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General Reserves Talk

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MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
Trusted ⭐

An impressive season capped off with winning the U18 Southern title. Now is the playoff vs the winner of Northern League. Winner of that match is overall PLU18 winner and automatically qualifies for UEFA Youth League.
 

teamsoutheast

Well-Known Member
Fanatastic achievement. I wonder if a few of the guys will make regular appearances for the U23's next season. Our academy is looking so good at the moment, i'd be surprised if most of them are not given REAL first team opportunities going forward.
 

Country: Iceland
IMO the academy couldnt be doing a better job. Now up to the coaches at seniors to decide how this can benefits us in the near future!

Congratz to the boys. Hope they smash the final too!
 

MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
Trusted ⭐
IMO the academy couldnt be doing a better job. Now up to the coaches at seniors to decide how this can benefits us in the near future!

Congratz to the boys. Hope they smash the final too!

Both areas performed this season. Gillard - replacing Ampadu midway through - has done a brilliant job in improving the 1st years+schoolboys and getting the best out of the 2nd years aswell. It's a relatively experienced U18 side compared to our previous U18 teams but it's still a huge achievement - scoring 86 goals and conceding just 23 in 22 games. This is probably the best defensive unit we've had aswell. McGuinness and Clarke formed an excellent partnership in the 2nd half of the season, while Swanson and Daley-Campbell showed their experience and performed well. Ogungbo - a schoolboy CB - also did very well and Okonkwo had a good season in goal.

We had a very experienced midfield at this level too, with Matt Smith being a mainstay from last season, and captaining the side. Azeez has become a starter towards the end of the season, Musah also established. There's so many decent players in this unit we could do something with in the future - Cottrell, Coyle, Greenwood, Balogun scoring a million goals this season......

I feel quite confident going into what will likely be a very difficult game against the PL Northern champs - most likely Derby who are very strong at this level. Liverpool could do it, but they need to win both their remaining games and score more than 11 goals to do it. Only thing that could scupper us is internationals - some of our better players could get picked.
Without Amaechi, Nketiah and ESR for most of the season.
Willock, Sheaf and Nelson too.
Ljungberg had an interesting season - in the middle, he had to use some of the lesser known 2nd years and we did suffer in a few games as the team had to adapt to his methods. Since then though, the team has been excellent defensively and offensively. I think Ljungberg's coaching will definitely benefit the upcoming 2nd years and young pros. They have the kind of intensity and technical quality needed to play the style of football Ljungberg has them playing, which should stand them in good stead for Emery's team. The make-up of the U23 team will be of huge interest. Amaechi is at a crossroads with a year left on his deal. Should he sign, he'll possibly go on loan. Saka will probably stay here so he'll be the default star man. John-Jules might go on loan too, but if not he'll either be the main #9 or play just behind the incoming Balogun. Midfield should see a change also. Gilmour will leave on loan I feel, as will Willock, and Matt Smith will definitely make the step-up if Burton is also loaned. Could be a very interesting U23 team next season.

This is bugging me... Who said this??????.... NAME & SHAME!
I think it was actually a throwaway comment from Yousif, who doesn't watch the youth games - but I've seen more than one state that the academy doesn't produce talent, alluding to Akpom and co flattering to deceive. Which really IMO had more to do with them also not being given better opportunities and going on poor loans, but that's for another day!
 

MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
Trusted ⭐

Vontae doesn't even celebrate :lol:.

Really looks like he's going tbh. Big shame, I think he's the biggest prospect at RB in the ranks. Big strong guy, good 1v1 and excellent going forward. Like a right-footed Kola but better defensively. Fortunately RB is still a position we're quite well stocked in, but I don't like for us to lose our better prospects at all.
 

teamsoutheast

Well-Known Member

Vontae doesn't even celebrate :lol:.

Really looks like he's going tbh. Big shame, I think he's the biggest prospect at RB in the ranks. Big strong guy, good 1v1 and excellent going forward. Like a right-footed Kola but better defensively. Fortunately RB is still a position we're quite well stocked in, but I don't like for us to lose our better prospects at all.

I wonder why he wants to leave? Has he got a better offer elsewhere?
 

dbig

Well-Known Member
I wish Emery was braver too, but it's not just that. If they are given chances, will the fans be as patient with them? I will, but I can't vouch for the rest of us. We already have fans writing them off - I see so many comments like "they'll be in League One in 2 years" and "They're not ready to play ahead of Mhki or Iwobi", and it's ridiculous IMO. We need to do better at supporting the younger players when they're given the trust of the manager. We need to trust them too. They're an unknown - they have not failed yet, and they may yet succeed for us.
Well, the manager's confidence in them and to play them is the main thing. They'll have to learn to shut out the fans and do their stuff on the field. Hard I know, in this age of the Internet.

We have been calling for fast, tricky wingers and midfielders who can break a press and drive with the ball forward all season, but none of the youth players who fit the mould in our ranks have had much of a chance to play. I'd leave if I had confidence in my ability that is not reflected by the manager in giving me a chance to show it.
 
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