5-1 is very unfair I feel.
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The Under-18s Thread
- Thread starter Aevi
- Start date
- Replies 887
- Views 94,640
Rasmi
Negative Nancy
Country: England
I think it’s clear we don’t have a great academy. Didn’t we lose by 7 to psv? Clubs like West Ham, Fulham or charlton has as good if not better academy. An academy is as good as the coaches it has and talent scouting. Giving ex players a job coaching your academy as a toy to play it is amateurish
What has wilshere done outside of being ex player to say he should manage your young talents at their most crucial state?
Respectfully, you don't know what you're talking about so I'll leave it there.
lomekian
Essays are my thing
Sorry, but that's nonsense. Its all about getting players able to contribute to the first team squad or be sold for good fees. Nothing else really matters. And as a club we are currently one of the best in the EPL at that. Sure West Ham spanked us tonight, but how many of their lads looked like they have the skillset to potentially play at the top level? 2-3. There's more in our spanked team who look able to play higher level football - the two young lads, walters, roziak, Sousa, ACD at least have serious pro potential due to technical ability.
At this age, a year's age difference is absolutely massive in terms of physicality, mentality and know how, but it doesn't give any great indication of the longer term. Otherwise JET would have been a world beater because he totally dominated at younger levels and it looked easy for him
all part of learning and developing this really our academy will produce good talent. sometimes other clubs just have better group maybe.
I think they'll learn a lot from this L, as painful as it was. The last team we had that did well in the U18 league had a lot of 2nd years in it. This team we have a lot of early developers and we need to challenge them like this.
Rasmi
Negative Nancy
Country: England
The fact that you think we have more players in that team that will play at high level than West Ham is delusional. They already have a player who played and scored for the first team.
Rasmi
Negative Nancy
Country: England
If I’m really serious about my academy and I want to produce as many good players as possible. I would really focus on coaches. Wilshere getting this job is one of the things that frustrate a lot of coaches. Ex players just come in and get coaching jobs while real coaches who put work in for years get overlooked
lomekian
Essays are my thing
I know being miserable about everything is your M.O. but if we have such a weak academy, why do we have 4 academy kids as part of this years first team squad proper, one of whom may be our best player, plus another 2-3 on loan doing really well who may be able to contribute next year or generate big fees, plus even AMN having lost his way made a good contribution, plus about £85m in academy kid sales over the last 3-4 years. Who else in England at the top top level can say much better than that?
lomekian
Essays are my thing
Yeah, otherwise you end up with teams like this year's u21s in the second half the season or last year, where there were multiple people playing who will never get a sniff of the first team, even in LC games
Both ex coaches and ex players have put in real work over the years.. There's an experience players get while on the field at the highest level that counts for something in coaching , and that is why they begin their courses at UEFA A level and not where non players begin. Secondly, If you follow Wilshere he's been coaching grassroots even while in West Ham and Bournemouth and has organized several tournaments for his kids over the years so he's not just some ex player handed a token, he's put in his own work . Third, all across the academy we have coaches who've been given opportunities despite having no career in football.. Mehmet Ali the u21 coach is one of them, their boss Luke Hobbs is another . You need a balance of both.
I don't know whether you'd want to hear or not since more than once you've been adamant of how **** our academy is despite them being in an FA Youth Cup Final . Academy football is much more nuanced than just focusing on the results
As most have noted West Ham were bigger and stronger, that counts a lot when it comes to results at that level. It is a double edged sword that we will only know when they transition into first team. Those talents may as well transition easier due to their physique .. However they may also find it difficult as they are used to playing against people smaller than them and then when they reach first team levels , they no longer have that physical advantage , and they may have never developed their game outside their physiques.
Secondly, as many are trying to suggest that Arsenal team was full of first years and two school boys and the second years have only dropped down for the youth cup games , and as such the rhythm may not have been as good as the West Ham team that have played together all year round and won the league with their second years. Nwaneri and Lewis Skelly are still eligible for the next two years.
All in all , West Ham was the better team , and deservedly youth cup champions@!£ they've been smoking teams all year round. They've only lost twice this year and probably them against City may have been a game I'd be interested to see who comes out on top, but that doesn't mean Arsenal are **** or the coach is . We were a younger , less experienced team yet we still reached the final.
lomekian
Essays are my thing
Marathon, not a sprint. Arturo Lupoli had done more at the same age for us. Also, the player you refer to is more than 2 years older than a player from last night who has played in the EPL for us...
lomekian
Essays are my thing
It is a little odd, but we don't know what the division of labour is between him and those working alongside him. We also don't know if he's any good or not. Perhaps the club feel that an academy kid who played for England and could have been a superstar but was hit by injuries and made poor choices is a more inspiring and instructive role model than the majority of youth coaches who peaked out at league 2 and retired young without ever having a sniff of the big time. I'm not sure where I stand, but it does seem he has experienced coaches supporting him
GoonerJay24
Well-Known Member
He makes a point about ex players being handed jobs without necessarily earning it.
When I hear Wilshere speak, he doesn't seem very fluent nor the type to motivate others but maybe that's just me.
Of course our academy is full of talented players though, we've had one of the best youth systems I'm Europe for over 30 years.
That Kodua for West Ham looks very promising. We should poach him in an act of revenge.
Good article. The 6 major players I see getting a boost would be:
Ethan Nwaneri
Myles Lewis-Skelly
Amario Cozier-Duberry
Reuell Walters
Lino Sousa
Michal Rosiak
Those 6 guys have the quality to be top level players and we have to make sure we challenge them appropriately. Walters, Sousa, Cozier-Duberry and arguably Rosiak all should go on loan or at least play first team in some capacity. What we want to avoid is them playing u21 longer than they need to. I don't mind the u21 team losing every now and then as long as the best prospects are getting challenged more frequently. Lewis-Skelly and Nwaner are too young for loans this summer so let them stay with the u21s for now and potentially in Jan we can send Lewis-Skelly on loan once he has some more u21 football under his belt.
The player I feel will be the breakout next season in terms of youth progression will be Osman Kamara. Thought he was dangerous when he came on for Gower. Just felt the occasion might have been a little too big for him but he acquitted himself well.
I understand that point though I still don't get what handed on a silver platter Is in relation to a coach who's began at u18 level. Where is Wilshere with all his top flight experience expected to start off Southend u9s? . Eddie Howe finished playing and immediately began coaching at first team level in league 2 , and slowly rose up the ranks. Same to many PL coaches who ended playing atleast at league 2 level .. Wilshere will still have to do some years before he even gets there to a first team.
He is very talented really impressed me the few times I've watched him,.and looked like a man against boys yesterday. Just to give us more perspective of the nuances of youth football. Kodua is only 2 months younger than Sagoe Jr who was ineligible yesterday. Sagoe Jr has played 33 games at u21 level this season while Kodua has played 5.
