O/T U21 European Championship

[Mumorn]

He was pretty average until he scored, spent most of the game falling over.

Typical English display from c.1994

It's Italy. What more did you expect

 

[braineclipse]

Insigne is a real talent.

Veratti was the standout player for me, another great performance from him.

Wouldn't be surprised if he starts for Italy in Brazil a year from now. One of the most exciting young prospects in world football I would say.

 

[stinkfoot]

Did one player jump in the wall for their goal? :-k

Oh well, I enjoyed watching the youngsters more than the seniors to be honest.

I can still see us doing something in the group and progressing.

 

[Mumorn]

Veratti was the standout player for me, another great performance from him.

Wouldn't be surprised if he starts for Italy in Brazil a year from now. One of the most exciting young prospects in world football I would say.

Can't wait for the 2014 World Cup.

A new breed of international talent starts there. A start of a new era.

 

[Spursalot]

Imagine if we had the likes of Walker, Jones, Smalling, Rose, Shaw, Gibbs, Rodwell, Wheelchair, Zaha, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Sterling, Townsend, McManaman, Ince, Welbeck, Sturridge. We'd walk this tournament.

Zaha was on the bench..


Plus your forgetting Tommy Carroll.

 

[Mumorn]

For a team that lacks some sort of passing and movement in the middle, it's quite surprising that Lowe got picked over Carroll.

 

[Bullet]

Fair play to Stuart Pearce, he is giving a good interview now, admitting we were well beaten and didn't play well, stagnant, didn't stretch them etc.

Although he focusses on the fact that we didn't stretch them with balls in behind, rather than realising we were outpassed and gave possession away too cheaply every time we won it back.

 

[braineclipse]

Imagine if we had the likes of Walker, Jones, Smalling, Rose, Shaw, Gibbs, Rodwell, Wheelchair, Zaha, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Sterling, Townsend, McManaman, Ince, Welbeck, Sturridge. We'd walk this tournament.

Have you seen the Spain squad? I honestly don't think you would walk it even with those players. Although you would probably have done better against Italy, but then they should have course have been speculating about walking it if they had included Balotelli...

 

[braineclipse]

For a team that lacks some sort of passing and movement in the middle, it's quite surprising that Lowe got picked over Carroll.

Not much creativity in that central midfield with Lowe, Henderson and Shelvey. A lot of running and a lot of muscle, some descent passing, but not a playmaker in sight and even with all that running Veratti ran circles around them.

Seemed more like a "let's make it tight in midfield and see if we can make it a close game" rather than sending out some players that are good on the ball and try to go toe to toe against a good side and perhaps learn from it. McEchran came on and he was placed on the left? Is that his position at all? I thought he was more a Carroll type player?

 

[Mumorn]

Have you seen the Spain squad? I honestly don't think you would walk it even with those players. Although you would probably have done better against Italy, but then they should have course have been speculating about walking it if they had included Balotelli...

Thing is, Holland, Italy, Spain and Germany all have players capable of keeping possession. The majority of those on the list of players Rossi mentioned are just English born and bread players who are still just athletes as opposed to nimble players who can pass and move.

 

[braineclipse]

Can't wait for the 2014 World Cup.

A new breed of international talent starts there. A start of a new era.

Will be great fun, a lot of very promising young players and a lot of very exciting teams! Nice couple of previews with the u21 and confederations cup tournaments this summer to carry us past the worst of the PL withdrawal effects.

Thing is, Holland, Italy, Spain and Germany all have players capable of keeping possession. The majority of those on the list of players Rossi mentioned are just English born and bread players who are still just athletes as opposed to nimble players who can pass and move.

Bit harsh perhaps? But I get your point.

I'm very happy to see Spurs move past that athlete first type youngsters in our academy setup.

 

[Mumorn]

Will be great fun, a lot of very promising young players and a lot of very exciting teams! Nice couple of previews with the u21 and confederations cup tournaments this summer to carry us past the worst of the PL withdrawal effects.



Bit harsh perhaps? But I get your point.

I'm very happy to see Spurs move past that athlete first type youngsters in our academy setup.

Yeah. Personally, I can't wait to see how France shape up, they have some real real good talent, time to finally move on from the likes of Evra, Henry, Anelka, Gallas etc. from yesteryear at World Cups.. they can look forward to the likes of Varane, Sakho, Mangala, Corchia in defence, Pogba, Grenier, Cabaye, Gonalons, Martin etc in midfield, having Benzema up top, Lloris in goal etc.

 

[Modric THFC]

If the likes of Wigan and Swansea can play passing football then there's no reason England u21s can be set up to do the same thing.
But Pearce has no interest in playing good football or developing players for the future. He wants to win underage games pointlessly.

 

[The Moonlit Knight]

If the likes of Wigan and Swansea can play passing football then there's no reason England u21s can be set up to do the same thing.
But Pearce has no interest in playing good football or developing players for the future. He wants to win underage games pointlessly.

I think it's tough for an international Manager to be able to coach a style in such a short space of time.

 

[Danishfurniturelover]

Yeah. Personally, I can't wait to see how France shape up, they have some real real good talent, time to finally move on from the likes of Evra, Henry, Anelka, Gallas etc. from yesteryear at World Cups.. they can look forward to the likes of Varane, Sakho, Mangala, Corchia in defence, Pogba, Grenier, Cabaye, Gonalons, Martin etc in midfield, having Benzema up top, Lloris in goal etc.

Read somewhere he wants to leave Juve we should be all over that, very tidy player.

 

[Mumorn]

Read somewhere he wants to leave Juve we should be all over that, very tidy player.

If that's true then I agree. I'd love to have done it to get one over on SAF (like Fryers) but with him not there it wouldn't give me AS much satisfaction but he's a real good player. Surprised he wants to leave Juventus, any reason why?

 

[braineclipse]

If the likes of Wigan and Swansea can play passing football then there's no reason England u21s can be set up to do the same thing.
But Pearce has no interest in playing good football or developing players for the future. He wants to win underage games pointlessly.

Wigan and Swansea have been set up over several seasons to play that style. You need the right players to do that and the players they have used have primarily not been English, especially in central midfield. Not a coincidence.

Not a big fan of Pearce, but for English football to change there needs to be deeper changes made than just picking other players for the u21 squad. Some of those changes have been made I think, but they probably won't pay off for 5-6 years at the earliest.

Read somewhere he wants to leave Juve we should be all over that, very tidy player.

That would be interesting, and most likely very expensive

 

[rosenthal]

Have you seen the Spain squad? I honestly don't think you would walk it even with those players. Although you would probably have done better against Italy, but then they should have course have been speculating about walking it if they had included Balotelli...

Italy could have called up both Balotelli and El Shaarawy.
Same goes for many of the other nations, they all miss some of their biggest stars that they could potentially field in this tournament.

 

[markysimmo]

Its laughable that Pearce took Shelvey and left Carroll at home...

 

[Pandy]

Read somewhere he wants to leave Juve we should be all over that, very tidy player.

That would be an epic signing. Better than Banega/Pjanic/whoever else we could realistically get IMO. Would not mind shelling out for him at all.