Who the hell is Jordan Henderson?

[juddie]

GK nash > Glen johnson!

THE LAST 11 POSTERS ON THIS THREAD COULDN'T HAVE DONE ANY WORSE

[flammableBen]

Yeah juddie, barry, darkprince, nmh, chalkie, jonny, RobT, GK, DV, DMR and Rich.

Could not have done worse.

[Samdy Gray]

To be fair, RobT probably would've done a better job. He can actually play football.

Not DV though, he's shit.

[chalkies_shorts]

I'd have to go in goal at least I'd fill it.

[Saxondale]

GK nash > Glen johnson!

I used to be famous for my Chris Waddle like runs down the right wing.

That'd usually last 20 minutes before I lapsed back to right back before ending up in goal as the fitness waned.

[Ginginho]

I used to be famous for my Chris Waddle like runs down the right wing.

Now you waddle down the right wing like you have the runs?

[Saxondale]

Have we met?  because you've got it bang on!

[Ginginho]

Have we met?  because you've got it bang on!

 

[thedarkprince]

THE LAST 11 POSTERS ON THIS THREAD COULDN'T HAVE DONE ANY WORSE

Sorry, I've retired from International football.

[DV]

I've also retired but will come out of the retirement to go to the world cup, play shit and retire again.

[Rich Pullen]

But anyone who bangs on about the future being bleak is lazy, because you'll find out development coaches are actually doing a good job and there are good players coming through. The point is that the 17s and 19s are beating the italy's/germany's/spains, the problem is at senior level - where we keep picking the same cnuts who have had their chance and blown it.

I'm more than happy to see Capello giving these opportunities. I certainly don't subscribe to the "I've never heard of him so he's not good enough" attitude which has been floating around at the moment.

I will however "bang on" about how completely irrelevant youth football is when judging the future. We've been here before haven't we? We are fortunate that Ipswich haven't cashed in on Conor Wickham at the moment because he's playing competitive games.

I lean towards our domestic game being the problem more than anything. Andre Wisdom at Liverpool, I've seen him play he's a big lad for his age with great potential but will be given a proper chance? Or will be sent out on loan so times that he settles for a permanent move to Sheffield United?

I don’t want to be called ‘lazy’ so I go lengths to state my point.

Under-17’s.

3rd in 2002: WAYNE ROONEY, Wayne Routledge, Gary Borrowdale
4th in 2003: James Milner, Aaron Lennon, Tom Huddlestone.
4th in 2004: Mark Noble, Frazier Campbell
GS in 2005: THEO WALCOTT,
DNQ in 2006:
2nd in 2007: Victor Moses
DNQ in 2008:
GS in 2009: Jack Wilshire, Jose Baxter
1st in 2010: Conor Wickham

Look how in consistent the youth game is at U-17 level over the years? Second in 2007, couldn’t even qualify in 2008 and winner in 2010!

It’s no coincidence for me that the bigger names you see there were playing first team football shortly afterwards. THIS IS WHAT MUST HAPPEN for these players to develop. All hard work by these youth coaches with both domestic and international football will be completely undone unless they are given opportunities! It’s no coincidence that these new youngsters (other than Arsenal) are from Premier League filler teams like Sunderland, Blackburn, Newcastle and Bolton.

UNDER-19

GS in 2002: Jermaine Jenas, Carlton Cole, Dean Ashton, Glen Johnson, Jermaine Pennant.
GS in 2003: Stewart Downing, Wayne Routledge, Liam Ridgewell
DNQ in 2004:
2nd in 2005: Mark Noble, Dexter Blackstock, Grant Leadbitter, Lee Holmes
DNQ in 2006:
DNQ in 2007:
GS in 2008: Kieran Gibbs, Scott Sinclair, Daniel Sturridge, Victor Moses, Tope Obadeyi
2nd in 2009: Danny Welbeck, Nathan Delfouneso, Nile Ranger
S-F in 2010 Nathan Delfouneso, Frank Nouble

These are the biggest names within this squads NOW (plus Swindon links), I don’t even know if these are the players who had the most hype back then. It doesn't make great reading really unless there is some dramatic change of form at club level (there is plenty of time though). There are some undoubtedly decent players in there but not close to the standard that’s needed.

Under-21’s

GS in 2002: Gareth Barry, Paul Robinson, Jermaine Defoe, Scott Parker, Alan Smith, Peter Crouch
DNQ in 2004:
DNQ in 2006:
S-F in 2007: Scott Carson, Leighton Baines, Gary Cahill, Ashley Young, James Milner
2nd in 2009: Theo Walcott, James Milner, Kieran Gibbs, Adam Johnson

Gloriously inconsistent.

To be honest I'm not going to pretend like I know what the future holds but the one thing I do know is that the youth game is typically inconsistent. For every decent achievement the BBC or FourFourTwo magazine latch onto and give us hope there are 3 or 4 barely reported disastrious campaigns that we don't want to talk about!

If the Premier League are willing to take the gamble, progress can be made.

I retire and not a mention of another nation.

[juddie]

so the 17s win in 2010, the 19s reach the semis in 2010 and the 21s second in 2009. and the future's bleak?

think you've just answered your own question. I'm not talking about previous tournaments, I'm talking about our teams now, they're winning , so what do we do to maintain that?

they have beaten the world's best already.

the trick is for them all to play regular football, and for the clubs to release them so they get regular tournament football when they come around, something that hasn't happened in the past before.

we need to ensure they keep winning... the u17s are considered the best team to have come through for some time. it'll be interesting to see how the fa, and the  respective clubs, deal with them.

[juddie]

looks like we may be agreeing to disagree rich!

[jonny72]

the trick is for them all to play regular football, and for the clubs to release them so they get regular tournament football when they come around, something that hasn't happened in the past before.

we need to ensure they keep winning... the u17s are considered the best team to have come through for some time. it'll be interesting to see how the fa, and the  respective clubs, deal with them.

We've always had decent young players, as I imagine a lot of countries do, but something seems to go wrong with a lot of them and they lose their way and never repeat it at full cap level. What is the best way to move them forward?

Take Alex Henshall. If he was still with us, even if just back on loan, he'd most likely be a part of our first team squad and would have made a few appearances from the bench - maybe even a start or two. Instead he's training at Man City and playing reserve or youth team games, albeit with better facilities and better coaches.

Which way is best? Sure it depends on the player but you can't help but think that too many young players don't get enough competitive games and they should be going out on loan to lower division clubs more. This is something the FA and leagues could do something about by enforcing reduced squad sizes regardless of the players age.

[Rich Pullen]

looks like we may be agreeing to disagree rich!

Yeah. I wasn't trying to change your mind though.

I enjoyed that, nothing like a bit of a discussion.