Why are so few football players inventive in their play?
Because of most youth coaches and because of almost all parents.
Youth football is not about winning or results, but about learning football skills and searching elegant constructive solutions to problems.
Watch youth matches for a while and you will see what will be the better players. Of course they should have a minimum of skill but it's not all about skill. If you see youth players it's not about the dribblings or the the step-overs. The real talented players are the ones that are looking up before they even receive and control the ball. At that moment they already know what they will do with the ball. These are the inventive players and these are the players one should stimulate even if they are physically disadvantaged.
Sometimes you see immensively gifted players who just don't see it. The best example of a very gifted player who doesn't see it is Steven Gerrard. Am i the one who is saying that? No (well in a way yes, but i'm not the first)? No, a certain R. Bennitez has claimed this.
Is Gerrard to blame? No not at all. His youth coaches are to blame. Imagine what an immense player Gerrard could have been if had been trained and encouraged to think about football.
Now what concerns English football. English football have a couple enormous disadvantages.
1. no tradition of skill and inventive play (just hoof it forwards, particularly at youth level);
2. the physical aspect is much too important
3 More and more foreigners block homegrown players
4 English players are far too expensive (and i'm not talking Andy Carroll here, but the average good championship player is far too expensive for good foreign clubs).
5 English football culture is still highly insulated, the average English football fan or player doesn't care about foreign competitions (Shearer who had never heard of Hatem Ben Arfa is a striking example).
In the near future English club will continue to attract all the best foreigners, but your national team will suffer enormously because of it.