Off Topic International Match Thread

That is the passport photo of the Ginger tiddler.

 

Abso effing lutely.

 

https://www.independent.ie/sport/so...into-clueless-irish-performance-36321050.html

Him!

 

Interesting to hear the plaudits given to the England youngsters based on performances in the last two games - in other words largely based on how they performed on the international stage than their club careers which in many cases hasn't really started yet. OK get that. So why is it that with certain "international" players they continue to get picked based on some mythical international game they might have someday because they are clearly "class players".

So they continue to play Hart despite all evidence suggesting he goes completely mental when he gets to competition (and he doesn't even have great domestic form either!) So they played Rooney for years after all evidence showed he had nothing to offer internationally. And (finally here's my main point) people say these "new" young players are great, but come the WC, Sterling will play despite never having shown any international form! Indeed, the first match of the last Euros, Sterling may have put in one of the worst, if not the worst, international performance I've ever seen. This is not an anti-Sterling comment, it's a pro-England comment. The guy seems to be able to deliver for Citeh but clearly has some kind of mental block when he plays for England. So why keep indulging him based on the idea that he might play a good game some day. You don't get enough games at the WC for this. In other words, for all the plaudits given out to Loftus-Cheek et al, they are not going to displace Sterling regardless of how well they did.

 

Hilarity aside, Giles actually made one comment that
alludes to what some of us have thought too.

Eriksen at Spurs is currently akin to Modric when at Spurs.
The class is irrefutable, but there were moments when he
went AWOL when needed to front up.

The Eriksen now needed at Spurs is the Modric now at
Madrid : performing at the same high level week-in week-out.
I would love the game yesterday to be the mental switch
where he now knows he can do so if he desires, and what
better league game to start than with an NLD.

 

I didn't watch the game, only the goals on the news, however, was he playing a little further forward than he does at Tottenham?

 

I think Sterling is useless. He is so one footed he might as well hop.

 

My comment was more about the fire to take the
game by the scruff of the neck when you feel that
things are not going well for your team.

This is something that IMHO both Kane and Alli
do more frequently than Eriksen.

 

As there was no discernible Irish defence, he could move wherever he wanted and still be in acres of space. I think he played the same position he does for us when in a front 3.

 

That awkward moment where an Australian fan wants to celebrate, but they know their Honduran girlfriend would kcik the crap out of them...

please log in to view this image

 

Meanwhile, perpetual transfer linkee Bruma has said Portugal should be disappointed at only getting a point after their 1-1 draw with the USA of America in a friendly...

please log in to view this image

 

This I think is so called elite footballers supporting so called elite footballers. I could name 2 England managers who showed imagination Hoddle and Venables and they showed it mainly in their formations rather than their player picks. Southgate has already shown more imagination than most before him in going for young talent and not being afraid to drop 'the establishment'.
Of course it may just be force of circumstances and he will revert to Henderson and Smalling but I have a feeling he wont.
Footballers have not achieved success through imagination. Pirlo and Sherringham type 'thinkers' are rarity's but there are one or two signs that we may have some imagination in the young players coming up.
We need some Pocettino type thinking for England and stop bowing to pressure from a media who often know no more about the game than the average Arsenal fan and we all know how much that is.

 

I wonder how much influence Mauricio Pochettino has had on him? England train at Hotspur Way before home internationals. They will have spoken regularly. MP's readiness to promote and use young English players confirms that they can do it at any level. Gareth Southgate has seen the players in youth football and knows that they have talent but having the cojones and belief to put them in against the best is a whole different thing. I commend Southgate's willingness to do it, even if there are few other options. The press will howl and . call for change and ram it down your throat when it doesn't work straight away.

Now, no more Cahill, Smalling, Henderson, Wheelchair, Walcott. There is no future for these players and no point in going backwards to or for them. One of the first names on the team sheet has to be Harry Winks. He will enable us to hold the ball and exercise an element of control on a game for the first time in decades. We won't win anything in 2018 in Russia but we could leave with our heads held high and that would be a massive improvement. The way we dug in against Brazil looked like a team playing for something.....that's a good start.

 

It was Winks I had in mind when I talked about imagination. I think we have all been impressed by this young man's cool head.

 

Having witnessed the success of the England U17 and U20 teams in recent WC's I think that is the future and that is where our effort should be going. Southgate needs to make it clear to those players that they need experience and if the can't break into the Citeh, Chav or Manure first teams they need to move on for the sake of their careers. Playing under the likes of Poch, Silva or dare I say it, even Wenger will give them the opportunity that they need. Making the Chav bench twice a season in the Mickey Mouse cup will not.

We have potential world beaters, a new golden generation at our disposal but they need to make a choice between loads of money for a few seasons then obscurity (for most) or the chance of a glittering career, fame and potentially the chance to go into the media or even coaching/management when their footballing days are over.

The FA could act to encourage this, but almost certainly won't. It would be easy to say that if a player from the age of 20 didn't start at least 3 first team matches per season, he would be free from contractual regulations and could move on, but as I say they won't. I think it's the authorities, not the lack of skilful young players holding us back on the International stage.

 

Maybe we've seen the future? Young English players beating Real Madrid, players leaving Chelsea and Citeh because they want to play, talented young players going to-to-toe with World Champions and not being embarrassed. Maybe the glass ceiling has finally cracked?

I don't know that one can put that genie back in the bottle. If I was Phil Foden or the like, I would be going to see my manager and wanting to see that I have a future.........or I'd be gone. There's a lot of talent out there and a lot of it is English and someone needs to play these guys. When you can play senior football for England, why play for Chelsea or Citeh's U23's?

 

I think we need to praise Southampton, Man United and of course Spurs for their nurturing of English talent although perhaps not the current regime at United. Wenger does more for French football than English and Chelsea and City are holding back English talent, unless it has been developed by another club. Coming out of EU should mean that England could impose a restriction on imported talent but as always with the FA, money talks louder than the sport itself.

 

A while back I read a talk given by John McDermott, it's a fabulous read [http://www.spurscommunity.co.uk/ind...mott-head-of-coaching-and-development.124209/] but this bit is particularly relevant to us against Arsenal or Citeh or the others trawling the world to recruit foreign children...........

Question: How important is it that the players come from local areas?

John thinks it is very important. Other developers get a buzz from going all over the world, such as Man City- galactico academy. John thinks a lot of research shows if you leave your country 16-20 years of age, it is not helpful for development, except for a few. John drew a diagram of London area and showed where most of our academy graduates come from- Mason, Townsend, Caulker, Daniels, Kane, Onomah, Carroll, Smith, Stewart, McGee, Winks, Pritchard, and Livermore. Two exceptions, one exception is Bentaleb, a very interesting story, the team he was playing for went bust and Bentaleb ended up playing street football as a player/coach. He went to Birmingham, found nothing, came to London and asked for a trial. Tottenham signed Nabil after that trial. The other exception is Rose, who we bought. Told a story about Townsend who was dropped and refused to be released and kept turning up, eventually John and Chris (Ramsey) stopped caring because he refused to be told no. John says that he thinks this is evidence to show local players work and our foreign academy players usually go back home for a number of reasons e.g. socially, culturally etc.

 

Thanks for flagging that Brian very interesting read.