Some Floodlit Cup results. Arsenal 3-0 Tottenham Wimbledon 1-4 Chelsea Wigan 2-0 Liverpool West Ham ?-4 Norwich Everton beat Rochdale Stoke 3-2 Nottm Forest
FA Youth Cup is 2 months away but will be interesting to put together predicted XIs of some of the stronger teams from Cat 1. There should be a few Cat 2 clubs to watch too.
Chelsea could theoretically go Ziger, Lavinier, Wakely, Ampadu, Lamptey, Maatsen,Gilmour, Mola, Anjorin, Hudson-Odoi, Redan But whether Ampadu and Hudson-Odoi play remains to be seen, it's probably unlikely. Spots up for grabs over the next coupla months for sure.
You think Amapadu will even play ? For Forest. Definitely one of our most talented squads. We obviously lost Bondswell and with our attacking options it would have been pretty cool if we had both Richardson and Bondswell as our full-backs bombing on too. I expect Josh Barnes to play left-back which he has done plenty but it will mean we won't go in with a defensive midfielder so we going to have two creative pivots in Dekel/Asare with Johnson maybe dropping deeper. Shelvey , Richardson, Harbottle, Ram, Barnes, Asare, Dekel, Johnson, Appiah, Mighten, Swan
FULHAM Ashby-Hammond Drameh Asare McAvoy Cover De Havilland O'Riley Carvalho Hilton Elliott Abraham * Suppose Warland maybe over McAvoy or Cover ** Jasper unlucky
Spurs are flying at the moment, and there are a lot of players competing for positions. Judging by the fact they didn't let Edwards play I reckon Skipp won't play but Maghoma could do. Oluwayemi Tainio BLF Binks Cirkin Bowden White Markanday Maghoma Bennett Parrott But could easily be Richards up top, Clarke instead of Bennett, and Shashoua who has been excellent this year instead of either Maghoma, White or Bowden. I actually reckon there is more of a chance of him starting as he has been captain and been excellent and if he did I reckon White or Bowden would give way but wouldn't be able to guess who.
1050507679121240064 is not a valid tweet id ARSENAL FA YOUTH CUP SIDE ? Okonkwo VDC McGuiness BSA Saka Olayinka Smith Amaechi Coyle Balogun TJJ * 2002s with Musah having a big shout of starting in midfield but do they go with the safe option ** If Amaechi is out which I think he is - Saka will probably move up as an attacker and Lopez to left-back *** Would love Greenwood to start. Harry Clarke a reserve defensive/midfield option.
For us lot: Jinadu Hannam - Okotcha - Alese - Ngakia Mingi - Appiah-Forson E Longelo - Rosa - Parkes Adarkwa Subs: Sanneh (GK), Nsumbu, Caiger, Nebyla/Chesters, Spyrides. That's all if people are available etc. Only U16 I could see stepping up right now would be Amadou Diallo, perhaps Josh Wilson-Esbrand if Hannam and Caiger are unavailable.
If Hudson-Odoi and Ampadu don't play, which I imagine is somewhat likely, then we'll probably see Ziger Lavinier - Wakely - Ekwah Lamptey - Gilmour - Mola - Maatsen Anjorin Redan-Nunn Or something like that, more 3-5-2 than 3-4-3, but obviously weaker for the absence of two star players and Panzo's departure in the summer. The entire back three is up for grabs though, Sam McClelland or Dynel Simeu could really emerge, and it could be Nunn or Broja up front, or Marcel Lewis in behind Redan as a sole striker.
LIVERPOOL .........................Jaros N.Williams R.Williams Clayton Boyes .............Tagseth Cain Jones .......Longstaff Glatzel Duncan Subs : Larouci, Dixon-Bonner , Clarkson
Southampton will be a very interesting one. Lot of players (first years especially) but they may prefer their second years instead? Put all the options in an image due to the sheer squad depth.
Hansen or Brennan will start at AMC, not Fleary, and Ramsay is a near-cert to play somewhere in defence, he's been their best defender this season and should legitimately have scored about 8 goals already, he's a massive set piece threat. That said, they really lack something going forward; individually their players are talented (and Norton is a proper workhorse up front) but as a unit they've not come together yet to be a sum greater than their parts. The FAYC winner will almost always come from the Chelsea/Arsenal/Spurs/City/United/Liverpool group these days, but if you're looking for someone to cause an upset and go a long way in the competition this season, I'll be interested in Derby or Leeds. French Minkley-Buchanan-Cashin-A.Brown Bird-Knight Wilson-Dixon-Whittaker Stretton Rae Burlace-Cresswell-Casey-Stanley Huggins-Jenkins-Kenneh-Hudson Edmondson-Clarke
Louie Sibley will start in place of Dixon. Quite surprised to see how well Stretton is doing. Ex-Forest. Yeah I think Forest/Leeds will be the best from Cat 2 Outside the main 6 we probably looking at Fulham/Derby/WBA/Everton - I wouldn't look at WBA and Fulham's league positions too much. They promote like Forest/Leeds do in Cat 2. I think West Ham will be better next season Kai ? Christian, what can you tell us about your boys ?
That does make sense re: Saints AMC. I do quite like Fleary, when he's fully fit (had injury problems these last two seasons) I think he could have some involvement. Possibly on the wings. Forest & Leeds are my picks from Cat. 2 - possibly Palace as well: Luthra Chamberlin - Onoabhagbe - Russell Malcolm - Aveiro - D Boateng - Robertson Addy - Street - Pierrick Barnsley have been playing well recently, possibly a long shot but you never know: Kendrick Calligan - Moon - Pache - Gagen Helliwell - Greenfield Willard - Rangel - Thorpe Feeney Subs: GK, Ononye, Binns, Aleksiev, Olatobosun. I think West Ham will be a stronger side next season - not to take anything away from the second years atm but the current U16s are a very strong group and if we manage to hold onto as many as possible we could have a good chance. Haven't got past the first third round since 2011/12 (losing to Chelsea on penalties in the fifth round)
Not expecting much from ITFC this year - last year was our bigger opportunity but a bad night at home to Blackpool Will line up something like this ----------------------------Egan----------------------- D. Crowe--------Henry--------Vega----Clements -----------------------------Scott--------------------- K. Brown--------El-Mizouni---Dobra----Hughes -----------------------------Z.Brown------------------ Not enough at CB and keeper not the best so will concede goals. Clements may go across as a CB, and has pushed on well this season - travelled with first team to Swansea. If we get decent draws we'll win games, but will lose to anyone with talented attackers.
We lost 3-1 at home to that Leeds team, with 7 of those players, but should've absolutely murdered them. One goal was a daisy cutter keeper let through his legs, and then a minute later an OG when our DM turned the ball back to the keeper who was standing wide of goal and it went in. Could easily have been out of sight - although that front 2 weren't playing so may have made a difference.
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. Unsure on an XI cause Adedoyin + Gordon haven't been available much this year for the U18s. They've got a 3-5-2 in their locker which probably suits fitting Gordon in with the front two better, but they've not used it much so wouldn't be confident in predicting it. Tyrer John/Zuk - Collins - Astley - Anderson Carroll - Hughes - Hunt Gordon Phillips - Simms 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.
I think West Brom are too top-heavy (they're really not good at the back) and, as their 23s and 18s have struggled a lot in the last two years, finding the collective form to pick up and go on a run can be hard. The individual talent is there but they have huge question marks. Everton also always seem prone to an upset despite being ultra consistent in league football.
Good luck picking the XI but will have a bash MAN CITY I ....................Scott Dionkou Garcia Ogbeta Frimpong ...................Doyle ..............Bernabe Nmecha ......Simmonds Touaizi Matondo MAN CITY II .....................Anderson Robinson H-Bellis McDonald Corrigan ......................Hodge .................Richards Fiorini .............Knight Ogunby Braaf No place for Moulden, Amankwah, Sobowale, D-Bashiru, Palmer , W-Phillips
.................Shelvey Richardson Harbottle Ram Barnes ......Asare Dekel Johnson ................Appiah ...........Swan Mighten Because there is no defensive midfielder I think we will have to play 3 midfielders with Johnson dropping deeper. Just rotating and being creative but realising they got be aware of looking after the space if one of them is out of position. I also would like Appiah too see a lot of ball so will play him more central but can still form a strong partnership with Richardson on the right but also Dekel who he loves to use for 1-2s. If they decide to go with Barnes in mf and Sanders at left-back I think Asare will have to be the one the miss out which is unfortunate. If it is the first side above I would say the bench would be Sanders, Back (u16), Andrew & if he is fit Ogunseri.
Mostly agree with your team IG but I'd expect A.Shashoua to start and as a result I wouldn't be surprised if they find a place for White at LB. CB will be interesting as Lyons-Foster will almost certainly be one of them but I can't recall him ever partnering Binks as they both prefer to play as the left-sided CB(despite BLF being right-footed) so it could be Walcott or Statham instead. As you say, Richards could easily put himself in contention for one of the attacking spots as well.