Poor. Still very foggy especially at the end England are attacking towards. Actually it's just as bad at both ends but a bit worse at the end England are attacking.
They have been at one end of the pitch for while and you can't see a bloody thing Ross Barkley comes off for Jordan Cousins.
England U16 2-0 Scotland U16 Good professional performance in poor conditions. Played 3 Won 3 Scored 9 Conceded 0 England win the Victory Shield.
Good result, shame about the conditions. Do you reckon that Afobe may be being monitored by an African country that would try to persuade him to play for them, like they are doing with Danny Welbeck?
I guess it's possible but I doubt he would want to change to another nation as he is one of the most important players in this team and a regular starter. I don't know much about his background though so it's hard to comment completely on the issue.
Yes the Montaigu tournement is next IIRC, for which we are the current championis. Hopefully we can retain that title. Do you think our current crop is as good as last years though? Last time round we had players like Jonjo Shelvey, Ryan Tunnicliffe, Luke Freeman, Jack Rodwell and Jose Baxter.
It's hard to say but there seems to be more depth to the squads this year. I think the team hasn't been tested enough to judge though so we'll have to wait until next years tournament and friendlies.
A bit surprised that Ravel Morrison didn't get a look-in after the first game. Does anyone know more about it?
The manager said that he wants to look at all of the players that are at his disposable, a lot of different players got rotated.
Rav'el Morrison pulled out of the squad, I assume with an injury and was replaced by Matthias Fanimo of West Ham United.
I wonder what kind of team be will taken to Germany. If it would be roughly the same that won in the final. The FA Youth Cup is going on atm, so some might get a call from there if there are any outstanding performances. Benik Afobe will definatly IMO be starting, that should go without quetion. The other players I was impressed with from the Victory Shield was Joshua McEachran, Ross Barkley, Louis Laing and Ra'vel Morrison. Though on some matches I didn't see the full game, plus we were rarely threatened, so it's hard to judge some of our defenders. But I have heard a lot of good things about Luke Garbutt and when I saw Louis Laing on the ball he looked very good.
Squad named for German game. Chuks Aneke (Arsenal) Jack Butland (Birmingham City) Jordan Cousins (Charlton Athletic) Nathaniel Chalobah (Chelsea) Joshua McEachran (Chelsea) Ross Barkley (Everton) Connor Wickham (Ipswich Town) Luke Garbutt (Leeds United) Jack Robinson (Liverpool) Andrew Wisdom (Liverpool) John Cofie (Manchester United) William Keane (Manchester United) Ra'vel Morrison (Manchester United) Tom Thorpe (Manchester United) Bruno Pilatos (Middlesbrough) Jak Alnwick (Newcastle United) George Thorn (West Bromwich Albion) Robert Hall (West Ham United) --- John Cofie is an interesting one.
That is a shock A German-born Ghanaian. I don't think he's even been in England for that long at all I thought Wisdom's first name was Andre too and not Andrew. Maybe it's a typo on the FA's site. It will be interesting to see how they do against Germany. I think this squad will miss the promoted players but it will give a chance for others to play obviously.
Indeed. As we've seen with Welbeck, Ghana aren't adverse to trying their luck, so I hope the FA know what they're doing. Man United/Liverpool had a real fight for his services apparently. Googling it someone on another forum reckons Man United offered his stepfather financial incentives. Was at Burnley before...so not sure how long he's been living here...and born in Germany...did his parents decide to settle here instead...what an interesting fellow... Sort of reminds me of the Adu case...when a player spends a substantial part of his life in two different countries...is it ok to play for either? I know there's a goalie who moved to England from Canada when he was about 14 or so and he's around the England age teams. There was a guy from Portugal who moved here at a similar age as well...but he still plays for Portugal I think. He's supposed to be damn good according to other forums...and looking at the squad Man United still seem to be producing a fair few players from their academy. Another google search indicates Pilatos spent his first few years in Angola.
I read this in an article dated Friday, 9 November 2007 - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/7088232.stm I don't have a problem with players born in other countries but moved at an early age and they then learned their game in their new country and went on to represent them. When you are taking players from abroad though it becomes a bit farcical imo.