England National football team thread

[Bevab]

I agree, but his club form has been woeful, and he doesn't deserve his spot for a friendly.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

I agree, but his club form has been woeful, and he doesn't deserve his spot for a friendly.

Yeah, I forgot these were just friendlies. In that case I agree - we know what Welbeck can do, so give someone else a spot.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Well, that was entertaining!

Brazil well on top in the first half and England could've been well and truly stuffed were it not for Joe Hart, but then again that's what he's there for. England themselves had some chances and might have had better results had we not been so sloppy - even Carrick was uncharacteristically careless with the ball.

Second half, much improved and a couple of real screamers from Rooney and Oxlaide-Chamberlain. Shame about Brazil's equaliser - great goal thought it was - the guy had the freedom of the whole penalty area!

2-2 in Brazil is a good result however it comes about, but there is work to be done by England, a lot of work.

Once again, the season is over and we look done in. It'll be just the same next year at the World Cup - if we get there of course.

 

[Skater]

Definitely a good result. We've played Brazil twice in 4 months and beaten them at home and drew with them away. Hard to argue that isn't good. Arguably, we did better tonight - in the Maracana, missing plenty of senior players (I find Gerrard a big miss) and for a brief time we were in front.

For the record, I don't think we'll have too much trouble qualifying for the World Cup.

 

[War]

Dont think the british media is giving Hodgson too much credit, i sense a lot of them still wish Redknapp had been coach.

If Brazil had thrashed England twice this year, they all would have been all over Hodgson & England. Fact is:

- a basic full strength ENG team beat a basic full-strength Brazil team (the lack of certain players not playing in that game for Brazil is a matter of conjecture)

- a very weakened ENG drew in Brazil against what is basically their best team available team. Only Ramirez & Sandro were missing.

Hodgson hasn't been perfect, he made some poor substitutions decisions in the WCQ in Montenegro in the second half. But generally i think with all the injuries to key players for every squad i think he has tried to progress the side.


BBC Sport - England football team harmed by Premier League - Graham Taylor

BBC Sport - England chances hurt by absent players, says Stuart Pearce

We all know this is the case. ENG just dont take this under-21 thing probably to out detriment as the germans, italians, spanish, dutch.

People have said that Jones & Welbeck should not have played because they important to the seniors & already played in a under-21 tournament. Same goes for Wilshire, he is already our most important mid-fielders.

But you look at the Spanish David de Gea has played in the last two under-21 tournaments & has been in & around the spanish national squad (although of course the competition is strong). While Juan Mata played in 2011 for Spain while he was already part of the senior team as a big player.

As the article highlighted a ENG Under-21 best XI of Butland, Walker, Shaw Rodwell, Jones, Caulker, Sterling, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Welbeck, Wilshere, Zaha should & could have made a more serious impact in this tournament.

And what are we going to do about the premier league influence??...everyone knows the problem but we just talk and nothing happens. I always say i don't want to hear the crap that the "premier league is the best in the world" being spoken when less the 40% of the players in the league is English & the national team has so much problems.

Don't know what the FA can do, but when you think about it is crazy that the premier league is allowed to run itself instead of the situation in the other major EURO countries where those respective FA's run their domestic leagues.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

I sat in my living room yesterday watching England U21 taken apart. Completely and utterly dismantled, outclassed and made to look extremely poor. Who was the footballing powerhouse responsible? Spain? Germany? Italy? Brazil? No.

It was Norway.

Norway!

We need action, idiots at the FA, and we need it now! Granted, England have never been truly consistent in my lifetime but at least in the 90s, we were generally knocking fairly loudly on the door - Italia 1990, Euro 96 and France 98 were all tournaments we did fantastically well in, and with a tiny bit of luck could've won at least one of them. Now? We look light years away!

Everyone goes on about the foreigners being the main reason the Premiership is so great - and granted, our league would be all the poorer without them but is there any bloody reason for them to dominate the entire league? England U21 were so bloody awful yesterday because they hardly get out there on the pitch in the Premiership!

Look at our younger teams - they actually won a European Championship not so long ago! An actual International trophy!! What goes so incredibly wrong between now and then?

 

[War]

Martin Samuel: England Under 21 exit shows kids are NOT all right | Mail Online

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Martin Samuel: England Under 21 exit shows kids are NOT all right | Mail Online

It's so unbelievably daft; everyone else has players who have played for the senior side, yet we stubbornly stick to the formula of closing the U21 doors to a player as soon as they have set foot on a pitch in a senior England shirt. It's common sense - we're giving ourselves a handicap before we've kicked a ball!

It would not occur to England?s hierarchy that Jack Rodwell might have been better off playing a minimum of three group games in a fiercely competitive climate, rather than seven minutes of a friendly in Brazil.

Well, quite.

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

I sat in my living room yesterday watching England U21 taken apart. Completely and utterly dismantled, outclassed and made to look extremely poor. Who was the footballing powerhouse responsible? Spain? Germany? Italy? Brazil? No.

It was Norway.

Norway!

now, I didn't see the game, nor am I that well versed in the youth football scene, however, I believe there is some consensus that norway are the next nation to "do a belgium" and have some of the most hotly tipped young players in the world. Nielsen in particular has a lot of eyes on him.

of course there are questions as to how norway (and belgium) are producing quality young players when other wealthier and larger countries aren't, and some of the answers will definitely be they play regular football in their countries top flight rather than turning out for reserve games, but being defeated at U21 level by norway isn't the worst thing ever.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

now, I didn't see the game, nor am I that well versed in the youth football scene, however, I believe there is some consensus that norway are the next nation to "do a belgium" and have some of the most hotly tipped young players in the world. Nielsen in particular has a lot of eyes on him.

of course there are questions as to how norway (and belgium) are producing quality young players when other wealthier and larger countries aren't, and some of the answers will definitely be they play regular football in their countries top flight rather than turning out for reserve games, but being defeated at U21 level by norway isn't the worst thing ever.

Not when it was 3-1 and could've been a whole lot more.

 

[War]

Not when it was 3-1 and could've been a whole lot more.

I think their is a bright side to all of this. Fact is as its being highlighted if England could have played their best under-21 team which would have been this as the BBC article highlighted:

1. Jack Butland (Stoke City)

2. Kyle Walker (Tottenham)

3. Luke Shaw (Southampton)

4. Jack Rodwell (Man City)

5. Phil Jones (Man Utd)

6. Steven Caulker (Tottenham)

7. Raheem Sterling (Liverpool)

8. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal)

9. Danny Welbeck (Man Utd)

10. Jack Wilshere (Arsenal)

11. Wilfried Zaha (Man Utd)

England could have been alright. So its not as if the best available ENG under-21 side is inferior to the rest of Europe. Its just due to strange power dynamic between the FA the premier league clubs that own these players, they couldn;t go

But we have to stop beating around the bush, the real problem with England compared to rest of elite EURO countries is that as Martin Samuels summed it up in this article as usual - Glenn Hoddle should be next England Under 21 manager - Martin Samuel | Mail Online

 

[War]

Terry Butcher on England: Foreign invasion great for the Premier League but it's disaster for the England team - Terry Butcher - Mirror Online

 

[MasterBlaster76]

I think their is a bright side to all of this. Fact is as its being highlighted if England could have played their best under-21 team which would have been this as the BBC article highlighted:

1. Jack Butland (Stoke City)

2. Kyle Walker (Tottenham)

3. Luke Shaw (Southampton)

4. Jack Rodwell (Man City)

5. Phil Jones (Man Utd)

6. Steven Caulker (Tottenham)

7. Raheem Sterling (Liverpool)

8. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal)

9. Danny Welbeck (Man Utd)

10. Jack Wilshere (Arsenal)

11. Wilfried Zaha (Man Utd)

England could have been alright. So its not as if the best available ENG under-21 side is inferior to the rest of Europe. Its just due to strange power dynamic between the FA the premier league clubs that own these players, they couldn;t go

But we have to stop beating around the bush, the real problem with England compared to rest of elite EURO countries is that as Martin Samuels summed it up in this article as usual - Glenn Hoddle should be next England Under 21 manager - Martin Samuel | Mail Online

And apparently, the team who won the U21 league - Man Utd - didn't have a single representative in the squad. That doesn't seem to make sense. But yeah, we had far too many decent eligible players out - several because of the stupidity of not allowing them to play for the U21s after playing for the seniors. Everyone else does it; we're basically setting ourselves up for men vs boys in these tournaments by doing this!

Amen about Hoddle being the U21 manager! I'd even say move him up to the senior level after a few years as well - he did a great job before; if he can learn to keep his talking to footballing matters and not insulting disabled people/bringing in weirdo 'healers', I reckon we'd do well.

Terry Butcher on England: Foreign invasion great for the Premier League but it's disaster for the England team - Terry Butcher - Mirror Online

Yep. And they're even thinking about some sort of summer tournament that could involve Premiership teams playing games around the world. Yeah, because our lads don't play enough games as it is...

Incidentally War, what do you make of the stuff coming out of St George's Park? Apparently, England will win something by 2020... yep...

Everyone at the Football Association moans about the lack of English players in the first teams at our leading clubs, but it is at academy level where the rot sets in. If Sunderland?s best options in the first team are imported that is not the FA?s business, but like all directors of football, Di Fanti will also be responsible for long-term development at Sunderland. And what does he know about grassroots supply lines in his area? What experience does Txiki Begiristain, now in the same role at Manchester City, have of his local boys? clubs and feeder routes?

I reckon we need a cap on foreign coaches as well as players...

The day the Premier League was formed the FA missed the boat. Greg Dyke, the incoming chairman, recalls that the Premier League needed FA permission to form and at that point the ruling body could have asked for anything. That was when they could have safeguarded the future of young England.

Instead, they chose to settle a score with the Football League. The FA Premier League was launched ? and the England team were nowhere in that deal.

The FA are such an irrelevance in youth football these days that when Barcelona wrote to complain that English clubs were plundering their La Masia academy they took the matter up with the Premier League, not the supposed guardians of our game. The missive, calling for ?support and defence of our rights against English clubs?, might have been considered a matter for the governing body.

The Premiership shouldn't be running the show - the FA should!

 

[Epic]

I reckon we need a cap on foreign coaches as well as players...

Begiristain is our director of Football... meaning all the recruiting he does will be for the senior team, the academy and player recruitment for the academy is headed by Brian Marwood, an Englishman.

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Manchester City training centre: Plans revealed for ?100m complex | Mail Online

When that's done, I promise you we will do way more and give way more to English football than we've done in the last 5 years, which is basically nothing.

 

[ste_mc_efc]

Begiristain is our director of Football... meaning all the recruiting he does will be for the senior team, the academy and player recruitment for the academy is headed by Brian Marwood, an Englishman.

Yep but don't think a little thing such as reality will get in the way of samuels and the dail mail publishing tripe that fits their jingoistic agenda.