Development/Youth Squads 2022/2023 Thread - U18/U21

[Ric Flair]

This sold out before I could get any tickets

[AjcW]

22 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

This sold out before I could get any tickets

I think these sort of games are very scout heavy, I spotted one or two at Fulham but imagine there will be loads.

 

Also it's holidays isn't it which will have bumped numbers up

[Ric Flair]

2 hours ago, moore_94 said:

I don’t think it is unfortunately

Could be on Arsenal TV? 

[moore_94]

 

[Ric Flair]

55 minutes ago, moore_94 said:

 

No Wormleighton or Cover, shame.

[themightyfin]

Strong looking Arsenal side that.

Maybe a tough night for our kids I'd expect.  

[Lambert09]

9 minutes ago, themightyfin said:

Strong looking Arsenal side that.

Maybe a tough night for our kids I'd expect.  

 

[moore_94]

Sounds like Alves has just scored a banger

[Ric Flair]

Arsenal 2-1, late penalty after a Popov handball

[AjcW]

Well that was much much better! Second half especially, looked a different team. 
 

Braybrooke and Alves a class above, Popov is just 100% energy, clearly taking a lot of inspo from JV. 
 

Im still unsure as to why Appiah is anything to do with a premier league development squad, perhaps harsh but just looks to have nothing about him other than stature. 
 

The Pennants were a real handful when they came on too. 
 

Penalty was a shame too, ref gave it because he should have given them one a minute beforehand. 

[Aus Fox]

Anyone got any footage of the Alves goal tonight? Heard it was an absolute cracker.

[Bubby]

16 minutes ago, Aus Fox said:

Anyone got any footage of the Alves goal tonight? Heard it was an absolute cracker.

https://www.lcfc.com/tv/2873976/alves-scores-stunner-in-gunners-reverse

[Ric Flair]

Great finish, gutted I didn't get tickets as it sounds like he's really stepping up his ability to impact on games. This is exactly the development we hoped he'd show and needed to show, the club evidently have high hopes for him given he's pretty much been a mainstay in the U21's since he turned 16 and we aren't a club that do that very often.

 

I don't think there's any worries he's too small or skinny either, I'd not be surprised to see him come through in to the first team by the end of this season if this trajectory continues.

[filbertway]

Has Alves finally been moved back to a position where he is actually decent now, or is it just a coincidence that he's looking much better when actually being allowed to attack?

[AjcW]

45 minutes ago, filbertway said:

Has Alves finally been moved back to a position where he is actually decent now, or is it just a coincidence that he's looking much better when actually being allowed to attack?

In the Fulham game he spent most of his time looking like he was at DM having to fetch the ball from the edge of our box.

 

He played a lot of yesterdays game on either wing and a little in the middle, very much maddison esque, looked much better there anyway! 

 

Helped that people were giving him the ball rather than him having to hunt it down.

[coolhandfox]

1 hour ago, Ric Flair said:

Great finish, gutted I didn't get tickets as it sounds like he's really stepping up his ability to impact on games. This is exactly the development we hoped he'd show and needed to show, the club evidently have high hopes for him given he's pretty much been a mainstay in the U21's since he turned 16 and we aren't a club that do that very often.

 

I don't think there's any worries he's too small or skinny either, I'd not be surprised to see him come through in to the first team by the end of this season if this trajectory continues.

Could he play RW in your opinion? 

[AjcW]

51 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

Could he play RW in your opinion? 

Left i'd say. His goal was as an inverted winger cutting in onto his strong foot. He played on the right for the last ten minutes, took a shot with his left foot and it didn't go quite as well  

[Lex Koftas]

53 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

Could he play RW in your opinion? 

I reckon he has the energy, charisma, showmanship and bluster for Let Me Entertain You but I wonder if he has the poise for She's The One or Angels.

 

Good question though; one to ponder for the ages.

[AjcW]

58 minutes ago, AjcW said:

In the Fulham game he spent most of his time looking like he was at DM having to fetch the ball from the edge of our box.

 

He played a lot of yesterdays game on either wing and a little in the middle, very much maddison esque, looked much better there anyway! 

 

Helped that people were giving him the ball rather than him having to hunt it down.

Just to add to this, for me this is where a good loan comes in, he'll only look good in this U21 team if the rest of the team are on form. He could do with playing with pros who are more likely to seek him out for a season, to get him used to how being in our first team would be. 

 

[moore_94]

41 minutes ago, AjcW said:

Left i'd say. His goal was as an inverted winger cutting in onto his strong foot. He played on the right for the last ten minutes, took a shot with his left foot and it didn't go quite as well  

I always thought he was left footed for some reason haha

[Ric Flair]

18 minutes ago, moore_94 said:

I always thought he was left footed for some reason haha

His goal vs Bradford in the Papa John's would certainly add to that assumption.

[Ric Flair]

1 hour ago, coolhandfox said:

Could he play RW in your opinion? 

I think out wide is going to be where he starts his professional career as you get more time and space to cause problems. I have no doubt he has the skill and pace to play centrally but we know that tracking back and tackling is very important for an ACM, more so than a winger.

 

He will be one of those players that will play LW/ACM/RW

[Lambert09]

Am I the only one that gets nervous when he does things like that against bigger clubs? 

 

He’s one that I hope stays under the radar and I still think clubs are a little lazy with poaching this type of talent because it’s harder to assess. But when a 16 year old scores like that, a club certainly pricks it’s ears up. 

 

Id absolutely hate for him to get poached before we’ve fully developed him. 

[Lambert09]

I hate to double post, but I just found my self with such optimism about what we have. 

 

The under 23s have been criticized rightly for playing older kids and hanging onto players that won’t be good enough but I don’t think that with this crop, it is a change of philosophy. I think they are just good enough. 

 

The fact that we have wormleighton, braybrooke, alves and mashwinise at their ages (16,18,18,19) and they are standing out so much really shows how good they could be. That’s not mentioning the fact that we have another 5/6 that have a chance as well. 

 

These are all players that will be out on loan soon  and on their paths to the first team.  It’s ridiculously exciting. Kdh looked worse than braybrooke and didn’t get out on loan for 2/3 years after this. 

 

Perhaps the club is actually right and they are too young for a loan. Either because they might get stunted by a lack of game time (like hirst and mcateer) or simply because once that path starts they will want to be playing in front of crowds so if they go to soon they might take too long to seriously be considered for first team football. 
 

We have also just invested in a state of the art training ground to develop this talent, so perhaps our therory is we should be using it and not sending someone to develop at morecombes. I don’t think there’s one correct answer to what’s right. We just have to trust that the club has a plan for them and the way it looks, they do. 

 

Sod’s law that against wolves we had an opportunity to give someone minutes and they weren’t on the bench.

 

I remember about 10 years ago, we played blackburn under 23s and gave them a big hiding. My mate was a blackburn fan and I was with him at the time and gave him a gentle ribbing that our prospects were better than theirs and he went through the players one for one and showed me that there’s built of 18/19 year olds and ours were 21/22 and even older. He was 100% right and of that crop maybe only liam moore had a career. Wish my brain was wise enough to show me which of theirs stepped up but i’m sure they had a few… that was the way to do it (or at least the aim to have youth good enough to do it) At that time they had phil jones starting at a very young age.. so you know they were doing something right 

Edited 25 October 2022 by Lambert09

[moore_94]

34 minutes ago, Lambert09 said:

Am I the only one that gets nervous when he does things like that against bigger clubs? 

 

He’s one that I hope stays under the radar and I still think clubs are a little lazy with poaching this type of talent because it’s harder to assess. But when a 16 year old scores like that, a club certainly pricks it’s ears up. 

 

Id absolutely hate for him to get poached before we’ve fully developed him. 

As he has signed a pro deal they couldn’t actually poach him now