I've finally worked out what we're lacking - a young striker - come on Saints academy sort your self out!
Good performance from our lads. As Owen Hargreaves mentioned in commentary they did the simple things well and everything they did had a purpose and it's no coincidence that the goals and best chances involved them. Zaha doesn't look like he has moved on from the player we saw at Palace and perhaps the same could be said of the progress of Raheem Sterling, both put in frustrating displays and perhaps that comes from a lack of game time and an over eagerness to impress. Jesse Lingaard looked good when he came on, John Stones was impressive at the back and on the ball, although under little pressure from the Finnish side. Berahino took his goals very well and came into the game more and Will Hughes showed great energy when he came on. As all our stars get linked away, I think we could look at Hughes as a potential target. I know we're far from short of numbers in the midfield areas, but he looks a real prospect who could take Ramirez place in the squad and for a similar price.
Yep, so did I. Kept picking up little traces of jackboot. [apologies, apologies, that just crept out. It's a generational thing]
Ryan Seager, Marcus Barnes and Sam Gallagher. Former two are very highly-rated, latter is coming back from a bad injury but seems to be closer to the first team.
I posted it in the other thread I think, but the Star are singing our praises too... please log in to view this image
Was not expecting Belgium to lose to Colombia. Thought they were the dark horses for the world cup but looked pretty inefective, play pretty football but no end product which pretty much sums up our last Belgium player
Having spent a very cold night at the impressive Stadium MK (great seats - padded and massive) I would start a January shopping list from a number of the young players I saw who would add real value to Saints: - Butland - Hughes - Ince - Lingaard - Berahino As for Zaha and especially Sterling - truly dreadful. Morrison doesn't put in a proper shift and happy for everyone else to do his dirty work for him - great going forward and attacking but doesn't tackle back and doesn't close down. He obviously thinks he is too good for that
Players like Zaha and Sterling are talented but they need taking in hand...that talent will just drift away as they earn a good living, moving from club to club without achieving their potential. Good life compared to the rest of us, but they could be better. Really like Berahino...now there is a chap with the right attitude. He apologised to Southgate at half-time about being booked...when the manager wasn't even aware he had been. He didn't wander about looking frustrated. Am I the only one who wants every talented player at Saints? I actually resent other teams having them....must be getting a top team mentality
I haven't watched the U21 match, but i presume Finland failed to test Butland at all. But on the numerous occasions i've watched him play, i've never seen anything to justify the hype. On the other hand, I would't mind bringing in Hughes, Ince or Berahino, they all seem very talented lads
Finland did very little, then suddenly had a shot near the end. Burnt Butland's hands, but he dealt with it. Sign of a good goalkeeper if he can pull off a good save in the middle of a snooze-fest.
His distribution was pretty sound as well. Definitely a mature head on him. As for the others mentioned, Zaha, Sterling, and Morrison did themselves no favours at all, and it was very revealing when the camera cut to Gareth Southgate after yet another failed attempt by Zaha to dazzle the defence with one too many stepovers, just how frustrated he was looking. I'd also put in a word for the two excellent CB's, particularly John Stones, who didn't put a foot wrong in defence and looked really handy going forward. He's another who will be making the step up to the senior side soon.
Iceland: Halldorsson, Saevarsson, Arnason, R.Sigurdsson, Skulason, Bjarnason, Gunnarsson, G.Sigurdsson, Gudmundsson, Gudjohnsen, Sightorsson Croatia: Pletikosa, Srna, Corluka, Simunic, Pranjic, Rakitic, Modric, Iličević, Eduardo, Perisic, Mandzukic So no Lovren. It's live online pretty much everywhere for example youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaixN4g3Jp0
