Surely this guy isn't good enough to be leading our U-21s. I'm watching the game now against the Ukraine and I'm not sure what tactics he is employing but we have been extremely bland. We've got so many defensive minded, slow players on the team - Rodwell, Mancienne, Jones, Smalling. We don't need all of them against this team. Plus, he continually picks Rose ahead of Sinclair who had a fantastic breakthrough season with Swansea. I just think our youth is being wasted. We have some exciting prospects and they are currently being easily controlled by Ukraine.
I don't think we've got the talent coming through that we really need to maintain our international ranking. We need to really address the issues at the heart of it, and start to put a much greater emphasis on young English talent in the premier league. There's an interesting article here about the Uruguayan program which England could really learn a lot from. Especially the bit about constantly comparing teams to the last team to win anything!
i am afraid to say the u 21 s mirror the senior side .......wastefull in possession....no passing game.....the only goal threat was Sturridge.....who stood out in a very ordinary England side........Stuart Pearce(loved him when he was a player)but his technical knowledge of the game is not up to it ...Long ball tactics were ugly to watch and had no effect against a decent side like the Ukraine........This England side wont make the semis......lets hope when Capellos time with the senior side is over they dont appoint Pearce........
I completely agree with all these comments, I cannot understand why Rose starts ahead of Sinclair. Long balls just don't work, especially if you're going to play a lone forward like Welbeck who's not particularly good at holding the ball up or winning headers. Total lack of creativity except for Sturridge
I'm afraid that this is just another indication of the malaise in English football at all levels from coaching, playing and admin sides. I have long held the view that what our players seem to lack is a certain ability to self regulate and adjust their individual play in each game as the continentals do. Are players seem too rigid and stale against top class opposition. This rigidity and lack of .... intelligence for want of a better word is carried into their coaching careers. John Gregory was a man in demand 10 years ago, now the best he can do is somewhere in Timbuktu. International football seems to be a place where the outrageously skillful or the resolutely disciplined excel - and we not only seem to fall between these two extremes, but manage to somehow be far removed from both. The tenures of Cappelo and Erikson, both highly respected coaches(I am not a fan of either), has proven that the problem lies with the players, and the culture. Quite what the problem is remains to be discovered, though it is not a new one.
I was shocked at how awful the team was. I really thought they looked pretty good against Spain: the keeper hoofed it too often, but their passes were mostly short and accurate, and they looked like they had some ideas about what to do with the ball. Then against Ukraine almost everybody booted it long almost all the time, in the vague direction of some white shirt surrounded by yellow ones, with predictably dire results. Granted the defense has looked fairly solid, and Sturridge dangerous, but I've got to agree with maddoggooner, they looked exactly like the senior side: no invention, no triangles, no ideas, nothing to keep them from being deadly dull mediocrities.
People are suprised we play a certain way under Pearce?! Can you imagine him explaining subtle nuances of skills to use or groundbreaking technical tactics to his teams? The only reason he has made his way up the ranks is because people quite like the fact he got some balls and is a bit patriotic. No, Im guessing his normal words at half time would be along the lines of... "GET AT THEM! GET BLOODY STUCK IN. HIT EM HARD LONGS BALLS GET OUT THERE COME OOONNN!!!!" As mad as he is Sir Glen of Hoddle is the best man for the u21 job and molding the admittedly average players we have coming through, at least getting them to play decent football. Possibly alongside a recently retired player to connect to the players. Scholesy perhaps.
think against ukraine 4-5-1 doesnt work, would love to see a 442 today but it wont happen at least a 4-2-3-1 to try and get some support up to welbeck. would like to see lansbury start behind main striker, sinclair and sturridge either side and welbeck up front. rodwell and henderson as the 2 although i dont think either of those 2 have excelled. back 4 are fine, jones and smalling look like a scary partnership! on other thought has anyone seen the videos of them training on youtube? Pearce has them playing with 2 full size goals in one half, 2 touch which leads to plenty of long shots. Pearce just doesnt look tactically good enough at this level, needs a bit more verve and buzz about the team, as soon as those goals are removed from the training the short passes would come out a lot more!
The really scary thing is that the FA probably think he's doing a good job, and may even put him in charge of the senior side.
**** me. We got a lot of good youngsters coming through. Stuart Pearce is just an idiot. Speaks out of his arse. "I may play players to there strengths and I alter my tactics for every team". Every game he plays the same predictable tactics. Rose I think is a better left back than left midfielder. Sinclair is ****. Albrighton should have been starting every game along with Lansbury. Why is Mancienne in the team? Why play 4-5-1 and not have a target man up front? I could keep going. Our team is as good as Spain apart from Mata and De Gea.
England U-17's are currently 0-0 at half time against the mighty Rwanda. Think they'll probably wilt in the heat.
Let's face it, we're just not good enough. The manager with his 'tactics', formations and team selection are not good enough. The players, except for Sturridge, Jones and possibly Walker, are not good enough. I cannot believe the transfer fees payed for young English talent when they put in performances like that, Henderson for £20mm you're having a laugh and what is all the fuss about Rodwell and Welbeck? I agree with the comment above about Hoddle, at least he tried to get us playing in the right way, that should be the future and not just sending 11 players out on the pitch to tip tap it across the back 4 because our build up play and general passing is too slow
\Well might have helped our cause if like the other squads we bought our actual best teams, rather than letting a frenchman force one of our best players to withdraw!!! also why wasn't walcott there, right age and hardly had that much playing time! Spain had two world cup winners in its squad!
Gibbs, Richards, Carroll and Wilshere could all have made a difference but when you play negative tactics, ie 4-5-1 when you have to win you're always going to struggle
shows you that even when they have played full seasons in la liga, champs league, copa del rey, world cups, they dont use the excuse that they are "tired". they are eager to play and to win. we dont have that mentality. its ****ing pathetic. regardless of pearce's tactics as manager, if he cant even select the right 23 man squad, we are always going to fail. he picks "famous" players, not necessarily ones that will play together as a team. seems like no matter how good or bad you are, if you are an under 21 that plays for a premier league club (even if you make no appearances that season) you will be picked. well going on some of the utter ****e performances some of the lads gave in those 3 matches, i'd rather take someone from the football league who actually wants to be there, has played a good amount of games in the first team and can actually play football
Stuart Pierce is the exact type of person that is holding English football back and making the international chasm between us and Spanish football larger. His tactics were atrocious during the tournament. I felt that using Welbeck as a lone striker was far to defensive in an international tournament with only 8 teams competing. It was pretty obvious from the go that an attacking mentality would be needed to win the tournament. I felt that the use of two defensive midfielders epitomized the ageing strategy that a manager with the footballing ideals of Pierce still possess. It was pretty obvious that creativity was needed to beat the tight units such as Ukraine and the Czech Republic. The constant selection of Mancienne was utterly pathetic, the guy has no ball control whatsoever and contributed nothing offensively. Cleverley and Henderson were not used correctly and Lansbury deserved more playing time. It was a perfect example of football through the eyes of Pierce, he was more worried about size and athletic ability than creativity and flair. Beyond that, the selection of Rose was ridiculous, the man is like a human freight train, he seems to have no control over the ball and his final ball is nowhere to be found. Scott Sinclair should've definately got more playing time. A 4-4-2 formation was needed rather than a 4-5-1 formation, but Pierce wouldn't undertand that because he still lives under the belief that you need to defend the zones before attacking. I though our back four was capable of defending and we didn't need a defensive midfield player. It was a waste of time watching the crap Pierce put on the field, the talent was available to him, he didn't use guys like Albrighton, Wickham, Sinclair and Cleverley at all or nearly as often as he should have. I think it is shameful that this guy is the person charged with helping our talent reach their full potential. The FA should be sacking him and advertising for the position immediately.
