Academy & U21s

[rigger]

3 minutes ago, Madon said:

Never seen him play but Valentin Joseph always seems to be in and around the goals. 

He looks an absolute unit from the highlights too. Goal and assist today.

Has anyone seen much of him? Is he a way off the first team? 

Miles away from championship level, but the potential is there.

[KentExile]

any idea what was up with mullarkey-Matthews?  I assume injured

 

 

[arbitro]

From Rovers perspective this for me was the proverbial game of two halves. For the first 40 or so minutes we dominated the ball, passed it well, were aggressive, on the front foot and played at a good tempo. The two goals we got were in my opinion not reflective of our dominance. Those two goals were almost opposites with Doherty rattling one in from distance and Joseph with an easy header from close range.

In a rare foray forward Preston scored a goal just before half-time but it certainly looked like a deliberate handball in the penalty area skirmish just prior. That goal seemed to rattle us and Batty spent some time with the match officials on the pitch after the half time whistle. 

All the good things we were doing earlier seemed to disappear as Preston seemed to sense our unease. However we defended stoically and Honor in goal is looking better every time I see him. It wasn't until the last ten minutes when Preston were bombing on that we looked like scoring again.

In the end we were probably a touch fortunate but a win is a win.

Aside from Honor Atcheson looked good I thought with Joesph showing some good strikers attributes although he does, in my view get overly involved with centre halves and plays on the edge in this respect.

[arbitro]

3 minutes ago, KentExile said:

any idea what was up with mullarkey-Matthews?  I assume injured

 

 

He knocked the ball purposely out of play to allow himself to be treated and slams the physio got to him there was a signal to get a substitute on. It looked like a lower leg injury but I couldn't be sure.

I did see him sat on the ground soon after with other substituted players so I presume it might have been precautionary. 

He was sat on the ground because there are no dugouts at the Preston Academy.

[bigsigarner]

16 minutes ago, arbitro said:

From Rovers perspective this for me was the proverbial game of two halves. For the first 40 or so minutes we dominated the ball, passed it well, were aggressive, on the front foot and played at a good tempo. The two goals we got were in my opinion not reflective of our dominance. Those two goals were almost opposites with Doherty rattling one in from distance and Joseph with an easy header from close range.

In a rare foray forward Preston scored a goal just before half-time but it certainly looked like a deliberate handball in the penalty area skirmish just prior. That goal seemed to rattle us and Batty spent some time with the match officials on the pitch after the half time whistle. 

All the good things we were doing earlier seemed to disappear as Preston seemed to sense our unease. However we defended stoically and Honor in goal is looking better every time I see him. It wasn't until the last ten minutes when Preston were bombing on that we looked like scoring again.

In the end we were probably a touch fortunate but a win is a win.

Aside from Honor Atcheson looked good I thought with Joesph showing some good strikers attributes although he does, in my view get overly involved with centre halves and plays on the edge in this respect.

A fair assessment. Seems crazy that Honor isn't rated higher than Goddard and Barratt when he's only 19! 

[arbitro]

54 minutes ago, bigsigarner said:

A fair assessment. Seems crazy that Honor isn't rated higher than Goddard and Barratt when he's only 19! 

And up to recently I think Khan was ahead of him. I noticed today that he was more vocal than I'd seen before so perhaps that means his confidence is improving.

I saw Honor play for Atherton Colls last season and from then to now there appears to be a marked improvement.

[bluebruce]

8 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

John Byrom was scoring hat-tricks for us in the old First Division at a similar age. I was expecting to see a player with similar levels of ability as John had. I haven’t seen them yet 

You were expecting a 'hat tricks in the top tier' level of player from him? That seems a bit much tbf. There has been hype but not that much.

[bigsigarner]

1 hour ago, arbitro said:

And up to recently I think Khan was ahead of him. I noticed today that he was more vocal than I'd seen before so perhaps that means his confidence is improving.

I saw Honor play for Atherton Colls last season and from then to now there appears to be a marked improvement.

Lads eome specimen. What size is he?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

2 hours ago, bluebruce said:

You were expecting a 'hat tricks in the top tier' level of player from him? That seems a bit much tbf. There has been hype but not that much.

No, but I was expecting to see the “ something “ that special players can do. Just now and again. I haven’t seen anything yet.

Edited 13 hours ago by Tyrone Shoelaces

[chaddyrovers]

Who was in charge of Rovers today? 

[Mercer]

13 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

John Byrom was scoring hat-tricks for us in the old First Division at a similar age. I was expecting to see a player with similar levels of ability as John had. I haven’t seen them yet 

Loved watching Byrom - played with intelligence and a sense of imperiousness.  Would have thought he was round about the 1 goal in 2 game mark.  Really surprised he never played for one of the 'big boys'.  

[KentExile]

 

 

[arbitro]

12 hours ago, bigsigarner said:

Lads eome specimen. What size is he?

Right now I would say roughly 6' 3".

The good thing is that his football development seems to be matching his physical development.

[Tugayisgod]

Anyone know if Joseph is on a scholarship still or has he signed a pro contract.. Don't remember reading anything about him.

[arbitro]

4 minutes ago, Tugayisgod said:

Anyone know if Joseph is on a scholarship still or has he signed a pro contract.. Don't remember reading anything about him.

I haven't seen anything either.

Gestede was watching yesterday so hopefully there will be something done soon.

[KentExile]

40 minutes ago, Tugayisgod said:

Anyone know if Joseph is on a scholarship still or has he signed a pro contract.. Don't remember reading anything about him.

 

34 minutes ago, arbitro said:

I haven't seen anything either.

Gestede was watching yesterday so hopefully there will be something done soon.

Just a scholarship contract, which expires at the end of this season

Nobody from the "class of 24" has signed a pro deal yet, but  that wil of course save Rudy & Suhail a few pennies in the here and now, and will have no possible adverse effects at all 😉 

Edited 1 hour ago by KentExile

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

10 hours ago, Mercer said:

Loved watching Byrom - played with intelligence and a sense of imperiousness.  Would have thought he was round about the 1 goal in 2 game mark.  Really surprised he never played for one of the 'big boys'.  

Bobby Moore said Byrom was the second best British player he ever played against and he played against some top class centre forwards.

[Mashed Potatoes]

18 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Bobby Moore said Byrom was the second best British player he ever played against and he played against some top class centre forwards.

Yet despite an outstanding goalscoring record for us Byrom never played in the top flight again after the age of 22 in 1966. Why was that ?

Injury, attitude ,opponents rumbling a weakness in his game, switch of tactics in the game to 4-3-3 ?

[Mashed Potatoes]

1 hour ago, KentExile said:

 

Just a scholarship contract, which expires at the end of this season

Nobody from the "class of 24" has signed a pro deal yet, but  that wil of course save Rudy & Suhail a few pennies in the here and now, and will have no possible adverse effects at all 😉 

Who in the class of 24 do you think would be Championship level players in the years to come ?