Franco Baldini - a member of Fabio Capello's team - has criticised the English players for a lack of technical skill, and insists the players will be working double training sessions while on international duty in order to reach the standard expected of England new Italian bosses...
Baldini (pictured) has expressed with little uncertainty that the England boys are in drastic need of more practise, and if the increased intensity of international duty incensed Premier League managers, it was simply the price of success and nothing more.
"We need more technical skill," he declared. "We have to practise, practise, practise.
"Unfortunately, we have the players just for a few days every two months and so, on this occasion, we made four training sessions [instead of two].
"Maybe some managers here [in England] will not approve of this, but we have to try at all times so that we can do that."
Capello's right hand man was merciless in his assessment of England's lack of style; underlining that the coaching staff were doing their best to beat the long ball philosophy out of the team.
"We are trying to play more with the ball because the English culture is after two, three horizontal passes the crowd is asking for the ball [gestures through the air, referring to a long ball]," he said.
"We have to try and play more. We have to play with more confidence because it's easier to play when the ball is at your feet.
"So we have to try and incorporate this confidence in our game, in our self, to give us more chances. Some things were good in this game, some things not. But it was good enough from my point of view."
"We want to arrive in September to start the World Cup qualification campaign in a better way.
"What's more important at this time is the training, not the match. The match is, of course, important because 90,000 people are in the stadium and that's very exciting for us but, at this moment, it's more important that we have the chance to train."
When posed the question of whether Capello's regime was to demand an Italian style from an English team, Baldini again pulled no punches with his answer.
"No, this is England. England have to play like England. But maybe a little bit better," he declared.
This frank assessment of England's weaknesses will no doubt bruise a few egos, but with the Italian so eager to try out a few new faces, there will always be hope for those in and around the England set-up. That even includes David Beckham, who is reportedly set to get his 100th cap - but only as soon as he has regained match fitness. Michael Owen's future, however, may be in a shade of doubt, despite Capello assuring he is part of his plans.
Baldini concluded by affirming that the rules introduced by Capello's regime - such as no WAGs and no mobile phones - are in the best interests of the team's success.
"[The rules are] normal and it helps the players stay together," Baldini said.
England Need More Technical Skill
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Re: How True
true there, i think thats y capello was so interested in the unda 21 england team...ozzie owl wrote:The skills need to be learned from 6 to 16 not at 28 .
England needs ro restructure how it develops young players.