Feel for the player called back by his home club in Germany*....yes, they used him for a youth cup match and a first team match, but you can never get back a day like this. *Jadon Sancho Borussia Dortmund
Foden named player of tournament. Have to say how good it was to see fantastic crowds in India....help make it even more exciting for the players.
There had been good crowds throughout....perhaps they kept the prices down and the locals were pleased to have a big tournament there.
Yes, I saw most of that Brazil game. It was the first time I'd seen the U17s and I was very impressed by their discipline, maturity and skill.
Watched the England game from start to finish and have to say it is the first England game I have fully engaged in, for many years. Made the senior team look so sterile in comparison. Foden on the right and Hudson-Odoi on the left look like real prospects. Started to feel sorry for the Spanish right back, at the number of times he was torn a new one, being done for pace throughout the game. Both players would be worthy of a spot in the Black Box, in readiness for when City and Chelsea decide to buy the ready made article, rather than allow their own lads to flourish. Wonderful fight back and, unlike when watching the seniors, each goal drew a vocal response from me. The result drew a tear of pride. Loved it. Well done to everyone involved.
Be interesting to see how this age group end up. Majority probably won’t play for the seniors and they all will be hyped up no end by the media
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41789166 Players crash interview followed by highlights of U17 match.
I was at the NFL at Twickenham today and before the game on the main stage, the head of the NFL, Roger Goodell was interviewed. During his interview he stated that the NFL aims to have a competitive league. You would not hear Richard Scudamore or that racist Greg Clarke ever say anything like that about English football.
Perhaps because it is self evident....everyone wants a league that is competitive. Compared with some continental leagues, the EPL is competitive. At the moment we have 3 teams who could reasonably win the league with a few others that you wouldn't be shocked if they upped their game and won the league. Although the top teams are the ones who will do most well, every other team is quite capable of beating one of them on their day. Also not true of a lot of other continental leagues. There is no way that we are going to change into a league that shares out players....pretty sure that most fans wouldn't want to and damn sure owners wouldn't want it. Though if introduced can we have Mane back.
Everyone wants a competitive league.? To be honest, no I don't think they do. Do they want a league which attracts money.? Yes, they very much do. That doesn't need to include competition, and competition may even water down the enthusiasm of new supporters who will want to see their new big team win all the time. I would say that the administrators of the Premier League want as little competition as they can get away with.
Exactly. The PL might be competitive compared to Spain or Scotland or France, but that's hardly saying much. Sure you might get the odd upset of some little club like Crystal Palace getting the odd win against Chelsea, but when are the likes of Crystal Palace or West Ham or whoever going to challenge for the league? For about 50% of teams, the season goal is to not get relegated, for another third or so, qualify for Europe, for only the remaining 17% or so is there any realistic prospect of the title. That would be Man $ity, Spurs, Chelski and Man U, while the same four (and I'm being generous by including Spurs given their lack of actually having won the league and my view that they're not going to any time soon) win the league year after year after year. I suppose by football standards that is competitive, and what low standards we have for competition.
I don’t disagree, but things do change, albeit very slowly. Spurs, for example, have pretty much ousted Arsenal as the second London club and are almost there as far as getting above Chelsea. They achieved that 2 years ago and were the only club to seriously threaten Leicester for the title. If Man Utd fail to win the title this season, that would be 5 seasons they have gone without winning it, which is the longest since the PL was formed, so some sort of sea-change must be happening there. I’m not even going to start about that other historical metropolitan area near to Manchester, neither of whose clubs have ever won the Premier League, despite both of them being regular First Division Champions. Completely hypothetically, what if a team from the Midlands such as West Brom or even Villa were bought by a mega billionaire and had a new stadium gifted to them by the nation in the way West Ham or, to some extent, Man City were, and then got hold of a young, dynamic manager in the mould of Marco Silva or Eddie Howe? Leicester could have achieved more than the almost impossible task of winning the Premier League if they had been able to prevent their best player, N’golo Kante, from jumping ship by throwing a massive wage rise at him. I agree with you that there are sub-leagues within the Premier League, and that possibly is also true of the Championship as well. I also agree that money is everything in football nowadays, and possibly only some sort of global wage cap will even begin to address the problem. But I don’t agree the Premier League isn’t competitive. The beauty of football is that on any given day, shocks and surprises can happen, and almost any team can beat almost anyone else, and that is just as true for the Premier League as any other league in world football. You can also have seasons where the likes of Leicester win the thing, which should give all of us hope.
Well done for the authorities for spotting them? A suitable sentence. Washing out the loos in the London Stadium after each West Ham match for the next 5 seasons might give them cause to consider their behaviour and sweeepiing up dog poo in the Borough of Haringey. I favour proactive sentencing rather than fining them or giving them suspended sentences.
Surely Pardew must be in the running for one of several vacancies. The two most obvious being Glasgow Rangers and Sunderland. And if Real Madrid continue their miserable form............?
Of course Pardew's in the running, he's one of those English managers who keep going from job to job to job to job forever and a day, stopping any new blood getting in. Also see: Sam Allardyce.
I just hope Pompey have a good November. If PFC go out of the Cup and lose another 3 in the month, Eisner could well have a loaded gun waiting for KJ, not that I would want it to happen, but these US guys are results orientated people and if things are not functioning well, they are prepared to fire the proverbial bullet.
