Capello Appointed England Boss
Published December 15, 2007
Secondly, Capello has a very poor grip of the English language. In an earlier piece, I said that the English FA must hire a man “who can… communicate his tactical instructions clearly to his array of top players”. Rafa Benitez agrees that the language barrier can cause real problems. How can players play to a disciplined tactical system when they don’t understand their instructions? How can a half-time team-talk be inspirational when it is incomprehensible? Capello says he will bring an Englishman into his staff to help with translation, but plenty of meaning can be lost from a second-hand speech.
England must also look at why they are not developing enough talented managers of their own, as Paul Ince has noted. A major footballing nation with such an infrastructure, such riches, and such passion for the game should have a queue of suitable bosses lining up for their top job.
In the meantime, England fans can only speculate about how Capello will do. He doesn’t officially start the job until January 7th, and faces his first test in a home friendly against Switzerland a month later. Capello has spent his career gathering top credentials in club football; now he faces the challenge of living up to those credentials, in a different country, and in a slightly different context.
- Capello Appointed England Boss
- Published: December 15, 2007
- Type: News
- Section: Sports
- Filed Under: Sports: Football (English)
- Writer: Ally Brown
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Ally, I see that you are Scottish. What are your thoughts on the fact that Scotland doesn't seem to have the same predicament?
They also have a coaching vacancy, but from what I've heard there are no non-Scots being seriously touted for the job.
Also, there's the phenomenon that recently - in terms of resources - the Scottish national team has been massively overachieving, whereas their English counterparts have been doing the opposite.
What are the Scots doing right that the English aren't?
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Does Hiddink know Russian? Did he know Korean? I don't think Zico knew Japanese before he went there. How good was Mourinho's English before getting to England? Same with Benitez? Didn't they learn on the job? Just wondering.
How do soccer players who come to a foreign league who can't speak, say, Spanish, Italian or English still manage? Language is big but how big is it? The bigger concern, I think, is his international experience.
Capello is fond of the the English game. He seems to know and understand the English style. He certainly talks enough about it. Surely this counts for something?
As for Capello's alleged "defensive" style that's a somewhat of a persistent stigma for some reason. AC Milan and Roma played open, fluent soccer.
Capello is not defensive by strategy. It's as accurate as still saying Italian soccer is still defensive which it is not. Catenaccio has not been used since the mid-90s. At Real the biggest weakness there was defense so all he did was bolster it. Real was not going to beat anyone with offensive soccer (and still won't. sorry Real fans!) and so he was just being practical. Guess what? He won the title.
Best England be prepared. This guy is a perfectionist and demands a lot. He will mix formations up. You are so right about his tendency to create friction especially with star players and egos.