Chelsea u23s lost again, this time 2-1 against Arsenal last night. Good performance by Arsenal, but Chris Willock still not looking like his future has much in the way of promise. Goals from Nelson and Mavididi.
Willock, to me, hasn't looked much for some time (others will no doubt disagree). It seems that all three brothers have a tendency to be too "passive". What happened to the City "beast" Campbell? Did he get a move somewhere? He doesn't get selected by England anymore does he.
Last I heard he was on trial at Stoke but hadn't signed anything last time I checked but maybe things have changed now. He hasn't played for England since U16's I think. I put that down to not playing U18 football whilst at City unlike others of his year group who regularly played U18 football but I could be wrong. He was still prolific at U16 level but it's a step down from U18 football.
Spurs u19s, today, were beaten 3-1 away to a bright, lively, persistent and dominant Bayer Leverkusen side. Spurs went 1-0 up early 0n and seemed to be happy to sit on the lead until the game drew level, into the second half.
Spurs and Chelsea played an entertaining 1-1 draw today. Both teams had chances to win it, Taylor-Crossdale missed a penalty and Sterling went clean through on goal but couldn't get a shot off. Skipp was the pick of Spurs' internationals on the pitch, Shashoua had a lively game too. Reece James was superb for Chelsea at right-back, defended well and would've got two or three assists if Chelsea had been more clinical.
James is so solid every week, dependable and makes good decisions, plus those crosses yeah. Thought George Marsh did very well today too, up against a very good forward and gave a very impressive account of himself overall.
James has good all round ability, with more skill than most full backs. His prospects look good. He's u18 eligible (as I recall).
Man City u19s were beaten again today, 2-0 against Barca. And once again it was Barca's emphatic finishing that made the difference, for all the huffing and puffing of City. Barca usually had a lot of players behind the ball who were very lively and switched on, making it heavy work for the City forwards. Arsenal drew 1-1 (Nelson).
Tanganga, Walker-Peters, Eyoma, Skipp (an U16 at club level), Shashoua, Oakley-Boothe and Bennetts start for Spurs U19s vs Bayer Leverkusen. Live on BT Sport 1, KO at 5.
It would have been good experience for the youngsters. Spurs managed to win 2-0 against a strong side, just about keeping them still alive in the competition. But they will apparently need to win the next two games to have a chance of going through.
Liverpool, Everton and Man United consider boycotting youth games with Man City over alleged youth transfer rule breaches: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...er-league-investigation-academy-a7438521.html
Funny to see the big clubs throwing their toys out of their pram when they've done it to clubs further down the chain for years
FAYC is back. I see Stoke beat West Ham and PNE beat Sheff Utd as slight up-sets. Spurs easily saw past Stevenage 10-1 and the same with Norwich beat Watford 5-1 5 fixtures next Tuesday when the round really starts to gather pace.
Should be a good game. Both teams set to have a couple players missing but shouldn't detract from the good ability on show.
Chelsea u23s beat Man U last night 3-1 in a competitive hard fought game (the sort of game they have been trying to encourage at that level). Jay DaSilva, too often, too much in cruise control for my liking, went on a brilliant run, pulling the ball back well for the second goal. Mason Mount had, I thought, one of the more encouraging performances of the season so far.
I notice a big clash is on the cards in the 4th round of the Youth Cup with the winners of Reading vs Man City and Liverpool vs Palace meeting up.
Last night Man U went out of the youth cup at the first hurdle losing 2-1 at home to Southampton. They must have fancied their chances of a good run this year and got the break through to go 1-0 up. They largely dominated possession, probing away, without looking that much of a threat on goal, and then conceded two.
Did Slattery play well? Also the Saints' left back, Vokins is a big talent apparently, how did he play?
Tbh its still very rich from Liverpool - Longstaff, Dhanda, Ojo, Sinclair, Ejaria, Kane, Brewster. These are current. Not sure how bad the other 2 are now at it, but clearly it seems like sour grapes as City are beating them to it
TBH In the cases of Ejaria, Brewster and Dixon-Bonner it's not a case of them throwing lots of money at the player. They're convincing them that they'll have better opportunities for progression than at Arsenal/Chelsea. And how many of those others have been poached from smaller Cat As since the rule change? Sinclair and Ojo were definitely before, 2011 and 2012, not current in the slightest (and if you're mentioning them why not Sterling and Ibe who were also 2011 and 2012?).
From my perspective there isn't much to say. Slattery didn't impress and Vokins was bigged up before the game got going but can't say I was that aware of him.