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Academy & U21s


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Difficult night for a very young team at Leicester against a side that included internationals, a number with first team experience and a centre-back that cost £12million.  At one point our back four was made up of 4 17-year-olds.  Like ourselves, I believe the team had a difficult trip down to Leicester due to the traffic problems which are now a regular feature of away trips.

Many of the lads who won promotion last season are no longer part of the Under-23 set up - Travis, Platt, Wharton, Nuttall - and both Tyler and Joe Rankin-Costello are sidelined with long term injuries.   It's a good learning experience for the youngsters being drafted in from the Under-18's to fill the gaps but tonight, like last week, they came up against some quality players who were operating at a  higher level.  The main disappointment at the moment are the performances of Tomlinson and Hardcastle and both look like they could do with a spell on loan somewhere before they start to go backwards at this level.  It's going to be a tough season and a steep learning curve for the youngsters being drafted into this team.  Hopefully, they will come out at the other end better players for the experience.

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It’s no surprise the U23s have lost their last 2 games quite heavily, the squad at the minute is so far from last seasons squad

the back 4 is seriously make shift at the minute, the time to judge will be when the players who are out return which some will

with no Magloire, C Doyle (suspended) and Grayson (who will be involved tonight) in the side, then add long term injury to Rankin-Costello,  no Nuttall, Travis, Platt, Wharton the only U18s who were involved regular last season were Butterworth and Evans now a few of the others are making up the numbers and it’s a big jump from 18s to 23s and you kind of get the picture why they are Struggling a little

if the strongest side could be selected they would more than hold their own in this league but with development football that isn’t how it works unfortunately 

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What happened to that Lithuanian 'wonderkid' we were supposed to be signing, which I presumed was for the development squad? Name something like (watch me butcher this) Villaus Pilliakautis or somesuch. 

Edited by bluebruce
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6 hours ago, Lancaster Rover said:

What has happened to Jack Doyle, I thought he looked an excellent footballer in the doomed Coyle pre-season. 

Good question. Wiki reckons he was out on loan to Derry City last season...20 apps, 1 goal.

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Just had a look at our recent Academy graduates and is it just me that's amused at all of them predominantly being Defenders?

We seem to be good at churning out quality defenders and goalkeepers but haven't really produced any forwards or midfielders in ages! Mahoney is the only one I can think of. And you could count Lowe as a midfielder I guess.

Frank Fielding, Jake Kean, Raya, Olsson, Hanley, Henley, Jones, Lenihan, O'Connell, Wharton, Nyambe, Doyle, Travis - all of them being defenders/goalkeepers

I only ask because I remember reading how Academies around the country are starting to focus more on producing Strikers & Attackers due to the rewards they can get in the Transfer market for a young British striker/winger. And some clubs have even hired foreign coaches who focus on Attacking skills and Technique. That makes sense as well considering a young striker would have the same value as four defenders combined coming out of the Academy.

I realise there's not much the club can do in terms of the kind of players who make it out, but this is just something I found amusing.

Edited by roversoutsider
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12 minutes ago, roversoutsider said:

Just had a look at our recent Academy graduates and is it just me that's amused at all of them predominantly being Defenders?

We seem to be good at churning out quality defenders and goalkeepers but haven't really produced any forwards or midfielders in ages! Mahoney is the only one I can think of. And you could count Lowe as a midfielder I guess.

Frank Fielding, Jake Kean, Raya, Olsson, Hanley, Henley, Jones, Lenihan, O'Connell, Wharton, Nyambe, Doyle, Travis - all of them being defenders/goalkeepers

I only ask because I remember reading how Academies around the country are starting to focus more on producing Strikers & Attackers due to the rewards they can get in the Transfer market for a young British striker/winger. And some clubs have even hired foreign coaches who focus on Attacking skills and Technique. That makes sense as well considering a young striker would have the same value as four defenders combined coming out of the Academy.

I realise there's not much the club can do in terms of the kind of players who make it out, but this is just something I found amusing.

Thats interesting alright.

On kind of a semi-related point. Richard Dunne was speaking on the radio the other night about the Man city academy. He was less than positive. He said all age groups are overly structured, learning the same drills over and over, like a conveyor belt. He said there is little to no room for individuality. I watched the Man city doc on amazon and it briefly showed the young kids in the academy. It looked industrial alright. 

When you see a player like Dack who has had to go back down the leagues to work their way up eventually, I think it gives him that nasty edge that will give him a huge advantage over young lads who were churned out of the top academies at 22-23. 

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13 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Thats interesting alright.

On kind of a semi-related point. Richard Dunne was speaking on the radio the other night about the Man city academy. He was less than positive. He said all age groups are overly structured, learning the same drills over and over, like a conveyor belt. He said there is little to no room for individuality. I watched the Man city doc on amazon and it briefly showed the young kids in the academy. It looked industrial alright. 

When you see a player like Dack who has had to go back down the leagues to work their way up eventually, I think it gives him that nasty edge that will give him a huge advantage over young lads who were churned out of the top academies at 22-23. 

He's not had the individuality coached out of him. He gets a free hand here.

I was only thinking about this in the light of the death of Jimmy Mac the other day. Every team had a Bradley Dack  then. Bryan Douglas was a smaller but much better version once he came into midfield. Burnley had Mac, Blackpool had a bloke called Pat Quinn, Bolton had Freddy Hill etc

They learnt the game playing 20 a side on the local rec with jumpers for goals. You had to be nippy then or you'd get kicked to death by the big lads.

Edited by Tyrone Shoelaces
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2 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

He's not had the individuality coached out of him. He gets a free hand here.

I was only thinking about this in the light of the death of Jimmy Mac the other day. Every team had a Bradley Dack  then. Bryan Douglas was a smaller but much better version once he came into midfield. Burnley had Mac, Blackpool had a bloke called Pat Quinn, Bolton had Freddy Hill etc

They learnt the game playing 20 a side on the local rec with jumpers for goals. You had to be nippy then or you'd get kicked to death.

Ya, very true. In Ireland we had Liam Brady and Johnny Giles who grew up playing on the streets of Dublin. Duffer would have been a street player too.  I rarely see unstructured games around the city these days. 

 

Edited by Bigdoggsteel
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3 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Ya, very true. In Ireland we had Liam Brady and Johnny Giles who grew up playing on the streets of Dublin. I rarely see unstructured games around the city these days. 

 

 

7 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

He's not had the individuality coached out of him. He gets a free hand here.

I was only thinking about this in the light of the death of Jimmy Mac the other day. Every team had a Bradley Dack  then. Bryan Douglas was a smaller but much better version once he came into midfield. Burnley had Mac, Blackpool had a bloke called Pat Quinn, Bolton had Freddy Hill etc

They learnt the game playing 20 a side on the local rec with jumpers for goals. You had to be nippy then or you'd get kicked to death.

This is perhaps, to an extent why England always have that little bit extra missing on the International stage?

A majority of the English players seem to be churned out from the Academies of the Big four(and more recently Soton). And, these players get given the world to them at a young age. The amount of money that 17-18 yr Academy graduates at these clubs earn is insane. Throwing that much money at such a young age is bound to reduce their hunger/passion for the game as it is easy to become satisfied with the money you have and not struggle and work hard to go that one step further. And sometimes you need that nasty in a player. Players need to be fighters and stick a boot in if required. These are things that come naturally to players who have had to fight and sacrifice for their chance to play at the top(Uruguay, Colombia, Brazil etc). English players often come across as being "soft". 

If you look at the top International sides(especially South American ones) most of their players come from semi-professional backgrounds where they literally play their way to the top. There are so many rags to riches stories in these sides where players go from playing on the streets to the big stage. Jamie Vardy is the only English player I can think of that's worked his way to the top. Most of the other players in England often come out of Academies which industrialize players and mould them in a specific way, robbing them of their creative expression. 

Sorry for the long post! Just wanted to draw a correlation between passion/will to succeed and economic backgrounds of players!

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9 minutes ago, roversoutsider said:

 

This is perhaps, to an extent why England always have that little bit extra missing on the International stage?

A majority of the English players seem to be churned out from the Academies of the Big four(and more recently Soton). And, these players get given the world to them at a young age. The amount of money that 17-18 yr Academy graduates at these clubs earn is insane. Throwing that much money at such a young age is bound to reduce their hunger/passion for the game as it is easy to become satisfied with the money you have and not struggle and work hard to go that one step further. And sometimes you need that nasty in a player. Players need to be fighters and stick a boot in if required. These are things that come naturally to players who have had to fight and sacrifice for their chance to play at the top(Uruguay, Colombia, Brazil etc). English players often come across as being "soft". 

If you look at the top International sides(especially South American ones) most of their players come from semi-professional backgrounds where they literally play their way to the top. There are so many rags to riches stories in these sides where players go from playing on the streets to the big stage. Jamie Vardy is the only English player I can think of that's worked his way to the top. Most of the other players in England often come out of Academies which industrialize players and mould them in a specific way, robbing them of their creative expression. 

Sorry for the long post! Just wanted to draw a correlation between passion/will to succeed and economic backgrounds of players!

You are dead right. I saw a pic a few weeks ago that Jack Byrne posted on social media. It was of his huge 2018 Range rover outside his house. I mean, the guy has done nothing career wise. Going backwards. Yet he can afford a brand new Range rover. Crazy 

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Just now, Bigdoggsteel said:

You are dead right. I saw a pic a few weeks ago that Jack Byrne posted on social media. It was of his huge 2018 Range rover outside his house. I mean, the guy has done nothing career wise. Going backwards. Yet he can afford a brand new Range rover. Crazy 

It'll be on lease, most likely. But still, a mate of mine has one and told me how much road tax and fuel costs are each month.

If I had any hair, it would have made it curl, believe me!

Edited by K-Hod
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23 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

It'll be on lease, most likely. But still, a mate of mine has one and told me how much road tax and fuel costs are each month.

If I had any hair, it would have made it curl, believe me!

True, or just a freebie for advertising for some local dealership. Wherever local is to Jack these days 

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Richard Dunne's comments are a bit wide of the mark, the kids at City are working on the same drills as City are trying to make an imprint on all their age groups. It's the Cruyff model, he believed that a team should have an identity and playing style that should be replicated at every age group, in that way the kids can see the reasoning behind what they're doing and also make the transition into the first team easier as they should be used to systems of play. 

I've heard Dunne speak a few times about City and he comes across as being bitter he missed out on the mega money that City now have.

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24 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11706/11484384/crystal-palace-offer-loan-players-to-lower-league-clubs-for-free-if-they-play  

 

Palace offering young players to clubs on loan for free, but if they don't play, the club needs to pay 50% of their wages 

Thought this was the case with most loans to teams lower down the leagues

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