A mini-documentary from Saints, following all ten England representatives last week, as well as the day of the call-ups and interviews with those involved. Plenty of previously unseen footage too. [video=youtube_share;KDG-eKGsTEA]http://youtu.be/KDG-eKGsTEA[/video] DTLW
That is a really well produced video, and I was particularly impressed that the U19's and U21's were given equal prominence with the players picked for the senior squad. I'll say it again, with the riches we have coming through from the academy, has there ever been a better time to be a Saints fan?
This is all part of the joined up thinking at Saints. Players join aged 8 and are shown the path to the senior team. Alex Ferguson said, that if you want to attract the best youngsters, you have to get the mothers on board, even more than the fathers. Show the mums that their preciouses will be looked after and encouraged to do school work as well, then follow up with the evidence that the boys will get into the 1st team and perhaps get international recognition, and we will get dibs on the best kids. Players who have been together since aged 8 will show more loyalty to a team and also be more the type of player you want than others bought in.
That u19s stat was impressive. Our 4 players had more first team appearances than the other 13 squad members combined.
It's even more impressive (in a way) when you consider that Chambers on his own had more first team appearances than all the other players combined.
A clip from Keown saying he thinks he could play centre half. I was impressed with him one on one with Suarez when he was covering the other week and he has the physicality required for that role.
Could solve the Clyne vs Chambers problem and potentially push Fonte at centre back. That said I would prefer him at the moment to concentrate developing his skills in one position rather than bounce between the two. I would rather a world class right back than someone who can "do a job" at RB and CB.
Yes, Smalling and to a lesser extent Phil Jones. Although it doesn't seem to hamper international squad selection, neither can be classed as first choice in any of the positions they play.
Why do people think Chambers will move to CB? He was more of an attacking player in his youth team days and moving him to CB would lose that side of his game. He seems to suit RB really well despite only playing that position for a few seasons. His crossing will hopefully only improve too.
The words of former England centre back Martin Keown He obviously sees it as a possibility. The role of centre back is changing and you need to be comfortable on the ball. As said above i'd rather him carry on as right back during this stage in his career, but in a back 3 or moving across to centre back in a few years..I wouldn't rule it out