the Total Footballers of Holland.

At Ajax, within their Youth academy structure, it is not uncommon to see players swapped out of the comfort zone of their preferred positions from game to game, even during many, to acclimatise themselves in every area of the pitch. It is in this change of environment that they learn to adapt to different climates and pressures all over the pitch, they learn flexibility, positional awareness, and most evidently, composure and ease with the ball at their feet in any situation. All too often at international level English players are found wanting at these very elements of the game.

Can you entertain the idea of a young Joe Cole being swapped into a full back berth during his footballing education? No.

Think back to Croatia’s dismantling job on Steve McClaren’s team in Zagreb, The proverbial rubix cube that was the 3-5-2, and the total disarray it caused when bestowed upon Premiership icons and Champions league winners alike.

Compare this to how the Dutch would deal with such a change of shape. Not a problem. Van Bronkhorst from left back to wing back, or even central midfield? No problem. Nigel De Jong into central defence? Or Right back? Easy. Van Der Vaart from playing in the hole behind the front man to the right, left, or even an orthodox central position in midfield? Not an issue.

The history of the Dutch “Total Football” mentality, perfectly epitomised by players such as Johan Cruyff during the 70’s, lay the footballing foundations for which generations of their players adhere to. Think of Ruud Gullits transformation through the years, from Lethal Striker at Milan to sweeper at Chelsea. It’s hard to imagine our own Michael Owen maturing in a similar fashion in his declining years, for as Michael loses inch after inch of pace, he looks a declining force. A dinosaur of the international arena before the age of 30.

It is in comparison to today’s Dutch masters that Lampard and Gerrard’s incompatibility within England’s midfield serves up more unanswerable questions; after watching the Dutch’s incorporation of Wesley Sneijder and Rafeal Van der Vaart, we are left to compare and scrutinise unfavourably.

Both players, like our very own Steve and Frank, play in a very similar way, both are attacking midfield players, both like to dictate attacking moves; yet both play together in unison with intelligence and understanding that seems to evade our boys when selected together.

For when watching the Dutchmen in unison it is clear neither sits back as the other takes the lead, there is no leeway or attacking preferable between them, they don’t need to subdue their finer points to compliment the other.

When Lampard and Gerrard play together it seems one always feels he has to play second fiddle to the other in an attacking sense. And as a result they lose their quality and influence. The Dutch do play two defensive midfielders in Engelaar and his partner in crime De Jong, which allow Van der Vaart and Sneijder freedom, but that argument becomes null and void with the inclusion of Owen Hargreaves alongside them, his tenacious and steadfast defensive awareness should in theory allow for such freedom to interlink and to combine, for when Gerrard is moved out on to the left he is hardly asked to play as an orthodox wide man, Unfortunately for England, nothing seems to work.

I personally feel both Lampard and Gerrard are gifted individuals, worthy of gracing most teams in the world, the problem stems, as it does with English players as a whole, in their lack of a Dutch-like education as Total Footballers

The fans of Real Madrid lay in wait at the mouth watering prospect of The reuniting of the two Dutchmen, which should be compelling viewing for many long suffering England supporters.

Of course it can be said the Dutch are serial underachievers like ourselves, but I feel it is a question of taking their positives and combining them with our own to evolve and essentially achieve.

If lessons could be learnt from this Total football approach at grass roots level, and used to nurture the obvious world class raw talent we can produce in this country, this would create an expanded and evolved crop of players who could, for instance, cope with a simple change of formation.

Maybe England could evolve from international beast to beauty, and perhaps, in time, produce some Orlando Engelaars of our own, and in turn produce a team that can play together with the fluidity and cohesion that seems so hard to come by.