Connect with us

English Football

The World’s Most Accurate Passer can’t even make the England Squad for Euro 2012

Wow what a final day of the season that was, Since the Premier League was formed in 1992 we have not witnessed a final day like that before,this goes to show that in terms of excitement, value for money and Quality the Premier League is head and shoulders above other Leagues. With only two minutes remaining Sir Alex Ferguson must have thought he would be getting his hand on his 13th League Title but then out of nowhere Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero scored to hand Manchester City their First League Title in 44 years.

However while Man City deserve to be Champions because they have been the best Team over the whole season, in my opinion another Team deserves to be heralded for their exploits this season and that team is Swansea city. When I heard Swansea had been promoted to the Premier League I didn’t take any notice at first, in fact I thought they would go straight back down into the Championship come the end of the season but how wrong was I? Swansea proved not only me but a lot of people wrong with their style of play and I for one have enjoyed watching them play this season. By finishing 11th in their debut season, Swansea have exceeded all expectations when you look at the team their is no so called ‘Big Player, but what you will find is a team of honest hard-working players who believe in their Manager Brendan Rodgers and his ethos of pass and move football with a lot of emphasis on movement and possession. The reason in my opinion behind Swansea success is that they do the basics very well, In football if you don’t have the ball then you can’t score, and in order for you to score you need to be in the right positions to score nowadays you only have to turn on the Tv or listen to various pundits from Alan Hansen to Jamie Redknapp over-complicating football by talking about things suchs as zonal marking and flat back fours, however Swansea kept things simple by taking football back to basics of passing and moving.

Everyone of the Swansea Players deserve credit and praise for the way they have played this season, I particularly like Defenders Ashley Williams and Angel Rangel, Midfielders Scott Sinclair and Gylfi Sigurdsson, and Striker Danny Graham, however one player has in my opinion been head and shoulders above the rest and his name is Leon Britton. Born in Wandsworth in 1982, Leon Brittain played for the youth team of Arsenal, before playing professionally for West Ham United and Sheffield United, he has been described by Manager Brendan Rodgers as a “Reference point for player of that type” and a someone who is “performing consistently and making up to 100 passes a game which is phenomenal for a player at this level“. Brittain stands at 5ft 5in and is slim built he is not your typical midfielder, but having watched Swansea a lot this season Brittain is the heart of the team he dictates the pace and tempo that Swansea play at much in the same way that Paul Scholes does for Manchester United, according to Opta Brittain completed 2258 passes this season which places him 6th in the list of players with the most passes made this season, however Brittain’s pass accuracy is 93.5% which places him at the top of the pile. What this means is that Leon Brittain is the most accurate passer at the moment, his passes are more accurate than Xavi of Barcelona and Paul Scholes of Manchester United two of the most revered and celebrated passers of their Generation, in Football passing along with movement are two of the fundamental principles that contribute to a Team being successful.

Having just watched the live conference where the England Squad for Euro 2012 was announced, I was surprised to see that neither Leon Brittain or even Scott Sinclair were included, but Stewart Downing and Frank Lampard were included. Now I would be the first to admit that Lampard is a terrific International with years of experience under his belt but can someone please tell me how the most accurate passer in world football at the moment is not in the squad for Euro 2012? I mean I’m baffled because time and time again we see that England cannot keep possession and when they get the ball they give it away to cheaply and as we saw against Germany in the World Cup in 2010, when England were swept aside 4-1 possession of the football is paramount if you want to create chances and ultimately score goals and in order for this to happen you need players such as Leon Brittain who can pass the ball very well and also players who can keep the ball, on that note how come Michael Carrick wasn’t included in the Squad for the Euro’s either?

Moreover this is just another example of Players being picked because of their name instead of their form and football ability, if the most accurate passer this season cannot get into his countries Euro 2012 squad then what does that tell you and me? However I understand that International Football is a whole different Level to Club Football, but how would we know if Leon Brittain can play at International Level if he isn’t given a chance? after all you don’t win the raffle if you dont buy a ticket. Well roll on next season and lets see if Leon Brittain can be the world’s most accurate passer for the second year running, and if Swansea can finish 11th or higher the 2012/13 season will be worth watching.

12 Comments

12 Comments

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

More in English Football