To be fair we had the chances to bury France and Romania. Put some of these players around Kane and it’s a different story.
And a decent manager.
Two Semi-Finals (first time in 23-years) not good enough for you then?
Would prefer to go back to the "decent" Managers of Eriksson and Capello?
Talking about Boothroyd.
The guy is a joke and the set-up and substitutions today would tell you that.
Whilst it's obvious that he's not exactly Guardiola or Klopp, i don't think we can be too critical.
We didn't play badly overall, we lost because of crazy defensive errors, that isn't down to Boothroyd. He doesn't tell Wan-Bissaka to have a brain fart and slice it into his own net v France? He doesn't tell Kenny to dive into a tackle in the area, or Tomori to slice a clearance instead of knocking it back to the keeper. He can't be blamed for Henderson letting the 3rd in. These are poor individual errors, same as you don't blame Bowyer for the goal Phillips let in at Wembley.
What Boothroyd can be blamed for though is not playing Abraham and Foden from the start.
I'm a bit late to this party, I mean inquest but I said 18 months ago that Phil Foden was the best young player in the England set up and barring injuries will have the best career for England. No reason to change my mind.
I was telling Cafc fans (wasn't on CL) that Joe Gomez was by far the most talented lad we had when he was 14, (Tipped off by Joe Pigott's dad at Sparrows lane) so my CV is decent.
Wan-Bissaka has had a very solid start to his career but getting a potential move to United must've unsettled him because he looked more Morgan Fox than Trent Alexander-Arnold
The remit for England in these tournaments is everyone gets minutes if possible, the problem with this is it makes for an omnishambles as you get individual performance but complete mess in understanding over the course of 90 + minutes.
After winning their first 2 matches and needing just a point to qualify, Poland were absolutely destroyed 5-0 by Spain last night. The result means that from nowhere Spain end up topping the group on GD, Italy finish 2nd and are now waiting on other results whilst the Polish go home.
Italy's hopes will probably end up resting on France v Romania where a draw will put both sides through to the semi's. Wonder how that one will play out.........
Also West ham look to have got a great deal by signing Fornals pre-tournament as he's been very impressive and his value would've no doubt gone up after the tournament.
After winning their first 2 matches and needing just a point to qualify, Poland were absolutely destroyed 5-0 by Spain last night. The result means that from nowhere Spain end up topping the group on GD, Italy finish 2nd and are now waiting on other results whilst the Polish go home.
Italy's hopes will probably end up resting on France v Romania where a draw will put both sides through to the semi's. Wonder how that one will play out.........
Also West ham look to have got a great deal by signing Fornals pre-tournament as he's been very impressive and his value would've no doubt gone up after the tournament.
So both Austria and Denmark need to win their matches 4-0 (against Germany and Serbia respectively) to stand a chance of Qualifying
Of course a 4-0 win for Austria would see Germany eliminated
If that doesn't happen and France win 1-0 against Romania then that too will be enough for both to get through which might be more likely as if the best runner up is from that Group then its that side who faces Spain, something I imagine that France will want to avoid until the Final potentially (Although if they avoid that then they're likely to face Germany so not easy either)
If Denmark win 4-0 and Romania lose 1-0 then both 2nd placed teams will have the same Goal Difference and will have the same amount of Goals Scored, would then go down to Disciplinary Records (again both teams have the exact same amount of bookings) - So if that remains same then it simply comes down to whoever has the best UEFA U21 Coefficient which would be Denmark, would be a cruel way for Romania to exit the competition if that happened
Agreed. i don't think he's ready for the premier league yet and i think Emery will realise that.
What might go in our favour is by the time Bielik returns from his summer holiday he won't have that many pre season games in which to impress, so they'll probably end up loaning him out again.
Basically between France and Romania for second spot now
Denmark were eliminated after only beating Serbia 2-0 which put them behind Italy on Goal Difference
Draw between Romania and France will see both through Win for France will see them both advance but if its a 3-0 win it'll put Italy into the Semi-Finals instead of Romania Win for Romania will see Italy into the Semi-Finals
Another lousy defensive display it seems. Konsa finally came off the bench in this match, it's perhaps surprising he wasn't given a go earlier with our defensive problems.
After winning their first 2 matches and needing just a point to qualify, Poland were absolutely destroyed 5-0 by Spain last night. The result means that from nowhere Spain end up topping the group on GD, Italy finish 2nd and are now waiting on other results whilst the Polish go home.
Italy's hopes will probably end up resting on France v Romania where a draw will put both sides through to the semi's. Wonder how that one will play out.........
Also West ham look to have got a great deal by signing Fornals pre-tournament as he's been very impressive and his value would've no doubt gone up after the tournament.
As expected a draw was clearly agreed with both sides prior to kick off.
The draw was odds on BEFORE kick off, neither side were interested and i don't think there was a shot on target all game. Blatant match fixing really, as Romania go from scoring 4 in each game to not having a shot.
Three mistakes against Romania One against France (plus a couple that didnt lead to goals) Couple last night against Croatia Two against the Netherlands in the Nations League
Its a shame as Defending has usually been quite a reliable area for England, its normally the midfield that had let us down in the past
Didn't understand how Kenny got in ahead of Wan-Bissaka. You've got a guy who had an amazing season and has United looking at him for 50m...........and Boothroyd picks Kenny who barely gets a look in at Everton.
Tomori was poor yet played all 3 games.
He didn't start Foden or Abraham against Romania yet played both for 90 minutes in a meaningless game last night.
I saw a piece on SKY saying how our youth teams have 'gone backwards' since 2017 in competitions, but id like to see some statistics of how many of our youth are now playing above their natural age group. Southgate has called upon his youth, so it shuffles many ages up.
I saw a piece on SKY saying how our youth teams have 'gone backwards' since 2017 in competitions, but id like to see some statistics of how many of our youth are now playing above their natural age group. Southgate has called upon his youth, so it shuffles many ages up.
Does it though, or does it just force the manager to pick players from the same age group who aren't as good?
For example, Sancho, Gomez and TAA are in the seniors. It doesn't mean we have younger replacements stepping up, it means we have replacements who are not as good stepping up.
Wan-Bissaka, Jonjoe Kenny and Demarai Gray are older than TAA, Gomez and Sancho yet in the under 21s. It's not as if Boothroyd turned up to the Euro's with a squad of 18 year olds.
After winning their first 2 matches and needing just a point to qualify, Poland were absolutely destroyed 5-0 by Spain last night. The result means that from nowhere Spain end up topping the group on GD, Italy finish 2nd and are now waiting on other results whilst the Polish go home.
Italy's hopes will probably end up resting on France v Romania where a draw will put both sides through to the semi's. Wonder how that one will play out.........
Also West ham look to have got a great deal by signing Fornals pre-tournament as he's been very impressive and his value would've no doubt gone up after the tournament.
As expected a draw was clearly agreed with both sides prior to kick off.
The draw was odds on BEFORE kick off, neither side were interested and i don't think there was a shot on target all game. Blatant match fixing really, as Romania go from scoring 4 in each game to not having a shot.
Hope both sides get done over in the semi's.
A pleasing day yesterday as both of the match fixers got crushed in their semi finals.
Spain beat France 4-1. Germany beat Romania 4-2.
2nd consecutive Spain v Germany final and the 4th time in the last 5 competitions that Spain are in the final.
I have not seen much of either Spain or Germany, i lost interest a bit tbh after England's first game. My brother was messaging me last raving about how good Spain were but i prefered to watch the England women. Germany or Spain favs?
We would have had a decent chance if we had a different manager, Boothroyd doesn't have a clue. Started with Solanke in Game 1 when he hasn't played much minutes with Abraham and CL on the bench who both were playing and more suited to the role up front effectively on your own with 2 wingers/inside forwards.
How Foden didn't start the 2nd game? I agree he is one of the greatest talents we have produced
Even in the last game when there was nothing to lose we just showed we couldn't defend and in every game we were our own downfall, regardless all the mistakes the manager made with a squad like that they should have at least got through the group minimum.
It was a tough group but France showed they weren't all that last night getting a lesson, Romania were more impressive but I didn't really see how they went from 2-1up to lose 4-2. We would have lost to Spain.
Tough one to call but you have to back Spain in the final, but I did think Germany were looking the best team early doors, hopefully it should be a good game with a lot of goals, it does seem there have been a high amount of goals this U21 I am not sure its normally that open.
Comments
We didn't play badly overall, we lost because of crazy defensive errors, that isn't down to Boothroyd. He doesn't tell Wan-Bissaka to have a brain fart and slice it into his own net v France? He doesn't tell Kenny to dive into a tackle in the area, or Tomori to slice a clearance instead of knocking it back to the keeper. He can't be blamed for Henderson letting the 3rd in. These are poor individual errors, same as you don't blame Bowyer for the goal Phillips let in at Wembley.
What Boothroyd can be blamed for though is not playing Abraham and Foden from the start.
I was telling Cafc fans (wasn't on CL) that Joe Gomez was by far the most talented lad we had when he was 14, (Tipped off by Joe Pigott's dad at Sparrows lane) so my CV is decent.
Wan-Bissaka has had a very solid start to his career but getting a potential move to United must've unsettled him because he looked more Morgan Fox than Trent Alexander-Arnold
The remit for England in these
tournaments is everyone gets minutes if possible, the problem with this is it makes for an omnishambles as you get individual performance but complete mess in understanding over the course of 90 + minutes.
Italy's hopes will probably end up resting on France v Romania where a draw will put both sides through to the semi's. Wonder how that one will play out.........
Also West ham look to have got a great deal by signing Fornals pre-tournament as he's been very impressive and his value would've no doubt gone up after the tournament.
Of course a 4-0 win for Austria would see Germany eliminated
If that doesn't happen and France win 1-0 against Romania then that too will be enough for both to get through which might be more likely as if the best runner up is from that Group then its that side who faces Spain, something I imagine that France will want to avoid until the Final potentially (Although if they avoid that then they're likely to face Germany so not easy either)
If Denmark win 4-0 and Romania lose 1-0 then both 2nd placed teams will have the same Goal Difference and will have the same amount of Goals Scored, would then go down to Disciplinary Records (again both teams have the exact same amount of bookings) - So if that remains same then it simply comes down to whoever has the best UEFA U21 Coefficient which would be Denmark, would be a cruel way for Romania to exit the competition if that happened
https://www.footballfancast.com/premier-league/arsenal/unai-emery-must-give-krystian-bielik-a-chance-in-arsenals-first-team
If he gets thrown in he'll get slaughtered by strikers with pace.
What might go in our favour is by the time Bielik returns from his summer holiday he won't have that many pre season games in which to impress, so they'll probably end up loaning him out again.
Denmark were eliminated after only beating Serbia 2-0 which put them behind Italy on Goal Difference
Draw between Romania and France will see both through
Win for France will see them both advance but if its a 3-0 win it'll put Italy into the Semi-Finals instead of Romania
Win for Romania will see Italy into the Semi-Finals
Not 1 shot on target in the entire game
Ive not liked qualifying and set up for this tournament anyway. Lose 1st game your basicaly out of the tournament.
The draw was odds on BEFORE kick off, neither side were interested and i don't think there was a shot on target all game. Blatant match fixing really, as Romania go from scoring 4 in each game to not having a shot.
Hope both sides get done over in the semi's.
One against France (plus a couple that didnt lead to goals)
Couple last night against Croatia
Two against the Netherlands in the Nations League
Its a shame as Defending has usually been quite a reliable area for England, its normally the midfield that had let us down in the past
Didn't understand how Kenny got in ahead of Wan-Bissaka. You've got a guy who had an amazing season and has United looking at him for 50m...........and Boothroyd picks Kenny who barely gets a look in at Everton.
Tomori was poor yet played all 3 games.
He didn't start Foden or Abraham against Romania yet played both for 90 minutes in a meaningless game last night.
Shit all round really.
For example, Sancho, Gomez and TAA are in the seniors. It doesn't mean we have younger replacements stepping up, it means we have replacements who are not as good stepping up.
Wan-Bissaka, Jonjoe Kenny and Demarai Gray are older than TAA, Gomez and Sancho yet in the under 21s. It's not as if Boothroyd turned up to the Euro's with a squad of 18 year olds.
Spain beat France 4-1. Germany beat Romania 4-2.
2nd consecutive Spain v Germany final and the 4th time in the last 5 competitions that Spain are in the final.
We would have had a decent chance if we had a different manager, Boothroyd doesn't have a clue. Started with Solanke in Game 1 when he hasn't played much minutes with Abraham and CL on the bench who both were playing and more suited to the role up front effectively on your own with 2 wingers/inside forwards.
How Foden didn't start the 2nd game? I agree he is one of the greatest talents we have produced
Even in the last game when there was nothing to lose we just showed we couldn't defend and in every game we were our own downfall, regardless all the mistakes the manager made with a squad like that they should have at least got through the group minimum.
It was a tough group but France showed they weren't all that last night getting a lesson, Romania were more impressive but I didn't really see how they went from 2-1up to lose 4-2. We would have lost to Spain.
Tough one to call but you have to back Spain in the final, but I did think Germany were looking the best team early doors, hopefully it should be a good game with a lot of goals, it does seem there have been a high amount of goals this U21 I am not sure its normally that open.