England Under 21 Discussions Thread #7

Walker-Peters has a lot of potential. We saw how good of a dribbler and marker he is at the World Cup playing as a left-back.

 

Life was so good for Borthwick-Jackson under van Gaal not so long ago.

Clearly been told he can find a new club and currently with Utd u23s.

Now linked with Ajax Amsterdam. Be a nice move.

 

New challenges ahead, happy to join @OfficialBHAFC on loan for the season, can't wait to get started🔵⚪️🔵⚪️ #bhafc pic.twitter.com/IJ2Xh4aqlk

— Isaiah Brown (@izzyjaybrown) July 25, 2017

 

Delightful news for @BarryfromEastenders with confirmation that Boothroyd continues as U21 boss

As an incredible summer draws to a close, who'll lead our #YoungLions into 2017-18?

👉 https://t.co/kQls3ETqWE 👈 pic.twitter.com/UA0ab9QzeU

— England (@England) July 25, 2017

 

Hope that comes off, think that could be a good move for him. Must admit, I'm loving see more and more youngsters moving abroad

 

Strange how some teams are clearly more structured than others in terms of having both "In possession" and "Out of possession" coaches. There should be continuity. Looking at Boothroyd's setup he needs a good "in-possession" coach, it looks very defensive.

 

I read that James Maddisson has been tried in a deep CM role for Norwich. Makes sense, big potential there IMO

 

didn't realize Norwich had a new coach, coming from Dortmund. It explains a lot : not Alex Neil's style to play someone like James Madisson in a deep role.

 

Good to have Winks back already, was talk of him missing the start of the season but already involved in pre season games - scored against Roma.

 

I think there could still be some appointments in the future to the various levels. It wouldn't surprise me if the U21 level was untouched though (unless it was someone he was friendly with). It's going to be interesting how he starts the next campaign nonetheless.

 

I would like to see an England B team (under 23 or under 25 ) under a branded name though like England... Lions/Saxons. Up to five fixtures a year against some Eastern European countries. Played at 30,000 + capacity stadiums in England. Works well in cricket and rugby union.

 

We wouldn't have enough players, anyone decent of that age is already in the senior squad. Would be full of Championship players

 

Now yes, but in a few years there will be a lot of good English players - well hopefully.

 

Not so sure about that, we have Mawson,Calum chambers, Ward-prowse, will Hughes, chalobah, Lewis baker, Jacob Murphy, redmond, swift, iorfa to start off with them you can add shelvey, Harry McGuire that's just from the top of my head. Jack harrison too

 

So a number of Championship players then?

The England team isn't good enough for a team like this currently - as realistically anyone good enough to play for England will be by that age. All this would do currently is prolong pointless international careers of players that aren't good enough.

Maybe one day we'll have the depth of a Spain and be able to justify it, but we are miles away from it currently

 

So what if they play in the championship? A lot of the players I've named have played in the PL. it's an u25 team not the seniors

 

There's no point. All of those players already have lots of experience of representing England at U21 level or below (except Harrison who is still eligible) so they won't gain any meaningful new experiences from playing in a few B team friendlies.

They are all better off staying at their clubs and working hard to get game time and push on there. A good run of Premier League performances for Watford will get Will Hughes into the senior set up, a good performances for England B vs Belarus won't.

 

Big Sam speaks about Loftus-Cheek:

http://metro.co.uk/2017/07/28/chels...mulated-dele-alli-says-sam-allardyce-6813548/

 

I remember watching him and Dele Alli play for England against Italy in an U19's game which we won 3-0, and the difference between them was night and day, because if you had to put money on it you would have said RLC was going to be the next super star of English football and not Alli. But then Alli got his move to Spurs and went up several levels and RLC went back to playing in the stiffs and his progression stalled.

 

It's worth bearing in mind, though, that they were playing as two of a three-man midfield then. They've both been playing further forward recently, so it's possible that Alli has been moved into his best position while Loftus-Cheek has been moved away from his.

 

I agree that the position that Alli plays now is his best one rather than the way England and MK were playing him back then, but nobody can deny that RLC progression as a player has been dissapointing over the last few seasons, i know he is only 21 years old but this season at Crystal palace is the acid test for him because if he does not do well there then I can't see him ever living up to the potential he showed as a teenager for England and Chelsea youth teams.

 

And Joe Gomez encouragingly continued his comeback after long term injury, playing at right back, then switching to the centre for the last 15 minutes. Another sound performance from him.