I suppose so. But big season for him this one, at 21 it's time to see his ability on a more frequent basis.
Still a baby, I'd have him out on loan somewhere personally. Playing week in week out for United at that age you have to be a real generational talent.
Dixon "They were a bit more on it today" No mate, they're just a lot better than us. Personnel and as a team. No shame in admitting that.
For a tiny bit of perspective lets keep in mind many of Belgium's star players are in their prime right now or soon approaching it, they'll be happy be 3rd place, beaten Brazil along the way, but they're running out of time to win something with this crop. Hazard, De Bruyne, Alderweireld, Chadli, Witsel will all be in their 30's the next WC, Mertens 35, Dembele 34, Vertonghen 35...
but then again he might say **** it and jack it in if Sterling is constantly picked ahead of him yes but they were being kept out by arguably better strikers, Vardy is being kept out by a winger that cannot cross or shoot
Its not like the media to overexaggerate an England performance, like I've been saying all tournament...
Problem we’ve had all tournament is that we have had no one hanging on the shoulder of the last defender and worrying them. Kane has been 40 yards from goal for what feels like 99% of the time and even when Sterling was in and around the central defenders they never had to be particularly concerned as he has literally no end product whatsoever. I mean did he have a single shot on target? A single shot within ten yards of the goal? A single assist? When Rashford comes on he takes a position 10 yards in front of the opposition’s last man and he simply offered nothing to hurt them at any point. The amount of times in the second half today that we had the ball in dangerous positions and were looking for runners in behind and only had players coming back towards the man on the ball or showing behind him was as frustrating as ever. To sum it all up Southgate brings on Alli. Why? What possible reason could there be to bring on someone who has either been injured or very poor apart from the first game while leaving Vardy on the bench. We had a dream run in. We took the chance as far as we could go. A whole load of people who’ve spent years slagging off anything to do with the England team are suddenly interested again. Not the outcome many of us expected. Deserve some of the plaudits but there’s definitely some criticisms to be made and questions to be asked.
Yeah. Our counters need a lot of work. Sterling will sprint up with the ball, have no option, hold it up and all you get is the opposition flying back and regaining their positions and then we’re f*cked.
As I said in the Croatia thread , my first post in nearly a year - England had the most fortunate draw ever ... They barely beat Colombia missing James ... Then smoked v Belgium V Croatia v Belgium ... The question must be asked ... are England any good at football ? Great league ... for sure but English born players aren’t great are they? Captain America
It was a bad first half but I was pleased and surprised by the performance in the second. Cheek and Rashford have far more idea than some of the other forward types. Some don't like anyone mentioning how poor Sterling's England scoring record is (it is wee wee poor) but also let's not forget just how often he is robbed of the ball - and not just in this game. No amount of spinning can disguise that.
Past two games really have shown our biggest weakness, inability to create chances from open play. Belgium fully deserved to be 3rd, they’re miles better than us. Still it’s an amazing achievement to be 4th, considering the quality of other squads in the tournament. Well done England. On a side note, I really hope we start playing Loftus Cheek regularly, or sell him and he plays every week. He is going to be absolutely crucial for England in the next few years as he is the only midfielder who can carry the ball forward. Fingers crossed we get a few more young English players coming through too, a deep lying playmaker would be dreamy.
And that is to be expected. Realistically only one or two of our U20 World Cup winning team will 'make it' and be England senior team regulars, but the encouraging part about it is that the success is not at one age group, but across the board. Just need a couple of players to 'make it' at each age group and you end up with a very talented squad in 5-6 years time. Not to forget that we had the youngest team at this tournament and finished fourth. Looking at our squad only Cahill, Rose, Young and Vardy are at an age where they won't be as good for the next WC, and I doubt we'd miss any of them too much. Looking forward to seeing Sessegnon at Fulham, Sancho at Dortmund, Mount at Derby, Rashford at Man Utd next season as I see them as the big talented 18-20 year olds who should be developing and pushing claims to be at Euro2020.
Midfield forward, i don't include the defence, it's the same story .. lack of football cunning and creativity, Coaches are so mesmerised by a player like Rashford's natural speed that they trade that off with their natural averageness (at top level ) of other qualities, in the belief that it can be learned or improved, ie a creative brain, you cannot teach someone what is either innate in them or not, i am just using Rashford as an example, these players are good but time will only improve anyone's tactical awareness, it will not improve the ability or lack of you were born with, So don't get me wrong Rashford has a good enough brain, but it's only his speed that gives him his uniqueness, Sterling again is good at being nippy but with that talent his final ball should be equivalent in quality, it's not, It's like a singer that is brilliant at 3 notes and moulds a career with them, will never have true natural singing talent
