England U21s

[St. Juste]

Are you deliberately missing the point? The Sky / BT Sport dynamic only exists because of the Premier League.

If BT Sports were only interested in the dregs of TV coverage like the FA Cup or Cricket they wouldn't be paying anywhere near as much.

But I do like your idea that the FA Cup, currently attracting far lower viewing figures than it ever has before, suddenly becoming a lot more valuable as a result.

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

Are you deliberately missing the point? The Sky / BT Sport dynamic only exists because of the Premier League.

If BT Sports were only interested in the dregs of TV coverage like the FA Cup or Cricket they wouldn't be paying anywhere near as much.

This is the same baseless assertion just worded differently. These are not wealthy patricians bidding on an art piece they desire, these are corporations bidding on broadcast rights that they expect a return on. The profitability of FA Cup and England games has nothing to do with how much money the Premier League has put in the pockets of Sky or BT, and therefore how much they'd be willing to spend on them. If they're overpaying and risk not turning a satisfactory profit, then that is something that will be corrected in the future regardless of whether they have the Premier League to rely on or not.

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

Angus Gunn (Norwich City, on loan from Manchester City)
Freddie Woodman (Newcastle United)
Dean Henderson (Shrewsbury Town, on loan from Manchester United)

Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
Joseph Worrall (Nottingham Forest)
Kyle Walker-Peters (Tottenham Hotspur)
Joseph Gomez (Liverpool)
Ben Chilwell (Leicester City)
Fikayo Tomori (Chelsea)
Mason Holgate (Everton)
Jonjoe Kenny (Everton)
Dael Fry (Middlesbrough)

Lewis Cook (AFC Bournemouth)
Tom Davies (Everton)
Kieran Dowell (Nottingham Forest, on loan from Everton)
Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Crystal Palace, on loan from Chelsea)
Josh Onomah (Aston Villa, on loan from Tottenham Hotspur)
Kasey Palmer (Huddersfield Town, on loan from Chelsea)
Ainsley Maitland-Niles (Arsenal)

Demarai Gray (Leicester City)
Ademola Lookman (Everton)
Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton)
Tammy Abraham (Swansea City, on loan from Chelsea)
Dominic Solanke (Liverpool)

 

[Super_horns]

Looks more exciting than the Senior squad..

 

[AFCB_Mark]

Went to the U21 game tonight v Latvia, rude not to when it's your home ground.

3-0 win, but not a great performance by any means. 2nd and 3rd goals gifted by the Latvian keeper. Very disjointed performance, with not a huge amount of chances created.

Latvia for their part were deep first half, allowing England all the possession. Second half they changed it and pushed much higher up the pitch with a press and some agressive tackling. England should have lapped this up with all the pace in the side, but somehow didn't.

The standouts: Gomez at the back. Looks the commanding part at that level, not breaking a sweat. Every time England put pressure on themselves with a silly misplaced pass or whatever Gomez always cleared it up. Every time someone was caught out of position, Gomez sorted it. Decent on the ball too.

The central midfield of Cook and Davies was the most joined up department. Cook playing deeper than I'm used to seeing him at Bournemouth, with Davies often a little further forward. Davies the Everton lad looks a real gem.

Otherwise, belting individual goal from Gray for the opener, but rather anonymous for long periods, and a little too selfish around the box perhaps, although you'd argue his goal merited it.

Walker-Peters looks a long way from troubling Trippier at Spurs. Very, very attacking full back, but all over the shop positionally in defending. Caught out too many times with basics, although he has tremendous pace to recover the mistake sometimes. He'll learn the defensive side in time I'm sure.

Abraham up front has lots of turns and tricks with his feet, but that lone centre forward role Boothroyd gave him doesn't suit him imho. As a centre forward that ball needs to be sticking more often to bring others in. Abraham needs to be putting himself around a bit more in that lone role. Latvian defenders smaller than him had too easy a time keeping him quiet. He did bag a goal, all be it fumbled in by the keeper, but they all count. Looked to me like a partner up there to play off would help him.

Lookman and Solanke looked a handful when they came on. Was sorry not to see a bit more of them. Interesting night anyway. Early days at U21 level for several of those, not to mention being early in the season, so some rustiness isn't surprising.

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

Interesting take. I thought they completely controlled the game without really breaking a sweat.

Scotland beat the Netherlands too which is handy.