In an exclusive interview with Football Express News, former Chelsea playmaker Alan Hudson ridicules England players who ‘work hard’ but do little to create, and explains it is not hard work that wins games and tournaments, but magic.
Alan Hudson played for Chelsea, Arsenal, Stoke City and England as a creative midfielder in the 1960’s and 70’s.
He is now a professional pundit, and in the wake of England’s sorry departure from the World Cup, reveals one of his pet hates – football players who are flattered for the amount of running around they do, despite displaying little ability to create, score goals and win matches for their team.
“It just doesn’t cut it with me,” he begins, “all that nonsense giving under-performing players credit for running around.”
“Take Daniel Welbeck for example, he is supposed to be a striker, but seems to struggle to score goals and for that reason is often played in the midfield.
“You hear people saying, ‘fair enough he doesn’t often score, but Welbeck works hard and is the best player England have for getting the ball back.’
“Well firstly he’s a striker, it is not his job to get the ball back, and secondly, comments like ‘didn’t he work hard, he covered every blade of grass,’ are a load of rubbish.”
Hudson is irked by the mentality of players when they lose games but believe they had a good run-out owing to having ‘worked hard,’ and said for the amount of money they get paid, hard work ethic is something that should just be part an parcel of their job.
“Working hard is all part of the game, players should do that as second nature. And if they don’t do that every single time they go on the pitch, they shouldn’t be playing football.
“Christ Almighty I know people at Stoke-on-Trent down the mines, they work hard, and they’re only getting about £200 a week, not £200K a week,” he added.
Hudson believes management get it wrong when they select players that expend all their energy on running around, in the hope they might be able to create something.
He makes reference to former England striker Emile Heskey, who became infamous last decade for his lack of finishing – he netted just 7 goals in 62 appearances.
“I had a lot of fun before the World Cup watching ‘England’s worst eleven,’ on television” he continues, “they were showing the eleven worst players that have ever played in an England shirt. It had players like Emile Heskey, players that ‘worked hard,’ but were rarely seen doing anything half-decent on the ball.”
Hudson explained how the ‘Emile Heskey-type’ player always has and always will continue to be picked to play for England, because management are of the view they are keen to work hard and give 110%.
“It’s totally ridiculous,” he mutters, “we want quality, we don’t just want to see players running around and then hear the manager saying ‘he gave 110% as always, you can’t knock him for that.’
Hudson feels the current England side, who were dumped of the World Cup this week, are desperate for a player of the same calibre as Italy’s Andrea Pirlo, as he believes it is this type of player that wins World Cups.
“I want to see someone of world-class quality for England like Pirlo who plays for Italy, I want to see him grab hold of the ball and create something brilliant, then I would say, ‘that was magic.’
“This is what the World Cup is all about and this is what wins World Cups. Magic, not hard work.”