Academy & U21s

[KentExile]

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2025/october/08/report--rovers-under-21s-3-1-leyton-orient-under-21s/

[bigsigarner]

1 hour ago, Parsonblue said:

A win, against a more than impressive Orient outfit, is welcome after recent results.  However, if Orient's final ball had been better they could easily have got at least a point, even with ten men. 

I thought Brandon Powell was our best performer.  He seemed to have a roving commission and his pace and movement was a delight to watch. 

Orient looked a very skilful outfit.  Quick in attack, with one touch passes which left us struggling to keep up at times. A mixture of wayward shooting and a poor final pass let them down.

Honour looked confident in goal and made some decent saves.  He's a big lad but gets down well and seems to have good judgement.

Batty continues to be something of an enigma.  He ought to be a dominant figure at this level, with his experience, but at times looked disinterested and petulant.  He went missing when Orient scored and in my view needs a loan move for the second half of the season if he is to develop into the player we want him to be.

Up front, Joseph proved a handful in the first half before tiring after the interval.  He's still very raw but there does look to be potential there.

 

Joseph looked a little clumsy at times but he's definitely a handful. Batty needs to be on loan for me and 21s football isn't what he needs. Powell always impresses me and is tireless in his work ethic. Certainly one to watch. The lad in goals looks like a real presence at 19. Not sure why we don't see more of him?

[arbitro]

48 minutes ago, bigsigarner said:

Joseph looked a little clumsy at times but he's definitely a handful. Batty needs to be on loan for me and 21s football isn't what he needs. Powell always impresses me and is tireless in his work ethic. Certainly one to watch. The lad in goals looks like a real presence at 19. Not sure why we don't see more of him?

It was mentioned recently on here that Joseph, because of his size was more likely to physically dominate opposition players as he came through the system but last night (in the second half) both of Orient's centre halves were the equal of him physically. I thought he coped really well against them both.

He does have a strange gait and at times looks unathletic but I have been told he is really quick which along with his physicality is a real asset.

[bluebruce]

4 hours ago, bigsigarner said:

Joseph looked a little clumsy at times but he's definitely a handful. 

U21 version of Gueye?

[KentExile]

Igor Tyjon made an instant impact off the bench as England Under-18s battled back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with France’s Under-18

 

Apologies for the shouty bold text, I just copied and pasted from the story on Rovers site

Edited 12 hours ago by KentExile

[TheKitGuy]

1 hour ago, KentExile said:

Igor Tyjon made an instant impact off the bench as England Under-18s battled back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with France’s Under-18

 

Apologies for the shouty bold text, I just copied and pasted from the story on Rovers site

Strange how he no longer features for the senior side nor the academy sides

[KentExile]

38 minutes ago, TheKitGuy said:

Strange how he no longer features for the senior side nor the academy sides

He did start for the U21s in 3 games over the 2 (ish) week period before being called up for England U18

https://www.playmakerstats.com/player/igor-tyjon/1254652/results?epoca_id=155

Games

								T	78	R	R		B	R
L	2025/10/03	PL2	L	Blackburn Rovers	(A)	Stoke City	3-1	82	8 82'	-	-	-	-	6.8
D	2025/09/29	PL2	L	Blackburn Rovers	(A)	Leicester City	3-3	90	-	-	-	x2	-	9.1
L	2025/09/16	NLC	GS	Blackburn Rovers U21	(A)	Rochdale	3-2	80	8 80'	R	-	-	-	-

Edited 10 hours ago by KentExile

[TheKitGuy]

32 minutes ago, KentExile said:

He did start for the U21s in 3 games over the 2 (ish) week period before being called up for England U18

https://www.playmakerstats.com/player/igor-tyjon/1254652/results?epoca_id=155

Games

								T	78	R	R		B	R
L	2025/10/03	PL2	L	Blackburn Rovers	(A)	Stoke City	3-1	82	8 82'	-	-	-	-	6.8
D	2025/09/29	PL2	L	Blackburn Rovers	(A)	Leicester City	3-3	90	-	-	-	x2	-	9.1
L	2025/09/16	NLC	GS	Blackburn Rovers U21	(A)	Rochdale	3-2	80	8 80'	R	-	-	-	-

My apologies, i had missed this, was that 2 assists or goals in the Leicester game?

[KentExile]

33 minutes ago, TheKitGuy said:

My apologies, i had missed this, was that 2 assists or goals in the Leicester game?

goals, both penalties

 

[rigger]

Tyjon is not ready for championship football, he is one for the future, whether that is at the Rovers or elsewhere time will tell.

[KentExile]

U21s are away at Preston tomorrow afternoon

Haven't seen anything about this from Rovers, but the below is on the Preston site

https://www.pnefc.net/news/2025/october/13/central-league-cup-continues-tuesday/

[bluebruce]

7 hours ago, KentExile said:

goals, both penalties

 

A lot of his goals this season seem to be penalties, scored one for the England youth side too. I dunno, despite all the hype I'm not really seeing why he was so highly touted, apart from a couple of nice moments when he first rocked up as a 15 year old. I agree with Rigger, doesn't seem ready for Championship football. Needs to sign that contract so we can get him out on loan. Suspect he will just leave in the summer for compo instead though.

[bluebruce]

Speaking of compo, did the compensation for Finneran ever get sorted?

[KentExile]

1 hour ago, bluebruce said:

A lot of his goals this season seem to be penalties, scored one for the England youth side too. I dunno, despite all the hype I'm not really seeing why he was so highly touted, apart from a couple of nice moments when he first rocked up as a 15 year old. I agree with Rigger, doesn't seem ready for Championship football. Needs to sign that contract so we can get him out on loan. Suspect he will just leave in the summer for compo instead though.

Agree with all of that, especially that he needs a loan next season, but we do have to remember, he is a 17 year old kid playing up an age group for the U21s, and is obviously also one of the better players for the U18 age group for England (based on the fact he gets regular minutes for England at that level)

He is however not currently ready for anything above that level

Edit -  his development has possibly stalled over the past year or so as he has spent so much time sat on the first team bench or being 21st man etc rather than playing for the U21s etc, perhaps Rovers should have taken  the line of "you are not ready for first team football.. play some games for the U21s", instead they have tried to half integrate him into the first team, which doesn't seem to have benefitted anyone

Finneran compo will very likely never be fully revealed, although is probably sorted at this point and will almost certainly  be in the initial 10s (possibly low 100s) of £K, with the vast majority based on future achievements and sell on fees

Edited 54 minutes ago by KentExile