Hackney was great. Playing like Toni Kroos. Hopefully he can step up levels as he’s exactly the style of player the seniors need. Thought Lewis was really tidy as well. Palmer with some great moments although he gets sloppy at times.
Cold from Cole 🥶Cole Palmer's #YoungLions goal is one for the archives 📚 pic.twitter.com/KSCEuiouEa— England (@England) September 11, 2023 Good start to the campaign. We looked pretty awful at times at this stage during the last campaign. Having that spine that was there last time has obviously helped. Things to work on but some good debuts. Hackney probably the standout of the new players. Already feels like we have depth in most areas of the squad.
16 months ago Hackney was finishing a season where he finished bottom of the Football League. 12 months ago he hadn't started a league match above that level. Sometimes a player just needs to be given a chance.
Hayden Hackney 🔢🆚 Luxembourg⏱️ 84 minutes👇 106 touches🎯 94/99 passes completed (🥇)🔓 2 key passes 📏 9/10 long balls completed⛹️♂️ 100% dribble success💪 2 tackles won🫧 1 clearanceMaking things tick ⏰#boro pic.twitter.com/4EY1Ns2Z6l— NT Stats (@NTStats) September 11, 2023
‘I feel fortunate to have this job,’ Carsley said. ‘I coach the best players in England every camp. I have the pick of the best players in England and feel a real responsibility with that. ‘It’s something I don’t take for granted. I’m not looking out of the window to see what’s out there. ‘I sat down with John to review the last two years, what went well and what I can do better. You always want to make sure that you're the best person for the job. ‘The challenge with this group is ultimately to be better than the last group. So there's loads of things to improve, especially with myself: tactically and recognising patterns quicker in games. ‘It’s something that we as a staff are all trying to do better. We can be better out of possession. The challenge is to do it again with another group.’ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-12501753/Lee-Carsley-England-FA.html
Standings after September’s games - Serbia (H) and Ukraine (Neutral ground in Slovakia) coming up in October.
Let's hope we still have Carsley by then... Potentially tricky group this but two wins in October would have us putting one foot in the 2025 tournament.
Is there any particular reason to think Carsley would leave straight after signing a new contract? He's in a good place right now. If he has ambitions for a job beyond the under 21's, then he will most likely feature very highly in the reckoning for the England job if Southgate leaves after the Euro's. At any rate i'm not sure if Ireland would follow up their disastrous appointment of a under 21 manager, with another appointment of an under 21 manager. I expect they'll most likely go for a experienced club manager who gets them back to basics. That's usually how these cycles go with managers.
I’d imagine he’s a dual citizen of the UK and Ireland, he has one Irish Grandparent as far as I understand so he has less Irish heritage than the England Captain, and I’d imagine quite a few of us who post on these boards, he did play for Ireland though. I guess Ireland have an outside chance of making the next World Cup maybe he’s tempted by that.
He also said he didn't have the best of times with Ireland and acknowledged that he often used to skip out on international windows, so I don't think his affinity is particularly strong for them, particularly given he only qualifies through a single grandmother.
Whenever I see him he looks like the archetypal 50 year old Englishman - bald, miserable and doesn’t seem to know the words to the national anthem.
I mean reports in the broadsheets are saying he's Ireland's number one choice so I don't think Kenny's tenure has put them off testing the waters with another U21 manager. He'll likely be one of the favourites for the job if Southgate leaves next summer, which is likely, but the question is whether the lure of the potential England job that is far from guaranteed exceeds the guarantee of a good senior job right now. Ireland have some very good players in their youth teams right now so the job might be quite alluring to him.
I don’t know, Ireland are pretty shite at the moment and I think it’s because their squad is pretty crap. Scotland’s squad is much better, for example. I can see why he might not want to get involved with that right now.
I dunno you know, I think Ireland have a very good team in sleeping. Kelleher could be an elite goalkeeper when he leaves Liverpool and Collins, O'Shea and Omobamidele are really good young centre back options. Evan Ferguson is a better teenage talent than most countries have right now and if Vata, Ferizaj, Zefi and Moran make good on some of their potential they could be a really handy team in a few years. A lot of this is depends on teenage talent developing of course but I like their young players much more than Scotland's on the whole so I feel like Ireland's potential ceiling would be an appetising aspect of the job for Carsley.
Stephen Kenny won’t be sacked now until after a review into Ireland’s Euro 2024 campaign so Lee Carsley is staying until at least November,
Lallana: England Under-21s role was an amazing insight Adam Lallana admitted he loved the opportunity to work with England under-21s during the international break in a player-coach role. The 35-year-old was involved with the current Euro Under-21 champions ahead of their 3-0 win over Luxembourg on Monday, working closely with head coach Lee Carsley. “I had a great week with the players and staff,” Adam said. “Lee made it very easy for me to settle in and feel comfortable. It’s a bit different going there as a player and then being more of a mentor, but the transition was pretty seamless because of the environment. “England won the Euros in the summer – the challenge is to win after winning, which is never easy. The under-21s have got a target on their back because they’re the champions. “It was an amazing insight for me into what may lie in the future, I was delighted with the opportunity and thankful to Brighton and Roberto [De Zerbi] for not just being happy for me to go, but excited that I got the opportunity. “I was involved in training and took a few little bits, just being that bridge between the coaches and the players. I am still playing in the Premier League so I will still experience the same things as those boys – frustrations, losing and winning as a player. “When you’re young you want everything now, you can be inpatient, so I can help in those areas, while also getting an opportunity to see the blueprint of being a successful coach.” The former Southampton and Liverpool midfielder was lined up for the role by our technical director, David Weir. “David Weir has got a really good relationship with Lee from their time together at Everton. It came about through that, and as soon as he told me I am sure David would have seen my eyes light up. I spoke to a few people, but the head coach was the most important person and I had his blessing straight away.” https://www.brightonandhovealbion.c...england-under-21s-role-was-an-amazing-insight
What's the verdict on hayden Hackney coming out of this 21s camp? Didn't see much of the match v Luxembourg but from what I've read, he's pretty well rated. Would be a shame to lose him back to Scotland if he's a good prospect.
He's very tidy on the ball, put in basically a flawless performance in that regard, but I do wonder about his recovery runs and how he'll fare when England need to dig in and defend.
Maybe that will come with age and more experience. Grealish used to be like that and now he's practically undroppable.
Liam Delap starting out wide for Hull again. Hope this doesn't become a regular thing. I know he scored last week but it was a heavily deflected long range strike and I really don't think his game suits the role.