How England treats U21s

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Should we send out our strongest side in the Euros this summer?

  • Yes

    Votes: 26 83.9%

  • No

    Votes: 2 6.5%

  • Milenko Acimovic

    Votes: 3 9.7%
  • Total voters
    31
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Thelonious

Thelonious

The Fighting Cock
Thelonious World Peace
There's been a small debate on twitter (yep, twitter) about how we as a nation look at the U21 side. For U21 tournaments, quite often we send out a weaker side and no one bats an eyelid. The European Championships are in the summer, and there's talk of whether or not Kane should go as he's just been called up to the senior side. Now, from a Spurs POV, I expect people here to want him to be rested which is understandable, but I think we should send out as strong a side as is possible. This worked wonders with Germany where many members of their 2009 side won the WC last year.

It's been said that once you've been called up to the senior side then you shouldn't get demoted to the U21s after that.

Tournament experience can be invaluable regardless of the level it's at and with Euro 2016 on the horizon, it'd be good for the likes of Kane to get some experience under their belts.

Anyway, what say you, forum?
 
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Always.

The experience in these kind of tournaments are key, even if the quality is not up there.

Penalty shootout experience for one is integral. A lot of players' first experience of a shootout is at a Euro or WC.

Kane, Sterling, Dier etc. should all be going. Plus, a bit of national pride wouldn't go amiss.
 
The Olympics is an underrated youth football competition IMO,
whilst England have to compete as Great Britain,
The U21's should be also kept for the olympics in 2016.
with the inclusion of the other top British talent that is not english.

Of course we all want Spurs players to be fresh and available for spurs, we also want them to be experienced in knockout competition football,
tournaments like the U21's Euros and Olympics can provide that
 
The last three European World Champions have all historically taken this competition seriously and reaped the rewards, the arrogance of England towards this competition has rewarded them kindly with tournament after tournament of failure.

2010 was the perfect example, they were unable to cope with the "concentración" idea put in place by Capello.

"we were bored" "we didnt have our PS3's" "we had nothing to do" reminded me of those fat kids getting Big Macs squeezed through the school fence by their equally fat parents as the school had stopped selling bad food.

While in 2006 they took advantage of the freedom and squandered it. Both of these squads were talented, but they lacked the experience/know how/ability to gel and focus for a tournament.

In 2013 England should have sent as many players as possible to Israel for the u21 to prepare for 2014, but instead they took 5-6 players for a jolly in Brazil were Paulinho showed them up.
 
They should pick all available no matter who they play for and none of this leave them cos of them being burn out.
Never see them mention the ones playing in the championship or lower that play more games than the prem
 
I think attitudes have changed towards the U21's. Southgate is a great appointment for that level and there's definitely a lot of senior FA people who've noticed the trend that successful footballing nations send strong teams to these tournaments.

I do feel we rush through players to the senior squad, although perhaps some would say I'm a hypocrite in that I think Kane has deserved this call up of his, as he's proven through the (almost) entire season he's a real player and not going through a purple patch.

With regards to the upcoming games, and this summers tournament, I'd say the U21 squad is very strong.

8S2EoRD.png


Goalkeepers are the weak link, Bettinelli being first choice for a struggling Fulham and Bond having had a small number of appearances for Watford.

Six defenders have played (most have played regularly) in the top league in the country, Stones, Dier, Moore, Jenkinson and Chambers in particular.

In midfield, it's perhaps a little 'experience light', although I'd say they are very talented players. Carroll, Ward-Prowse, and Redmond have all featured in the Premier League, and the likes of Will Hughes and Pritchard have had excellent seasons in the Championship.

Now in attack, this is where Kane would shine. Ings is a fine player but I'm not convinced on Woodrow, although I couldn't say he'd be poor against the level of opposition in the U21's.
 
Send the best possible side over. Winning things at youth level don't guarantee things going forward but a successful culture can be created. It's the pathway from international youth football to the top that is being hindered here in England at the moment.
 
Hoddle should be the technical director/under 21 coach.
we should establish the way we want to play, play that way at all levels, and pick players that suit it.(with flexibilty to a point) and if that means media darlings dont get picked, so be it. any incoming coach should understand that they are expected to stick to the system.(again,allowing for flexibility within that basic framework)
we should put less weight on who the captain is. we effectively end up with a player thats impossible to drop, simply because the PR element of the job means the armband tends to go to a media favorite player. we should pick the best team available and then name the captain from that 11.

and the U21s (or, indeed, the B team) should never be seen as a lesser thing.

England actually blew it when they go shot of venables. he had built a team that could play different formations and move between them mid game. Had venables been left to coach the media tagged golden generation, who were a very good playing group, I'm convinced that we would have been consistently last 4 material at least over that period of time up to 2006 or so, and probably since too, because I believe a good england team will help help with english players coming through
 
Who has the final say on the fitness of a player?
The club or country?

The individual player himself wold mostly likely want to play for his national team (and so he should) however how much influence does the club (Who pays his wages) have over the final decision?
 
I agree with most of the sentiment that it is no doubt in England's best interests to take U21 competitions seriously. It builds comeraderie, teaches the system and gives invaluable experience. With that said, fuck England in the ear. Harry is one of OUR own. If they break him the "special relationship" between UK and US is fucking over. It'll be war bitches.
 
The more times you play for your country the better it is for the individual I reckon!
England and the players should treat it very seriously!
 
If i take Belgium as an example i'd say hell yeah , most of the team that plays together now were already present at the olympicsfior us and did some youth tournaments. It helped form a unit and an understanding between the players that helped them develop as an unit.
 
Btw i have watched quite a few of the UEFA youth league games this season and i must say that most of the English team participating (except for chelski) were pretty average. Pace and physicality in abundance but technique and tactical levels were really not up to what other countries bring to the table. I do fear for the English NT, it will take a lot of time to get back on track i'm afraid.
 
Could play something like the below maybe, not sure of formation but good selection of players available for the U21's, probably the strongest I can remember.

[formation=442, Butland, Chambers, Dier, Stones, Shaw, Ox, Barkley, Ward-Prowse, Sterling, Kane, Berahino/Ings][/formation]
 
Mensa said:
How in gods name is this guy 22 years old..... Looks like he should be retiring next season!

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Great players though, play wing, number 10 or striker, good feet, strong, clever, skillful miles more talented than Welbeck, Walcott and Townsend. If he comes to us (please, please) or Liverpool you will see just how good he really is when not playing for a club at the bottom.
 
Tomo said:
Great players though, play wing, number 10 or striker, good feet, strong, clever, skillful miles more talented than Welbeck, Walcott and Townsend. If he comes to us (please, please) or Liverpool you will see just how good he really is when not playing for a club at the bottom.
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Oh I believe you, you know my resentment for the whole Football Manager transfer bullshit we go through all year round but it is nice to see someone who has actually performed well in our league, not just a name with 20mill attached to it, and would be interested in joining us and has played with half our squad already at international level, would be great addition.
 
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