The Game

Orlando Engelaar and the rotten foundations of English Football.

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:18:56 -0500

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.

Art Deco. The rebirth of the playmaker

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 19:01:15 -0500

It was a promising young manager who predicted it, a bespectacled, unassuming, slightly built man in exile from Bernard Tapies corrupt rule over French football.

After witnessing Dunga and his surprisingly conservative Brazilian team mates scooping the World Cup via penalties in USA 94, he gave a lecture on the demise of a footballing enigma, The Playmaker. That young man was Arsene Wenger and if anyone was an expert on playmakers, it was him.

During his time at Monaco Wenger built his teams around a playmaker, an offensive leader allowed to roam free and dictate the game with vision, flair and swagger. First it was a misunderstood Englishman by the name of Hoddle, later the brilliant Belgian, Enzo Scifo. Neither was athletic, nor pacey, but they had flair and creativity and every move was channelled through them, they were Wenger’s “Generalissimo’s”.

After enduring the scandals that blighted his tenure as Monaco boss, Wenger was unceremoniously sacked. Exhausted and frustrated, Wenger sought personal and professional solace in Japan and sat back as the rest of the world watched his predictions become a reality. The playmaker role no longer existed. Wenger saw a new footballing age was dawning, an age of power and economy over flair and indulgence. Teams attacked and defended in unison and thus there was no room for passengers like monsieur’s Hoddle and Scifo.

You only have to think back to Wenger’s Arsenal teams in particular for prudent examples, built around attacking flair as standard, freedom of movement between players as a rule. But with this brand of total football everybody had their role within the team unit. The Bergkamps and the Henrys of Wenger’s Arsenal often dictated attacking moves but always by dropping deep or by drifting wide, primarily consigned to the attacking third; neither had free roles within the team unit. Wenger doesn’t carry passengers anymore.

All that being said, Wenger is not averse to indulging himself in flair players.

For instance, Wenger buys playmakers but moves them out wide, they punctuate rather than dictate the offensive side of Arsenal’s game; for example players such as Pires, Ljungberg, Rosicky and the departed Alexander Hleb. All of them occupied the playmaker role with their former clubs but were moved out wide to accommodate them within Wenger’s team unit.

The Vieira’s and Petit’s, the Gilberto’s were the players who anchored and funnelled, attacked and defended when need be, they laid the foundations for the teams successes.

Even the magnificent Fabregas, a player who could easily occupy the out and out playmaker role,

(as seen in the latter stages of Spain’s triumphant Euro 2008 Campaign) is placed within a responsible role in the centre of midfield. At Arsenal he is expected to do the proverbial dirty work when the need arises. On the ball he makes Arsenal tick; off the ball he is a vital cog in the defensive unit.

The subsequent subduing of the playmaker within the English game in particular has been all too evident; but it was as a result of some inspirational performances during Euro 2008 that we witnessed a rebirth of indulgence, the rebirth of the playmaker.

Take a bow Andrei Arshavin and reserve your warmest applause for the new saviour of the ‘Roman Revolution’, the ever ‘Art-ful’ Deco.

It was when the rumours began that Wenger was mulling over an offer for Russian star turn Andrei Arshavin that we knew a shift had occurred during the tournament, just like it had during that fateful heat soaked tournament that was held in the good old USA over a decade ago.

You see, Arshavin has no place as an auxiliary wide man. Wenger actually contemplated bringing in a new Generalisimo, and if Zenit hadn’t priced him out of a move to the most prudent team in the Premiership, he would currently be residing in the Red half of north London instead of cautiously flirting with their fierce rivals at White Hart Lane.

Arshavin, single handed, dismantling of the Dutch was exhilarating he glided around the pitch, picking up on the weaknesses of the Dutch and exploiting them. Ooijer and his lack of pace was targeted with various scathing passes to the overlapping Zhirkov for instance. His Goal was merely the icing on the proverbial cake. In Arshavin, Russia had a star turn and by allowing him to become their sole playmaker his quality made a workmanlike outfit an exciting one.

Undeniably Wenger has an exciting team, Arshavin would have added to it. For their counterparts from the west of London, adding flair and creativity was a more of a necessity.

Which brings us swiftly onto to the newly crowned king of Stamford Bridge.

In buying Deco, who blew away all premature thoughts of his personal demise, with some scintillating performances of his own during Euro 2008, Chelsea bought a ready-made solution to their dour image. They bought a player who could, if given the freedom, change the mentality of their team. Against Portsmouth Deco was given that freedom and as a result, Chelsea played the football Abramovic craves. Chelsea bought themselves a Playmaker.

Deco terrorised Portsmouth; picking the ball up deep from the backline, he sprayed passes around, dictating the direction of every move. His performance was topped off with an audacious shot that eluded a despairing and over worked David James. But this was by no means a one man show. By allowing Deco the freedom to roam the pitch it seemed to encourage players to express themselves. Ashley Cole mirrored his Arsenal form with some surging runs and the newly acquired Bosingwa played with an exuberance that always seemed out of reach for his predecessor Ferreira. Deco drew the opposition out of their defensive positions and thus allowed Chelsea freedom all over the pitch. This frightened Pompy. They simply weren’t expecting It. Campbell and Distin would rather have dealt with the powerful, direct Chelsea than the one they faced on this demoralising start to their campaign.

Deco performance may have signified the start of something special for Chelsea, for the Premiership and, most importantly, for the fans. A new day is dawning for the playmaker, the thirst for flair and indulgence has become a fashionable thirst to quench once more.