Wed Oct 17, 2012 8:43 am
3 years off my 40th birthday and I fear watching Wales in a major championship finals are as far away as ever.
I started to believe under Speed that we were on the right track, when i saw the draw for our World Cup group my initial reaction was "shit that's tough, but I genuinely think we can scrap with the rest of the teams."
Yes Belgium are youung & talented but not unbeatable, Croatia I thought were in a bit of transition, Serbia...Jocks....Macedonia, strong on their own patch, but we wouldn't be going into the game fearing the worst.....
How wrong can I be! The Jocks win just papered over some severe cracks....well they aren't cracks, they are chasms that are getting glaringly bigger almost by the day.
But it starts at the very top in my opinion.
1. We have had a sub-standard International Association running the National game for as long as I can remember.
2. Our Manager & Coaching set up is no where near International standard.
3. Bale aside, can you name 1 other person on the playing staff that you can hand on heart say is truly international quality?
Think about it seriously before knee jerking....Ramsey is a shadow of the player he was pre-injury, not totally unsurprisingly as it was career threatening. Bellamy isn't getting any younger. Allen, well the jury is out - not saying he isn't a tidy player, but international class? Ledley, Collison, King, Vaughn....all decent players at a level, but that level isn't even Premiership, so how can you call them International class? The simple answer is you can't.
We have a toothless strike force - Morrison is Premiership with Norwich but if you are a centre half & you see his name on the opposition team sheet I doubt you are too concerned. Yes you are going to have a physical battle, but providing you front up against him then you should do fine.
The only place I haven't mentioned is the back 4/5 (inc goalkeeper). I can honestly say a back 5 of Price, Gunther, Williams, Blake & Davies is perhaps, in terms of quality, the worst defence Wales have ever put out on the pitch.
Before anyone shouts back, I know. We haven't got the pool of players to choose from that can seriously give the squad a run for their places. But neither have many other nations that wouldn't normally make your top 10/15 countries in the world, however these other countries (I'm thinking of the likes of Montenegro & other Eastern block countries, plus teams like Cyprus & South American countries like Costa Rica & Peru who if we played them now I would be fearing the worst.)
I've heard & read the change the manager shouts. In the main I agree, but that's purely because I never thought he was good enough before he got the job. But in fairness whoever has the job has got the same players to choose from.
His tactics are his own & he can be pulled up on that as I think some of the decisions he has made are baffling. And that is why I never thought he was the right man for the job. (I was on the Raymond for Wales bandwagon too.)
I also don't agree with the players when they say they are fully behind the manager. They simply HAVE to say that otherwise they don't play!
Part of what made the resurgence under Speed was that even though he wasn't blessed with the best squad in the world - the players believed in him & his philosphy's & therefore went out on the pitch to play for him - and the results started to come. The players also believed in the big Dutch Man but sadly we all know what happened there.
If you are a small nation, you need your "best" players available to stand a chance - but not only that you need to go out believing in what your manager has told you in the changing room 2 minutes earlier.
I don't think that is happening, and until such time the FAW employ a manager who commands that respect then this is not going to change.