15 Jul 2018 17:56:51
What a quality team the French have been!
15 Jul 2018 18:11:10
They've come a long way in two years mate, at euro 2016 they looked good at times but something wasn't quite right but now who knows what they might achieve if they don't implode off the pitch as they have in the past.
15 Jul 2018 22:18:05
Thing is there a young team like England and look at them compared to us.
15 Jul 2018 23:11:32
Very true Stephen we are way behind but we sneaked our of France 2 years ago with our heads down in embarrassment and this time we walked out of Russia having done better than expected.
Our problem is not enough English players play in our domestic league on merit but because the rules dictate 8 must be home grown from 25 man squad.
The French league is full of French players and the same in Germany Italy Spain where only the top teams have lots of players from other countries.
We need to find a way of getting our under 17 19 20 champions playing premier league football rather than under 23 level.
16 Jul 2018 03:51:01
England flattered to deceive with one of the weakest England teams I can recall and not a single world class player in sight.
The homegrown quota hasn't really worked and our club is a prime example, without a single English player in our strongest starting eleven. We have signed 5 players this window and not a single English player amongst them.
Not only do we have a dearth of playing talent, we also have no top managers or coaches.
16 Jul 2018 05:31:49
Maybe it should be a rulebyou have to have at least 4 to 5 English players in the starting 11 might get a few new talents coming through.
16 Jul 2018 08:50:16
I think there has to be an incentive to play English players but not a rule that you have to.
Forcing English players on top teams has just made the best English players over valued but not better players. Klinsmann called it rolling out the red carpet for English players and obviously it's not had the desired effect.
The problem is money, every man and his dog bar the really top players want to play in England because of the wages so all clubs have players from all over the world even the lower leagues and this is a problem most other countries don't have.
I think the place to start is not to worry to much about the big clubs but find a way of getting the majority of premier league clubs and certainly championship and below to prefer buy or better still bring through English players but not forcing it on them.
Just an idea, but maybe a Europa league place for the premier league club that uses the most English players in a season and an automatic play off place for the football league clubs that do the same.
Obviously if two teams both play a full 11 English players then it would revert back to the highest points.
I don't think it matters too much if our current under 17 19 20 champions aren't playing for United city Liverpool or Arsenal but it does matter that they get to play if we want to have players to chose from in the future.