http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/13832114.stm Conceded 2 late goals in a 2-1 loss to the Czech Republic to crash out of the competiton. The winning goal came curtesy of one Tomas Pekhart. Remember him? The article mentions that we struggled without Wilshere and Carroll. I know they are both good players, but do they carry the team to such an extent that they can't manage without them? If they do, why? Are there players out there (I'm thinkng Lallana here to keep it Saints related, although not being picked is probably a blessing for us) that could offer something a bit different?
I'm so selfishly glad he didn't go, it would have done him no good at all. Rest easy young Adam, for more glory awaits in a shirt that loves you. As for England, good luck with that Stu.
They were hit by a sucker punch but didn't do enough to deserve to get farther. Poor displays at tournaments seems to be the way of things English nowadays. Still think Adam might well have helped us get to the next stage though.
Pierce has done well with the U21s in the past, but this was not a top quality team. Much better for us that Lallana didn't go.
If Henderson is worth £20m what is Adam and Oxi worth? Let alone Snider who is much classier than anything England U21's have in their ranks? Dark Lord
i was extremely disappointed with u21s. the performances of henderson and rose all tournament and then cleverly last night only goes to show that at england they think playing for a big club makes you a top player, it doesnt. if i was adkins i would show him that match, in fact all tournament where for me one of our best players was scott sinclair, tellingly the only outfield non premiership player last season i think. just goes to show stay at a a club where things are built around you and confidence as well as ability levels increase.
.................,Fielding.................... Walker...Smalling...Jones...Bertrand ............Rodwell...Muamba............. Albrighton......Lallana..........Sinclair .................Sturrindge.................. Something like that could have been awesome.
Pearce is a useless manager. He is tactically inept. Every time I have seen the under 21s player under him we scrape wins or draw. We were lucky to get to the final 2 years ago. I have no idea why he played a 4-5-1 against a weaker opponent. We needed 2 up top or if he loved the 4-5-1 so much maybe Wickham up front because at least he can push his frame about and cause a problem for the defence. His team selection was poor. I don't know if we have a better keeper than Fielding but he was useless. Mancienne is probably the worst player I have ever seen. He thinks he's the dogs bollocks seeing how he struts about. Henderson 20Mil?? He was crap. Rodwell, Albrighton were barely given a chance even though they both had quality seasons in the Premiership. Sinclair is over-rated and hogs the ball too much. I feel sorry for Rose because he has been playing at left back for Spurs at the end of the season and looks quite good in that position. Then Pearce goes and plays him at Left mid I have no idea why we seem to try and build up our teams like Barcelona. We're English not Spanish. We should be looking at building an England side that play like Man U. Super quick on the counter attack as well as knowing when to keep the ball. I found the U21s were trying to pass the ball around like Barca but play it at 100Mph. My full blame goes on Pearce. I hope that guy never gets the England job. You look at our U21s and we're easily the second best team behind Spain and Spain aren't a lot better. I only thought Mata and De Gea look good. Martinez and Thiago looked over rated. The only positive. The defence looked solid.
Sinclair has had a very good season for Swansea, so it's probably fair that he's in the squad. Same with most of them, but Pearce shoud be doing more to put the right players in the right positions. Problem is, a lot of the top, English players are too similar. There aren't too many English wingers or creative midfielders playing at the top.
Think he still plays with the U19s or U20s. The U21s in most cases are all playing competitive football. It's only fair seeing how the U21s are the future of the senior team. I was just thinking about how the big teams in Spain have B teams in the same competitive structure as their main team. How does the system work? If reserve players and young players play competitively, surely that's good for them, but does it lead to the big boys dominating even more than they do here?
The B team system is awful for smaller clubs., They bring no away support and as soon as they are safe they stop playing (because they can't be promoted above a certain level). In all I don't think English players are technically good enough. Every team we played this tournament looked comfortable on the ball, and could keep possession easily. England couldn't make five passes without giving it away or trying to punt it long. A massive overhaul of youth football is needed, because at the moment we're light years behind Ukraine and Czechslovakia, let alone teams like Spain, France, Brazil and Argentina.
Wisescummer. I think that comes down to the coaching and tactics. He's not playing the right formation or tactics and is trying to play us. Ukraine and the Czech were not good teams. They play to their strengths unlike England though.
OK its partly bad tactics, but I refuse to believe the reason why England have won nothing in 45 years is the manager. Heaven knows we've tried enough. The problem is, since 1966, the rest of the world has moved on in terms of youth developmemnt and coach development. England hasn't. In all honesty, how many England players would get into the Germany, Spain, France, Italy or brazil side (based on international form), cos at the moment i'm struggling to think of one. And don't say Rooney because he has achieved jack **** at international level (Emile Heskey has scored more world cup goals than him).
Henderson is Gerrard and Lampard again, but about 10 years younger. All good players, but none of them are especially comfortable on the ball or have the flair to look around them and chose their best option before they get closed down, hence why they often play safe and chose the easy pass or the long ball or to shoot from way out. They have ability with their feet, but lack the footballing intelligence to make the best of it. Club sides have the options to play to players' strengths, but England don't, or at least not in obvious places. It's something that Capello/Pearce should think about.
We were the best team in the 70s world cup. I think we were one of the best in the 90 world cup. In 96 we were unbelievably unlucky against Germany. Even though we didn't deserve to beat Spain. 98 World cup Hoddle fiddled it so he could try and get revenge on Argentina. Out played them but for Beckham getting sent off and a goal disallowed for no reason. Same with Euro 04 when we had that goal disallowed against Portugal for no reason. This is why I have stopped really caring about the International side. The countless times we have been on the wrong end of **** decisions. France team aren't great at the moment. They coming out of a transistion period since 2002. Italy's youth are nothing spectacular. Beaten by Ireland's 2nd team. Rooney's best years in international football was under Sven and he was up front with Owen 04. I think we were the best team in the tournament. We got done by a few poor ref decisions in the game. (The Rooney sending off) I think our coaching set up is poor and has been for a long time. The FA need to sort it out. I think we have a lot of top talent coming through and the only difference between our players and other nations is most of our players play in their home country. Brazil, Argentina would be nothing without the European Leagues. I agree with Matt. We do not put our players in the right position. I do think Lampard and Gerrard are past it for International level. I hope we use Wilshere properly. I'm looking forward to seeing Wilshere and the Chelski kid playing in the middle in a few years. Our problem is that we have crap strikers.
How good is this McEachrane kid? Is he really that good or just hyped up by the media? Walcott, Bale and Chamberlain were virtually unheard of before they broke through with us. Lots of players with hype haven't made the cut.
The Chelsea kid is meant to be of Wilsheres standard or better. I remember reading a report about it from a journo about 6 months ago. It was based on he thought Wilshere being one of the best youngsters he has ever seen played then he went on to say Josh is gonna big a massive talent too.
I'm sorry, but Wilshere and McEcharan are both horribly overrated. Wilshere is just a (very) poor mans Fabregas (and lets not forget Fabregas is Spains 3rd choice midfielder), and McEachran will never amount to much more than somebody like Steve Sidwell. Neither are anywhere near the standard of say an Ozil or a Khedira. Watch any youth team match in Brazil and you will see at least three players better than Wilshere and McEachran put together.
our problems lie way back down the footballing line. Some of the fault is the fans and the way we demand our game to be played. We encourage our young kids to win at under 10 level , rather than teaching them to love the white round thing. It's great to see little Johnny polishing his medals, but when 15 years later he's chasing a spanish or brazilian shadow round a world cup pitch, we have the same as we do now.
