WALES WALES

Attack and Defence

By Mike Hughes

No subtitles this time I’m afraid. Things need spelling out loud and clear! So, now we know! A 4-1 defeat for the Under-21 team against a skilful, confident but fairly ordinary Belarus team suggests that there is an awful long way to go before our youngsters will be flowing through to the full international squad, confident that they can make the grade; however, the experience (and I’m sure there will be similar results to come for some time) will stand them in good stead and help all concerned realise just what a leap it is to international football. Some of the mistakes were elementary but we can all make mistakes. The important thing is how players react and how quickly they learn.

The defeat of the first team only served to show that Premiership football itself is only of limited use in terms of preparation to make that leap. Admittedly, there were injuries and the cause was not helped by a dismissal, but the ultimate problem is that too many of the players don’t actually have the experience of playing against top international players in matches which don’t match the rough and tumble of the Premiership. Anyone who saw the match may like to go back and watch a video with the following in mind.

The theory goes that Wales are a small nation and cannot compete with other nations because we have no national league worthy of the name and insufficient numbers of players are playing on a regular basis in the Premiership. Yet on the night most of our best players were actually those from the lower leagues. The easy answer here is that they get paid less, have more at stake, more pride and so on when compared to their higher-paid and supposedly more complacent colleagues. I have another view. Name a good defensive team in the Premiership ie. a team with good defenders who, while they can contribute to attacks, are primarily a defensive unit. I suggest that there isn’t one. The closest you can currently get to this are Liverpool and Leicester. Now, think about the players that the pundits currently rate as the top defenders. Sol Campbell and Rio Ferdinand. I don’t think so. Sami Hyppia? More like it perhaps!

Now, if you’re a Welsh attacker and you’re given plenty of space to exploit in that division you’re going to believe that you must actually be good because, after all, look at the international quality in the Premiership; however, the reality is that the top division in the country has been distorted (albeit entertainingly) by three points for a win; the lure of cheap European places and the sound of money swilling just about everywhere. The likes of John Hartson could only ever make it in the Premiership because of the poor quality of the defending. Hardly setting Division One on fire, is he? Looking at it from the point of view of being a defender (and I’ll grant you that we’ve had more than our fair share of lower-division donkeys over the years) it’s easy to see that as you move away from the Premiership the old art of defending is still alive and well.

This leaves us with the fantastic irony that while it’s obviously good to be able to play against international-quality players each week it may actually be the case that a lower-division grounding is actually much more of a preparation for the level of thought and organisation required at international level! Thus Mark Delaney and Gareth Roberts and John Robinson, for example, seem to have far greater positional sense and willingness to play for a full 90 minutes on occasions than their better paid counterparts. Anyway, theorising over. Let’s get back to reality.

Good to see that the political battles within the FAW have simply moved into another arena with the recent departure of Mark Bowen. Plus ca change! And finally…a draw against Poland will be an exceptional result but somehow I can’t see it. I don’t like ending on a negative note so I should perhaps point out that my optimism for the future remains undimmed; however, the future is a while away!