[Football] Rooney dropped by Southgate; manager downplays role of "England captain"

[Reg]

Probably worth a thread - everyone likes talking about Rooney. Also, more threads and that.

Some good quotes in here from Southgate. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/mar/16/jermain-defoe-england-squad-recall-germany-lithuania

[Yevrah]

About bloody time.

[Lewis]

Rooney has, in turn, been invited to a squad meeting at St George’s Park on Monday when Southgate, speaking in a way that has become rare for England managers, intends to deliver some “brutal” truths about the diminished state of English football.

https://antonynbritt.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/june-9-gareth-southgate-pizza-hut-advert.jpg

[Baz]

I like how he sees the U21 (and presumably other age categories) as vital in a player's development. Leaving Rashford in the U21s for a bit can only be beneficial, surely.

[Dquincy]

Can't help but look at that squad and be discouraged.

My suggestion to improve the national team is to include a rule that all domestic matches must require a minimum of 8 UK and Eire players in the matchday squad. It might be a catastrophic idea, but I'd be interested to see what happens.

Brexit.

[Pen]

Can't see how having more Irish in the Prem players wouldn't help England do better. Great plan.

[Giggles]

Sounds good to me :nodd:

[Ian]

Why on Earth make it "UK and Eire"? Sod that. If you're doing it just go for English. Some of them will fuck off and play for the others once they've realised they're shit anyway.

[Mellberg]

Southgate comes across better than any other England manager I can remember in interviews. Talks a lot of sense. Doubt he'll be able to back it up though as 1) it's England, and 2) it's Southgate.

[phonics]

Fuck me, Roy Keane absolutely went off on one on Mourinho yesterday :D

842665769129394176
'Why so we have to listen to this absolute gaaarbage?

[CJay]

Isn't James Milner the prime of example of staying in he u21s for ages? Didn't do him much good.

[John]

Doesn't Milner have about eighty caps for the senior side? Impossible to attribute that to staying in the U21s for ages, but he's also not the example you want to use when saying that doing so doesn't work.

[CJay]

Doesn't Milner have about eighty caps for the senior side? Impossible to attribute that to staying in the U21s for ages, but he's also not the example you want to use when saying that doing so doesn't work.

My point was he's still a bit average.

[Shindig]

I can see the benefits of having an experienced member of the U21 side but it works both ways. What would Rooney be if he stayed at home in 2004? How would Walcott have developed if the prospect of joining a squad for a major tournament didn't cripple him every time?

[Dquincy]

Can't see how having more Irish in the Prem players wouldn't help England do better. Great plan.

Pen, you're doubting me and then telling me it's a great plan. Make your mind up.

It is a work in progress. But for sure there is a direcr correlation between fewer and fewer England players making the grade and the influx of Johnny Foreigner. Something needs doing about it. Maybe put Farage as chairman of the FA and/or premier league.

[John]

My point was he's still a bit average.

I don't think anyone's claiming that spending ages at the children's table will make someone a better player than they can be, just that they'll learn their way into international football more naturally than with the stop start nonsense that tends to come when you throw a clearly not ready eighteen year old into the full side as a 'reward' for a good six months at club level. Milner left the U21s, got into the full England squad, and then stayed there for years. He isn't an incantation against the idea of lengthy spells in the U21s.