The Under-23s Thread

[MutableEarth]

We took a bit of a beating last night from Sunderland (3-1). To be fair we had many players out on International duty. I must say their striker Ahmed Abdullahi looked very impressive. He's probably not far off Sunderland's first team. Only bright sparks were Mooney, Ibrahim and Harriman Annous. The goal scored by Harriman Annous was a well worked goal.

Ibrahim was pretty good in possession mostly but he was atrocious off the ball. Him and Julienne are not the best pair defensively IMO, they only exacerbate each other's weaknesses in that area despite their chemistry when we have the ball. Hashi wasn't great aswell, the step up was a bit too much for him last night. It's telling that Mishel Nduka - a 15 year old - came on and looked like a giant compared to everyone else. Physically couldn't be dealt with. I really want to see more of him, he looks interesting. Mooney was OK aswell but I don't see that much in him, just seems to be decent all-round but doesn't have the threat of Biereth for example.

Harriman-Annous though was really good, he's probably been the best performer for us through this horrible period and I think he's improved so much over these last couple of months that I think he's ready to play first team football now. Specifically he's physically much stronger - that same striker Abdullahi, who bullied our defenders, bounces off Annous regularly and couldn't get near him whenever they duelled. He's starting to show some more personality aswell, demanding the ball, dribbling past people easily and connecting play with a bit more zip. His penalties are awful though, he wins a lot of them but he should probably practice them or stop taking them. Missed another one last night. Great finish for his goal though, he really deserved it.

I was really disappointed not to see Bailey-Joseph come off the bench - let alone he should be starting every game for this team. He was dropped for Archie Stevens who was ineffectual, then Seb Ferdinand who was similarly ineffective going forward. The forward line is lopsided, probably to accommodate Mooney playing upfront but Annous is probably the best CF option and Bailey-Joseph is the best LW option. Stevens and Mooney can fight it out for RW IMO, probably Mooney as he's much sturdier. It's a shame because Annous and Bailey-Joseph are easily the best attackers of the bunch and have to be shunted around and it's not even making us better.

Time to change it up for next season IMO.