Come To Milton Keynes

England U21 2 v Kosovo U21 0 

2021-23 UEFA European U21 Championship, Qualifying Group G 

Tuesday 7 September 2021 

Played at Stadium MK 

At last. The Under 21 campaign starts. The Carrier Bag Firm just luuuurve this competition. Although I see UEFA are still trying to fuck it up by staying with ever larger finals, split between countries. This time, we'll have a 16 team tournament in Summer 2023. Split between two cities/four grounds in Romania and three cities/four grounds in Georgia. As recently as 2015, this was a superb eight team tournament in the Czech Republic.

Romania & Georgia both qualify as Hosts. Nine qualifying groups. The nine group Winners and one best runner up (oh for fuck sake) qualify automatically. And the remaining eight group runners up play off for four places. Gentlemen, start your spreadsheets.

Although this was England's first game in Group G, some countries had been able to start games as early as March 2021, and the groups will finish in mid June 2022. Then the eight runners up play offs, before the finals in June/July 2023.

England are in with Czech Republic, Slovenia, Albania, Kosovo & Andorra. The Czech Republic currently top the group with two wins from two. England are second after that win tonight.

Last bit of admin, the regs are for players born on or after 1 January 2000. So, players could be as old as 23½ by the time the finals come to town (well five towns actually, see above).

Here's our Starters & Used Subs

1 Josef Bursik Stoke City 20 July 2000

2 Max Aarons Norwich City 4 January 2000

3 Luke Thomas Leicester City 10 June 2001

4 Marc Guehi Crystal Palace 13 July 2000

6 Oliver Skipp Tottenham 16 September 2000

7 Rhian Brewster Sheffield United 1 April 2000

8 Conor Gallagher Chelsea on loan to Crystal Palace 6 February 2000

15 Taylor Hardwood-Bellis Manchester City on loan to Anderlecht 30 January 2002

18 James Garner Manchester United on loan to Nottingham Forest 13 March 2001

20 Cole Palmer Manchester City 6 May 2002

23 Noni Madueke PSV 10 March 2002

Used Subs

9 Folarin Balogun Arsenal 3 July 2021

12 Tyreece John-Jules Arsenal on loan to Blackpool 14 February 2001

21 Tino Livramento Southampton 12 November 2002

14 Thomas Doyle Manchester City on loan at Hamburg 17 October 2001

So, Max Aarons was the oldest. And Tino Livramento the youngest, with three other 2002 borners also featuring.

All told, I thought that was a competent & comfortable win for the Young Lions. Not exhilarating. Not relentless. But competent. An awful lot of the ball across the defenders & around the midfield. A bit of penetration on the bylines. Not a great deal going on up top or in the channels.

In Big Boys International Football you occasionally see strikers who basically don't have much impact - apart from the one goal they've scored to win it. That's partly because of how well even "the minnows" can defend. Natch, there is some mirroring of that in International Age Group Football. Enter Sheffield United's Rhian Brewster.

A lovely run into the box on 10 minutes, inside right channel, great ball slipped to him, keeper a bit over committed, contact, not a dive, but he was always going down for the penalty. Rhian got up to take the penalty. Fucked about with a hesitant juddering run up. But, head stayed on and he banged it home.

Rhian lasted until 65, when he was subbed off for Balogun. England played a very fluid formation. I'm going to say essentially with three up top. Madueke & Cole Palmer out wide. (Both of those looked left footed to me). Palmer, in particular, is a skillful ball at his feet player. Very different to Brewster. Although Rhian was looking for the ball, out wide, coming deep, he was often isolated in a lone central striker role. I will say Balogun made no real difference when he came on. Rhian didn't shine, but got his goal.

I noticed Rhian came second behind Cole in the fan's online Player Of The Match vote. Emphasising how much of a premium armchair fans put on goalscorers.

Cole added a superb second goal on 26 minutes. The ball came to him out wide right, he Basham turned the defender. Skipped away from the byline a bit and left footed it home from a tightish angle. 

As well as him, the players I noticed most were; Marc Guehi, Oliver Skipp & Conor Gallagher. Those three provided the spine. Guehi in a back four, Skipp taking it off them at the base of midfield. And, Gallagher roaming in front looking, linking and probing. All three very assured on the ball. Strong & difficult to shake off. Mostly moving the ball quickly. But, at times taking the safer option. That's one of the reasons they couldn't get the channels & centre striker working all that well.

A competent start. Win on the board. Move on to the next 'un.

The main drink was in the much maligned BrewDog in the much maligned Milton Keynes. Here's an announcement. There are very rarely bars on roundabouts. So your criticism of MK having too many roundabouts is of little interest to Ball Suppers on the case.

With BrewDog, the best advice is to ignore what THEY want you to think & do. And use them to your advantage. For instance, the Carrier Bag Firm caught the tail end of the Up And Coming Fest. A rack of BrewDog tap lines turned over to (you guessed it) up & coming breweries.

I had my first ever beers from Flowerhorn, a microbrewery in Cardiff, Carnival Brewing Co in Liverpool & Mashionistas Brewing Co in Coventry. Come on. Come on. You've got to count that as a win.

Flowerhorn, Crack, New England IPA on Keg at 6.5%

Fuck me, lovely beer. But, I got sick to death with the CBF "jokers". I'll have some more Crack Phil. Can you get me some Crack Phil. Line up some Crack Phil. That was juicy in the right way. To show off the Hop bitterness. Not to show off the Juice. Very close to being a throat grabber. And sugar left on the lips after it all. Lovely beer.

Carnival Brewing Company Collab with Fuerst Wiacek, Together Tomorrow Forever, Black IPA on Keg at 6.6%

The lesser spotted Black IPA, more often branded as Cascadian Dark. Overall a bit underpowered. But, a slow burner that one. Ribena sugar grows. Bitterness comes up a bit short. But, certainly worth trying.

Mashionistas Brewing Co, Seville Blossom, Orange Sour on Keg at 3.5%

Billed as an Entry Level Sour. All a bit translucent. Elements of Robinson's Barley Water. But, deffo suits the Heatwave.

Are you familiar with the accumulated works of The Style Council? And their classic Come To Milton Keynes? Christ, Paul looks young in the Video.

"We used to chase dreams, now we chase the dragon"

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