Middlesbrough out to Sheffield United Fulham out to Leicester Leeds out to Accrington Not big shocks, but they seem to be the notable casualties so far in the 3rd round. Villa v Reading City v Forest Arsenal v Spurs look like they could be good 4th round games. Chelsea v United on Monday, of course. Should be a classic.
That hasn't worked properly. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOYCw7u7ENO02Ep9m1kl5ik5fllcP5Jic
Sunderland, Newcastle, Middlesbrough all out at first time of asking. Quite a few u16s with goals. Will Russ (Leicester), Amadou Diallo (West Ham), Fin Back (Forest), Ryan Gooch (Sunderland), Harley Curtis (Ipswich). But also feels like more are used then previous seasons. Also the much publicised Zak Brunt got the Blades goal to knock Boro out.
😱 - Bloody hell, @AVFCOfficial U18s are the best team in the world. #Villa https://t.co/gYfsNCASN1— MUNDIAL (@MundialMag) December 12, 2018
I went to the ITFC v Andover Town tie but didn't learn much - noted above that U16 Harley Curtis scored (and scored again for both 16s and 18s vs Watford on Saturday). Andover were well organised, a lot of coaching staff were wearing AFC Bournemouth kit so presumably a link up in place there. GIllingham away in the next round - they haven't got a great league record but have won away games at AFC Wimbledon (3-1), Cheltenham Town (4-0) and most impressively Category 1 academy Blackburn Rovers (2-1) in their cup run so far so am not envisaging an easy game.
5th Round Draw 1 Preston North End or Norwich City v Peterborough United or Bury 2 Oxford United or AFC Bournemouth v Aston Villa or Reading 3 Arsenal or Tottenham Hotspur v West Bromwich Albion or Queens Park Rangers 4 Everton v Manchester United or Brighton & Hove Albion 5 Crystal Palace or Bolton Wanderers v Leicester City or Crewe Alexandra 6 Liverpool or Accrington Stanley v Hull City or Wigan Athletic 7 Derby County or Sheffield United v Manchester City or Nottingham Forest 8 Watford or Southampton v Gillingham or Ipswich Town I went to Priestfield on Friday night to see ITFC beat a decent Gillingham side. Was a tough game but think we just about deserved it, Gills striker Ronan Campbell (2000) scored a very good goal and was a constant threat - would expect to see him step up soon for the Gills. No real indiviudal performances of note for ITFC, although Zak Brown lead the line well in what was a tough battle against 2 CBs, one of whom was a man mountain. Armando Dobra carried the ball excellently and no-one can tackle him when in full flight, he's a 2001 and qualifies for Albania but think he is worth having a look at, his dribbling ability is unparalelled from what I've seen at Cat 2 level. Low centre of gravity and strong - final ball can let him down but he definitely has something.
Right on cue....Dobra comes on for the last 10 minutes and nets this 93rd minute for the U23s. Showcases that dribbling ability 🎥 | Armando Dobra grabbed a stoppage time winner as Town's U23s defeated Cardiff City 1-0 earlier today 👇 #itfc pic.twitter.com/udDqZny9Gb— Ipswich Town (@IpswichTown) January 14, 2019
1 Preston North End or Norwich City v Peterborough United or Bury 2 Oxford United or AFC Bournemouth v Aston Villa 3 Arsenal or Tottenham Hotspur v West Bromwich Albion or Queens Park Rangers 4 Everton v Manchester United or Brighton & Hove Albion 5 Crystal Palace or Bolton Wanderers v Leicester City 6 Liverpool or Accrington Stanley v Wigan Athletic 7 Derby County v Manchester City or Nottingham Forest 8 Watford or Southampton v Ipswich Town Some great ties on the cards in the 5th round.
Wins for Watford, Bury, Arsenal, West Brom Going to take some side to stop Arsenal this season. Okonkwo Daley-Campbell Ogungbo McGuiness Swanson Smith McEneff Cottrell Amaechi Balogun Saka Subs Lopez Olayinka Coyle Greenwood Not involved Clarke Azeez Musah John-Jules
Bury through to the Quarters. They’ve got a 2003 called Femi Seriki who has played up loads + is key to their side. Don’t know much else about him though.
They've signed Bright Amoateng (late 02) off Liverpool as well and he's hit the ground running for them. They've always positioned themselves well to pick up releases from bigger clubs (Hulme at Man City, Copping at Norwich, Jones at Everton, Allardyce at Man Utd, Shotton at Stoke, Ondoa at Huddersfield) which is such an easy and smart thing to do.
I'll be heading to Wingate & Finchley tomorrow evening to see if ITFC can overcome Watford - don't think we have anything to fear but should be a closely fought game
Watford 4-1 ITFC The scoreline flattered Watford a bit but they were deserved winners - ITFC made mistakes and fell 2-0 down, then a penalty that looked well outside the area and came over. Jayden Bennetts scored 2 good goals and was a threat all night coming in from the flanks - presume he is Keanen Bennetts brother as noted here he has a German mother (https://www.pulse.ng/sports/footbal...den-bennetts-set-to-represent-nigeria/9pfpzy3) and Nigeria already trying to get him. Their striker was excellent, Ryan Cassidy, and scored a brace, had a real nous about his game and dominated everything up front - but is Irish. Midfielder Dan Phillips completely controlled the midfield, strong as an ox, mobile and could pick a pass out too, don't know any more details about him as haven't looked. No ITFC player will have been happy with their performance, the big moments in the game went against us and a lack of balance at the back was costly.
Leicester v Watford West Brom v Everton Bournemouth v Man City Bury v Liverpool/Wigan Liverpool v Wigan tonight. A lot will depend on the draw, but Everton should stand a good chance of blowing away any of the smaller sides with Simms, Phillips, Adedoyin + Gordon. They'll also probably score goals against the good sides, even if they lose. So will have a punchers chance. It's unlikely they'll be relying on any 2002s so they may be one of the more mature sides. Similarly, West Brom have enough attacking talent in Rodgers, Tulloch, Soule, Barry + Azaz that you can't rule out them catching alight. They have no consistency in selection in the league so it's almost impossible to know how good they are. Haven't seen their games, but i'm told Tom Solanke becoming eligible for WBA has been a gamechanger. Quite happy with this post in hindsight considering the QF line up. Shows how difficult it is for sides to actually progress. Makes Chelsea's consistency even more impressive when you look at how the other 'favourites' struggle to make one final, let alone basically all of the finals.
I had a look back and he played against us in the U23s a few weeks back, he was really, really good last night.
Man City vs West Brom is the first confirmed Semi Final, WBA came from behind to beat Everton 4-3 last night. In a radical departure from history, the Semi Finals and Final are now one-off matches played at the home of the team drawn out first.
My 2019/20 campaign begins tonight ITFC v Kings Lynn Town Game will be a bit of a grudge match between the 2 management teams of the first teams, and imagine Ian Culverhouse will be involved for Kings Lynn. He was Paul Lambert's assistant at Norwich and Villa before being sacked amid bullying claims - Norwich fans conveniently now think he was the brains behind the operation now they hate Lambert. Should be a routine win for ITFC, England wise Zak Brown will start who has been capped at U16 level, and Fraser Alexander will play in midfield (been to camps previously). Exeter at home for the winners - if that is us then ITFC v Exeter will be a very high quality match for Round 2 of the Youth Cup
A very comfortable victory, 6-1 in the end but could quite easily have been double figures - should comfortably have been in fairness. Zak Brown (7) 2 goals, 2 assists, missed a penalty and 3-4 very good chances. Tyreece Simpson (11) impressive, technically not the best but only been full time for a year and from a rugby playing background, absolutely massive but very sharp Liam Gibbs (10) a very good player, his physicality may hold him back a bit but technically his movement, passing and touch are on another level to most I see at Cat 2 level. Highlights here: ⚽️ Watch all of Town's goals as the U18s progressed to the second round of the FA Youth Cup with a 6-1 win over King's Lynn at Portman Road last night. 1️⃣ - Connor O'Reilly2️⃣ - Tyreece Simpson3️⃣ - Zak Brown4️⃣ - Colin Oppong5️⃣ - Zak Brown6️⃣ - Allan Viral#itfc pic.twitter.com/2rz9filTx2— Ipswich Town (@IpswichTown) November 7, 2019