Wednesday 20 November 2013

Poor old England

In a departure for me I am going to be blogging about what strikes me as interesting at any particular time.  Today it is football but it will usually be education!

What has prompted me to write is a friend bemoaning the inclusion of one Tom Cleverly in the England team to play Germany.  I was surprised at this. As a professional he is hugely supportive, and inclusive, of all people.  Yet when it comes to football a fug descends.  I like to give people a chance and believe that if you give people time to grow, and an opportunity to fail without fear of damnation, they will often surprise you.  I cite, as an example, Cristiano Ronaldo.  When he arrived in the UK he was derided and written off as a ‘show pony’.  I remember an ‘expert’ probably Hansen, saying that the English league was different and would be much harsher so he probably wouldn’t make it.  However, he also said that United would win nothing with kids so perhaps I should not quote him!  The point is that he turned out ok.

Having argued on Facebook (it is 2013 after all) I used a stats site to show that he had, actually, performed pretty well.  Our argument centred on his inability to do something ‘special’. Whilst I would agree he is not Ronaldo he is not, as was argued, a ‘bad’ player who is not good enough.  The issue is, I believe, one of expectation.  Not one, maybe Rooney, of England’s team would make the Germany team.  As a result whilst the Germans are dreaming of winning the final we are slightly nervous about getting out of the group and hoping that if we work hard we might fluke a quarter final.  That is probably the best we can hope for.
So what has Hodgeson done?  I believe he has taken a pragmatic approach and attempted, as Jack Charlton did with Ireland, to make his team greater that the sun of its parts.  The manager clearly feels he has to play Gerrard, probably as a result of a feeling that his talismanic presence is essential for England and the fragile mentality of the players and fans.  As a result he needs a mobile, combative midfielder disciplined enough to monitor Gerrard, cover his runs, feed him the ball and always be available.  Cleverly does this extremely well. This is also the reason why Lampard and Gerrard should never pay together.  Lampard is, at heart, a selfish player.  He rarely tracks back and will only bust a gut when trying to score a goal. This was painfully obvious against Chile where the midfield of Lampard, Milner and Wilshire were given a football lesson as the Chile team danced and passed around them. The stats make dreadful reading. The midfield three only retained possession 43% of the time.  The approach of Lampard was useful, and accepted, at Chelsea as he had Makelele to cover him in his pomp.  It is now, no longer acceptable.  His MO of nine backwards passes and one speculative forward ball, invariably to the opposition, means his stats stay impressive.  Fortunately, for him, his goal scoring exploits have distracted the, less cognitively gifted, football supporter into regarding him as being better than he is. Modern football requires more than this. 

Football requires a holistic approach.  Each part contributing to make the whole better. In this reality players with less individual ‘ability’ may lose out to players who ‘fit’ better.  There are many examples of this. Giroud is far from a superb forward yet Wenger has moulded a team around him which is working really well. Well until you come up against a top team who counters that avenue and overloads the supply, as United did.  Wenger’s system would not work with a forward like Hernandez, for example.  His, natural, game of playing off the shoulder of the defender would not allow Arsenal to pivot around the centre as they currently do.  Therefore, despite having a far better return of goals Hernandez would lose out to Giroud at Arsenal.  There are plenty more examples of teams buying players who do not fit in the team and so fail, my favourite is Diego Forlan. Woeful for United and then scoring for fun in Spain.

Perhaps my assertion that modern football requires this is wrong? When I look at the truly great entertaining teams (the United of Charlton, Best and Law. Liverpool in the 80's, Holland in the seventies) they all had a player who was unassuming in his work and rarely praised. Stiles, Gillespie, Neeskens to name but three.

So, perhaps we need an honest press conference from Hodgeson to explain it to the masses.  Something like, ‘I am very pleased with Tom tonight.  As you can see from his stats he was the third most effective player on our team this evening.  This is despite my instructions to keep it simple, break up play and be a constant outlet for Steven.  Steven is not the athlete he was and, therefore, to continue to play him I need someone to do his running.  Tom does this selflessly and we thank him for it.

Perhaps then people would get off his back?

Wednesday 10 April 2013

How tech is helping!

I have been tracking my training, you can see here or join me on Endomondo here So, I have decided to ride home for a couple of days a week.  This, free, website is fab! It shows the route I will be taking to get home. It works for bike rides and runs too


A Triathlon, really?

At my Daughter's birthday, last year, an old friend suggested I join him in a sprint Triathlon. Initially I dismissed the idea but then I decided 1. I was too fat and 2. I was too unhealthy. So I agreed. What followed was an education! Christmas and Birthday have passed in a whirl of Internet shopping and eBay watching which has left me fully kitted out and ready to go.

Spending New Year's Day in a cardiac ward with Atrial Fibrillation was a set back I have now got over. What has been more difficult is the news that a friend has Cancer again and needs a Bone Marrow transplant. Those of you that know me will know that my Stepdad had one 27 years ago and is still going strong, my cousin was not so lucky...

So, Anthony Nolan has always been my charity of choice but it has come into sharp focus again. Go here to see the brilliant work they do. I have, therefore, decided to do a Triathlon, a proper Browlee brothers Olympic jobbie. Shouldn't be a problem for a fit, healthy, PE teacher! What a shame that is not me.

So I will take my bike riding , wetsuit wearing, speedo sporting, heart monitoring, stability shoe wearing body to the limit to show my respect for People like Ron, Philip, Geoff and Sarah who take on these hideous types of Cancer with dignity and determination. It seems like the least I can do...

What's more, you can help! Please go here to sponsor me, I really do appreciate it.http://www.justgiving.com/Russell-Sauntry

Monday 22 November 2010

Is being stupid a defence?

Time magazine has recently reported on people getting themselves into trouble on Twitter. The two stories ( http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2031116,00.html) focus on a Politician who jokes about stoning a female Muslim and a man who threatened to blow up an Airport.

Now, it seems to me that these are ridiculous things to say and if you said them on Tv you would get slated and arrested. I think perhaps twitter should carry a warning, "are you mind bendingly stupid? Yes? Do not use twitter then.

The simple fact is we are responsible for what we say and do and to pretend otherwise is nonsense. I will use these examples to teach my kids about responsibility when commenting but I expect they will already know!
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Saturday 13 November 2010

Is being stupid a defence?

Time magazine has recently reported on people getting themselves into trouble on Twitter. The two stories ( http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2031116,00.html) focus on a Politician who jokes about stoning a female Muslim and a man who threatened to blow up an Airport.

Now, it seems to me that these are ridiculous things to say and if you said them on Tv you would get slated and arrested. I think perhaps twitter should carry a warning, "are you mind bendingly stupid? Yes? Do not use twitter then.

The simple fact is we are responsible for what we say and do and to pretend otherwise is nonsense. I will use these examples to teach my kids about responsibility when commenting but I expect they will already know!
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Friday 29 October 2010

Eric Cantona on school attendance

"when the Seagulls follow the Trawler it is because they think fish will be thrown into the sea."

When Eric Cantona mused about Seagulls and Trawlers it caused huge media interest. Nobody quite understood what he was going on about. However, I do believe that the quote has a place in education. Why do kids gather at your school? Is it because they are made to or because they want to?

If you understand that children who want to attend school will be more interested and engaged shouldn't this guide your practice? If you are worried about your attendance ask yourself why they do not want to attend. Each kid will have a reason, find out and solve the problem if you can.

Some children will have issues you cannot solve, why not be the best place for them?
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Saturday 16 October 2010

Time for a holiday

It is always interesting to see how students behave as we near a holiday. Years ago and brilliant head of year told me that some kids have such unhappy home lives that holidays scare them. Over the years I have noticed that there are more disclosures and more negative behaviours shown in the last week than at other times.

So as we head into the last week I wonder what this week will bring. More importantly I wonder what more we can do to support and reassure our most vulnerable students. If anyone has done any specific work on this I would be grateful to read about it. In the meantime tell your kids how much you like them, you may be the only one who will.
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