Interesting to see if Joe Hodge is there....not heard much about him this season or since he went to Ireland.
Louie Moulden Dynal Simeu Tino Livramento Nathan Wood Haydon Roberts Lewis Bate Teddy Jenks Yunus Musah Jensen Weir Luke Matheson Sam Greenwood Harvey Elliot Joe Gelhardt Ben Knight Absent Taylor Harwood-Bellis (on the bench for City U23s today) Teden Mengi (playing for United tonight) Armstrong Okoflex (trained with Celtic's first team today, so did Karamoko)
Louie Moulden Nathan Broome Joe Young Dynal Simeu Tino Livramento Nathan Wood Haydon Roberts Dennis Cirkin Haji Mnoga Lewis Bate Teddy Jenks (formerly Hoare) Yunus Musah Jensen Weir Luke Matheson Kido Taylor-Hart Sam Greenwood Harvey Elliot Joe Gelhardt Ben Knight Jeremy Sarmiento Fabio Carvalho Alex Mighten Very strong, especially when you consider who is missing.
A 22-man squad for two matches, though three goalkeepers means it can't be a different eleven for every match. Were it though... Moulden, Livramento, Wood-Gordon, Roberts, Cirkin, Musah, Weir, Carvalho, Greenwood, Sarmiento, Gelhardt Broome, Matheson, Mnoga, Simeu, Cirkin, Bate, Jenks, Mighten, Knight, Elliott, Taylor-Hart Maybe.
He really should have scored too, don't think there'll be much of an opportunity for him the rest of the season (he is only 16 after all) but hopefully next season he'll start to breakthrough.
Today's team: Moulden, Matheson, Cirkin, Weir, Wood-Gordon, Roberts, Knight, Musah (c), Greenwood, Carvalho, Elliott.
The forward options of this group are ridiculous, doesn't have the outright stars of the '00 group (although Harvey Elliot is arguably up there) but the depth surpasses it at this stage. I think the most pleasing thing with this group is the diversity of clubs they come from (even if that's been reduced somewhat by players being poached), particularly the football league input. Shows we're not reliant on a couple of mega-clubs producing talent which is always a concern if they go into a lull, and even the "lesser" academies are getting things right coaching players technically these days. That should bode well for the future in terms of consistently producing talent.
The forward options are exciting and not far from the 00' group but the midfield is weaker. This 00' team would play any team in the world and confiscate the ball for 90 minutes, never seen that before with England. Foden, Gomes, Gibbs-White TOB even McEachran were basically all playmakers who could dictate things in midfield. Unfair to compare any generation with them though, the stars were just aligned.
This is the Harvey Elliott assist I mentioned a week or two ago; sublime. (Forgive the quality of the clip.) Harvey Elliott's vision here... 🧙♂️👀Highlights of #FFCU23s 3-1 victory away at @ManUtd: https://t.co/fcrBlPKueJ #COYW pic.twitter.com/uArFPJHeAo— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) January 14, 2019
Out of interest, does anyone know how James Mcatee's career is going? I've barely heard a peep about him since that little spate of articles a couple of years ago calling him the second coming of Ryan Giggs.
Did this for my own benefit, but for anyone else who's still putting names to faces for this group, that's: Greenwood, Wood-Gordon, Weir, Cirkin, Roberts, Moulden Elliott, Carvalho, Matheson, Knight, Musah
He's a bit slow. May just be growing pains or maturity, but it's why he's not made the proper jump into U18 football just yet.
That Ryan Giggs narrative was more based on the story of Giggs moving from City at a young age to Utd than his playstyle but this time it is reversed. He's playing U16 still due to his stature and competing with Cole Palmer/Fiorini in general