Tom Davies is a real strange case. Still have no idea what he does other than getting about a bit. Looks desperate for an identity. To think some people wanted him starting at the last U21 Euros and in the senior squad.
2-1 Solanke. Chillwell has put in some lovely crosses. Very harsh on Ukraine if they lose this. Typical Boothroyd display. Same as last campaign poorly structured mess.
Really?? He would have to have some year next season and playing 1st team football. Great talent but maybe a bit too soon.
Just out of interest, I had a look at how many 18-year-olds have made the last few under-21 tournament squads, and you've got: 2017 - none 2015 - none 2013 - 1 (Chalobah) 2011 - 1 (Wickham) 2009 - 2 (Rodwell, Rose) 2007 - 1 (Vaughan) It's a small sample but if anything it's getting less common. Of that lot, Wickham had over two seasons of first-team football behind him, Chalobah had had one full season at Watford, Vaughan and Rodwell had been in medium rotation for at least a year, and Rose somehow got selected without even making his his professional debut. I guess if there was going to be an 18-year-old in next year's squad, you'd probably be looking at Hudson-Odoi, Gomes, and Jones as the favourites, but I wouldn't bet on any of them. If anyone, maybe Hudson-Odoi on the basis that he's had some senior involvement already and looks more physically developed than the other two. It wouldn't amaze me if he managed to secure a Championship loan for next season and make a success of it.
Mason Mount and Phil Foden have a legit chance, especially Mount, but Curtis Jones is not jumping in front of those two players at this stage of his career.
None of that crew come close to Jones for talent. Oxlade-Chamberlain, also, popped up and was soon in the u21s (if not attending a finals) and then next year was off to the seniors. I didn't mention future England star Hudson going because I didn't think anyone would be at all shocked if he went. Seems I was wrong. I would be shocked if Gomes went. Really, really shocked.
It was embarrassing wasn't it. Very poor technique. He just refused to kick the ball with his left foot.
I wouldn't be too shocked if Jones does indeed do that. I said a while ago I expected him to play for Liverpool's first team this year and when he does I would expect him to do very well. The u21s is the breeding ground for the senior team and I'm sure Southgate will be looking to get him in there pronto. .
England will play Qatar, China & Mexico in Toulon this May/June. Boothroyd will be coaching the side and those born in 1997 or later are eligible. A quote from Boothroyd on the FA website I can understand selecting from those born in 1998 but don't see that there's much to be gained from weakening the squad sent to the UEFA U19 competition, particularly with qualification for the next FIFA U20 World Cup at stake. I wonder how strong the Toulon unit will be. Many of the '97 and '98 lads were at a tournament last summer and will hopefully be competing at the UEFA U21 in 2019. Several clubs will not want to release certain players, particularly those around their first team.
The Leagues finish earlier this year so most people should be available. The playoff finals are all on the same weekend that the Toulon tournament starts, so they will be the only players definitely unavailable. Plus any City/Liverpool players who could be in a potential CL final squad (Nmecha, Solanke etc) I'm sure the Euro U19s will take priority. Their main issue is players being pulled out for pre-season anyway. Would be nice to see Reece Oxford, Marcus Edwards and maybe a couple of others involved. Players who could do with the gametime and a bit of a boost. It'd also be great to see Pat Roberts back in an England shirt in a summer tournament. Exactly what he needs to get back involved in the set up. I'll be a bit underwhelmed if it's just a fairly standard U21 side playing.
I will be very underwhelmed if it's our regular U21 side that goes, tbh I was rather underwhelmed when we won it two years ago when Southgate basically made a name for himself when winning it as he basically took our strongest Squad and won against mainly U20 Squads if memory serves me right but the media didn't really pick up on that. I understand why they did it as it served a tournament experience for the lads in build up to the Euro finals but just with the different age range compared to other teams, we should have won it. I hope he takes a miss mash Squad of talent that really hasn't had much of a look in, like last years Squad tbh. Some players made a name for themselves and did there careers no harm at all for being noticed, like Brooks, Barnes, Viera, Worral, Tymon etc and also helped expand our talent pool. So yeah players that haven't been involved for a while like Roberts, Crowley, Bowen, Egbo then a mix of U20 & U19 fringe players.
I'd quite like to see Eberechi Eze involved in some squad as soon as possible, I think he's trained with Nigeria before but i'm not sure if he's fully committed anywhere. I don't think England have given him a choice to make yet. Toulon would be much more valuable for him then it would be for some others. GK Trott - Woodman RB Walker-Peters (as a right back) - Wan-Bissaka CB Adarabioyo - Reece Oxford - Clarke-Salter - Tomori :LB Demetri Mitchell (will be touch and go with injury) - Jay DaSilva CM Davenport - Ejaria - Field - Tayo Edun AM Roberts - Edwards - Eze - Maddison ST Solanke - Armstrong Would have Tuanzebe + Onomah in there too but Villa may be in the playoffs. Tayo Edun may be with Fulham, but hopefully he'd be released. Something like that would be a good mix. I've included way too many defenders, but this was off the top of my head.