I relation to the EPL I think the Club argument had more currency in the past when there was a real competition at the top. Now there are really only three clubs who contest the EPL and two of those are largely subsidised in their efforts through foreign money. The club game at the top end of the League was more exciting in the past. The EPL seems more like the European Leagues where only a very limited elite set of clubs ever win.

I suspect the atmosphere at England Team World Cup or Euro camps where there is a smaller group of players coming together to try and achieve something for England is probably quite good. If only N Ireland could get to that stage.

Maybe an idea for England
http://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2014/07/10/...-cup-big-data/


Before it walloped Brazil earlier this week, the German team had spent years working with university students to gather intel on the home team, Reuters reports. Working with sports students at a university in Cologne, they reviewed an extensive dataset that included how Brazil’s players reacted in pressure situations, their preferred routes and how they responded when fouled.

Roy Hodgson is not gonna do it I am afraid. Nice man but doesn't look like a data nerd.

Germany does it for EVERY team they play in major tournaments.

Hodgson couldn't even be bothered to google Pirlo or Suarez.

Did you see the preparation England had before the world cup? It was perfect. The game against Italy was an excellent performance and unlucky to lose. The game against Uruguay was an individual error and the Costa Rica game was a dead rubber. The England team will improve but it takes time.

I wish people didn't go on about how brilliant Germany was against Brazil. The Cheltenham Ladies College could have beaten Brazil that night. They were bereft of any ideas and in panic mode without Neymar.

Err... tactically the games against Italy and Uruguay were both terrible.

In the game against Italy Pirlo was given enough space to show off his best qualities and at the age of 35 completely outplayed all the fast young English players on the pitch. England played nice-looking attacking football, but what's the use when Italy's main superstar was allowed to do whatever he wanted and England ultimately lost? Italy without Pirlo was almost as useless as Uruguay without Suarez (as both teams showed in their respective games against Costa Rica).

With Uruguay, England was again completely unprepared to deal with their main star. Everyone just assumed that Uruguay would play as rubbish as they did against Costa Rica and they probably would have done had Suarez been given adequate attention. Look at how Switzerland and Holland dealt with Messi and compare that to England's treatment of Suarez and Pirlo.

Hodgson is not a manager in my view.

Unlucky is a slang term that very loosely describes a statistical property.

If you read the article, ie Boateng wanted the data, so also the players are on board.

Germany build their own facility. I severely doubt England would have the same anal preparation.

Lights at crossings | traffic intersections.
Germany: Germany has a light and a sign what happens if the light fails and a rule what happens when the lights and the sign fails.
UK: Has a light.

Germany is a country of neurotic nerds ... you can ask my girlfriend.

1. Not fair!
2. You have heard of sweeping generalizations, haven't you?

England have been unlucky in tournaments for the last 50 years. Never lucky.

Gary player put it this way. The more i practice, the luckier i get.

And vince lombardi knew a bit about sporting psychology.

Failt to prepare, and you prepare to fail, it goes. It wasnt perfect. They wouldnt have lost, if it was perfect.

I expect international tournaments are the cherry on top, of the bread and butter of club football.

Players wouldnt care if there were no internationals. If they did care about internationals, they would NEVER have dropped the home internationals

Players wouldn't care if there were no international tournaments? What?! It is the highest honour any player could get. Glory for all eternity is to play for. I would bet any money that Messi and Ronaldo would give away all their club records and trophies to be able to score in a World Cup final and lift the Cup for their country. It is simply the highest achievement in any player's life.

We still remember and talk about players of 50+ years ago because of their outstanding performances at World Cups. Nobody will talk about club records except fans of a particular club. International tournaments bring glory to the stand-out individual players and to their countries. Club football simply does not mean as much.

Obviously, playing pointless international friendlies is not something most players find useful or enjoyable.

Lahm has retired from international football. He'll be hard to replace and at 30 it's a bit surprising he didn't go on till the next European championships.

I dug up this interesting article on the German revolution in football.

http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/...work-elsewhere

I am German, so whatever

Obviously this is a mean point, arrived on a varied sample of 80 million of individual Germans, of whom sadly some choose to put their towels on the beach in Lido de Jesolo.

Anyway the Wall Street Journal has nice article..
http://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2014/07/10/...-cup-big-data/

I would also say no one in Britain seems to give a flying f... about NSA

Whereever would the Piratenpartei have so much success In countris like Sweden where there is more technological knowledge than elsewhere,.

But there are obviously also RTL II watching Germans. An individual is not a national average.

In low communication events like the World Cup in general the average approach of nation towards the sport can be observed.

That doesn't mean you can not find a shitload of unorganised Germans that have never seen a computer close up or who respectfully do not put towel up on the beach.

You also still find Nazis in Germany, but given the last Euro elections the finger points here now more to France. Given the last English Euro elections I would also claim that England has more Xenophobes.

This does not mean there are also many non xenophobic English people around.

To achieve some form of harmonisation between nations, I think it is unwise to totally dismiss why generalisations exist.

Having lived in both Germany and England, I absolutely agree with the above post. The German approach to football is a lot more serious, meticulous and scientific than the English approach. Germany is definitely a country of nerds, which is why they are very successful.

That's a nice one, I didn't know that. Sounds even sweeter when you look at the squads of the 2009 UEFA U21 final.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_UE...pionship#Final

Only just had a look at it. Impressive.