Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Leighton on November 17, 2010, 11:59:44 PM
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Seems odd that Mon had issues with his size as he was the same man who signed that 6ft giant Maloney…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1330702/Martin-ONeills-exit-Villa-boss-big-break-says-Barry-Bannan.html
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MON - the progressive football thinker.
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MON's reputation seems to diminish more each passing week.
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Barry should avoid the publicity and concentrate on his game, no comment should be his by word.
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Agreed.
Managers have different opinions on players and what they look for.
The way we played under MON a player like Bannan would more often than not have been a passenger. The focus was on countering at pace rather than keeping possession and our CM's needed to be more robust. Nobody can say MON's ideas were entirely without merit either as we consistently got good results over a three year period (just not quite good enough -as we all know).
But I'm glad the focus has changed and a player like Bannan now has more of a chance to shine.
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You'd think Martin the Great would know that history serves as a good reminder to men who put down small footballers. George Best wasn't exactly the tallest footballer in the world. Maradona wasn't exactly 6'5, neither is Messi. Sure he may not be in their league, but he should know that size means fuck all in football, especially if you have the heart and the ability. And Barry certainly has both of them.
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Agreed.
Managers have different opinions on players and what they look for.
The way we played under MON a player like Bannan would more often than not have been a passenger. The focus was on countering at pace rather than keeping possession and our CM's needed to be more robust. Nobody can say MON's ideas were entirely without merit either as we consistently got good results over a three year period (just not quite good enough -as we all know).
But I'm glad the focus has changed and a player like Bannan now has more of a chance to shine.
Well said
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Have to defend MON on this one, there are very few players as small as Bannan that make the grade, it's still early days with him as yet anyway.
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Would prefer him to do his talking on the pitch. Kids of today, you would have thought he would refer to his manager as Mr or Msr Houllier rather than just Houllier.
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Martin never gave young people a chance. Albrighton, Bannan, Clark, Cahill, Gardner. Martin was scared to give these lads a chance.
Looking back we were fools and judged Martin though tinted glass.
All he did was spend spend spend and stifle our excellent academy players.
Well done Randy.
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Ive seen various reports on his height. Can anyone confirm what it actually is?
From what he's produced so far, combined with the ability to make his own space, shield, harass and excellent range of passing, the only way I can see him not continuing to make the grade would be either through injury or attitude.
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To be fair to Bannan, he's not exactly slating O'Neill is he? He's just pointing out that O'Neill had concerns about his size, which isn't unreasonable on either side to be fair.
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Keep up the good work Barry - skill and footballing ability are far more important that size.
I still don't think he's 5 ft 7 by the way !
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I thought he was 5'5".
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One of the papers that carried the report of the Scotland game yesterday said that he was 5' 7". Don't see why this is necessarily an issue.
Maybe MON was thinking of playing him at CB and was worried that he was a little bit short.
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One of the papers that carried the report of the Scotland game yesterday said that he was 5' 7". Don't see why this is necessarily an issue.
Maybe MON was thinking of playing him at CB and was worried that he was a little bit short.
He looks shorter than that, I'd say more like 5' 4".
Many of us had concerns about his size so it's hardly unreasonable that the manager did too. As Kevin says, he's suiting the way we play now and I'm sure he benefited from his loan last season.
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I heard an interview with him last week on the radio where he said he was 5'7''. Anyway, some of the best players in the world are/have been small - Messi, Maradonna, Hendrie....
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I'd rather he didn't say this sort of thing, to be honest.
He's very young, still, and has a long way to go before he cements himself as an established player. The too small thing is also something which pretty much everyone I sit around at the match says about him, as well as most on here until recently, so if MON had flagged that up, he'd hardly be picking on something which wasn't valid.
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I heard an interview with him last week on the radio where he said he was 5'7''. Anyway, some of the best players in the world are/have been small - Messi, Maradonna, Hendrie....
Xavi & Iniesta are both 5'7.
Scholes is 5'7 & half.
Dennis Wise is 5'6" and he was a right ******.
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Anyone remember Willie Carlin played in the great Derby sides of the 70's, a lot of their good football came about through him. About the same size as Bannan I think if not smaller.
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Archie Gemmill, Alan Ball, Johnny McLeod....
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As a fellow 5'7" giant I can sympathize completely with the big man. I had a trial at Forest as a teenager and was told that I was too small to be anything but a parks player. Being told that you’re probably too small is pretty tough to take as a teenager it's not like you can do a lot about it. I didn't really take football that seriously after that. Bannan will have had this his whole life so he's got to be mentally tough. I can fully understand that now he’s getting a bit of press attention he’d like to redress the balance a little. I bet his size will be the first thing he’s asked about in an interview.
A year or two ago I spent some time in Latin America and started to play for a team in Mexico City. Most the guy's on the team were around my height but we got coached in how to play against bigger stronger players, how to use their size against them. A bit like a football judo. I'd never been taught anything like that in the UK.
It really annoys me no end when you hear pundits etc asking why as a nation we can't produce players like a Xavi or Iniesta. It's because in the modern game both of them would have been dismissed as being too diminutive before they even kicked a ball and Steve Claridge would have been picked instead.
And if any of you 5’10"+ freaks disagree I’ll kick your ankles in.
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Bannan isn't really having a dig at anyone from what I can see in that article.
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Good post, Darth Villa. We 'want' a national team full of technically gifted players but then there's almost a general recruitment policy of picking bigger, stronger guys. Anyway, that's drifting across to another point entirely.
The two best teams in the world (club and international) have two 5ft 7ins footballers at the very heart of everything they do. And if 5ft 8ins Jack Wilshere can be lauded as England's great new midfield hope, I don't see why Barry Bannan can't at least have a promising future in the Villa midfield.
It's not so much a dig at MON as stating the obvious. It's pretty obvious O'Neill didn't give Bannan much of a chance, though we'll never know what he had planned for him this season - and O'Neill was never in a situation where he was collectively without Petrov, Sidwell, Reo-Coker and Delph, four central midfielders. Let's face it, Houllier hasn't had much choice but to give Bannan a few games!
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Is he fuck 5,7 im 5.7 he's not as tall as me
I don't see anything wrong with what he's said, he's probably just been asked a question
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We all had reservations about his size, but he should of at least had a chance before this season.
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It's not size that matter's it's the quality he is going to be a very good player as long as he is doing it on the pitch i'm not bothered about his size.
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Is he fuck 5,7 im 5.7 he's not as tall as me
I don't see anything wrong with what he's said, he's probably just been asked a question
Me too! I'm 5,7 and thought he was definitely shorter...
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In Brummie vernacular, he is a 'string of piss'.
It's not just the height thing.............
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We all had reservations about his size, but he should of at least had a chance before this season.
I thought loaning him to Blackpool was exactly what he needed last season, he wouldn't have been selected ahead of Milner or Petrov.
Would he have been ready to play in the Premier League if he hadn't had his loan spell at Blakpool last season?
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We all had reservations about his size, but he should of at least had a chance before this season.
I thought loaning him to Blackpool was exactly what he needed last season, he wouldn't have been selected ahead of Milner or Petrov.
Xavi and Iniesta wouldn't have been selected ahead of Milner and Petrov last season.
*wink*
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He's down as 5ft5 on Wikipedia, and that french fella who scored last night was 5ft4.
He didn't always play for Blackpool but then didn't he piss Holloway by going out on the piss when he shouldn't have.
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In my view, history will show MON's reign at VP as being positive but his limitations became apparent 18 months ago. Watching England's turgid performance against France last night reminded me of so many Villa home games last season, as Cappello came out of the same dinosaur mould as MON. France embarrassed England last night by showing what could be done by passing the ball and retaining possession and Villa should be striving to incorporate much of that into the game. Bannan really needs to stake his place in the team now and if can carry on showing the attitude he has in recent games then he will do great. I'm not bothered so much about his size but he may well prove to need a minder against some more physical teams. Blackburn will be another good test for him Saturday.
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To be fair having seen what they can do I can't help but wonder what would have happened had we given them a go towards the end of last season in place of tired or out of form players. After all, Spurs probably have the emergence of Bale to thank for their getting into the top four and it's not like we were a long way off from making it instead. I'm not guaranteeing that anything would be different or better but it's just one of those what ifs.
It is the age old situation of a player emerging from the shadows under a new manager. Any manager who has served a few years at a club will start to have tried and trusted players that he feels he can rely upon and this will lead to an inbuilt reluctance to try something new or different.
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Agreed.
Managers have different opinions on players and what they look for.
That's why Cahill's at Bolton. Tosser. MON not Cahill
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Would prefer him to do his talking on the pitch. Kids of today, you would have thought he would refer to his manager as Mr or Msr Houllier rather than just Houllier.
What he said.
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It will be interesting to see his reaction when dropped. I have an horrible feeling, based on his time at Blackpool, that young Barry may turn out to be a Johnny Big Bollocks and think he's better, more deserving than he is. If he uses his intelligence, he could develop to be a great player for us, providing he bulks up a bit and continues to add to his game. Something tells me he won't have the patience. I hope I'm wrong.
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It will be interesting to see his reaction when dropped. I have an horrible feeling, based on his time at Blackpool, that young Barry may turn out to be a Johnny Big Bollocks and think he's better, more deserving than he is. If he uses his intelligence, he could develop to be a great player for us, providing he bulks up a bit and continues to add to his game. Something tells me he won't have the patience. I hope I'm wrong.
Sometimes it's that edge or imbalance that makes players great. To succeed at the highest level in any business you also need an ego and I also think that he might have trouble controlling his. Let's hope he proves us wrong and that he uses it as a strength rather than let it undermine his career.
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He'll be ok. If football doesn't work out for him, he can always go back to sitting on a toadstool with a fishing rod
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A year or two ago I spent some time in Latin America and started to play for a team in Mexico City. Most the guy's on the team were around my height but we got coached in how to play against bigger stronger players, how to use their size against them. A bit like a football judo. I'd never been taught anything like that in the UK.
It really annoys me no end when you hear pundits etc asking why as a nation we can't produce players like a Xavi or Iniesta. It's because in the modern game both of them would have been dismissed as being too diminutive before they even kicked a ball and Steve Claridge would have been picked instead.
And if any of you 5’10"+ freaks disagree I’ll kick your ankles in.
That's interesting Darth as it ties in with a conversation I had the other day. I was chatting to a Guatemalan that was a youth player at Werder Bremmen around the time that Klose was there. Anyway he said that in Europe the coaches did not understand how to use small players (Guatemalans generally reach your ankles) or indeed coach them.
I'd hope that Houllier is using some of the techniques that you're talking about as NRC, Bannan and Albrighton are all small.
Maybe Alan Wright could go to Latin America, learn these techniques, and become a specialist coach.
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In my view, history will show MON's reign at VP as being positive but his limitations became apparent 18 months ago. Watching England's turgid performance against France last night reminded me of so many Villa home games last season, as Cappello came out of the same dinosaur mould as MON. France embarrassed England last night by showing what could be done by passing the ball and retaining possession and Villa should be striving to incorporate much of that into the game. Bannan really needs to stake his place in the team now and if can carry on showing the attitude he has in recent games then he will do great. I'm not bothered so much about his size but he may well prove to need a minder against some more physical teams. Blackburn will be another good test for him Saturday.
I think it's too bigger test for him ;) :)
Joking aside these comments could come back to bite him on the arse if he gets put back on the bench when the first teamers come back both here and in his national squad.
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A year or two ago I spent some time in Latin America and started to play for a team in Mexico City. Most the guy's on the team were around my height but we got coached in how to play against bigger stronger players, how to use their size against them. A bit like a football judo. I'd never been taught anything like that in the UK.
It really annoys me no end when you hear pundits etc asking why as a nation we can't produce players like a Xavi or Iniesta. It's because in the modern game both of them would have been dismissed as being too diminutive before they even kicked a ball and Steve Claridge would have been picked instead.
And if any of you 5’10"+ freaks disagree I’ll kick your ankles in.
That's interesting Darth as it ties in with a conversation I had the other day. I was chatting to a Guatemalan that was a youth player at Werder Bremmen around the time that Klose was there. Anyway he said that in Europe the coaches did not understand how to use small players (Guatemalans generally reach your ankles) or indeed coach them.
I'd hope that Houllier is using some of the techniques that you're talking about as NRC, Bannan and Albrighton are all small.
Maybe Alan Wright could go to Latin America, learn these techniques, and become a specialist coach.
That doesn't suprise me. Most of the guys I played with over there were a quite suprised that I'd never been taught to play that way. The stuff that the coaches were teaching us was fairly simple but it worked. You don't have to be built like a brick shit house to put someone much bigger off balance without fouling them. Like you say the Latin American chaps are generally a little smaller than the Europeans so this kind of coaching is their bread and butter.
I do like the sound of Alan Wrights Pixie army though!
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Probably MON would have objected the size isue even to Maradona!
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A chant for wee Barry- with apologies to Russel Crowe:
Maximus! Maximus! Maximus!
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As a fellow 5'7" giant I can sympathize completely with the big man. I had a trial at Forest as a teenager and was told that I was too small to be anything but a parks player. Being told that you’re probably too small is pretty tough to take as a teenager it's not like you can do a lot about it. I didn't really take football that seriously after that. Bannan will have had this his whole life so he's got to be mentally tough. I can fully understand that now he’s getting a bit of press attention he’d like to redress the balance a little. I bet his size will be the first thing he’s asked about in an interview.
A year or two ago I spent some time in Latin America and started to play for a team in Mexico City. Most the guy's on the team were around my height but we got coached in how to play against bigger stronger players, how to use their size against them. A bit like a football judo. I'd never been taught anything like that in the UK.
It really annoys me no end when you hear pundits etc asking why as a nation we can't produce players like a Xavi or Iniesta. It's because in the modern game both of them would have been dismissed as being too diminutive before they even kicked a ball and Steve Claridge would have been picked instead.
And if any of you 5’10"+ freaks disagree I’ll kick your ankles in.
Interesting post.
I think it's just so ingrained in this country to look for the bigger more physical player, probably due to the weather conditions and pitches in this country. The bigger players with less technique become more effective in these conditions at a young age plus there is a focus on team results above individual development from parks football upwards.
The knock on effect is that when a lot of these players turn pro they have huge gaps in their technique. They can get up and down all day, motor and get stuck in but are deficient in things like controlling a ball, picking a pass, vision, awareness et.c
Aside from the height issue, as TTV say's it also doesn't help in Bannan's case that he's so skinny.
It will be interesting to see how he gets on versus a physical side like Blackburn. Man United was a huge test for him and he passed that with flying colours, not looking at all out of place against their lot. He also played well v Fulham and Blackpool but they're the kind of sides who try to play the game properly. Most Allardyce sides are a throwback to a bygone era and if Bannan can make them look like mugs it bodes well for the future.
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Typically British this.
Skill comes 2nd to other things, and height / weight seem more important to the old skool ( MON is in that category).
In other parts of Europe ( Spain / France/ Italy) a players physique will be a non issue as long as the footballing ability is there.
I hope we cam bury this height thing as soon as possible.
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I'd sack the fool.
Fancy even daring to hint Mon as anything but perfect.
If he doesn't hold his tongue he'll be off playing for Leicester.
How tall was Mon by the way ?
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I agree, those of us that are not blessed with a George Curtis physique were constantly told by English coaches even at Sunday League level: get stuck in, forget that fancy stuff, and so on.
The full backs just followed the mantra and kicked the living crap out of us lightweight (compatritively) skilful wingers.
Always been the same in England and it is why a host of skilfull players in the recent past never got a chance with England. Be hard and be fit.
IMHO I think MoN and his coaching staff still played that way.
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Typically British this.
Skill comes 2nd to other things, and height / weight seem more important to the old skool ( MON is in that category).
In other parts of Europe ( Spain / France/ Italy) a players physique will be a non issue as long as the footballing ability is there.
I hope we cam bury this height thing as soon as possible.
Look at Chelsea and Man City. All the money in the world with European coaches and they're buying giants. The English league is more physical than most and little Diddy Men like our Barry have to be twice as good to get on.
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Typically British this.
Skill comes 2nd to other things, and height / weight seem more important to the old skool ( MON is in that category).
In other parts of Europe ( Spain / France/ Italy) a players physique will be a non issue as long as the footballing ability is there.
I hope we cam bury this height thing as soon as possible.
Look at Chelsea and Man City. All the money in the world with European coaches and they're buying giants. The English league is more physical than most and little Diddy Men like our Barry have to be twice as good to get on.
Completely agree Chris. And as Kevin points out it's probably got a lot to do with the conditions that we are faced with in this country as to why we look to the more athletic player. There would need to be an overhaul on our entire development philosophy for anything to change. But I'd wager we've lost out on a fair amount of talented players because they didn't measure up so to speak.
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There is also the fact that in countries such as Mexico and Spain the smaller (or more diminutive) players would be in the majority so it's easier to tailor training sessions for their benefit. Particularly with the advantage of the weather.
In England, smaller players tend to be in the minority. So what can a coach at schools/ parks level do for them without neglecting the other players?
Where that falls down is that a lot of young players are picked up by clubs from about the age of 10 now, so for them there probably isn't much opportunity to play parks football. They're in supposedly getting the best individual and professional coaching from a young age, so it's disappointing that there haven't been more players like Cropley, Little and Cowans breaking through. They cracked it when conditions were much harder, in an era when good players slight of frame would be just hacked and kicked out of it.
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Typically British this.
Skill comes 2nd to other things, and height / weight seem more important to the old skool ( MON is in that category).
In other parts of Europe ( Spain / France/ Italy) a players physique will be a non issue as long as the footballing ability is there.
I hope we cam bury this height thing as soon as possible.
Look at Chelsea and Man City. All the money in the world with European coaches and they're buying giants. The English league is more physical than most and little Diddy Men like our Barry have to be twice as good to get on.
True, but they also bought David Silva, who is sparrowesque, and Johnson is hardly massive, either.
That Yaya Toure is fucking massive, mind. Massive and massively overrated.
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As mentioned earlier in the thread, if you see the clubs and the possible fees being banded around for Gary Cahill, you have to question a few of MON's decisions including selling Cahill. The youth system developed a great defender, and we sold him for peanuts.
If Bannan can reach his full potential then we could have a fantastic player on our hands who will be in our team for years, and MON probably would have sold him for next to nothing to the benefit of another team who would have sold him for 5 times the price a few years later.
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I was just going to mention David Silva. Waffer-thin, he is. Not sure Chelsea and City are actually signing giants - Milner's not exactly huge, either.
But anyway... I hope there's still room for the exception to the rule, and Bannan fits that bill. He's actually a pretty tough fella. Sinewy, I'd say. What we forget is that he's faced this size issue all his life, and made it work so far. He knows what he needs to do to compete.
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Time will tell if Bannan becomes a great Villa player or merely the next Steven Davis. Don't understand why he has to go moaning to the press about MON though - he has looked good this season, but it's what comes over the next 2-3 seasons that really matters.
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Anyone concerned with Bannans size should remember how skinny Yorke was when he broke into the first team.
Also how tall were the likes of Michael Owen & Zola.
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I reckon it's possible to guess precisely how tall everyone is on this thread by observing how passionate they are about height discrimination. Initial data points to a number of real tiddlers
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Time will tell if Bannan becomes a great Villa player or merely the next Steven Davis. Don't understand why he has to go moaning to the press about MON though - he has looked good this season, but it's what comes over the next 2-3 seasons that really matters.
I think all he's saying is that under MON he was getting nowhere.
In fact, he was thinking of packing it in.
Under GH he's playing 1st team football and as a consequence, is playing for his national team
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It will be interesting to see his reaction when dropped. I have an horrible feeling, based on his time at Blackpool, that young Barry may turn out to be a Johnny Big Bollocks and think he's better, more deserving than he is. If he uses his intelligence, he could develop to be a great player for us, providing he bulks up a bit and continues to add to his game. Something tells me he won't have the patience. I hope I'm wrong.
It's not exactly helping him with the likes of Levein, Houllier, McAllister and Darren Fletcher likening him to Xavi, Iniesta and Scholes every other day. That is before you get the media up here making him out to be the answer to Scotland's prayers either. If anybody had that kind of stuff to put up with they would either have a head the size of a house or collapse under the pressure.
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I agree with others who said he should keep quiet for now and concentrate on his football. Some praise has been OTT including Fletcher's comments however he is a real prospect.
Big nagative in that I cant laaarf at Scotland anymore!
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The discussion about the the emphasis on height, strength and athleticism in the PL style of playing reminded me of when I used to listen to Radio 5's Up All Night, and the comments of Tim Vickery on the issue. Despite being a Sperms fan, Vickery, who is based in Brazil, seemed very knowledgeable about the game, and he was of the opinion that this was not a uniquely English phenomenon, and was in fact becoming the de facto standard internationally.
Here is an article from the Aussie site The World Game (http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/tim-vickery/blog/404405/The-number-10-disappears):
The number 10 disappears
13 Feb 2008 | 17:39
Ecuador and Peru recently met each other in two friendlies in Spain. The size of the immigrant community from both nations ensured big crowds in Madrid and Barcelona.
But South American sides staging their local derbies in Europe is not the only sign of the changing times.
The content of the football has also come a long way from the style of play traditionally seen in Lima, Guayaquil or Quito.
The Pacific rivals used to be exponents of old style South American football - lots of tip tap short passing, with everything going through a number 10 who bossed the attacking play from the centre of midfield.
Two magnificent exponents of the role have only recently left the international stage - Alex Aguinaga of Ecuador and Roberto Palacios of Peru both accumulated more than 100 caps and won admirers wherever they played.
But now when Ecuador and Peru meet there is not an old style number 10 to be found.
Ecuador qualified for their first World Cup in 2002 under the guidance of Colombian coach Hernan Dario Gomez. After his experiences with the national team of his native land, Gomez proclaimed himself 'cured' of the need to select an old style midfield in which three have to run and carry the piano in order that one can sit down and play it.
After the 2004 Copa America he was replaced by his compatriot Luis Fernando Suarez, who had become even more radical in his beliefs.
“Nowadays any team can complicate matters by packing the midfield with battlers,” he said. “A good team is one which attacks and defends well down the flanks.”
His approach was reflected in his side in Germany last year. All of Ecuador’s goals came from swift breaks down the wing, especially the right.
There has been a slight change since then. Ecuador were playing a strict 4-4-2, with two holding midfielders in the centre, and two talented midfielders pushed wide to link up with the overlapping full backs.
Since then Suarez has been experimenting with a 4-3-2-1, which allows him to pull star player Edison Mendez a few metres in from the right flank, operating behind a lone striker.
But the idea is not so much for Mendez to organise the play as Aguinaga used to do a decade ago. Rather, Mendez is now moved closer to the goal to take full advantage of his excellent long range shooting.
Peru, now that the veteran Palacios is no longer considered, are experimenting with a style of play that has no space for an old fashioned number 10.
Former star Julio Cesar Uribe recently took over for his second spell in charge of the national team. In the matches against Ecuador he picked two strikers, and behind them Jefferson Farfan and promising teenager Damian Ismodes.
The idea seemed to be based on breaking forward on the transitions, those key moments when possession changes hands from one side to the other.
In South American parlance they seem to want to be a vertical team, fast and direct, with no need for the traditional changes of rhythm in midfield.
This, of course, is a reflection of international trends. The physical development of the game, the contemporary emphasis on athleticism, means that teams seek to power their way through the opposing defence rather than playing their way through.
The fact that such ideas have well and truly landed at the likes of Peru and Ecuador just goes to show the strength of the movement in their favour.
Earlier this year former Brazilian great Tostao wrote, "In the past the great difficulty that Brazilian teams had against Europeans was the size and physical condition of their players. Nowadays this problem no longer exists."
Over the past 30 years Brazilian football has put huge emphasis on matching the Europeans in physical terms. When they finally met Germany in a World Cup match, in the 2002 final, Brazil did so at no physical disadvantage.
As Tostao concedes, the old stereotype of the Brazilian player as short, with a low centre of gravity becomes an ever less accurate reflection of contemporary reality.
“So the idea that Brazilian football is different, lighter, more attractive, full of dribbles and one-twos, needs to be rethought. Football has globalised in terms of the style of play and the physical structure of the players," he continues.
"In Brazil and the entire world there is a predominance of strong marking and crosses struck into the penalty area. Football today is a sport for tall, strong players.”
And the beefed up game they play has little time or space for the traditional number 10 who plays the game from the centre of midfield.
Brazil’s coaching technocrats have even pointed out that if the move contains more than seven passes then the chances of it culminating in a goal are reduced.
Argentina has rightly acquired a reputation for being the guardians of the flame. That wonderful Esteban Cambiasso goal in the 2006 World Cup match against Serbia & Montenegro was nothing less than a manifesto for the value of traditional passing football - where the hub of the team is the ‘enganche’ - the link man between midfield and attack, who holds a mythical place in the culture of Argentine football.
But even here the signs are not promising. National team coach Alfio Basile commented with disappointment late last year that the typical 'enganches' are disappearing all over the world.
"Even Brazil surprised us with the way they played,” he said, in a reference to the friendly in London last September when Brazil picked Argentina off on the counter attack to win 3-0.
This remark showed Basile somewhat out of touch with Brazilian football.
“I like to play with an ‘enganche,’ but nowadays the reality indicates that only two or three teams in Argentina use this system," Basile explained.
Even more worrying is a recent declaration from Hugo Tocalli, Argentina’s youth development supremo. He travels the country in search of talent, and is not impressed with what he is witnessing.
“Everyone’s in so much of a hurry,” he said. “The kids are told to run and run. Winning is the only aim. I’m worried about what’s happening at youth levels. The lack of technique is alarming. Everyone is playing without an ‘enganche’. It’s a species in extinction.”
The implications for the future of the game are not positive. Of course, one of the great strengths of football is that it can be interpreted in so many different ways. There is no one ‘right’ style of play.
But the definitive triumph of the athlete over the artist would take something special away from the sport, which has hypnotised the planet.
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It will be interesting to see his reaction when dropped. I have an horrible feeling, based on his time at Blackpool, that young Barry may turn out to be a Johnny Big Bollocks and think he's better, more deserving than he is. If he uses his intelligence, he could develop to be a great player for us, providing he bulks up a bit and continues to add to his game. Something tells me he won't have the patience. I hope I'm wrong.
It's not exactly helping him with the likes of Levein, Houllier, McAllister and Darren Fletcher likening him to Xavi, Iniesta and Scholes every other day. That is before you get the media up here making him out to be the answer to Scotland's prayers either. If anybody had that kind of stuff to put up with they would either have a head the size of a house or collapse under the pressure.
Good point. I think I'll stick with the João Mortinho comparison. Saying that, he bloody destroyed Spain on Wednesday, so maybe we'll have to go for somebody less well known like Brian Flynn or Mazrim.