England Football

Nobody can deny that the women’s game is part of the wider football conscience. This could be in a positive and admiring sense, or in a negative, angry sense where the sport seems to live in certain male fans’ heads rent free. Wherever you stand on that spectrum, if you’re…

On Friday, I sat down to watch England Under 19s play against Israel in the Euros.The Young Lions came out 3–1 winners after a brilliant, competitive game with outstanding performances from England’s Alex Scott and Callum Doyle and Isreal’s Oscar Gloch. Despite enjoying the game, I was left with some…

Wayne Rooney was blunt. “What I hope is that Marcus Rashford f***ing gets his head out of his a*** and goes and breaks that record. He is a Manchester lad.” Yet the idea that Rashford might stay at Manchester United to take Rooney’s status as record goalscorer is seeming…

After two breathless matches and a stressful season, a Leeds-free fortnight is bliss — Although Leeds United have never been a dull club, the pre-Bielsa years were remarkably middling — and consistently so. In the eight seasons after gaining promotion to the Championship, Leeds finished in the mid-table dirge zone of 13th to 15th on no fewer than six occasions. The good thing about…

英冠賽場雖然屬次級聯賽，卻是一個臥虎藏龍的地方，是不少富潛力的少帥相互切磋的試煉場。前利物浦青訓教練、現執教老牌球會諾定咸森林的Steve Cooper，就是其中一個潛力股例子。 現年四十出頭、來自威爾斯的Cooper，他的爸爸Keith是前英超球證，少年時Cooper曾是威爾斯球會威斯咸的右閘新星，但最終他沒有打上一隊。時任威斯咸領隊Brian Flynn鼓勵當時還只是20歲的Cooper考慮上教練班學習執教球隊，就這樣Cooper一頭栽進去教練之路，到27歲他已成爲最年輕考獲pro licence 最高級別專業教練資格的教練之一。成功考獲教練資格後Cooper回到母會威斯咸訓練U12梯隊，一路升任至球會的青訓主管直到2008年他離開球隊。 2008年9月Cooper被利物浦招攬加入青訓學院任教，頭三年他在不同梯隊中培養帶隊風格及磨練青訓之道。在Cooper心目中青訓發展有三大主要方向：1. 打破人才培訓的障礙；2. 令學員領悟到取勝之道；3. 照顧到青訓人才的未來發展。他的清析理念頗受球會器重，2011年7月他獲升爲青訓領隊，首年他帶著一班未滿18歲的新人小將參加比賽，正選後防的平均年齡還只有16歲多。雖然論戰術理念Cooper未必如他的前輩兼利物浦青訓同窗Rodolfo Borrell等有濃厚的tiki-taka風格，但他確立了4231爲基本陣型，他亦重視球員的個人培訓，曾先後指導過史達靈、阿諾、活特本等利物浦年青球員。12/13球季他帶領利物浦U18打入青年足總杯四強，僅僅敗給車路士。

Why top footballers need international football more than they think After England was beaten in Euro 2020 finals by Italy, all of the England players had little time to recover. Mentally and physically. That impacted Harry Kane the most of them all. During the striker’s vacation time, he decided not…

A retelling of England’s Euro campaign from a non-football fan, coincidentally staying in Italy. I must be brutally honest, I didn’t actually know that the Euros were on when I set foot in Italy this summer. I was staying in a small Tuscan town for a month, a working holiday…

Rag, Tag & Bobtails. Ep 1. My football team have just lost 21–2. I couldn’t be happier. Let me explain. They’re not my team yet. They’re a team that I’ve been asked to try and help. This a rag, tag and bobtails group of kids for whom football is not…

The dust has firmly settled from England’s heart-breaking (if you’re English) Euro 2020 final exit. Unsurprisingly, much of the conversation following the final shifted to what happened off the pitch. Many so-called England fans insisted on showing us the absolute worst side of humanity by beating the living hell out…