The defence was all over the place. Latvia made more clear-cut chances than we did and were unlucky to not get a point if not all three.
I don't blame the back two there at all. They were completely exposed and had to deal with bouncing balls in awkward win and on a terrible pitch as they ran back towards their own goal. Was just a horrible performance all around. Hard to be positive about the Euros ahead.
With regards to actual performances during this qualifying campaign you would be going back a long while to find worse overall team displays. Aidy Boothroyd has a contract until 2020, which means he’s most likely getting the next campaign regardless.
We won't do it because the FA are scared of conflict, but we should fire Boothroyd after we qualify. We should be walking this group and have over 20 goals by now. All we have to do is get a draw in one of our next two matches and then we top the group. We got Andorra next so we should be fine. The FA should look at the quality we have available and then the performances. I doubt they do since Ashworth wants Boothroyd to succeed.
Feel for their fans. Nothing that great in any of their age groups. Even their supposedly stacked teams dont compare to our u17 winners, or i would say our current u17s. Its a long road back for them
Feel for their fans?? I feel sorry for us who will no doubt have to put up with Boothroyd and his pragmatic footbalI for at least another two years, can’t wait for him to get hold of our 2000’s age group. We’re not even the leading goal scorers in our group which considering the attacking talents we have is quite surprising. On the Dutch, I actually think they have some really good talents, they just need a break. Surprised they didn’t beat Scotland though.
Actually just on our Goal scoring issues, out of all the teams leading the groups we currently have the second worst goals scored record. Only Romania have scored one less having scored 13 goals so far, Germany have scored the most 29 fwiw.
Exclusive: Colin Cooper has been sacked as assistant manager of the England Under-21s after almost two-and-a-half years in the role. https://t.co/Y4l2KPhKHe— Training Ground Guru (@ground_guru) September 12, 2018
The timing of the sacking is certainly interesting. You would hope Ashworth getting a closer look at this squad by going to Latvia would have some effect eventually on Boothroyd's role. I can't see it happening but surely however close he is to Boothroyd a competent technical director would be unhappy with how things are going. With the EnglandDNA stuff being promoted it's getting a bit embarrasing.
Anyone know why? If it’s due to performances then surely the man at the helm is the one who is ultimately responsible? Could be a cowards way out by Ashworth to give his best buddy a bit more time by blaming Cooper.
Do we know if Boothroyd and Ashworth are best mates or are they just mates? If they really are best mates then I can't believe the FA let that hiring fall through.
Boothroyd has given Ashworth a job before (at West Brom) and they worked together at Peterborough too, so they did have a pre-existing relationship when Boothroyd was brought into the FA. There's a silly rumour that gets put about that one of them (or his brother) was the best man at the other's (or his brother's) wedding, but that isn't true.
Is it definitely not true - was reported as believed to be true in Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...ure-as-england-under-21-manager-uncertain-in/) Also been comments by Andy Cole and Joey Barton about them being 'best mates'.
It is definitely not true. They're just recycling rumours, and frankly Joey Barton shouldn't be anyone's source for anything. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/fa-battle-plan-to-conquer-stage-fright-rzjns2h98
I thought the rumour was that Paul Ashworth (Dan's brother) was Boothroyd's best man? They were at Peterborough together for 5 years.
It wasn't actually five years that they overlapped for - more like two or three* - but in any event that's completely unsupported and seems extremely unlikely too. This is Aidy Boothroyd talking about the rumour that he was Dan Ashworth's best man: "Did I know Dan Ashworth before I got this job? Course I did. We worked together at Peterborough, when I first broke my leg. His brother Paul, who incidentally was his best man, was the youth team coach and then became assistant manager of the first team, so of course paths cross." I would be willing to bet that this is how the rumour transmogrified into "Paul Ashworth was Aidy Boothroyd's best man", simply by people misunderstanding who was speaking about who. But clearly it's not confirmation that Paul Ashworth was Boothroyd's best man. It's Boothroyd putting forward the much more likely proposition that Paul Ashworth was in fact Dan Ashworth's best man. To be fair, I can't find any direct statements about exactly who Boothroyd's best man was, and nobody's explicitly denied that he didn't pull in the entire Ashworth dynasty as bridesmaids. But if you find it likely that Dan Ashworth called speculation about family ties to Boothroyd "all nonsense" with specific reference to the best-man rumour, and didn't bother to mention that his brother was both his and Boothroyd's best man, we'll have to agree to disagree. If you think it's likely that Boothroyd denied being Dan Ashworth's best man and the beneficiary of nepotism, affirmed that in fact Paul Ashworth was Dan Ashworth's best man, but somehow neglected to mention that Paul Ashworth was also his own best man, I will look at you funny, because at that point it's just getting stupid. There is a far more likely explanation. He's still a shit coach though. We'll always have that. --- *As briefly as I can: Paul Ashworth joined Peterborough in 1996 as a youth team manager, left for Blackburn in 1998, and returned briefly as Barry Fry's no. 2 in March 1999. He was sacked in December 1999. Boothroyd also joined Peterborough as a player in 1996, and coached the under-13s a bit before he retired as a player in 1998. Then he coached their under-19s for a couple of years, before he was "demoted" in November 2000 to spend a few months working with 8–16 year olds. He had no involvement with the first team, so the meaningful overlap is really just that spell between 1996–98 when Paul Ashworth was working with Peterborough's youth sides and the not-yet-retired Boothroyd did some work with the under-13s in his spare time.
Thought he got schooled on the art of defending. His positioning was poor in the first half. Good learning experience though.