During Euro 2004 i gave all the team a little homework task. Each player was asked to watch 2 players, one who plays in their position and one who plays in any other but thier own position and make note of 5 good things that player did during the game and anything they thought was a negative. They were not allowed to choose England players as it encouraged them to watch less obvious players and also watching another team where the result wasnt as important to us they could concentrate on a single player or area of the game without getting carried away with the match. I marked it on thoroughness of detail and also looked for players and teams that werent your obvoius Italy, Germany, Portugal although this was never told to them i wanted to see if they would choose the obvious players and most of them did ignore the so called well known players of the big countries which i found a plus point in the sense that they watched it for the football and not just for a "name" or a match built on "hype", a lot of the players chose Swiss or Bulgarian or Greek players which i liked because the modern game is so full of hype for the stars it's nice to see my players appreciated and watched the less obvious.

The response was excellent, and their observations showed an excellent understanding not only of the game but also the different positions. Every match i watch i see an example of something which i always think "i wish i could show him this or him that"

As Dwyer points out we are always showered with negatives about footballers due to money etc but we are also very lucky especially in England with the quality of player not only in our Premier league but also in most top Championship sides.

Football is not something a course can teach you it is something that you have grown up with, watched and read about and the more you watch the more you learn.