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The Under-23s Thread

Hunta

Established Member
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Country: England
Four games left this season

Derby away
Leicester away
West Ham home
West Ham away

Squeeky bum time, haven’t won any of the last 8 games.
 

MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
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Four games left this season

Derby away
Leicester away
West Ham home
West Ham away

Squeeky bum time, haven’t won any of the last 8 games.
I can see us beating West Ham but Derby & Leicester are tough games, especially Derby. It's interesting though, we beat Derby quite handily last time we faced them, when he had a really good mix of talents playing that day. Azeez, Cirjan and Cottrell all played together, with Moller upfront and Taylor-Hart to the left. Not sure if Akinola played (most likely did). But Bould really needed to get that midfield 3 in the team more. Azeez, Cottrell and Cirjan altogether was excellent. Azeez had so many options to play with in that midfield, and he clearly has a good relationship on the pitch with both players. Real shame Cottrell is gonna miss the rest of the season.
 

Geofranco

Would let Saka date his daughter

Player:Saka
I can see us beating West Ham but Derby & Leicester are tough games, especially Derby. It's interesting though, we beat Derby quite handily last time we faced them, when he had a really good mix of talents playing that day. Azeez, Cirjan and Cottrell all played together, with Moller upfront and Taylor-Hart to the left. Not sure if Akinola played (most likely did). But Bould really needed to get that midfield 3 in the team more. Azeez, Cottrell and Cirjan altogether was excellent. Azeez had so many options to play with in that midfield, and he clearly has a good relationship on the pitch with both players. Real shame Cottrell is gonna miss the rest of the season.

Only thing that can salvage this season is Taylor-Hart signing and the the U18 winning the youth FA cup. Hope to see more of Hutchinson in U23 next season.
 

MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
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Only thing that can salvage this season is Taylor-Hart signing and the the U18 winning the youth FA cup. Hope to see more of Hutchinson in U23 next season.
Agree here 100%. Wings are looking real light for sure and I'm not crazy about Lewis. Coyle's probably leaving too. Hutchinson definitely has a spot waiting for him next season, he's already proven himself at U18 level IMO.

I'd like to see more of Bandeira in the U23s. Think he has much more about him than Akinola and he'd definitely give that team a bit more technical quality in the deeper areas of midfield.
 

Football Manager

Copy & Paste Merchant
Agree here 100%. Wings are looking real light for sure and I'm not crazy about Lewis. Coyle's probably leaving too. Hutchinson definitely has a spot waiting for him next season, he's already proven himself at U18 level IMO.

I'd like to see more of Bandeira in the U23s. Think he has much more about him than Akinola and he'd definitely give that team a bit more technical quality in the deeper areas of midfield.
Haven’t watched too much of Lewis. I thought he was quite a skillful player before he joined.

And why wouldn’t we keep Coyle for longer? His passing, dribbling and movement looks good.
 

MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
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Haven’t watched too much of Lewis. I thought he was quite a skillful player before he joined.

And why wouldn’t we keep Coyle for longer? His passing, dribbling and movement looks good.
Coyle has been largely ineffective at all levels this season - had a couple good moments at Gillingham but his development has really suffered of late. Good technical talent, not much substance at the moment. I've always got time for Coyle as I think he's very talented but he has to get his numbers up. If we keep him, he has to go on loan again, and needs to play consistent football and improve in the final 3rd.

Lewis appears similar, albeit a lot more direct than Coyle. Doesn't seem to be much substance to his game at the moment but he has good pace and decent dribbling. He's been injured a lot this season and kept out of the team by Kido Taylor-Hart.

Taylor-Hart for example has the physical and technical quality of a potential Arsenal player, but crucially he backs this up with numbers. There is substance in the way he plays, which is why he's become a strong fixture in the set-up. Hopefully he signs a deal.
 

Hunta

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Country: England
Graczyk and Oyegoke played for England U18s against Wales. Graczyk saved a penalty and Oyegoke played a nice pass to win England their penalty.

Awe and Norton-Cuffy played for England u17s.

Big decision coming around Oyegoke/Norton-Cuffy.
 

MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
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Graczyk and Oyegoke played for England U18s against Wales. Graczyk saved a penalty and Oyegoke played a nice pass to win England their penalty.

Awe and Norton-Cuffy played for England u17s.

Big decision coming around Oyegoke/Norton-Cuffy.
Huge decision. That level of competition is useful for us going forward - they will push each other IMO. Although I'm a little worried about Oyegoke being used in too many other positions, namely CB. Both players though, really promising. I think I prefer Oyegoke slightly because I think he's more skillful on the ball but I think Norton-Cuffy could be the more promising of the two. Really looking forward to seeing more of him.
 

Hunta

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Country: England
By the way, I know they’re highly rated here, but it’s good to see those defensive players involved at youth level for England, they rarely get them wrong. Monlouis has been involved as well in the past.
 

MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
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By the way, I know they’re highly rated here, but it’s good to see those defensive players involved at youth level for England, they rarely get them wrong. Monlouis has been involved as well in the past.
Monlouis is the slightly older. I really like Monlouis, looks so dynamic. Just needs a bit more conviction in his duels. With Awe, he's so composed and reads the game well. Will be good to see him develop.

This is definitely a good batch of defenders despite some of the results this season. It's more the likes of Kirk and Dinzeyi that I don't rate much. I'm not entirely convinced by Foran yet but he seems to be extremely highly rated and he's got some serious height on him.
 

MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
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We're facing Derby U23s tonight at 7pm kickoff time. Derby will be streaming the match on their website for free, as they usually do (you do have to sign up to their website though).

Should be an interesting watch. I'm almost certain Azeez and Balogun will both play, and faint possibility that Nelson does also given he is seemingly never going to play for the first team this season (or possibly ever again). Looking forward to seeing Taylor-Hart in action again aswell.
 

MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
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GOt an eye on the PL game as well as this one but Derby are firmly on top as they usually are in these games. Struggling to hold onto the ball or even get them to our better players. Mainly due to how poor the likes of Akinola and Dinzeyi are. Kirk not quite as good aswell. Need to get Azeez and Taylor-Hart on the ball.
 

MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
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Surely there must be a better player than Akinola on the bench?
No, no other midfielders on the bench. Think they might have to bring on Lewis and move Coyle or Taylor-Hart into a deeper position.

Akinola is quite bad though, don't rate him. Good hustle, but not so good on the ball. Azeez is too far forward IMO, we're much better when he's deeper and controlling the ball. There's like 4 good players in the team (excluding Hein). Azeez, Balogun, Taylor-Hart, Monlouis. Everyone else is pretty far off their level.

Saw calls for Joel Lopez to play for the first team, but he's one of our weakest players IMO. In fact, our whole defence except for Monlouis is weak IMO.
 
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