Euro U21 Championship Thread

[John Madejski's Wallet]

4-0 ouchie!!!

[FiNeRaIn]

4-0 ouchie!!!

should be ashamed of themselves

[Kitson12]

4-0 ouchie!!!

should be ashamed of themselves

Sorry, Scotland's U21s were where exactly?

[Compo's Hat]

Stuart Pearce just isn't that good a manager.

[Jackson Corner]

We were lucky to be in the final and the Germans just showed how average we are. Start getting used to it as these are the players who will replace Lampard, Gerrard, Ferdinand, Terry, Cole. All are coming to te end of there international careers.

[cmonurz]

We were lucky to be in the final and the Germans just showed how average we are. Start getting used to it as these are the players who will replace Lampard, Gerrard, Ferdinand, Terry, Cole. All are coming to te end of there international careers.

All have at least two major championships left. Arguably all may have two World Cups left.

[Barry the bird boggler]

Give them a decent manager and a bit more experience and who knows....

Being successful or not at U-21 means absolutely naff all, after all the Germans had never won the trophy before yesterday

Of course having a cap on the number of foreigners in teams imposed globally would help immeasurably.

[boy1985]

Stuart Pearce just isn't that good a manager.

Fo Sho

He was the token Englishman in Capello's management team from the start.

Playing a GK up front is maddness and i'm pretty sure Capello would not have been too pleased about it. I wouldn't be suprised if he brings in someone else in before the next campaign.

On the brightside the experience of losing in a major final might not be such a bad thing for the players careers, plus the fact we won't have to sit through the media clamour about Pearce leading them to glory and touting him as the next England manager.

[soggy biscuit]

I wouldn't be suprised if he brings in someone else in before the next campaign.

Even though Pearce signed a 2 year contract extension last week?

[boy1985]

I wouldn't be suprised if he brings in someone else in before the next campaign.

Even though Pearce signed a 2 year contract extension last week?

Did he? briLOLiant.

[Thaumagurist*]

Playing a GK up front is maddness

Wha.................?

We were basically undone by not having a decent striker up front. Walcott on his own, against 3 big defenders, never was going to make an impact, especially if he didn't receive much support from the wingers. And Walcott seems to think he can take on the 3 defenders. Our defenders were lumping the ball forward a lot because the midfield wasn't making themselves available. Their second goal was a bit a freak one, the ball changed direction twice. After that, England began to play better, rather a bit too late and had two efforts cleared off the line (ok, near there if not exactly off the line). Then Germany hit us twice on the break. Game over.

[boy1985]

Playing a GK up front is maddness

Wha.................?

you heard

[Thaumagurist*]

Playing a GK up front is maddness

Wha.................?

you heard

Well, Walcott isn't a goalkeeper, but neither is he a striker.

[papereyes]

YOU'RE AN IDIOT

Michael Mancienne's early strike put England Under-21s on the road to a thumping friendly win over Azerbaijan.

Mancienne scored in the opening minute, Azerbaijan keeper Elcin Sadiqov fumbled into his own net and Craig Gardner volleyed a third in from 12 yards.

Elvin Mammadov's own goal followed before Kieran Gibbs twice side-footed home and Jack Rodwell's late strike sealed the rout.

England ended the game with keeper Joe Lewis playing as an emergency striker.

Coach Stuart Pearce rested some key players as they continued their preparations ahead of the European Championships in Sweden next week.

He named two keepers among his six replacements, with Lewis getting brought on for Lee Cattermole to prevent any injuries.

Pearce insisted he was not disrespecting his opponents by playing keeper Lewis up front and was "forced" into the decision.

"We had to do that because Cat's (Lee Cattermole) pulled a slight injury and with the tournament a week away we were at a loss as what to do," Pearce said.

"We used all our outfield subs and Joe put himself forward to go up front. It was a forced sub.

"Whichever way we did it we didn't want to be seen as disrespectful. That was the last thing I wanted."

Pearce meanwhile says England are in good shape ahead of the championships in Sweden and was delighted to have come through the Azerbaijan game relatively unscathed.

"As a manager you can't ask for more than that," Pearce said.

"Apart from a couple of niggles we've got through pretty much unscathed.

"The spirit is good in the camp. I've had the boys for the last two days, they've been fantastic and they would be crestfallen if they missed it."

[Thaumagurist*]

Eh? What does that have to do with last night?

(the question is to boy1985, not you papereyes.)

[boy1985]

Eh? What does that have to do with last night?

(the question is to boy1985, not you papereyes.)

tedious pcunt

[Hoop Blah]

Stuart Pearce just isn't that good a manager.

Totally agree, how he's even been mentioned as a future England manager I don't know.

I thought the scoreline flattered the Germans a little last night, although we never really cut them open because he had nothing upfront. Shows the importance of having enough options within your squad though. Going with so few forwards was just naive.

[Thaumagurist*]

Stuart Pearce just isn't that good a manager.

Totally agree, how he's even been mentioned as a future England manager I don't know.

I thought the scoreline flattered the Germans a little last night, although we never really cut them open because he had nothing upfront. Shows the importance of having enough options within your squad though. Going with so few forwards was just naive.

Agree with your comments about scoreline flattering the Germans and what we had up front.

Though, I wonder if Pearce really did have the options to select more forwards for the tournament. And remember, Arsenal weren't keen on Walcott going in the first place. Who else could Pearce have selected?

[Hoop Blah]

I wouldn't be suprised if he brings in someone else in before the next campaign.

Even though Pearce signed a 2 year contract extension last week?

Did he? briLOLiant.

Wasn't Pearce also in the position before Capello got the England job and so he had nothing to do with making him the token Englishman?

As for these players being the ones to replace the likes of Gerrard and Lampard I'd be very surprised if any of the central midfielders get one can let alone 10 or more that would suggest they're replacements for the current squad.

Not many on the U21's really go on to play regularly for the senior team, a handful per generation perhaps.

[boy1985]

I think this was one of the talented U21 squads we have had, and their quality got them through to the semi finals. But when they needed their manager to have a tactical plan I think they were let down. When they came up against it for the first time, and when they needed to change it around or needed some help from the bench he had nothing and went on concede 7 goals without reply.

out of the squad i'd say Richards, Hart, Walcott, Agbonlahor and Milner will probably go onto feature in the first team quite a bit.