I posted that after listening to a football phone-in on the radio after the game, where the host was banging on about how unmitigatingly shit Holland were. So I suppose all I was trying to say was simply that their problems were laid bare, due to the relative strength of their group, compared with others. Holland weren't good, that's obvious, but, with the exception of Germany (who admittedly I didn't see last night), I've been underwhelmed by all the bigger name sides so far.
Re the TikiTaka thing, there's times when I see Spain and it all seems to be in place but, as you say, they miss Villa and can look rather silly when they string a thousand passes together around the box, only for the play to eventually break down because there's nobody around to score (although Torres is looking better than he has been).
I think one of the problems with teams trying to replicate tiki-taka more generally is that it's so bound up with Barcelona that any other team is bound not to do it as well simply because they aren't that unit (although Spain obviously comes closest) and without Messi, that style just doesn't seem anywhere near as potent.
I also think teams have worked out ways of defeating it, even when done well. Mourinho in particular. Guardiola left Barca at the right time. The style he developed with them has drawn to an end, I think. For a while nobody could handle it but not anymore. Plus I think Guardiola became, if anything, too experimental, I remember seeing him field a team with no defence at all, once, just to see what happened - they won lol). Anyway, it all became a bit too vain in the end (and I say that as a massive Guardiola fan, overall).
The England goals were interesting. Carroll's header was probably the least sensational but was my favourite. A very English-style centre forward's goal. As Bertrand would recognise, very Roy of the Rovers. Welbecks especially (while I do think he meant it) will always be tainted (in England at least) by the same 'did he?/didn't he?' doubts that've plagued many of the most brilliant goals English fans have seen. England has a very simple, direct foorballing culture. Its footballing heroes tend to be strong and ruthlessly focused (Rooney, Shearer, etc) rather than the more technically gifted, flamboyant ones (Gazza being the one obvious exception). It's the cliche of all cliches but there does seem to be an element of truth (as with all cliches) that England prefers the more blood and guts, up 'n' at 'em/backs to the wall type of players over anything else. We've never been a centre of footballing excellence but can be very very effective, and I think that appeals to supporters who embrace the more pragmatic side of the game, rather than those who look upon it principally as art. Although I suppose the
actual art is finding a balance between the two - say Villa era Barcelona.
(Sorry, I'm going on a bit here)
The sad thing (from my point of view) is that there's a culture growing in the English FA (as well as certain sections of fans) who've been seduced by Barcelona and insists English football tries to replicate their more flair-based style, rather than build on what it's actually very good at, as demonstrated by Carroll's header. It's not 'Olay' football, more a kind of pinch-faced, "get in there!" but it's what England does/is and, I have to admit, I'm a fan of that kind of style, at least when it comes to the national team. It's a genuine identity, I think, rather than one that's coercing a bunch of pork scratchings eaters (metaphorically speaking) into switching to tapas. '
International football is governed by stereotypes and while most don't apply anymore they still endure as a kind of 'definition' of what different countries are 'about', so if Brazil has it's 'beautiful football', Spain has its Tiki Taka and the Dutch have Total football, England perhaps has that photo of Terry Butcher, wild-eyed, clenching his fist, covered in blood, or the one of Stuart Pearce's goal celebration with his neck muscles looking about to snap and (once again) his fists clenched (clenched fists seem to be a big thing in English national football). They're both perfect emblems of England's obsession with gritty, passionate footballers even if they're far more likely to win hearts than they are football matches.
