When the Under-17s lost a final they had all but won with a couple of misses from 12 yards it again underlined that English football’s version of the yips needs a long-overdue cureThe yips can take more than one form. Usually we think of the phenomenon in terms of an individual submitting to a technical meltdown: a golfer seizing up at the sight of a six-inch putt, a tennis player suddenly incapable of tossing the ball up for a serve accurately, or a bowler losing the ability to land the ball anywhere near the cut strip.Jon Lester is one of the stranger variations. A recent issue of Sports Illustrated carried a long and absorbing feature on the 33-year-old left-handed pitcher...
It is ridiculous to cast split loyalties as an issue of blame, an absence of old English backbone; to understand rather than bully is the only viable futureParallax error is the kind of thing one learns about in year five physics. It describes the way the same object can appear to have different qualities observed from different angles – like a measuring gauge, for example, or Arsenal’s talented teenage centre-forward Eddie Nketiah.“Arsenal wonderkid Eddie Nketiah nets hat-trick for England Under‑18s,” was the headline in one English newspaper after Nketiah’s fine performance against Qatar on Tuesday night. “England-born Ghanaian Eddie Nketiah scores on England debut,” was an alternative view from Ghanaweb.com after Nketiah had scored on his debut against Saudi Arabia...
Coach called on Jones to give his squad a lesson in winning before their match with Lithuania and his charges are learning the value of initiativeGareth Southgate handed the stage to the player at his side when it came down to dissecting more precisely the advice and guidance offered up by Eddie Jones on Friday night. The England rugby union coach had addressed the nation’s senior football squad back at their team hotel in Hertfordshire, his presentation devoid of PowerPoint slides or whiteboard bullet points. Players have a tendency to drift off on such occasions, staring blankly at the rat‑a‑tat of buzzwords, but the Australian apparently held the room.“We have taken massive inspiration from his work,” said Ryan Bertrand. “His...
Gareth Southgate’s world is brave and bright; Jake Livermore and Michael Keane show promise in Dortmund, and Wayne who?“We have to think differently and work differently. I’m trying to open their eyes to what we believe is possible.” So said the manager on taking charge for the first time as the permanent incumbent and so he proceeded to oversee a bright and original-feeling England performance. This featured fluid movement, a high press when possible, and a defiance that even after Germany scored on 69 minutes allowed them to keep on playing in this fashion. Too much can be made of fresh dawns when it comes to Three Lions football, of course. But what Gareth Southgate has over his predecessor, Roy...
Without Wayne Rooney the manager can concentrate on creating a side that recaptures the imagination with a strong team ethic and a game planHere we go again. Time to fire up the sirens, unfurl the St George Cross flag and rattle off once more on the charabanc of doomed hope and certain despair. The Gareth Southgate England era has at least been notable for its ability to cut straight to the point. This is already the first England reign to begin rather than simply end with an ashen-faced apology, Southgate spending those first few weeks looking sad and saying sorry for all that stuff with Big Sam, Iceland and pretty much everything else for the last 50 years or so.Six...