European Under 21 Championship

[DarkSithLord]

Starts tomorrow in the Czech Republic.

All the action on BT Sport.

England kick off against Portugal on Friday

 

[Leewilson]

England play Thursday.

Looking forward to this. I actually fancy us to do alright for once. I'll be very disappointed if we don't at least reach the semis. We have a fairly experienced squad here.

 

[DarkSithLord]

England play Thursday.

Looking forward to this. I actually fancy us to do alright for once. I'll be very disappointed if we don't at least reach the semis. We have a fairly experienced squad here.

Whoops! So they do!

Yeah I always enjoy the Under 21 Euros. Normally one or two starlets who stand out!

 

[Who Needs Mourinho]

England play Thursday.

Looking forward to this. I actually fancy us to do alright for once. I'll be very disappointed if we don't at least reach the semis. We have a fairly experienced squad here.

Just read that Portugal have got 8 full internationals in their squad including Carvalho, I reckon we will have the most inexperienced squad Lee. At least we don't have to put up with Pearce this time though I am not totally sold on Southgate either.

 

[Leewilson]

Yeah the Portuguese are decent and will probably be the toughest test in our group, although I don't think they're too dissimilar to us. I'd fancy us to beat the Swedes and then the Italians will be a challenge as ever but definitely more beatable than they were the last time when they have Immobile and co.

I'll be interested to see how Southgate goes. His squad suggests he's going to pack the middle more than looking to play wide. I'd like to see Pritchard in a central position behind the striker as he's excelled for Brentford there. I'm intrigued to see whether he plays Kane and Berahino or if he just goes with one. I could see him maybe going them two and Redmond in a front 3 with 3 CMs behind. That would likely mean Pritchard gets dropped mind and you get a Ward-Prowse, Carroll, Hughes, Chalobah amalgamation.

 

[Who Needs Mourinho]

Yeah the Portuguese are decent and will probably be the toughest test in our group, although I don't think they're too dissimilar to us. I'd fancy us to beat the Swedes and then the Italians will be a challenge as ever but definitely more beatable than they were the last time when they have Immobile and co.

I'll be interested to see how Southgate goes. His squad suggests he's going to pack the middle more than looking to play wide. I'd like to see Pritchard in a central position behind the striker as he's excelled for Brentford there. I'm intrigued to see whether he plays Kane and Berahino or if he just goes with one. I could see him maybe going them two and Redmond in a front 3 with 3 CMs behind. That would likely mean Pritchard gets dropped mind and you get a Ward-Prowse, Carroll, Hughes, Chalobah amalgamation.

I think we will see Berahino playing off the left wing with Hughes as the most advanced of the midfield three.

 

[Veggie Legs]

I think we've got a decent chance in this, the fact that not many of the team are full internationals means they've played together more which is never a bad thing.

I'm intrigued by Denmark, was reading the other day about how they've been embedding the same systems and play styles at every age group level through to the full national team for the last few years. That suggests they might be the most coherent team, even if they don't have the best individuals.

 

[Destruction]

Is that lad who went to Real Madrid in the Danish side, Ogarrd or somat?

 

[Cardsfan]

Is that lad who went to Real Madrid in the Danish side, Ogarrd or somat?

Odegaard, and he's Norwegian.

 

[Destruction]

Odegaard, and he's Norwegian.

Are Norway in this tournament then, id like to see what all the fuss is about?

 

[Cardsfan]

Are Norway in this tournament then, id like to see what all the fuss is about?

They're not. I've never seen him either, he's playing a lot for Norway so you'll see him in full qualifiers/friendlies.

 

[Bromo18]

Looking forward to it. Like many of you, I'm pretty optimistic about our chances and would expect the semi-finals considering how experienced our squad is for a U21 team.

 

[JJH]

Is our game on Thursday only on BT Sport? Bit of a bummer if IT is, as I'll have to watch it on a Stream.

As for Odegaard, he's earning 80k a week at the age of 16 and claimed he was unhappy after 3 months. Lost me for words really.

 

[WAP]

I'll watch all of our games, I'm expecting to get through the group stage at least.

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

There's already a thread for this.

Anyway, it's a much better coached England side than last tournament, stronger in terms of personnel and spirit too, but it's a much, much tougher group. Portugal had a similarly impressive qualification campaign as England did, and will have a lot more senior talent than the team that we beat in the friendly. Sweden battered France (who Southgate reckons is the best team we played) in their play-off second leg and they too will have more senior internationals dropping down. And the Italians are the Italians. We could conceivably play very well and not get a point out of this group. I really have no idea what's going to happen.

It is worth noting though that while we have got into the habit of expecting to qualify for these tournaments, most big countries have not. We broke the record for consecutive qualifications last time and extended it this time. It's an odd trend given how poorly we tend to do at tournaments.

And despite more of a willingness from the FA to call up seniors, I still don't think we take these tournaments seriously enough given that the starting XI will likely look like this...

...yet ideally could have looked like this...

 

[G-Dragon]

Excited for this tournament. Hoping Emre Can starts for the Germans today.

 

[mente captus]

the german players to look out for are Johannes Geis and Max Meyer. Joshua Kimmrich is also a interesting player and shall replace Schweinsteiger step by step in munich

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

Stones out of tomorrows game with concussion.

 

[Stevencc]

Wow! Poor defending from Knoche but that was an impressive solo goal from Djuricic.

 

[G-Dragon]

Great goal by Emre Can <3

 

[Stevencc]

Gunter

 

[mistermagic]

Is our game on Thursday only on BT Sport? Bit of a bummer if IT is, as I'll have to watch it on a Stream.

As for Odegaard, he's earning 80k a week at the age of 16 and claimed he was unhappy after 3 months. Lost me for words really.

Why?

 

[DarkSithLord]

Why?

Well er How can you be unhappy with 80k a week at 16?!

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

Berahino withdrawn from the squad through injury. Afobe replaces him.

The fuck does Southgate have them doing in training?

 

[Leewilson]

Two big blows there. Mind you, I like Afobe so not the worst replacement.

I imagine Keane will step in for Stones. Pritchard or Lingard for Berahino.

 

[markwwfc1992]

Afobe called up, the highest English goalscorer last season.

About time Southgate...

 

[DarkSithLord]

Great to see Afobe called up I really like the look of him!

 

[mistermagic]

Well er How can you be unhappy with 80k a week at 16?!

I can think of a lot of reasons why a 16-year old kid wouldn't be too happy with that. Don't forget that it's a very young age to be earning that kind of cash and that it doesn't solve everything.

 

[Super_horns]

Sweden beat Italy.

Both ended with 10 men.

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

Butland (C/GK); Jenkinson, Moore, Gibson, Garbutt; Ward-Prowse, Carroll, Chalobah; Redmond, Kane, Lingard.

No Hughes strikes me as a bit cowardly from Southgate.