Think you've hit the nail on the head. He's let his personal ambition cloud his judgement of what he really wants to do against Holland. Either pick an entirely experimental squad, or go with the old school. Typical English England manager material then.
I cannot understand why people continue to call for new blood; if there are no proven youngsters then they cannot be picked. I think people should just be happy we have moved away from Terry, Ferdinand and Lampard, although I am surprised Gerrard is there. I reckon every one of us would pick a different 23.
I want to see a situation where a good proportion of the U21s move en bloc to the senior side. They would have the continuity of playing together. The u21s need to be treated with respect as a place where you get experience of international football. Too often we don't enter u21 competitions with our best players, but the left overs after clubs have withdrawn them or they have been called up to the senior squad for some meaningless friendly. I note that Pearce has kept Oxo back for a competitive u21 match rather than a senior friendly. Winning an u21 competition would be great for morale, especially if a tranche of the same players moved on to the seniors.
I agree but the problem with Pearce is that he is a rather inflexible manager and considering at the last under-21 Euros in the summer he had Welbeck, Sturridge, Cleverley, Sinclair, Oxlade-Chamberlain plus the two Man U centre backs and did not manage one single win this is worrying as the only players who looked half decent were the centre backs; I thought Pearce didn't get the best out of Welbeck and Sturridge and also played a number of people out of position including Mancienne as a holding midfielder which he clearly was not comfortable with.
I think we probably would all pick a different 23. However, if we only had one squad to pick and had already announced our intention to freshen things up, surely we'd all include form players? For me, Cleverly, Campbell and Smalling are all just back from injury and therefore cannot possibly be considered on form. Downing cannot be considered on form as he simply isn't (and never has been in the eyes of most). Given his latest ban, Rooney's inclusion is also bizarre. At a time when three English boys at Swansea are creating and scoring regularly against top opposition, the exclusion of all three is bewildering, as is the explanation for Oxo's absence.
No, I just don't see why I have to justify everything I say. You knew what I meant so I don't see why you had to make the comment you did but hey ho
Too many people listen to the media when judging a player for England. For example all of these suggesting we just dispose of Frank Lampard. This is a man who has scored 20 goals in 5 consecutive Premiership seasons, you could argue he takes penalties and free kicks, but so do other midfielders without scoring 20+ goals a season. Frank Lampard, John Terry, Gareth Barry, Ashley Cole and others are still amongst the best 23 players we have.
It's not bewildering, it just shows that no matter how good some players are, if they play for an unfashionable club, they have little chance of being selected for the England squad.
