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Not the draw I would have liked for the first two games but then short of getting two teams in the 90s I don't suppose I'd like any draw. Hopefully the other six games won't be as difficult.

As Coach/Manager/Whatever I've taken the blame when I post here. I still think that's right to do so but my disinclination to blame others, couple with general ignorance I think means some people think I'm not doing a good job. I can't help that but perhaps I can point out some things in my defence, both for the season coming and those already gone. All I can do is advise people, I can't make anyone do anything they don't want to do.

What I'm most referring to is game shape. Last season the player who should have been our best player did not play a single game for us. His game shape in the first week was average, and he got worse as the season went on. This despite all I have said on the forums for several seasons. He wasn't alone but he was the one that stung the most. I feel I went on to do as well as I could, but having a key player missing (he was very important to what I wanted to do) disrupted the season for me.

This weekend I've had a very hard job picking players for the squad. Game shape in general is abysmal. Some of that is luck. Indeed, I've had to leave out my own 20yo because his game shape is poor, though really I'd have preferred the several players in front of him to have better shape. Some of it however isn't luck. Having had four seasons of seeing players playing 48 minutes twice a week, or playing large parts in three games, frankly I've had enough.

My approval rating is 73% right now. Looking at it with an attempt at partiality I'd say that was fairly generous and probably helped by certain people who will vote for me no matter what. I have to say my approval rating for the trainers of players I've been keeping an eye on for three seasons is a damn sight lower.

Above all, thank you so much for taking on the responsibility of leading the U21 squad. Indeed, I can perfectly understand your frustration, as having a team with limited resources certainly is a handiccap, let alone diminishing even more the useable players due to mismanagement at team level.

As one of the trainers of a hopefully relevant big for the junior squad, you can be reassured that Page will play between 48-60 minutes weekly to reduce the game shape gamble as much as possible. Furthermore, as we once discussed, I am open to adapt his training for any particular needs the project as a whole might benefit from.

Keep on the good job!

Your post is much appreciated thanks. Page is most definitely relevant. He would have been the first player I called up except I looked specifically at SFs first, not that that really matters. He was definitely one of those players I was hoping to see in good game shape.

Not the draw I would have liked for the first two games but then short of getting two teams in the 90s I don't suppose I'd like any draw. Hopefully the other six games won't be as difficult.

I wish all my posts were answered so eloquently. The joke about two teams in the 90s was particularly good as we now have three of them. Nice to see after the first two games we now see some balance.

I've looked through previous consolations and England have never started 0-2 before. So I could be the worst u21 coach ever. However I now have a chance to recover and still perhaps make the next stage, which would be something to smile about after a horrible start.

Well, we should qualify now after beating U.A.E. away. Not the easiest of wins but satisfying anyway. This puts us in a good position to qualify, though I do believe that's the very minimum we should do. With a lot of games remaining today I suspect we'll make the top 32.

What really has made post today though is something that happened in today's game that doesn't happen very often, especially not for a national team. Tim Davis, of Worcester Wolves, and our starting SG today, managed a 5x5. 10pts, 9 rbs, 5 asts, 5 stls, and 7 blks. The last assist came in the last minute, which meant I just about left my seat as I was watching. I've actually never seen one before. Congrats to him and Galaxy, his coach/trainer.

Also, another noteworthy event. Alan Mahoney made his proper debut this week at the age of 19. He's there on merit, having a very decent tsp and I expect him to make a lot more appearances for the team.

5x5 by Davis at SG (with 7 blocks!). We need big men and forwards for the future!

Last edited by Lemonshine at 8/15/2017 6:57:44 PM

Well, I did say we'd still qualify after starting 0-2 and we did, but only because of the soft nature of our draw. Of course the first two games were very difficult so if anyone wanted to argue that there's a balance there I'd be easily persuaded.

I've attempted to do the maths, but it would be easy to miss an important game somewhere, but even though not all of the relevant games have been played yet, I'm fairly certain we're headed to Ukraine next monday. Of course we'll likely be protected by a Coronation Street character so there's no danger involved. Ukraine are unbeaten so they'll be confident of dismissing us easily enough. But, accidents happen and there's always hope (usually at the bottom of an empty box.)

I'm fairly certain we're headed to Ukraine next monday.

Sweden lost, which surprised me a little, and also another game must have moved us up another place, so we're actually off to Australia. Apparently I know their game strategist quite well, not sure if he's the one who suggested they play full court press in an u21 game (they won easily!) but if so, kudos to him. Hopefully I still have some secrets and so won't be too predictable.

Well, a defeat is a defeat, but in what I'm fairly certain will be my last competitive representative game, I think I'm justifiable in being proud of the performance of the team this morning. It was a difficult task to go to Australia, not just facing home advantage but also facing what looked like a stronger team, in better game shape.

Defensively we performed fantastically. No other team has held the Aussies to just 54 points, and no other team had played them on their own court and held them to less than 100. We also outrebounded them quite comfortably.

Having said all that, obviously something went wrong. We had no offence whatsoever. You can't shoot as badly as we did and expect to get anything. Our passing wasn't good enough to get the ball where it needed to go, (Eric Page), and even when it did, our inside shooting wasn't good enough against stout Aussie big men.

Of course I'm questioning whether a different lineup might have had a different result, after all, we didn't need an awful lot of improvement in shooting to have won the game, but I keep coming back to the defensive performance. Would a different lineup have defended so well? Of course we'll never know, but when has that ever stopped us debating that kind of question?

Overall, my self assessment of my term as u21 coach is fairly critical. I think its been disappointing. I do feel that the overall level of the squad is improved but I've failed to help develop the top end of the squad sufficiently to give us a chance to compete. By that I mean the average tsp of the squad is higher than four seasons ago, but I don't feel there have been enough players who stand out enough to make them very good starting players.

Thanks to everyone who has coached players for the last four squads. And also to everyone who has helped in any way whatsoever over the last few seasons, especially the regular mailers, and to all those who have discussed training with me.

Scrimmages will begin next week. No more 21yos, so goodbye to them and their trainers. I'll be looking at as many players as possible over the next few weeks, hopefully to give whoever replaces me an idea of who might be good enough for next season's squad.

You did great mate, thanks for holding the fort, I do hope we get someone equally passionate about the NT to step in to the role. It's been a great run for you these last few seasons and you should be proud of what you have made of the teams you have had to work with.