Subject: [u21] England u21 - Moldova u21

These games can be difficult to gauge. If you have a couple of gaps in key positions it can make a lot of difference. We really need a goalie.

@r3tarded: broster is too slow at the moment. with more pace he'll be a regular for us with the u19's :)

@ncn: yeah, with time i think this age group can become decent. players such as broster will even out by the time they turn 21, and i'll be able to play them which will make the defence better.

the keeper thats played in both games is only excellent with v.good pace. i haven't found a single 19yo keeper that's good, and another 18yo Wes Langmead, who looks the best off value, can't play becuase his manager won't show me his skills after numerous mails.

we also have problems upfront. we only have 1 decent 19yo and i don't like his distribution at the moment, and we had 2 18yo's playing yesterday. they're good but we have no depth at all, especially compared to this season where we have 8 or 9 strikers all of similar quality.

(edited)

With GKs you can pretty much work out their GK skill by the marks they get, the pace by how qucik they move from one end of the pitch to another. I'd just play one you think might be better even without the skills. I've done that for NZ, pain getting skills out of some people.

If you would like raine to be trained as an ATT, now would be a good time to say so.

Was good to see Baskeyfield get another game under his belt, shame he couldn't penetrate a little more.

@norwichcitynil
Without trying to speak for anyone, and not knowing the mid stocks of the U19s, I would say turning Raine in to a striker may be useless, as Baskeyfield already has him covered in the striker skills (at 18), and last check, the top 19yo striker, was one skill point ahead of Baskeyfield.

So it would appear that Raine would be trained purely for a rainy day if one of these guys were injured or in horrible form (and this isn't even taking into consideration the 2nd/3rd best 18 and 19yos)

no keep Raine as a mid, i just got an update on another decent striker today. as a striker he'd only be on the bench, but as a mid he's a starter. i may try him in a more advanced midfield role in a future friendly though to see how that works :)

onto passing when he's fit again then :).