Managing England becomes really difficult

I wondered if anyone else has found managing England becomes a very difficult task due to struggling for players.

I'm in late 2016 and have had the job since after Euro 2012. I've not won anything, but I've done just about enough so far to avoid being sacked, including a Euro 2016 final appearance.

But anyway, I've found that as you get to about 2014, it becomes increasingly hard to name squads. There just any good English players emerging. Every team in the Premier League is naming virtually an entirely foreign starting eleven every match. I'm not even exaggerating. For all I know, this could be a harbinger of English football's future. We're all familiar with arguments about the amount of foreigners in the English game at the moment. But what I'm finding is that there's barely an English player good enough for international football emerging anywhere. Jack Wilshere, a player who already looks at home on the international stage in real life, is 24 now on my game and has played about four league games for Arsenal since I loaded the game up. He can't get in the team and is clearly rubbish anyway. I'm really struggling. My left back is 31 year old Leighton Baines. As soon as he stops getting a game for Everton, which could be any day because you can bet they'll sign a foreign left-back any moment, I'll be screwed in that position because the next best English left-back is playing in League One!

It's a nightmare!

Unfortunately, it's luck of the draw. My game went through a spell of poor regens, but then recently it's gone back up to an embarassment of riches, with 5 or 6 international quality forwards.

I don't know what I can say other than you might have to adjust your formation to play to your strengths.

I'm not too worried that. My team is doing okay. In fact, we're pretty good. It's just that I'm relying heavily on a group of players who won't be around much longer. There's no pressure on places from younger players. There's literally no English player under the age of about 25 threatening to be good enough. They're not even getting games at club level.

Yeah. I mean, it sounds inane, but you are relying on a strong random element which doesn't always seem fair. We seem to go through spells of top players, crap players, top players again, almost as though they're waiting for one quota of ability 150+ players to retire before the next lot will come through.

The International management side of the game is something that I would like to see improved upon. I feel that if a player isn't getting any gametime at his current club, then you should be able to have a private conversation with him and maybe advise him to move clubs? Also, I feel that you should be able tell players the reasons why you aren't picking them for the team. E.g. because you're currently out of form, because you aren't getting sufficient game time, etc.

Haven't noticed this, at least no more than any other national team. The club teams have to meet the "trained at club" requirements anyway, so there should be a few english players coming through.

i took them over and i could not agree more. there was no quality players left once the likes of terry ferd, lampard and gerard was to old.

Miles has stated that there are going to be improvementson the International Management side of the game, think it's going to be highlighted in one of the future blogs, but to what extent I don't know. The problem is with the AI's ability on team building and youth development, there are regens that come into the game that have the potential top be world class players but lack the mentality, on occassion the AI fails to tutor them so they never reach their potential, or if a team has a good starting eleven in the case with Wilshere in the OP the club doesn't sell players in stock piles them in the reserves until they retire or go on frees after their contract runs out.

The International management side of the game is something that I would like to see improved upon. I feel that if a player isn't getting any gametime at his current club, then you should be able to have a private conversation with him and maybe advise him to move clubs? Also, I feel that you should be able tell players the reasons why you aren't picking them for the team. E.g. because you're currently out of form, because you aren't getting sufficient game time, etc.

Pretty sure that's possible already

I've noticed this as well. In season 2021 and pickings are slim!

I was fortunate when I managed England, in that there were a few top class English players knocking around. However, beyond the first xi and subs, there wasn't much cover. My center back pairing was from Man Utd, but after that I was looking at players from Middlesboro, Wolves etc, who were mid table teams, occasionally flirting with relegation. The midfield trio was comprised of players from Genoa, Liverpool and Chelsea, while the wingers were from mid table sides again. Up front was either an Everton striker, or a player who was out on loan from my team.

You have to make the most of what you have. My fairly average English side managed to win a world cup and european championship, as well as making a semi final in one of the two, can't remember. And if you are a club manager, try to get some of the players for yourself, so you can ensure they fulfil their potential.

Well. To be honest england are not the greatest team in real life are they?, and only ever beat the lesser nations anyway lol. I think your season is preety accurate.

Pretty sure that's possible already

Pretty sure it isn't.

Well. To be honest england are not the greatest team in real life are they?, and only ever beat the lesser nations anyway lol. I think your season is preety accurate.

Did actually read my post? I wasn't commenting on how my "season" was going. I was saying that managing England becomes extremely hard because there are simply too few English players to choose from. Most Premier League squads barely have one by this stage. The truth is, we don't know if this will be realistic as it isn't 2016 yet. But I'd be surprised if the England manager at that time is forced to seriously consider Championship players.

Not had that problem at all. Just won Euro 2016 and there's still plenty of good to very good players coming through. Some of this may have to do with me bringing through English players as Arsenal manager though.

I might have that problem soon. I can only see about two players under 20 that have the potential to make the international squad according to my staff and I'm nearing the end of 2014.

Its like the Premier League are too scared to put their faith into youth and are signing loads of foreigners to replace their aging players.

I have been England manager for 12 months, i have qualified for the 2018 world cup. I am basically using about 10 player from my Tottenham team

You should try managing Denmark. I've only ever had one good Danish regen in multiple games, once the likes of Kahlenberg, Kvist and Vingaard decline the national side really suffers. Norway and Sweden always seem to get better regens whenever I play with the Danish leagues loaded.

I tend to feel that the quality of regens overall isnt good enough, or perhaps that their attributes don't develop quickly enough which is why they struggle to break into first teams and squads end up signing foreigners who have been generated from inactive leagues whose progression is as though they are getting games and developing normally or even older players whose attributes are still far better than the home grown regens.

But then again, there have been a few stunning regens posted on this forum. Maybe the AI needs to be made to develop its youth more effectively for active teams than at present.

I get a lot of amazing regens, only they're pretty much all brazilian, I have an english premier league winning team at Truro, and probably around 15 of them are brazillian, and I don't even have Brazil loaded, 10 of them regularly get in my Brazil squad. I may be biased though, I noticed I had a lot of brazilians in my team and 1 english player, so decided "why manage England when I know brazil far better" so I decided to take the Brazil job, and I truly do get amazing players, I always have like 10 strikers at 175+ CA or something silly. Although some positions we do struggle in, defenders we get some amazing ones, but I have some retiring and not that much depth. Still, amazing squad, yet for some reason I can never seem to get that lucky streak and win a World Cup, I came close on my first attempt, however bloody Argentina and their super-goalie kept me out. Thankfully he has retired, only now I'm confronted with a France side propped up by the amazing regens I developed at Truro, who kicked my arse and knocked me out of the World Cup in the semi's. I was lucky to hold onto the job.

As for England, I find some good regens, but few and far between, and mostly central midfielders.

I won the 2014 world cup in my save.

Managerial History:

Arsenal 2010-2012

England 2012-2014

My main 11, approx. (4-2-2-2)

Joe Hart

Kyle Walker

Gary Cahill

Phil Jones

Ashley Cole/Gibbs

Wilshere

Rodwell

Johnson/Young

Lennon/Young

Rooney

Bent

-----

Defensive cover is very good, with Smalling, Shawcross, Johnson to name a few.

Midfield is fine, Walcott, Young, Tom Cairney (great prospect) Huddlestone all adequate. with more like Shelvey a maybe depending on development.

Then up front is fine, with Walcott and Carrol providing backup with possibly inclusion of Gabby A.

==

I won the world cup with only using 1 of the old guard (cole)

I'm on my 2016-17 season with my first few games as England and they're alittle weak. The biggest problem is upfront, Rooney is 31 (still World Class, but probably only got 1-2 more tournaments in him), With Carroll as the number 2. After that it's a struggle. Walcott and Sturridge have been ok but are better on the wings - so I'm looking to regens (I called up a young 21 year old from my league squad who is showing some promise).

Fullbacks are alittle weak aswell. On the left it's between Gibbs and Bertrand (I dropped Baines 'cause he's getting on and I want younger players getting experience). I might call up Jack Robinson, he's not great but could do a decent job.

I noticed that adding young regens to the National Pool seems to greatly increase there chances of getting U20/19 games if they're any good, and some decent regens can be missed so make sure to add any decent english kids to the pool.

I always find myself buying regens from english teams and by 2016-18 having 5-6 1st team stars who are getting caps for England. (this as Rangers manager).

The trick i suppose is to manage a club too and effectively have as many of your club players playing for the national team of your choice.

The problem is that when you are a club side you can overcome the AI managers' negligent treatment of youth by buying all the potential stars when they are <18 and making sure they are tutored, trained, retrained, etc. to your liking. But when you're the national side, you have to hope the AI managers do a decent job of same. And they invariably won't.

Your only hope, really, is to simultaneously be a club manager focused on developing (and playing) the very best English youth.

I became England manager on my game around 2021 and they had a decent team. The likes of Connor Wickham were starting, a 36 year old Wayne Rooney was captain but I dropped him for a regen. The regens were pretty good once they came through but there weren't many players I had heard of in there. There was Wickham, Kyle Walker, Rodwell, Wilshere, Hart still in goal but that was about it as far as I can remember, the rest were regens. Still got to the semi finals of the World Cup though

im managing tottenham and england and i am 6 months away from the euro 2016 finals, i agree with the poor strength of depth in the england my best left back is baines and even he struggles to get a game at everton, the likes of wilshire and others struggle to play at all so i have resorted to buyin players like carroll welbeck shevely and a young left back from liverpool robinson just to give them games for spurs to improve them!

Well. To be honest england are not the greatest team in real life are they?, and only ever beat the lesser nations anyway lol. I think your season is preety accurate.

England are 4th best team in the world il let you know ( how i dont know but...)

http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/ranking/lastranking/gender=m/fullranking.html

It can be tough if you don't get the luck with the regens. I think my England team is looking promising though, I've been able to cull some of the older players as I am finding talented regens.

Current England Squad, coming up to the end for the 2014-15 season

GK - Hart, Carson, Clarke(Regen)

RB - Flanagan(for the record I downloaded an update, which I think had a slight Liverpool bias!), Johnson

RCB - Kelly, Richards, Rodwell

LCB - Jones, Smalling

LB - Robinson(Liverpool youth again), Gibbs

DM - Spearing, Southall(Regen)

CM - Gerrard(34 and stll the heartbeat of Liverpool and England), Wilshere

LW - Downing, Young, Johnson

RW - Graham(Regen wonderkid), Henderson, Walcott

ST - Rooney, Kouadio(regen)

ST - Chapman(Regen), Carroll(Banging them in for Malaga, though I struggle to motivate him)

Most of that team will be around for a few more years yet. If I look to the next world cup in 2018, I've got 3 keepers who are good and young enough, at least one good right back, 5 CB's who are good enough, 2 young skilled LB's, 2 DM's who are good enough and young, one CM who will be good enough. Admittedly the LW position looks vulnerable, but we're looking good on the right. Rooney, while he'll be about 33, will still be good, while the other 3 are young enough and good enough.

There's a few young players who might be able to take the extra RB, LW and CM spots in a few years anyway, so I'm not too bothered.

Plus there's other options, players who I think are capable if used correctly, such as:

Sturridge, Welbeck, Shawcross, Huddlestone, Shelvey, Lennon, Dann, Walker, McEachran, Baines, Bent, Cahill.

Not a bad team to choose from.

I prefer eloratings.net's world rankings, which have England at sixth.

I really feel I have to again reiterate my point. I'm not complaining that England aren't good enough. I'm as aware as anyone of their general record in competitive football. I was pointing out that, as you progress with the game, it becomes increasingly difficult to name an England squad made up of players playing regular Premier League football because the Premier League squads are all almost entirely foreign.

It can be tough if you don't get the luck with the regens. I think my England team is looking promising though, I've been able to cull some of the older players as I am finding talented regens.

Current England Squad, coming up to the end for the 2014-15 season

GK - Hart, Carson, Clarke(Regen)

RB - Flanagan(for the record I downloaded an update, which I think had a slight Liverpool bias!), Johnson

RCB - Kelly, Richards, Rodwell

LCB - Jones, Smalling

LB - Robinson(Liverpool youth again), Gibbs

DM - Spearing, Southall(Regen)

CM - Gerrard(34 and stll the heartbeat of Liverpool and England), Wilshere

LW - Downing, Young, Johnson

RW - Graham(Regen wonderkid), Henderson, Walcott

ST - Rooney, Kouadio(regen)

ST - Chapman(Regen), Carroll(Banging them in for Malaga, though I struggle to motivate him)

Most of that team will be around for a few more years yet. If I look to the next world cup in 2018, I've got 3 keepers who are good and young enough, at least one good right back, 5 CB's who are good enough, 2 young skilled LB's, 2 DM's who are good enough and young, one CM who will be good enough. Admittedly the LW position looks vulnerable, but we're looking good on the right. Rooney, while he'll be about 33, will still be good, while the other 3 are young enough and good enough.

There's a few young players who might be able to take the extra RB, LW and CM spots in a few years anyway, so I'm not too bothered.

Plus there's other options, players who I think are capable if used correctly, such as:

Sturridge, Welbeck, Shawcross, Huddlestone, Shelvey, Lennon, Dann, Walker, McEachran, Baines, Bent, Cahill.

Not a bad team to choose from.

Completely agree with you that there's a decent level of choice there. Unfortunately, I haven't been as lucky. There are no English wonderkids emerging in my game. There literally isn't a single one. Not that my scouts have found, anyway, and certainly none threatening to play regular football.

As for the real-life players you mention -

Hart - Still regularly playing for City and winning plenty of England caps for me. Great 'keeper. No problems here. I have very good young back up with the brilliant name of Dwayne Hercules (newgen) so it's all looking good there.

Flanagan - Currently playing for Cambridge Utd in the Conference.

Johnson - Micah Richards is my first choice so Johnson hasn't played an England game in years. He's behind Kyle Walker as well. Experienced players aren't the problem so it doesn't matter about Johnson.

Kelly - Still at Liverpool. Hasn't played a League game since 2012. Honestly.

Richards - Mentioned before. Quality for my England team. Got sacked off by City, though and is playing for West Ham.

Rodwell - Playing regularly for Man Utd team.

Jones - Same as Rodwell.

Smalling - Underrated by the game. I had to sell him as he wasn't good enough. Bit part player for Blackburn. Has 4 caps.

Gibbs - Overlooked for years by Arsenal. Played the odd game here and there. Went to Man City and was again overlooked. Not enough to be a regular for England. Moved to Everton in the summer and is finally playing okay.

Spearing - Contract expired at Liverpool. Didn't get a new club. Disappeared from the game.

Wilshere - Most annoying of the lot. Obvious talent but I can't pick him because he has spent years not playing for Arsenal. Hasn't had any loan moves (except one a few years ago). Now in his mid-20s and scraping the odd bench appearance for the Gunners. Nowhere near the England squad.

Downing/Young/Johnson - All irrelevant to my point due to being experienced. Has it happens, Downing has been a five-game-a-season man for Villa so can't be considered. Young is good and still at Villa and gets the occasional England game for me. Johnson was in and out at City so went to Villa. Did okay for three years at Villa. I wanted a back-up wide man at United so I signed him at the age of 28. Good back up for club and country.

Henderson - Left Sunderland for Wolves. Spent four seasons playing regularly but averagely. Signed for Chelsea, who promptly opted not to register him. Is registered for this, his second season, but not getting a game. Can't call him up.

Walcott/Rooney - Also irrelevant due to their experience. Walcott has been a bench man at Arsenal for years. Starts about five or six games a season. Rooney is an utter god for my United team.

Carroll - Newcastle sold him to Wolves in 2011. Has been underwhelming there ever since. Nowhere near international material, especially as Wolves are in the Championship half the time.

Sturridge - Went off to Osasuna years ago. Couldn't score more than about five a season. Has recently signed for Tottenham and managed to start scoring and so, at the age of 27, has made my last two England squads.

Welbeck - Still with me at United. Very much back up due to Rooney, Hernandez and Lukaku being far better. Definitely the most consistent for my England team of all strikers I've tried to partner with Rooney, though.

Shawcross - Possibly a little too experienced to relevant at 28/29. Still, he's quality. Left Stoke for West Ham years ago and his a nailed on starter for my England team alongside Phil Jones.

Huddlestone - Another one who's too old to be relevant to my overall point. However, consistently plays well for Spurs and has done for years. Back up in centre midfield to Lampard and Gerrard, who've now gone. Huddlestone is now back up to James Milner and Jack Rodwell in centre mid.

Shelvey - Very frustrating indeed. Still at Liverpool, but they just don't play him. When he does play, he's excellent and has managed to get about 10 England caps for me. But he'd have far more if Liverpool would just play him!

Lennon - Nearly 30 and playing for Inter. Brilliant for Spurs, now great for Inter and always consistent for my England team.

Dann - Has been playing in the Championship most of the time and centre-back has generally not been a problem position.

Walker - Regular right back for Everton, thankfully. Good player. Back-up to Richards for England.

McEachran - Wasting his career. Spent years playing for Chelsea Reserves. Now in his mid-20s, he's left Chelsea for Bolton, but can't get a game. In fact, they haven't even registered him!

Baines - Ashley Cole has just retired so Baines is finally first choice left-back. He's 31 and, despite still being very good, I reckon Everton will drop him soon and then I'll be screwed in that position.

Bent - Left Sunderland for Stoke. Couldn't score in the Premier League. Currently ripping up the Championship for Stoke at 32. Not good enough for England.

Cahill - Quality, but lost his place when Bolton were relegated because FM doesn't do the whole "vultures picking over relegated teams' remains for their good players" thing that happens in real life. With Jones and Shawcross being so good, it's not a problem, but I'm still annoyed.

One player not mentioned is Henri Lansbury. Arsenal booted him out early and he's now at Wigan. Playing regularly for them in the Premier League so he gets in my squads and is doing quite well. Still, in a way it's symptomatic of the problem. Younger players will be at the likes of Wigan and Blackburn at best. After that, I don't know where I'll look.

good luck budy

have you guys had any nationalised players come through that you can use ?

My team in 2016 is:

GK: Hart

RB: Walker

CB: Shawcross

CB: Jones

LB: Gibbs

CM: Rodwell

CM: Wilshere

RW: Walcott

LW: Young

ST: Rooney

ST: Agbonlahor

Worth mentioning that Rooney more or less carries the team, scoring more than a goal a game. But I have got plenty of players in reserve, and the regens are just starting to break through in many PL clubs.

Agbonlahor has had the same problem as just about everyone else for me. Still at Villa, wasting his career on the bench, making it very hard for me to pick him.

For what it's worth, this is my England team when everyone is fit and available. It's currently January 2017.

GK: Joe Hart (Man City) (29) - 69 caps

RB: Micah Richards (West Ham) (28) - 60 caps

LB: Leighton Baines (Everton) (32) - 42 caps

CB: Phil Jones (Man Utd) (24) - 39 caps

CB: Ryan Shawcross (West Ham) (29) - 43 caps

RM: Aaron Lennon (Inter) (29) - 82 caps

LM: Ashley Young (Aston Villa) (31) - 49 caps

CM: Jack Rodwell (Man Utd) (25) - 47 caps

CM: James Milner (Man City) (30) - 71 caps

FW: Wayne Rooney (Man Utd) (31) - 126 caps (third most - Gerrard received 129; Cole received 134)

FW: Danny Welbeck (Man Utd) (26) - 41 caps

Not a bad first eleven. All those players are playing regularly for their clubs and playing well. Welbeck is the only possible exception to that. The problem is finding fringe players for the squad and also what the hell I'm gonna do when those older players stop getting picked for their clubs because there's little out there to replace them.

I had a similar problem with England and Turkey. After around 2020 England went diabolical. It was torture playing as them. Seriously they were about as good as N.Ireland are now. It wasn't my tactics either, when looking in the premier league for some reason it was full of argies. Also with Turkey I peaked by reaching 2nd round of World Cup, each player then was shocking, the Turkish league was awful and players were distinctly below average.

Ive had this problem too. Year 2026 im now england manager and have very poor regens to choose from. I have now taken it upon my fc united team to develop the future england team. With the majority of the prem being foreign i have no other choice. Makes for a great challenge though

I found it quite easy with England. Took over in 2016 with them 8th in the world, lost in the WC2018 to Argentina in the QF, who eventually went on to win it. Then I won the Euros in 2020 and the Confed Cup in 2021 and got them to to of the world rankings. Slightly disappointing in WC2022, another QF exit but only because of an early red card. I was already pretty bored of international management, so I resigned after the tournament. Eddie Howe took over and struggled with them before he got sacked. The year is now 2028 and they are ranked 18th in the world.

Not managed England in my save (see England as a full-time job and happy with club management right now) but the CPU managers had the same problems with lack of quality coming through once the current England squad disappeared. This caused England to drop outside the top 10 in the World and hire 'Big Sam' as manager.

Eventually a few quality regens have come through and the team are now blazing great guns back to where they (scarcely) deserve.

TL;DR: It's a phase and will pass in about 5 years