UEFA European U21 Championship

[DonAndres]

Not included in the squad (too old) but he'd be great for the future midfield too.

 

[AFCA]

I am very curious as to how my Dutch squad is doing. Midfield is very good with Maher, Strootman, Clasie, Van Ginkel and Fer. Practically every line is good, just hope the front three pick up the scoring pace... We are in a deadly group btw, with Germany, Spain and Russia.

Curious as well. The midfield players are very talented, but only Van Ginkel and Maher had a good season I think. Our attack is definitely the weakest line. Wijnaldum is not a winger and John is not a very good player.

 

[barcanuck]

Here's what my preferred lineup would be for the u21 Spain vs Russia game tonight:

-----------De Gea--------
Carvajal-Inigo-Bartra-Montoya
-----------Camacho-----------
--------Koke-----Thiago
-Tello------Rodrigo------Isco---

With Muniain, Morata, and Illaramendi subbing in at various points

That's a good lineup. I think Morata will start over Rodrigo since he's Real player and they usually get preferential treatment.

 

[DonAndres]

That's a good lineup. I think Morata will start over Rodrigo since he's Real player and they usually get preferential treatment.

Rodrigo has 9 caps, Morata has 0.

 

[impeh]

Spain; De Gea(GK) Montoya Bartra Iñigo Martínez Moreno Illarramendi Thiago Alcántara(C) Isco Rodrigo Tello Muniain

Russia; Zabolotni(GK) Schennikov Chicherin Burlak(C) Belyaev Tsallagov Petrov Shatov Bibilov Yakovlev Cheryshev

 

[jamrock]

Spain; De Gea(GK) Montoya Bartra Iñigo Martínez Moreno Illarramendi Thiago Alcántara(C) Isco Rodrigo Tello

Russia; Zabolotni(GK) Schennikov Chicherin Burlak(C) Belyaev Tsallagov Petrov Shatov Bibilov Yakovlev

Am I only counting 10 Spanish players

 

[impeh]

oh yeh Muniain is playing

 

[Jenks]

I've seen people use the excuse the Premier League success is hampering our national team, how can it? Some of the best players in the world play in the Premier League, surely that should only improve English players if they are training with them every day?

What English players? The amount of money in the Premier League means that clubs all have chequebook mentalities, they don't need to develop youth talent because they can just buy a cheap foreign player to solve their problem instead. The number of native players playing in the Premier League is tiny compared to other leagues, even some of the most talented youngsters like Chalobah or Barkley have to drop down to the Championship just to get a game. And there's so much money in the lower leagues as well that the prospect of B teams is about as likely as England winning a World Cup.

And the players certainly care about playing for England at any level, but the public unfortunately have little interest in youth tournaments (and therefore the media) and so the clubs exploit that. There's little doubt in my mind that Wilshere and AOC would have joined the U21's given the chance.

 

[jamrock]

Yep, muniain

 

[barcanuck]

Morata had some good moments for Madrid this year though.

 

[DonAndres]

Morata had some good moments for Madrid this year though.

Yeah but considering that Rodrigo has 11 goals in 9 games for the u21 team, there is very little chance of Morata getting "preferential treatment" over him.

 

[barcanuck]

On point DonAndres:

1 De Gea
5 Bartra
2 Martín Montoya
6 Íñigo Martínez
18 Alberto Moreno
3 Illarramendi
10 Thiago Alcântara
22 Isco
19 Muniain
9 Rodrigo
11 Tello

 

[Semi-Neutral]

Does anyone have a stream?

Never mind, I didn't expect firstrow to be streaming this but they've decided to, with English commentary as well: stream

 

[DonAndres]

On point DonAndres:

1 De Gea
5 Bartra
2 Martín Montoya
6 Íñigo Martínez
18 Alberto Moreno
3 Illarramendi
10 Thiago Alcântara
22 Isco
19 Muniain
9 Rodrigo
11 Tello

Thankfully a very reasonable lineup. No reason to go all out on this one as the Germany match is coming up.

 

[jamrock]

That is the all out xi, Can't get any better than that, figured Illarramendi Would play a big part in the team