The Questions of England's Youth...

After the England U21's 0-0 draw with Ukraine, a few followers of the national side, as well as the media, may begin to ask several questions about what we call the next generation of England footballers. Here's my insight to what the answers to these may be...

Isn't it a bit like South Africa?

At times the performances of this U21 championship have been a little flat, lacked a bit of ambition and could easily be compared to the performances the full national team put out a year ago. Again, just like the full national team 12 months ago, we have had some backing from the fans and media that we may do ok in this competition. And after a great fightback in the first game to draw with an impressive Spanish side, things looked promising, especially because it seemed we didn't even hit top gear. But after the 0-0 with Ukraine, who now sit bottom of the group, only glimpses within the second half of the match did we look capable of scoring.

Are we good enough to progress in the competition?

Don't get me wrong, we are still probably one of the best sides in the tournament, but our team has to change. In terms of attitude, personel, and maybe even shape. Our back four has looked very strong so far, and new United recruit, Phil Jones has forged a great partnership Chris Smalling. It's a shame we didn't see Kyle Walker on the ball a lot during the second game, but defensively we haven't been troubled too much. However in midfield is where I think the majority of the changes need to occur in order for us to progress. Danny Rose for me isn't offering that much, and I think Scott Sinclair or Marc Albrighton would perform a lot better out on that wing. Jordan Henderson is a great prospect, however he's slowing the pace of the game down far too much. Against Ukraine we looked best going forward when we had tempo to our play and he was the one slowing it all down. Henri Lansbury has been rather promising both times he has come on and I think he needs to be given a chance, whether that be in midfield or off the striker, and I think Welbeck is overrated. He had a great chance when put through by Danny Sturridge, which he shinned wide, you need Sturridge in that striking role if we want to score. Change the system, and yes we'll progress.

So will these players be good enough for the national team in five or so years?

Hard to predict. A lot are very talented for their age and if they continue to get better then there is no reason why not. Whether they will reach the same kind of ability as the current crop is open to debate, however I'm not sure if anyone has the potential to be as good as Wayne Rooney in the current crop (though he's only 25!). We also need to remember that this side are missing Jack Wilshere, who already is a full England international at 19, as well as £35 million striker Andy Carroll, so there is talent already in place, so if the rest of them can get better the future may be safe!

One final point

I think it's wrong of me if I were to compare it to other national teams, but I'm impressed at how many of this U21 squad come from such illustrious clubs. All the starting line-up tonight were in the Premier League last season, with captain Michael Mancienne securing a move abroad this summer to German club Hamburg! I mean some of them, yes haven't played an awful lot of top flight football, the likes of Ryan Bertrand and Danny Rose spring to mind, but then you look at Chris Smalling who played a key role in filling the defensive void at Man Utd last year, and Daniel Sturridge who became Chelsea's best striker whilst on loan at Bolton at the back of the season. These players have what it takes to be top flight players for a lot of their careers, so as I have said previous, if they keep on improving (and moves to bigger clubs for the likes of Jordan Henderson and Phil Jones can only enhance improvement even more!) then we might see these players in England shirts for quite some time!