But if you're saying the youngsters shouldn't be given the chance yet then surely that implies the regulars should keep their place? We will never know if a player is good enough until they're actually given the chance(s) to prove it. I'm a firm believer of the "if you're good enough, you're old enough" philosophy. A recent example of that would be Bentaleb for instance, who proved that for most of last season bar a few games against the bigger sides he was more than capable of playing against seasoned pros and he ended up performing admirably for his country in the biggest stage of them all. Of course there are countless others who have flattered to deceive when given the big opportunity but we're never going to know if they will or won't make it until given a chance. I'd say for every 5 flops you get 1 star/ future star and for me that's worth gambling on if it helps improve the standard of the England national team for years to come.
I'm thinking that the England team is now being run for the sole objective of getting Rooney the most caps and most goals record.
It's just the most inexperienced youngsters that I don't think we should be throwing in for the feel good factor. There are plenty of players with much more experience than Chambers, Dier, etc that have never been given chances too. Delph, Clyne, Davies, Caulker, Huddlestone, Noble, Livermore, Dyer and so on. They might not have the hype that surrounds any teenager who strings together a couple of good games, or one that gets a transfer to one of the big clubs but they're the type of players that can balance out a team and give the bigger name players a better platform to improve their own form for the country. I just think we're making the same mistake we always do, there's already talk of building the team around Barkley ffs. Let them work their way through the ranks and earn their England call ups with regular games and performances. At the moment we're a mess, we don't have a style, we don't have many experienced players and we have even less players that perform well in an England shirt, I think that's enough problems without throwing youngster with very little experience into the mix. Lets sort the issues we can't avoid first and then get onto the optional stuff like bringing in the kids as well.
I have given up on England until Hodgson is replaced with somebody with half a clue what he is doing, he should never have been given the job.
Dier, Kane, Carroll and Pritchard all in the U21 squad. Kane and Dier would have made the full squad, and possibly got their first caps, if they played for a club that are currently sitting in 13th, lack any kind of European football this season and have been an utter shambles thus far...
The keepers and strikers are fine. Can't really argue with any of them being selected and it's fairly well balanced up front, as they're all a bit different to each other. The defence is largely ok, with most of those selected earning their places, but it looks pretty weak. Clyne should definitely be called up ahead of Chambers or Stones and Shawcross is overdue a call-up. The midfield looks an absolute mess, though. Delph's been Villa's best player for quite a while, so he probably should edge in, but a lot of the others aren't even playing. Colback is absolutely average, Townsend, Wilshere, Milner and Oxo-cube rarely start for their clubs, leaving only the two Scousers who deserve their place alongside Delph. Are the options available to Hodgson that poor or is he simply picking players at sides that he rates? Stewart ****ing Downing's put in better performances than most of those selected, for ****'s sake. What message does this send out to those at sides that are less fashionable? Do what you want, but I'm going to pick the same ****e anyway? I'm with YV. Pick the inexperienced youngsters who aren't starting regular and play them in the U21s. Let them earn their places in the senior squads. Most of them haven't done nearly enough to get picked and are getting there on potential that's been spotted by other coaches, rather than Hodgson. No wonder there are so many tickets available.
YV, the argument for picking young players is that it aids their progress to be exposed to international football at an early age. That's good if players do develop - defenders learn the art of defending, midfielders learn to control the game like Pirlo etc. But the problem with England is that there isn't enough quality among the senior players for the younger ones to learn. Often the young ones are picked to give the team "legs", which is why Welbeck is always in the squad. As long as our game places more emphasis on physicality than skill, we'll keep lagging behind.
You can't argue with results. Man U have been a different team since he became captain. I see this as brilliant move by Roy. It will take England losing to San Marino and the Vatican to get the old idiots thrown out and new ones brought in, and the team and especially the captain he's named look ready to do it.
Harry should have got the job. Better man manager, which is what these prima donnas need. Coaching at international level, when they have relatively few training sessions together must be difficult to the extent that the importance should not be overemphasised. Hodgson has failed dismally at two tournaments. Other teams with far less (alleged) talent did far better than us at the World Cup. It's often mentioned that due to the foreign players in the PL the England coach doesn't have as many players to pick from as he should, but he still has rather a lot compared to other international teams who seem to have done quite well using Championship level players.
I understand the resoning but I don't think it necessarily holds true. It's one of those conventional wisdoms we just accept because it seems like it might be true. If it were the case, we should be cursing ourselves for not having Lambert and Lallana in the set up when they were 18/19, think how much better they'd have developed with all the extra international call ups. There's nothing actually wrong with our physical game, Mourinho won a CL title with Inter with a side high on discipline and strength, as did Chelsea, Greece always overperform given their lack of talent and there are plenty more that have caused upsets in games by playing like this. I don't think it's the cause of our inability to perform in international competitions but I'd agree it's not something we should aspire to. Every few years we have a new cliche that we convince ourselves is the best, or only, path to choose. We had "must be an English manager as foreigners don't understand our game" after Sven, then we had "pick players on club form" under Capello(although this didn't happen to a great extent), then we had "the squad needs to be rebuilt" under Hodgson but 2 years on we're further away from that than ever. Now we're onto "the kids are brilliant". Just for once I'd like us to take a sensible approach which isn't led by knee-jerk reactions. We're all feeling sorry for ourselves at the moment, excusing mediocre performances by players and managers because "the players aren't good enough". Bullshit. The World Cup was littered with teams of little recognised quality going further than us because they had a balanced team a system they'd worked on for longer than 6 months and a manager that wasn't too scared to leave out big names that weren't performing.
Roy works to a formula that is well-worn by English managers. Rule 1 Pick as many players as possible from the league champions (in this case, £ity). Rule 2 Then, see how many players can be selected from 'Pool and United. Rule 3 If there are any remaining, see if the balance of the squad can be made up from Chelsea and Arsenal. Rule 4 If there are any remaining, consider Spurs and Everton. Rule 5 Always keep an eye out for any "media darlings" from "other" clubs (following the FA's edict to never piss-off the media). Following this formula, any one of us could manage England and be no worse than Hodgson. It, and he, are a complete joke!
Danny Rose has said that Pochettino revealed the news about a possible call-up by calling him into his office and claiming that he was being sold! One of the other coaches backed him up, before the truth came out, much to the surprise of our current first choice left-back.
Risky joke. There's always a chance Danny Rose could've gone "oh **** off then you Argie c*nt" before the joke was revealed, thus getting him sold for real
“I had a meeting with the manager when he was appointed and he told me if I trusted in him, he’d get me into the England squad.” (Danny Rose speaking about Poch) This, for me, says it all, and sums up why Poch is absolutely the right thing for Spurs.
