West Ham legend's anger at the league system (From Thurrock Gazette)

Hammers Legend Julian Dicks on why English football is falling behind

8:00pm Friday 15th March 2013 in Sport

WEST HAM: Hammers Legend Julian dicks has had some tough things to say about the state of English football.

He told James Colasanti: "It's disappointing to see no Premier League club in the latter stages of the Champions League, and I do think we have fallen behind the top teams in Europe now.

The likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich have worked out that the way to win football matches is to retain the ball – it’s not rocket science but clubs in England still make it look like it is sometimes!

"Barcelona have also shown just how important it is to work really hard when you don’t have the ball – I don’t see the top English teams like Manchester United and Chelsea press the ball like that.

I was brought up with a football style of retaining the ball and I like to try to pass that on with my coaching work.

"Football is a simple game and the only people who complicate it are players. So I try to make sure that anyone I coach knows it is about passing the ball, movement and retention.

"I think it’s been shown that if you have more possession than opposition teams you win seven out 10 games.

"To be fair to the teams at the top level in this country, our crowds can get a bit agitated if the ball is being played along the backline and that leads to someone trying to hit a 70-yard ball.

"So it will take time to get the right styles of football in place across the board, but if we don’t then I think the game in this country will continue to fall behind what they are doing in Europe."