Good Polish stream here if anyone has time. Dortmund are currently 2–1 up and dominating possession. Sancho's doing well.
Man City u19s ended up winning 3-1 at the finish - should perhaps have put the game away earlier. Goals from starters Joel Latibeaudiere (came off the shoulder), Foden on hand to put away the second, with sub Taylor-Richards scoring from a Foden cross late on.
Aidan Barlow v CSKA Moscow: 912998151002390528 is not a valid tweet id Angel Gomes: 913005981411528704 is not a valid tweet id
Chelsea u19s, today, beat Atletico Madrid 3-1 in an uninspired game. There was much poor finishing, especially from Madrid. Maddox did score a very impressive goal though, running down the middle through their defence before firing the ball in with his left foot. One of their defenders was noticeably pitiful in his token attempt to stop him getting passed. .
#MUFC sign 5 @htafcdotcom youngsters (1x U15, 3x U14s, 1x U12),including highly-rated Sam Murray. 3 to @bfc_official https://t.co/nVEWGuHXvH— Training Ground Guru (@ground_guru) September 29, 2017
Not sure what to make of this. It seems to bad to be true. The Academy of Plight: Inside Sunderland’s self-serving, development-stunting youth systemA must read... #SAFC https://t.co/VXB1zgIMRS— Roker Report (@RokerReport) October 17, 2017
Sunderland have always made quite bizarre decisions with dealing with their young players. Doesn't seem to be any real long term plans for individuals.
Some National u15 Floodlit Cup scores : Sunderland v Newcastle Leeds v Boro Forest v Man Utd 3-0 Man City v Rotherham 7-0 Burnley v Everton Villa v Wolves 1-1 Cardiff v Swansea 0-0 West Ham v Crystal Palace 0-2 Millwall v Chelsea Not sure on 3 scores & who the other 2 teams are ? Chelsa v Millwall tonight.
Colchester, Arsenal, Leicester, Norwich is a group too. https://www.cu-fc.com/news/2017/september/u15s-make-cup-progress/
Everton, Burnley, Liverpool, Blackburn is a group. https://www.burnleyfootballclub.com/news/2017/october/clarets-youngster-earns-youth-cup-date/
Nice stuff Juni. Was hoping to dig deeper later. So does that mean 12 teams in the south and 12 in the north ? If 2 top in each group qualifies that is 12 in total which doesn't equate for knock-out ? Probably means there is 2 more groups.
The Irony of course with Sunderland is their 14s won Youdan and this is their 15s vs Newcastle ⚽️#SAFC U15s got their Floodlit Cup campaign off to a flying start earlier this week...#SAFCAcademy pic.twitter.com/akSAraIWmF— Sunderland AFC (@SunderlandAFC) October 19, 2017
So updated Sunderland v Newcastle 4-1 Leeds v Boro (tonight) Burnley v Everton 0-1 Liverpool v Blackburn Forest v Man Utd 3-0 Man City v Rotherham 7-0 Villa v Wolves 1-1 ? Cardiff v Swansea 0-0 Arsenal Leicester Norwich Colchester West Ham v Palace 0-2 Chelsea v Millwall (tonight)
It's the 24 Cat 1 teams plus 8 qualifiers from Cat 2/3, so 32 teams, 16 North, 16 South, top two in each group go through to regional QFs/SFs/F, then the national final.
So basically the 8 non-Cat 1 teams are known above. Leeds, Burnley, Forest, Rotherham, Cardiff, Colchester, Palace , Millwall The 8 missing teams from Cat 1 are : WBA & Stoke - probably with Wolves, Villa Derby & Reading - probably with Cardiff/Swansea Fulham, Tottenham, Southampton, Brighton together
This is probably only of interest to me, but an interview with 2 Heads of ITFC academy at supporters event: Lee O'Neill and Bryan Klug talking about the academy. Lee talking about his role, academy manager, co-ordinating the academy. Bryan is the head of coaching, developing players and coaches. Q: Cat One still aim? How close? BK: Made attempt, audited at same time as Brighton and Derby, same mark, appeared only wanted two clubs, we missed out. Painful. Would cost a lot more money. Would we get better players? Probably no. We'd get the same players, catchment area. Games programme big difference, but can get games against bigger sides. Not as a big a downside as previously thought it would be. Not worth it for the additional money. We are getting a very good level of player through. LO'N: Changed a lot, have to have things in place staff, funding facilities etc. Cat One big programmes. The pathway is the biggest thing and can get blocked at bigger clubs. benefit of Cat Two. Generic pathway into first team. Eight KPIs in audit, really complex in for three or four days, interviewing all staff, players parents, getting feel for the club in a short period. Very difficult and complex process, Cat One financial structure immense but not worth it for money involved - maybe in Premier League, make more sense in terms of structure. Not missed out on anyone due to not being Cat One. Draw for us pathway. Have lost players to Cat One but for other reasons, financial etc. Pathway, as seen with Tristan [Nydam] and Flynn [Downes], a carrot. BK: Biggest advantage is we have a tradition and we can tell parents if their boy is good enough, they will get their chance. When at Tottenham, couldn't say same. Short-term financial boost at bigger clubs but further down line no opportunity. Q - Who are next off the conveyor belt? L'ON: important to keep their feet on the floor. Exciting, potential. Never know until they're in full time. BK: Never easy or fair on boys to earmark them too early. What I see is there's a method from the staff and boys showing real potential. We're having continuity, good coaches within each age group. More difficult to win Youth Cup these days - won't happen again - as big Premier League clubs have so many players. Gap too big But in each age group we have some outstanding players. About developing players not teams. In U16 group there is potentially the best player he has worked with. [Big statement! Woo around room!] Everybody in the country knows we've got good players. Tristan [Nydam] and Flynn [Downes] have character and personality exactly what we should produce. Fine young men and are going to be great players for this club. Q How does not being in Premier League affect in terms of recruiting for academy and how compare with NCFC? Academies all under reviews. If you're not producing players, clubs have to look at it [Editor - Norwich are in process of this, L'ON wouldn't comment] Pathway Town's big thing, financial rewards elsewhere at Premier League clubs but pathway blocked. Also education programme, attraction to parents. Important avenue as so many don't make it. All-round package we do really well. We have good structure and on-care, if they go to university here, abroad. BK: Biggest difference now, only person who talked to him as a kid would have been Charlie Woods. So much money now so many people talking to them from so many angles. Different agendas. Agents try and broker deals to take them to Chelsea or wherever. Not necessarily best move as pathway blocked. Town's angle is as per Lee's comments, put to parents - told this is what you're getting. Q Seeing AD [Dozzell], FD [Downes] and TN [Nydam] excellent, as is watching U23s. Quite a lot to be positive in this club, players coming through, v good U23s team under Gerard Nash. We should all be grateful to BK, L'ON and staff. BK: Thanks. Palace game, was a little bit worried, pleasant surprise as they boys did well, but could have gone other way. Turned out to be fantastic experience and has accelerated their progress. When U21s football started four/five years ago, only Jack Marriott of that age. Done well since then. Marcus [Evans - Owner] giving them time. If can persuade ME to keep them for next year could be more. Accepted generally players take longer to make debuts. Gerard doing well. Some players could come through at 22, 23. Grateful Marcus is behind me on project. L'ON: U21/U23 programme has taken time. Hasn't always been right on a night, but keeping them in system has helped. Loans have benefited the players. Exploring other ideas other clubs use. Longer we have with them, the more chance. Never know with kids, as with Palace, give them the chance they can surprise you. Stand out points for me: ITFC, predictably won't be going Cat 1 unless we are in PL due to financial constraints Bryan Klug, who has been with ITFC academy since the days of Keiron Dyer, and worked with likes of Darren Bent, Ambrose, Connor Wickham, Andre Dozzell, etc, and was Assistant to John McDermott at Spurs for 3 years says that an U16 (presumably Ben Knight) is the best U16 he has ever worked with - high praise. Pathways are key, and this is what we are offering players that they can't get at bigger academies Being isolated geographically we tend to be able to hold onto our best players - although have lost 2 to Cat 1 academies (Charlie Brown to Chelsea, England U16 Harry Clarke to Arsenal) Feels like main positive at the club at the moment
Brilliant stuff mate. From the people I speak too it seems like Forest are on similar wave lengths to the above. As long as the young players and their parents have a strong belief in what you (the club) doing then you should not feel the need to worry about others. Scouts are always going to be there. You can't control it. They've been glued to a few of our groups constantly. We've traditionally been better at producing and getting players through than our rivals Derby/Leicester and there is a confidence lower down that we are recruiting who we want and keeping them over the battles we may face with Derby & Leicester. Scouting Cat 1 to Cat 1 has become far more aggressive too.
Whilst the quality of football may not be the same, the best players get pushed on so quickly, players like Dozzell, Nydam, etc barely play for the U18s except when schoolboys and progress straight through to U23s - and Cat 2 U23s is a higher level than Cat 1 U18s in my opinion. We don't have the same issues and pressures with regards to competing clubs close by Norwich and London (West Ham is closest) are far enough away not to worry about and neither of those sides seem to bring players through at the moment so maybe don't need to work as hard as Forest do on that side
Just a quick one on this. Cov are in a group with WBA, Swansea and Cardiff. Lost 3-2 away at Swansea on Wednesday night
Chelsea were cruising 2-0 up against Porto u19s but couldn't add to the score. Porto eventually got one back to make it a tense finish for Chelsea. 2-1. Man U managed to scrape a 1-1 draw with an impressive and physical Benfica u19s. Anyone know where Chris Willock is? Injured perhaps?
No, he's starting regularly for Benfica B in the Portuguese second tier. He isn't eligible for the UEFA Youth League anymore though - it's for '99s and younger this season.
Oh yeah, I forgot, he's getting on now. 20 in January. There are some very good players in the Benfica u19 side - and very competitive.