Their technical ability is fine, but they don't inspire much creative confidence. Spain's football is built around trust; trust in your team's ability to give, receive, give and receive. It's a trust built from the ground up, as Spaniards are put through high intensity circular passing drills, whilst English players are taught to stand in rigid formations (not a joke, I read it in The Times today).
It's not their ability, it's how they're coached. My argument is that at club level they're receiving a semblance of that continental coaching style, where they're allowed slightly more freedom of expression. Gerrard's trained alongside the likes of Alonso and Torres, he's bound to have picked things up along the way, especially under Rafa's guidance. He can't trust in his teammates to know these techniques when he's playing for England though. And thus it all falls away, those techniques are brushed aside and it's his long standing memories of the national team's own specific coaching that comes to the fore, led by one Roy Hodgson.
