Disagree on the basis of this tournament. Not bothered by young players doing a bit too much on the ball, some ppl said the same about Sancho at some point. He impressed me the most alongside Patino Bellingham and the left footed CB. Very pleased with the performances overall, clearly not as talented as the 2000 but don't think any generation will ever be.
From recent squads these seem the GKs in favour. Coniah Boyce-Clarke Tobi Oluwayemi Kelechi Chibueze Hubert Graczyk Club u15s Adam Richardson of Sunderland & Paul Cooper of Stoke starting u18 games recently which hopefully adds to the competition. Who would be considered the main CBs for the group at this stage ? Humphreys/Baptsite & definitely Colwill. With Kenneh covering ? Finley Burns & Luke Mbete-Tabu the most likely in the medium term to get into the squad over Quansah, Hagan, Welch, Laing, Monluis ? Think that is the competition. Although Ben Watt is RB/CB.
Wanted to add I saw Spurs u15s play the Dons Friday and Watt imo was the best players on the pitch. Started out at RB then moved to CB where I've seen him before. Was excellent on the ball and has looked good in the few times I've seen him play. If he isn't deemed good enough it bodes well for the quality of CBs available.
Fedel Young-Lang on for City today. Basically just Oneill Alli + Kian Breckin who haven't made their U18 debuts now. Curtis Robinson playing for Wigan now in their successful floodlight run, who was originally part of this group. Their 02/03 group is starting to feel like the type of groups that Chelsea churn out for fun. Suspect it'll be this group that gets them close to a UYL title, with only a few choice signings. Big improvement when they've all grown together rather than the groups that are just a complete mishmash of signings + a few academy kids thrown together randomly.
Believe O'Neill Alli was actually an U16 who was released this season. Breckin I'd expect to play next season surely? And has Tai Sodje featured yet or is he a year below?
Did Alli end up somewhere else? Had missed that. Yeah, Sodje hasn't either. Not sure on the exact ages of all of them, probably premature for some i've mentioned. Something has to give with their U23 side because there's going to be a real bottleneck next year unless they sort out a real reliable loaning process.
Rather belated, but a few Montaigu comments. The football against Portugal was so good I compiled 10 mins of moves from that game (from the 45 clips of possession I selected they could easily have been whittled down to 20 min). I don't think it was really noted at the time just how well they played out from the back in that match, and all on a really bobbly pitch. Unfortunately Ivory Coast's forfeiting of their first game meant Portugal had to play a largely second string side against either Argentina or England to utilise their squad. Since it turned out to be us - in the only match where we played something approaching our strongest lineup - it didn't provide a great comparison between the sides, and explains a portion of our dominance. Bashir Humphreys deserves a mention as he was excellent v Portugal, both defensively and technically, and along with Norris, Patino, and Bellingham was one of the four cornerstones those moves were built on. (As an aside, throughout the tournament he was clearly working on his left-foot and when games were safe would try to use it almost exclusively. A curmudgeonly former patron of these pages would surely approve.) I like Dembele but I think perceptions get skewed by the fact that he's in a hype v anti-hype cycle. He fitted in very nicely with the technicians around him and was a big part of our most creative and incisive play. The matches v Argentina (who were excellent all tournament) and Brazil (who were awful) were nowhere near as impressive in terms of our collective performance. Without the tandem of Bellingham and Patino to smooth things over in midfield our play was rather fragmented. Balagizi was a significant downgrade and Kenneh looked far more comfortable as a CB than a DM. In terms of comparison to the 00s, backup for Patino and Bellingham would be one of the biggest question marks. Since it wouldn't be a surprise if Bellingham ends up like Harvey Elliot in being withdrawn from the U-17 Euros, it will be interesting to see what depth there is; CM and the two full-back slots are the only positions I have much doubt about the cover. Everything else seems well stocked. After going over the old videos of the 2000s at the Nike Tournament and Montaigu I think it's nearly impossible to make accurate comparisons between the two age groups. Even when looking at the old footage you can't help comparing today's 15-16 year-olds against a £100 million prospect, someone breaking into Man City's first-team, and another who's choosing between Bayern and Chelsea (and despite his internal reputation at Chelsea CHO wasn't even a regular pick at U-15 or U-16 level, and began the U-17 Euro qualifiers behind Gomes and filling in for Brewster at CF). I think people might be surprised in retrospect that the 2000s performances as U-16s were not always as impressive as remembered - attested to by the stream of the 2-2 draw v the US at Montaigu. At this stage I'd easily put the 03s as the 2nd best group of U-16s we've had behind the 2000s. The top end talents of the 03's in H Elliot, Bellingham, and Musiala are in the same range as Sancho, Foden and Gomes as U-16s, and will likely have similarly diverse development trajectories. What is most promising about the 03s is not just their talent but the disparity of the clubs they play for. It's no coincidence the two most successful players from the 2014 U-17 Euro winning side were Gomez and Cook, who were incorporated into their Championship club's first-team affairs as 17 year-olds following that success. Both progressed enormously in that year and vaulted far ahead of their peers contracted to the big PL clubs.. For the 2000s Sancho, Foden, and CHO always faced the highest possible entry barrier to their clubs' first-teams and which the likes of Panzo, Latibeaudiere, Guehi and McEachran were never going to pass. Fortunately some of the 03's standouts are at Birmingham, Fulham (H Elliot), WBA, Celtic, and Rangers (Young-Coombes). Had Bellingham and H Elliot been born in 96-00 it's far likelier both would have moved to City and Chelsea. Since then the issue of pathways has become an ever more prominent one, with Joe Gomez's rejection of the elite in favour of a first-team pathway no longer such a rarity. Hallelujah. The only one with star quality I fear for is Musiala, who beyond Bellingham is my favourite from the group. Having caught glimpses of his delicate gifts since his U-12 year I've always wondered whether he'd be able to maintain them and it's great to see the pace he's now got in addition to his incredibly swift-footed skill. Pace was what separated the progress of Foden from Gomes as through their U-16 to U-17 years Foden's growing acceleration gave him a major advantage over his peers, while Gomes watched all around him increase in speed and strength and he's spent the past two years working out how to counteract it. Fortunately it appears Musiala's physique is going more in Foden's direction than Gomes' Finally it's rather ridiculous to think Fulham had H Elliot, B Elliot and Musiala in their 2002-03 group at various points. It's rather sad they couldn't retain the latter two, as seeing those three develop at Fulham would have been nice to see.
I totally agree with the disparity of clubs point, the top clubs purchasing of the best foreign players as well as poaching the top non cat 1 talents leads to several bottleneck situations as we've seen in the past with Chelsea and City in particular. Although I've heard rumors arsenal are in strong for Bellingham which would create another bottleneck situation with Musah and Azeez as 2002's
I don't know if this video will work, and I'm not technically minded enough to cl;ip videos - but I had the pleasure of watching Jude Bellingham in the flesh for a few minutes in the U23s semi final play off at Portman Road. He only landed on the ball a couple of times, but went on one excellent run where he sat both CBs down. Unfortunately he cut back in one too many times and his shot was blocked. The video doesn't really do it justice, but 'in real life' the balance and poise shown was a joy to watch, up against someone who is likely going to make their first team debut this weekend - he seemed to slow the game down like only the best players can and was really impressive. It is at just after 86 minutes on the game clock in the below video: <iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/vi...videos/816886912017919/&show_text=0&width=560" width="560" height="315" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe>
Manchester United and Arsenal battle for Coniah Boyce-Clarke https://t.co/pgyUp3bCl5 via @MailSport— jb8521 (@jb_8521) April 29, 2019
When was the last time a top 6 team actually bought through an academy goalkeeper - or for that matter even looked like they might consider it? Teams in general are generally very tentative about giving academy goalkeepers a chance, there's basically zero chance however good you look you'll ever be trusted by the very top teams as a keeper in England. Even centre backs largely have the same problem with these kind of clubs. Really keeper and centre back are the two positions more than any other your better off learning your trade elsewhere. Be that moving from a top club ASAP to get proper gametime or starting lower down in the first place.
Danny Ward made three appearances for Liverpool before Leicester offered £12m for him to warm their bench. That's the closest I can think of off the top of my head. Man City got £13m for Angus Gunn after making zero appearances (and never really being that close to making one). You can see what the big clubs get out of getting these keepers on their books, at least.
Unfortunately, you’re right. Terry, King and Carragher seem a long time ago. If you look at our CBS now Stones, Gomez and Maguire all came through at clubs outside the top flight. As for goalkeepers, Gunn had to move before getting an opportunity and Henderson made his name on loan.
Boyce-Clarke set to sign new deal with Reading. Harvey Elliott most likely signed with Fulham considering recent opportunities with their first team. So maybe got to keep an eye on Louie Barry & Jude Bellingham but the latter looks unlikely.
Harvey next ? Noah Ohio (16) rejecting to sign a new contract with Man City, great decision by the young dutchman. Will be almost impossible breaking into their first team, would like to see him go to The Netherlands.https://t.co/hKADhJvW3Y pic.twitter.com/3jKRfxR7tt— Bas (@MxZvGx_) May 27, 2019
Ohio's been linked with German clubs for months now. Elliott will probably sign, his first-team push was probably enough to convince him. I'm still wondering about Bellingham; he agreed his scholarship I think, but could still leave like Ben Knight did to City after agreeing with Ipswich.