The Squad Goalkeepers: Matthew Cox (Brentford), Teddy Sharman-Lowe (Chelsea), James Trafford (Accrington Stanley, loan from Manchester City) Defenders: Dennis Cirkin (Sunderland), Cody Drameh (Leeds United), James Hill (Fleetwood Town), Ethan Laird (Swansea City, loan from Manchester United), Teden Mengi (Manchester United), Clinton Mola (VFB Stuttgart), Joshua Wilson-Esbrand (Manchester City), Nathan Wood (Hibernian, loan from Middlesbrough) Midfielders: Faustino Anjorin (Lokomotiv Moscow, loan from Chelsea), Miguel Azeez (Portsmouth, loan from Arsenal), Lewis Bate (Leeds United), Leighton Clarkson (Blackburn Rovers, loan from Liverpool), James McAtee (Manchester City), Jensen Weir (Cambridge United, loan from Brighton & Hove Albion) Forwards: Joseph Gelhardt (Leeds United), Anthony Gordon (Everton), Sam Greenwood (Leeds United), Jaden Philogene-Bidace (Aston Villa), Jesurun Rak-Sakyi (Crystal Palace), Morgan Rogers (AFC Bournemouth, loan from Manchester City)
Happy to see the two Manchester United defenders in there. Interesting 2/3 of the goalkeepers selected are U19 eligible.
McAtee is having a really strong season so far for City with 10 appearances 12 goals and 3 assists. Scored in the EFL trophy too which is technically classed as a senior appearance. I wonder if he could be one to break through sooner rather than later.
I'm still mostly convinced that the City prospects will need to move clubs if they're going to fulfil their potential. Foden's breakthrough feels like a long time ago now and with Pep leaving soon one can imagine long term planning might be a lower priority. Still, if Sterling gets his rumoured move to Barcelona(really interesting move in and of itself) then that might leave an opening for one of the academy lads to get more minutes. Unless City sign Mbappe lol.
Laird & Wilson-Esbrand withdrew + Mola & Gelhardt moved up to U21s. Kesler, Lawrence, Stansfield & Branthwaite called up. Anthony Gordon also withdrew with no replacement.
Does anyone know if the fixtures against Italy and the Czech Republic are officially part of a 2021-22 European U-20 Elite League? Wikipedia has details of this "tournament" for previous years, but it doesn't show anything for this season. Some other websites suggest that these fixtures are indeed part of a 2021-22 version of the league. It doesn't matter a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, but was just wondering.....
Yeah, I was also wondering about this as I presumed it would be Elite League since we’re playing Italy & the Czechs who are in it and it appears to be being played this year according to my app but like you say, it doesn’t say it’s specific to the Elite League on other sites like the FA. I find it strange as according to my app, we’re in this league and already games have been played. Ourselves along with Switzerland and The Netherlands are the only sides yet to play. Therefor, I would have thought the games are part of it rather than just another couple of friendlies.
A good test for our #YoungLions at the home of @ChesterfieldFC this evening.Next up: a trip to Czech Republic!— England (@England) October 7, 2021
Score is quite harsh on the Czech Republic - they played some good football. We struggled to pick them apart in the first half. Overall it was a good test. Morgan Rogers was probably our best player. The Czech defenders were having issues with his direct play all game. Azeez looked a level above at times in the second half. Stansfield also looks like a decent prospect - he had minimal service but used the service he did have well and was involved in most of the goals before coming off. As a Liverpool fan - it was also nice to see Clarkson play a very disciplined role as a number 4.
I would say a defensive minded 8. He did a lot of defensive work while also bombing forward to overlap Anjorin. In the second half I believe he was given a lot more license to go forward and run with the ball.
James Trafford appears to be good with his feet. https://www.instagram.com/p/CU-VwD_FpPi/?utm_medium=copy_link