Football

ooops

you saw through my cunning plan

10 points about the u21's failure to exit the group stages of the Euro's
Doesn't make for comfortable reading, if you actually want england to have a chance of winning a major football tournament in your lifetime..

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/jun/12/england-under-21-stuart-pearce

Liverpool FC = selling club

i believe the term you are looking for is remodelling

Liverpool FC; A transition club

@CB: awaiting the deluge about point 6 and Liverpool.

@CB: awaiting the deluge about point 6 and Liverpool.

It's a fair point.. Jonjo has flattered to deceive to be honest, he's pretty good but is wasteful in front of goal and has an erratic first touch. I think liverpool should be aiming to have better players, so if a few of these midfielders we're linked to (Luis Alberto) get signed then I can see him being sold on

I'd have loved all the fully fit, young Arsenal players to have been at the championships - fuck this burnout nonsense.

(11) What do 3 games really say about the state of football in England?
Very little.

I dunno.
It's easy to make the link from who are the world champions?
Spain.

What is the Spanish national team like?
good.

What is the Spanish U21 team like?
Very good.

Why?
Because lots of their youngsters are applying the talents they use in a very strong league. Whereas lots of English youngsters struggle to make the step up from youth squads to anything other than Championship.

Why is that?
Because, financially it seems to be a better option to invest in known quality rather than give youth a chance.

So does this mean that Spanish players getting a break is due to the quality of the league, or it could it be an indication that the teams they play for have no money and are essentially feeder clubs for the big 2?

You could say that yes.

What it tells you is that if you give youth a chance and implement a good structure to do so you can reap the benefits within 15 years.

There's plenty of examples of clubs that went bust and, as a necessity rather than a choice, had to play a lot of youngsters at the same time that these players improved immensely.

Dortmund, Feyenoord, Real Sociedad, Ajax have all experienced a similar scenario.

Well, yes, but I think you're missing the point.
Who signs the best Spanish players? The teams with most money.
Who has the most money? Real, Barca, EPL, Bayern.

Absolutely, but hasn't this always been the case?

There is also the argument that no Bayern or BVB players were in the German team - along with a few other Draxler etc - they went out.

Isco, Thiago, Montoya, De Gea, Martinez etc have all played large parts of their temas seasons, often 1st team choices.

It's a similar story for Italy.

So yes, England were poor, the players weren't as good as the best teams in the tournament but then our best under-21 players are sitting on the bench for the first team in the recent run of friendlies.

This isn't an argument for Pearce or for the fact our players should've been good enough to win 2 of their group matches but just to say sensationalist journalism tearing into the future of English football once again is kind of dumb.

Couple of funny rumours about barcelona wanting Torres today.

There is of course a much simpler explanation, that being that the English are shit at football. I can live with that. We're great at darts.

about those stories linking barcelona to Torres. Is it a case of not seeing the wood for the trees.
Yes Barca need a striker, maybe two, if they let Villa go. But more pressing is the need for some sort of development at center half.
Speaking of Spanish U21's Bartra has looked good for the national team, yet has been used sparingly by Barca, rumours that the club hierachy don't think he's good enough, so a ready made center half has to be bought in. Talk of them wanting Agger, whose in the same mould as Pique.

If young players aren't getting the games they never progress. Championship isn't demanding enough for them, good place to learn, but they need to be blooded in the top flight, to make the step up. Managers of the bigger premiership clubs should be looking to give youth players a chance on loan to some of the more progressive clubs in the premiership, thinking Swansea, West Brom, Southampton, Villa etc, where they will play in systems and for managers that want to play football, against the best the division has to offer...

Barcelona moan about EPL clubs poaching their players but they don't want to play them until they look good at another club, then play the homesick card and pressure the club to sell.

Madrid sell most of their youth players and include buy-back clauses in all the contracts in case they start playing well...

Barcelona should've bought Javi Martinez but I don't think he wanted to go to another Spanish team. I think they may buy Vermalen or look at David Luiz.

Barcelona should buy Lewandowski if they want a striker.

Think with the Martinez transfer, it was a case of anyone but Barca, and Madrid didn't need him. So Bayern were the only ones willing to offer the money for him.

Tender hasn't Vermaelen (sp?!) gone backwards in the last year at Arsenal, I know I'd rather have Vertonghen right now, and Vermaelen looks like a replacement for the creaky hair bear that is Puyol... Luiz I'm still not convinced about, maybe one of the suddenly giddy with the return of Mourinho lot can cast some light onto his performances at center half.. didn't he look better as an all action midfielder?

Doesn't Lewandowski send them back to the incompatibility of Ibrahimovic and the big touch for a big man center forward working within their system. Would have thought that if they'd had the option Bilbao striker whose just gone to Juventus, can't remember his name, would have been a better option. Llorente (memory works again)

Vermaelen struggled to play with Merts because he doesn't have the pace of Koscielny.
I still think Vermaelen and Koscielny are our best two centre backs but Wenger dissagrees and should a decent bid come in for Vermaelen I think they would sell. He is the sort of defender that Barca need

Lewandowski would be the right striker for Barca - way different to Ibra (more mobile/less ego) and BVB would be ok with selling to Barca I should think.

Consensus in Spain is that Martinez went to Bayern on Guardiola's wishes. Bayern went all out to get him (record transfer fee IIRC). Barcelona are sticking to their guns and are trying to live within their means which means a transfer budget of €50m per season, unless they sell.

Lewondowski would be an excellent signing for any of the top teams, let alone Barcelona. He would fit their plan A and plan B for that matter. He's much more than a target man. He's turned out to be one of the most complete out and out strikers in game, maybe second after Falcao.

As for Luiz, he doesn't fit the stereo type of the English CB, he's much better than that. He's pretty much the reverse of what Barcelona have at the moment ,DMF turned CB and therefore the interest seems very obvious. The only thing that concerns them is his lack of speed because Pique isn't the quickest either.

Barcelona were in talks last summer with Athletic Bilbao about Llorente but neither party were willing to give in.

Barca also have Song and Mascherano - both are adept at playing CB. I liked Song at CB when he was at Arsenal

Tender from what Sid Lowe reports Song is long for Barca..

They will be giving him at least another half a season surely.

I dont think either party would want to admit defeat just yet. If Barca want to loan him back to us to get some form back, fine with me :)