Winning not the be-all for England
THERE are many ways to skin a cat – or garner success from a UEFA European Under-17 Championship, according to England boss Steve Cooper.
More than six months after guiding England Under-17s to an historic World Cup triumph in India, Cooper finds himself in charge of the next wave of age group talent, as the host nation prepare to take on the continent’s best youngsters in the tournament, which gets under way today.
The latest crop of Young Lions will be out to build on the legacy laid down by the likes of Phil Foden, Rhian Brewster and Angel Gomes, but Cooper doesn’t believe that claiming more silverware is a necessity for the next generation.
“You can win in lots of ways,” said the boss, whose charges face Israel tonight at Chesterfield, Italy at Walsall’s Banks’s Stadium on Monday, and Switzerland at Rotherham next Thursday, in Group A.
“We want to be as successful as we can in the tournament and go as far as we can but we also want to do it in a way that is building for the future.” Sky Blues Reporter COVENTRY City star striker Marc McNulty admits the players are no different from the fans when it comes to second guessing how they’re going to perform on a matchday.
The Sky Blues’ hot and cold form that has seen them thumped 6-2 at home by Yeovil and then dish out a 6-1 beating at Cheltenham in the space of a few weeks is a source of great frustration for the leading scorer who believes the club haven’t deserved to go up in the automatic promotion places this season.
But the Scot, who took his outstanding goal tally to 23 in the league and 26 in all competitions last weekend, is confident he and his team-mates can get the result they need against Morecambe tomorrow to put themselves in the play-offs.
“We know that we’re good enough and capable of stuff like last week’s result but over the course of the season it’s been a case of how often can we do it,” said the 25-year-old. “We’re in the position we’re in now because we haven’t been consistent enough. Sometimes as fans you don’t know what you’re getting and the same goes for us as players.
“We don’t quite know what it is but luckily against Cheltenham the boys turned up and did very well.”
Asked if it’s frustrating to be where City are in the table at this stage, he said: “Yes it is because when I came here I wanted to get promoted, as did every other boy they came here. “Automatic was the first thing we wanted but we have not been consistent enough so probably, truthfully, we don’t deserve to go straight up for that reason. “But if it means going up through the play-offs then great. “We go into the game against Morecambe needing a point so we just need to go with the mindset that we need to win, be on the front foot and hopefully take the three points.” City’s season has seen the team go from one of the tightest defences in the division to suddenly starting to
We go into the game against Morecambe needing a point so we need to go with the mindset that we need to win.
leak goals at an alarming rate, particularly needless goals that could have been avoided like against Lincoln City and Notts County.
But McNulty insists the players are all in it together and take collective responsibilty at both ends.
“We have let in a few goals in the last few weeks but we’re not going to point fingers at the back four because I remember at the start of the season they were keeping clean sheets and the strikers and midfielders were helping,” he said. “We were all in it together and it’s no different now when we have been leaking goals. We could have helped a bit more at the top end of the pitch and it has been frustrating. But it was nice to score six and only concede one from a penalty and be a lot tighter than we have in recent weeks.”
And McNulty believes the players will take great confidence from last week’s emphatic result into today’s last league game of the season.
“We have to be confident we can get over the line, go into Saturday with the mindset that we need to win,” he said.