Penalty agony for Blues duo in U21 Euros semi

Don't forget, Koeman will know this player very well from his Southampton days, so if he doesn't put him on his shopping list, it will be for good reason.

Alternatively, Koeman may not be a manager Ward-Prowse wants to work under again. Who knows?

The younger team was consistently good to watch, playing attractive football, but this team is not as good to watch, very physical, playing long ball and on the break.

They don't deserve to win this one.

One thing Martinez was right about is that in England we have a problem developing players in the 20-23 year range. Not sure of the root cause but it's been that way for a long time as so many good 18-year-olds fall behind their foreign peers.

A lot bigger and stronger though. Maybe that's a part of it. Score well from set pieces mind.

Result, never in doubt!

Why is it that we have such poor ball control when compared to foreign players? The basics of football coaching is ball control and passing accuracy. Every top play maker in the Premier League is foreign, this is ludicrous. I reckon we are just developing hard-working drones, we need much more skill.

We've won sweet FA since 1966 because we've developed a loser mentality. Give it your best and all that shit. Fuck off, I'm tired of this loser bullshit.

Oh buggar it... Germany once more!

In German.

(Coat retrieved)

We can beat these guys in nothing games but, when something is on the line, we have no success.

I checked his Wikipedia. He's 22, and has played for Southampton 170 times, with more than 140 Premier League appearances. You don't play for a club consistently playing in the top half of the table for 4 seasons without being decent.

Considering that Koeman worked with him for a year before joining us, does anyone see him as a younger, English, and potentially cheaper alternative to Sigurdsson?

It will be if he plays those 6-7 yard passes to Jags or Williams, who will definitely not welcome them.

Just got a serving of Sandro. Explosive dribble through three defenders.

He is going to be fun to have around.

That Saul is some player.

They have some lovely balanced footballers in that Spanish side. They're going to be a handful when they reach the senior side this lot.

Now that we have better recruits around him, he can flourish and be given more space and less pressure for total creativity on his shoulders. Despite creating more chance across Europe last season than any other 23-year-old player, he is accused of being inconsistent. Brainless route for me.

We really need to be more objective about Ross and let him develop nicely over the next two years whilst the rest of the team pull their finger out.

Kev and Rom not only miss chances – they do not see other players around them (ie, selfish). With Klaassen, Sandro creating threat, dynamism, assists, team vision and goal scoring, Ross would be a huge success in the space they create.

I say sell Rom, keep Ross (and Geri for that matter) and buy two more strikers (Mousa Dembele and Iheanacho). Throw Lucas Lima (Santos) in for creative midfield depth and we would be in real business.

On going 2-1 up in about the 49th-minute he openly mouthed to the team 4-5-1. What ensued was awful, with no leaders on the pitch the team deepened in their position and the wide midfielders played as full backs the back four packed across the 18-yard box.

Germany waltzed through and missed a plethora of chances to finish the game.

Not even in Extra Time did the stance change. Truly shocking.

Holgate done again at marking his man; Pickford, albeit at U21 level, is starting to make me sit up.

He has played well, super confident and comes for everything. Catches when under no pressure, punches when coming through traffic. Very nice.

Once old enough or for prestigious matches, they move to the club pitch; normally well kept professional level turf. Also, they are coached by coaches, not dads with good intent; parents in the main are kept away from the pitch side and coaching sessions.

Our kids play on shitty mud-filled neglected recreation grounds. This promotes a culture of hoof ball because in winter months it is nigh on impossible to play football. Unqualified parents coach their lads and lasses teams and parents demand (dictate) team selection and then aggressively goad from the sidelines, often encroaching on the field of play.

The only comparable facilities are saved for the elite; look at St George's – who ever gets to play on that? We build the roof first rather than the foundations. No house I know of is built in that way.

Finally, we are obsessed with results at youth level rather than development. This promotes favour of powerful fast players at the age of 14 because they are fast and powerful, not necessarily the best footballers, they just win matches at that state because they are fast and powerful.

Better players fall by the wayside because they don't get to play and lose interest. We are left with fast and powerful (but not very technical or creative) players. Yes football is about winning, but I guarantee that in Holland and Germany, no one is bothered about winning the Harrow U12 League Cup (substitute that for Dusseldorf or Utrecht).

We don't focus on development and that is why we continuously get undone technically further downstream. I remain convinced Messi would never have made it had he been English because he was "too small and lightweight".

Rant over. Looking forward to next season and who cares about England? I don't!!

Perhaps it's related to the physical traits of the kids and demands of the national league – how many times have you heard the cliche phrases about the Premier League being "the most physically demanding league in the world" and the "dancing with the ball" trait, attributed to nearly all of the southern countries?

It does seem like Brittish kids have the advantage over their opponents until a certain age, when the technically superior kids, raised closer to the equator, start to mature and catch up in strength and agility.

But on the other hand - England U20 became the World Champions and the Enagland U21 lost in the European semifinals, when the only reasonable difference between the squads was the number of young lads playing for Everton (5 > 2).

Jokes aside, it is a huge compliment to the wonderful work that Rhino has been doing and to the work ethic that the Blues instill in their academy members. Nothing is granted to you, nothing, but the best will do.

Looking from aside it also seems that English players encounter huge amounts of pressure on the national level and it did manifest itself quite obviously when they fell behind in the game against Iceland (or, basically, any other elimination game that they lost in the past 50 years).

That's where all the penalty losses are coming from – none of them are used to being the underdogs, and the sheer possibility of it keeps on mentally destroying them through all these generations. Has England ever won a penalty shoot-out in an international tournament on ANY age-level?

Oh, and I also have one more question – since Everton have been the champions of England nine times, would the next league trophy give them the golden star next to their logo? Since I only thought of it a couple of days ago, I realised that I haven't really noticed whether British clubs use this tradition. That would certainly be a "who's who?" moment, wouldn't it? Where's your Golden star, Chelski? Tottenham? Man City? Oh, well, at least (hypothetically) NOW the people are starting to take notice.

Even though I'm just 28 years old, I do shiver at the thought, that I could literally not see this moment in my entire life. And since I didn't really follow Everton when I was six, I still hope to see any type of trophy secured by the Blues. At least a bloody League Cup, at this point I am not that picky anymore.

Greetings to all fellow blue-noses! Mark my words, this is the season that we will remember for the rest of our lives, for it's a Grand Old Team to support, and we have been waiting for far too long. The Sleeping Giant shall awake and shake the world. It is our time!

If I were Koeman I would give all English players a swerve, they lack the winning mentality once the come of age.

Only kidding we need to keep Ross he is the future of everything blue and England, oops there I go again getting sarcastic.

If and it's a big IF Sandro is singed, then maybe I will get excited for next season. Other than that, I think it will be more of the same, another 7th-ish finish, maybe do a bit better in the cup's.

I think the comments about coaching kids may be a bit out dated. I have kids and the are trained at school to play from the back, they have professional coaches and it's all about player development – not winning. I don't know how widespread that is but in my experience its a total change from the days of my youth.

Also, the Everton U23s coming through seem technically better than their predecessors. They all seem to be two footed and have excellent control. Ironic that David Unsworth is in charge as these were not his strongest qualities as a player. His right foot was for standing on only and the left foot for hoofing.

Absolutely spot on, the big strong match winners at 10 years old are rarely playing at 16 because other kids have caught up speed and strength wise and found them out.

As long as the money keeps rolling in, nobody cares, they will just keep signing better technically gifted players from abroad. The same goes for the management and backroom staff less technically gifted – just look at Southgate!

I recall being inspired by the great Everton side in the late 60s, particularly superb ball players like Harvey. Although not very good at football, I worked on ball skills, inspired by the likes of Harvey. I worked on shooting with my left foot (I'm right-footed), and doing loads of keep-ups. Alan Ball was also an inspiration in that respect.

Anyway, I got to the point where I could do more with a ball, rather than just booting it up the field. I used all this playing in Stanley Park with my mates. But when it came to playing in a proper team, whether at school or elsewhere, whenever I tried anything 'fancy', the shout would go up to get the ball up the field, booting it preferably. Fancy stuff wasn't appreciated.

It was apparent then why teams like Brazil were so much better than us. Although Everton's football was fantastic, it was a rarity at the time, standing out, especially in the 68-69 season.

Unless we encourage real skills at a young age, and have facilities to help this, our national team will always be mediocre.

I still to this day remember when we beat Germany 5-1 only to wake up the next day to see a paper had published the headline Liverpool 5 Germany 1.

I never thought it could get any worse only now I know it can, cue the Nivea adverts... Aaaaggghhhh!!!

Mason was poor (out of position) but so were the rest bar Hughes.

Cases in point: Onyekuru, Deulofeu, Klaassen ,and the new young Dutch kid, and hopefully Sandro.

Training kids to the standard required in today's game costs a lot of money and time... I think time being the most important aspect of this topic. Clubs want to win now! And at any cost.

The Premier League is also fairly shite, despite all the bullshit from our 'pundits' about how good it is. They've blurted this nonsense for decades.

The drubbing of Arsenal by Bayern was a demonstration of the quality gap, and of course we're even worse, but not much worse.

I can't imagine the Premier League would ever get to the levels you see from Barça and Real Madrid, unless something drastic is done to change our system, but heaven knows what that would be.

Pretty much agree with everything you say.

As it happens, I think you will find that, although Kendall never won a single cap for England, Colin Harvey was given one appearance in a vital friendly game against mighty Malta!

What a waste when the could have conquered the world (again) either the "Holy Trinity" in midfield.

Imagine the battle between them and Gerson, Rivelino and Cloadolaldo in that 1970 World Cup game against Brazil!