They always fail in these tournaments though. That is down to the manager. He has some serious talent at his disposal yet fails miserably.
Under 21 European Championship 2021 (March & May - June)
- Thread starter Classical Mechanic
- Start date
They can't be. Other countries have used this to develop players for the senior squad and created winners in the process.
At the last Euros after Choudhury was suspended we played the 4-3-3 with Foden and Maddison as the 8s and Dowell as the 6. An attacking midfielder as the 6! And a 10 and a player that plays mostly as an inside forward in the 8 positions. It was a bizarre setup that predictably failed.
You wouldn't get the name here because this would be a problem for RedCafe.
But i have said this already many times here.....this is the reason why he is still in the job.
You could make that case for most other teams.
Darren Bent suggesting that Nketiah would be a bigger loss than Greenwood
Nketiah has got 16 goals in 14 England U21 games and is the all time leading scorer for England U21 so I think its fair to say he would be a loss to that team ... a bigger loss that Greenwood is debatable of course and i think Greenwood has the higher potential by far - but in terms of what they have contributed to the team over the last few years Nketiah on that metric seems to far outweigh greenwoods 1 goal in 4 games
Has he not left the FA now though?
Tbf, that doesn’t say much considering transfer fees these days. Foden and Saka would take around £100m to be prised out of their clubs. So would James, Mount and Rice as @duffer says. Bellingham not sure.
Obviously, the team had more than enough to beat Switzerland. No excuses of course.
Who else is part of England’s group?
The point was that the quality wasn’t a reflection on the personnel. The personnel is not the problem.
It's probably somewhat forced on him to copy Southgate's formation but playing 3 at the back forces him to start one of Kelly or Guehi who to me look bang average over some decent midfield/attacking options in Eze or Jones. It's a shame as Southgate will do a similar thing.
The u21s managers job should be a place for young and progressive coaches to cut their teeth before hopefully moving on to bigger and better things. It shouldn't be a job for archaic long ball merchants after they've got their club side relegated from the entire football league.
Like, seriously? Or...?
What a surprising result for England.
Failed to get out the group from 5 of the last 6 tournaments. It would be a surprise if they went through!
Not really that surprising if you bare in mind the Swiss teams usually goes far in U21 level.
By going far you mean not qualifying for the last four tournaments?
I don't think they do.
Many people are totally shit in their job....and why??
Because they have a great relationship with someone above their job or because of a sexual relationship.
Every other coach would have been sacked after the terrible group stage in the last tournament.
A 3-3 draw against Andorra last year was a 100% sackable offence too.
Only fans are saying negative things about Boothroyd.
And why????? There is a single reason.
do you actually know or is it just what you think
Comon Iceland!
Been looking forward to watching Zakharyan
I know it and i have said this many times here.....go through the search here.
Everyone thought Boothroyd would be sacked after his best friend Ashworth has left The FA.....no a other person is the reason why he is still in charge.
Did anyone watch the game? I saw on twitter that Alexandre Jankewitz was really good, and looking to see if the caf can confirm.
I don't know anything about him but he was up against Skipp in CM and I know he has been playing really well this year for Norwich.
**Edit -- I just did a quick google and he is the Southampton lad who got sent off in the first minute!
I don't know anything about him but he was up against Skipp in CM and I know he has been playing really well this year for Norwich.
**Edit -- I just did a quick google and he is the Southampton lad who got sent off in the first minute!
Good half from Russia. Zakharyan has been decent
Edit: Now he scores. Lovely goal
Edit: Now he scores. Lovely goal
Boothroyd is the kind of yes-man F.A. dinosaur whose tactical instructions amount to
- "Let the attacker know you're there"
- "No dilly-dallying on the ball"
- "Get stuck in"
- "Show some more passion"
- "You need to try harder"
- "You've got to get in behind them"
- "Beat your man"
- "Get it up to the big man"
- "Football is a simple game. Just do what you do and the results will come"
Basically just a bunch of traditionally inherited sound bytes without any actual tactical instructions on how to accomplish it.
- "Let the attacker know you're there"
- "No dilly-dallying on the ball"
- "Get stuck in"
- "Show some more passion"
- "You need to try harder"
- "You've got to get in behind them"
- "Beat your man"
- "Get it up to the big man"
- "Football is a simple game. Just do what you do and the results will come"
Basically just a bunch of traditionally inherited sound bytes without any actual tactical instructions on how to accomplish it.
Icelandic defenders has been terrible! 
Brilliant goal from Makarov. Russia 4-0
I'm amazed Bothyroyd is still in a job. You can't repeatedly make such a collection of talent look this bad.
Only 17, will have a bright future if he stays injury free
Yeah absolutely.
Swiss in youth NT are always tough. They are always an aggressive team to face. I remember a lot of teams being "surprised" by them at U21 and U19 level. Nothing to be ashamed of.
Important victory for Portugal against Croatia, it gives a margin of error against England.
France lost too, they tend to underperform at 21 level. They failed to qualify for a number of recent tournaments.
Great win for Denmark over France. Nikolas Nartey (Stuttgart) and central defender Victor Nelsson were fantastic. The same Nelsson was very good, when United meet FC Copenhagen in Europa League.
Spain and Germany convincing, other favourites struggling. Feels familiar.
Germany played against one of the weakest teams in the tournament.
Greenwood didn't play despite being called up, is he injured?
You can only beat what's in front of you. But I don't expect much from this team. I just found it curious that the pattern from the last two u21 tournaments continued.
I really rate Nelsson: the U21 CB with highest potential IMHO.