Is international football still relevant?

I watched the England v Malta match yesterday, well it was on in the background while I was doing other things. I was amazed to see a crowd of over 80,000 announced during the coverage for a game that England should have won at a canter against a team ranked well outside of the top 100 in World football. To me it was a bit of a non-match that even the TV companies wight have thought twice about featuring. But the fact that Wembley was close to a sell-out has made me stop.

I thought before the match that international football was becoming irrelevant and that matches between the good teams and the bad were a waste of time. But 80,000+ at Wembley and millions of others on TV disagreed with me. Maybe there is something there after all.

I don't believe that the top players in the game see international football as the pinnacle of the game in the same way that they did when I was young. The big international tournaments see the best players turn up injured or fatigued beyond belief so that they don't perform at the peal of their game. I know we can point to what winning meant to Cristiano Ronaldo at the Euros in the summer with his country. But I can't see that being the same with many players. Would Ronaldo have through this way if he had never won anything at club level? It was the icing on the cake, rather than the cake itself.

The England players don't seem to play their normal game when it comes to international football. In the Premier League we are used to high tempo and a pressing game that leads to exciting football and great matches. But for whatever reason we don;t play that way in the international games. When we have pressing players such as Jordan Henderson, Jamie Vardy and Jesse Lingard then we should play that game. We need a high tempo against teams like Malta to make chances, pressurise the opposition and make the breakthroughs that change the game. It appears that players take a step back on the international stage and I don't know whether it is the players or the coach that breed that mentality. I would have loved to see what Sam Allardyce would have done with the players because I can't believe he would have let his players sit back and take it easy.

It is time for a change and I would look at wholesale change with these poor quality of opposition that we have in the group. There has never been a better time to discard the older players and look to the future. I can't see a place after the next World Cup for the likes of-

• Wayne Rooney
• Joe Hart
• Gary Cahill
• Theo Walcott

And I can't really see what any of them offer now, except for Rooney selling shirts for the FA and Cahill plugging a gap until something better comes along (Smalling and Phil Jones have never cut the mustard at the top level.) There just has to be a brighter future. The England fans that watched in their tens of thousands yesterday can be satisfied with a win but there was little else to excite. I like the way that Jesse Lingard plays the game but he needs more help. I would get Rashford and others on to the pitch and say to them "there you go, guys. You are the team for the next World Cup. Go out there and make it happen."

Links between the England game this week and my FA Coaching course

It was interesting to see the England setup from start to finish this week. There was a lot of comment relating to the sections that Sam Allardyce made in both his squad and his team. There were a lot of familiar faces in both and he came in for some criticism for not changing a lot, mainly because-

• It was a team with 8 of the players that played in the last Euro match - a defeat against Iceland
• It was a squad with only one uncapped player - Michail Antonio
• It was a very similar formation to the one Roy Hodgson had used
• Big Sam gave players like Joe Hart and Raheem Sterling a chance when they were awful in the Summer

It was the most difficult match of the campaign on paper - away to a dangerous opponent that had completely stifled us in June. But we came through with three points due to reckless tackling from Martin Skrtel and poor goalkeeping at the end. So on the face of things there was much criticism before and a small celebration after.

But I ask what possibly could have changed?

I was on an FA Level 1 Coaching course the week before and there was a lot of talk about the England DNA. The game in this country is now geared to play a certain way. It would be difficult, if not impossible, for Allardyce to anything different. Where are the future England players that are playing regularly for their club sides?

The formation suits the way we want to play football. It is something that many of the players are familiar with from their clubs. It really is almost a part of the DNA of the game in this country.

The players that form the squad will form the basis of the squad all the way to the next World Cup and beyond. WE need evolution, not revolution. If the academy system is producing players like John Stones then we have to put some faith in it to produce more.

Part of the England DNA of football coaching

With the England match away to Slovakia tonight in mind - first one for Big Sam - it has been interesting doing my Level 1 football coaching course this week. The way that the FA is now structured is that every level feeds into the national team and the way of playing the game. In future you will see the players that have gone through the grassroots of football and through the system to reach the top level of the game. We are now generating players that have played in all positions, have developed the skills that have been identified as essential and will play the game in the right way.

The FA Level 1 Football Coaching course has been really interesting for me to work with other budding coaches and get an insight into the way the FA wants us all to bring our players through and develop them. I am really excited about getting to put all of this into practice with my team. I am ready to get back to my club and put all of this into practice.

Being able to watch and learn from the tutors as well as see practices delivered by others on the course was a great way to get together some ideas about different training sessions, how they fit together and how to adapt them to players of different ages. I am confident that I can start to think about the development needs of my players and how I can put training sessions into place to help them be better players over time.

The way that all of this fits together from grassroots up to the top level of the game is really interesting and will stand the game in this country in good stared in the future. The different phases of the game are looked at in detail to establish the necessary skills-

• In possession
• Out of possession
• Transition

You will see the way that young footballers play the game will change over time. The emphasis on everyone enjoying their game, players swapping roles and being comfortable on the ball are all major factors in this. One other parts that I found will make a massive difference is encouraging your players to take risks and not being afraid of the consequences. The focus has been taken away from winning games at all costs to achieving specific objectives both from a personal and a team point of view.

Big Sam the England manager - what next for England and Sunderland?

The worst kept secret in football has been converted from secret to fact with the appointment of Big Sam as England manager. It was closely followed by the second worst kept secret in football when David Moyes was appointed the new boss of Sunderland. There are many facets to this story and I'll use this blog to take a look at some of the more interesting ones.

Are Sunderland unlucky?

The fact is that the club have finally found a manager who is a great fit for them - and lost him. Sam Allardyce has been fantastic for the club. His tactical awareness and transfer dealings have transformed the club. We were looking forward to a season without a relegation battle for the first time in a long time. I honestly think that the three promoted teams, Bournemouth, Watford, Swansea and maybe a few others will finish below us in the Premier Lessgue - LINK. If we were able to operate in the transfer market and add a quality right back, a back up centre half, midfield creativity and some help for Jermain Defoe then I saw really positive things for the club. To lose a manager just before the season starts (as a pose to our usual method of losing one half way through) is really unfortunate. The club needs decisive action, but that hasn't been our strong suit of late.

The future for England

There will be thousands upon thousands of words written about this. In my view England always appoint a manager as a reaction to what the previous manager was lacking of perceived to be lacking-

• Sven wasn't English enough so we went for Steve McLaren.
• McLaren hasn't enough discipline so we went for Fabio Capello.
• Capello wasn't English either (I don't know why it took us years and millions of pounds to realise this) so we went English again and plumped for Roy.
• Roy was tactically inept and defensively poor so we've gone for the man who isn't that. We've got Big Sam.

I think that the success of Wales, Iceland and to a degree the two Ireland's will have also turned the FA's heads. Success with limited players (we have to admit that this is us) can be achieved by being organised and picking the right team rather than shoehorning the best players onto a formation that doesn't work. France left out some big players for varying reasons and were rewarded with a place in the Euro 16 final. England need to work in the same way and Sam Allardyce is the best fit to achieve this.