England U21s

[drillerpie]

Best player on the bench to 'manage his minutes' after a long gruelling season in which he played about 10 games

25 goal a season striker on the bench apart from 10 minutes, in which he does more than the other two strikers put together in 180

Concede 6 goals in 2 matches, 5 of them down to individual mistakes

Happy days.

[nw6pie]

If Southgate wants all of his teams to play the same way, he’s doing well - lots of defensive blunders, no one able to keep the ball in midfield and lots of passing between the two centre backs. At least Boothroyd will hopefully be sacked after this, though.

Even more annoying was losing to Sri Lanka in the bloody cricket, though.

[drillerpie]

If Southgate wants all of his teams to play the same way, he’s doing well - lots of defensive blunders, no one able to keep the ball in midfield and lots of passing between the two centre backs. At least Boothroyd will hopefully be sacked after this, though.

Even more annoying was losing to Sri Lanka in the bloody cricket, though.

Apparently they gave Boothroyd a new contract just before the tournament. The mind boggles.

Away from England I'd say the quality of play has been pretty high but the one thing that has struck me is the wasteful finishing.

All the teams play or try to play ***y attacking liquid football with false nines and high pressing and goodness knows what else, but Germany aside nobody seems to have strikers who can reliably put the ball in the back of the net.

[Bohinen]

The FA seem to think they can run their teams like a club, bringing through young talent in a series of inevitable steps between age groups, a pattern they seem to be also following with their managers. But it really doesn't work that way, the best players at 18 or even 20 will not be the best players at 22. More likely, someone will come from nowhere and suddenly shine. Rashford came though without really figuring a great deal in the U21s, for example, whereas our U20 goalkeeper last season won't be in any future senior England squads.

There are lots of reasons for this, one being that at a younger age, early developers who are big and strong tend to get favoured over the more slightly built, skilful players. Then we end up with a production line of Carlton Palmers. This is especially true because the FA tend to employ youth coaches who are failed dinosaur managers at league level. They can't afford the best ones.

[Bohinen]

Here's a good article about Boothroyd's role with the U21s

https://www.90min.com/posts/6395868-aidy-boothroyd-the-wrong-man-at-the-wrong-time-for-england-s-golden-generation

towards the end of his tenure at Vicarage Road, fans had started calling him "Hoofroyd" due to his lump it in the box and hope for the best tactics.

[ncfcog]

Here's a good article about Boothroyd's role with the U21s

https://www.90min.com/posts/6395868-aidy-boothroyd-the-wrong-man-at-the-wrong-time-for-england-s-golden-generation

towards the end of his tenure at Vicarage Road, fans had started calling him "Hoofroyd" due to his lump it in the box and hope for the best tactics.

TBF at least his hoof ball tactics were to hoof it into the box, last couple of seasons that would have been an attacking improvement at Notts.