tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5129770720975986432.post6988794384297194673..comments2023-05-13T09:28:33.746+01:00Comments on Minus the Shooting 2010: Grieving before a deathUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5129770720975986432.post-91291195617332329342010-06-18T10:04:33.827+01:002010-06-18T10:04:33.827+01:00I think it's more to do with nationality than ...I think it's more to do with nationality than class, and it's more to do with the England team <i>as an entity</i> than the players who make up the team. Cole, Lampard, Rooney etc certainly look imperious when playing for Chelsea/ Man Utd ... By tournament curse I meant this transformation of raging bulls into meek mice ....Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08487457046602475249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5129770720975986432.post-53729631915632812662010-06-18T06:18:40.173+01:002010-06-18T06:18:40.173+01:00I can't claim the credit, but this notion seem...I can't claim the credit, but this notion seems worth considering, emailed from a friend:<br /><br />Are England shit because they’re weighed down with so much sublimated class anxiety, ie do they believe deep down that they shouldn’t rise too far above their station? Or perhaps that combined with the delusions and distractions that come with being so central to our celebrity culture.<br /> <br />I think he's hit the bullseye. As has already been discussed hereabouts, there clearly is a national psyche in all this (so I don't think it's quite right to talk about a 'tournament curse'). And, as everyone knows, what's most distinctive about the english mentality is class and it's concomittant class anxiety, that deep-seated unworthiness. <br /><br />You could never accuse Ashley Cole of being riddled with self-doubt, for example. But where you might legitimately use the word (ok, trot out the cliche) 'imperious' or 'aristocratic' to describe a german/italian/dutch team, the english version of arrogance is distinctively brittle and chippy. <br /> <br />The other night Green, Terry, Gerrard, Lampard, Heskey, Crouch hand a hangdog air that felt like capitulation to currents beyond their ken. Against which dismal historical forces even a Capello - I stand firmly corrected, ZoneStyx - is powerless.<br /><br />Now watch them stuff AlgeriaPDR5https://www.blogger.com/profile/09714001444128379196noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5129770720975986432.post-77531330827352250852010-06-17T23:16:37.982+01:002010-06-17T23:16:37.982+01:00I just really hate the fact that memorable moments...I just really hate the fact that memorable moments in big tournaments for England tend to be penalty shoot-outs, or those situations where we've supposedly been hard done by. Not good football. Aside from Owen's goal against Argentina in '98, and Cole's against Sweden four years ago, the actual playing has been really dull. Those last two moments you could, if you like, characterize as English players doing very un-English things: an electric mazy run and finish and a long range belter of the kind that the Brazilians or Dutch are famed for (though admittedly not perhaps so much in recent years). These are instances of total expression, total freedom.<br /><br />The fear would be that we've already endured one of those such moments - one of those nonsense 'what if' episodes: "what if Green had only got his body behind the ball?"<br /><br />What I can't understand is the approach of nations like, for example, Denmark or Ghana, or any of the sides genuinely not expected by anyone to win the World Cup. Like everyone else, they'll take it game by game, but they don't have, as you say, that same neurosis - they don't make the same inward demands. <br /><br />I guess I'm really craving some kind of seizing of the moment, something that Shaun Wright-Phillips couldn't realise when he shot so weakly at Tim Howard the other night, and just turned with that look of "ah never mind. I'll get another chance in a minute" on his face. The Germans love these moments, live for them, and despatch their shots on goal as if they'll never have the opportunity to do strike the ball again (see Podolski against Australia).<br /><br />As I genuinely don't expect us to win the tournament, all I'd really want is a *great moment*, a moment of skill, flair, whatever. The quarter-final against Portugal in 2006 was just so poor, I don't think I'd want to endure that kind of passage to that stage in that fashion ever again. You could actually just ignore the neurosis, as I'm sure the Danes or Paraguayans would be happy with the same thing. This is what I mean about the professional athlete's attitude - winning is everything - and the fan, who just really wants to be entertained. I'm not saying I don't want us to win, far from it, but I'd rather not be so utterly exasperated.<br /><br />I like your point about fluidity between midfield and attack, but to be honest, I genuinely can't remember the last time we had any kind of fluidity in the middle of the park. It's just not the game we play. The hallmark of the non-functioning Lampard/Gerrard midfield axis has been a total inertia in support play. The Spanish, Brazilians and Argentinians all move all over the place (and the Mexicans - Pique and Marquez are two great exponents of this, centre-backs suddenly emerging in the box and weaving their way through the opposing defence) but there's nowhere near as much flexibility in the England team.GCGMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03931981364667100769noreply@blogger.com