Reading the article Italians need new style from the bbc news web site it’s interesting to see that maybe Fabio agrees more with the English way of playing than the continental. Whether this view is because he is England manager and it’s in his interests to promote acceptance of the way we approach the game or whether this is a view he holds personally as well is not clear. 

It is clear though that our ambitions in Europe are often limited because all our players play the game under different rules than the rest of europe in terms of how physical the game is. Tackles that are allowed in the English game are simply not allowed in the continental. I feel that had an impact when beckham was sent off at France ’98 (He may have been given a yellow card in the premiership) and it’s definitely cost us goals because our players man handle the keeper in a way that’s not accepted on the continent. 

Whether the Italians should be more physical or the Premiership should tolerate less physicality is for football to decide. What I do believe is that those sides who can adapt to best to the way the referees enforce the game at a european or world level are the ones best positioned to triumph. In this regard I’m not certain our premiership provides this base. It always seems that little bit different to the rest of the world. and while english clubs are doing very well on a European and world stage I think it’s as much down to the foreign players as the native. 

Anyway that’s my two cents.