http://thefa.com/England/mens-under-21s/News/2011/squad-azerbaijan-israel-240811 Does Stuart Pearce just pick squads on the team they play for? Chamberlain picked above Lallana. No Cork because he doesn't play for Chelsea anymore. Yet players that have barely played league football get chosen. Don't get me wrong, I don't want Lallana or Cork to play to risk injuries but I do think his selections are unfair and damaging for the development of English football. Thoughts?
[edit] Michael's correct. "Players born on or after 1 January 1990 are eligible until the end of the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship."
I don't understand the age limit for the under-21s? Some players in the tournament this year were 22/23...
Even if they were young enough, pretty much all of those players are Premiership regulars, Cork and Lallana wouldn't have a chance of playing.
I look at the squad and most of those barely make the bench of some teams. Ben Amos, Nathan Baker, Craig Dawson, Henri Lansbury, Andre Wisdom, Jonjo Shelvey. The list goes on. I do stand on my point that Pearce chooses his selection by club. In the tournament, I don't think the likes of Rose and Mancienne are better than Sinclair and Cork...
Anyway, playing for England is more of a curse than an honour these days. Plus agree with the view that Stuart Pearce has absolutely no clue as U21 manager, or when he was a club manager. Also, he actually wasn't all that hard as a player, his reputation was greatly exaggerated by the media. Forest fans copied his "psycho" chant from Saints. There is only one Psycho and that's Mark Dennis.