And here’s the U21 lineup. Posted on this thread to see who is involved and there are a couple of names missing who could feature tonight.
Fair few young uns in there again. Interesting to see if Robbo and Salech form a front 2 or whether he plays off the wing... Good to see Ng back.
A few more changes than I was expecting. Hope Lawlor doesn't get burnt out. Playing a lot of games for a 19 year old. I'd have kept Willock in there as well. Ahhh. And there's Luey Giles. Was wondering where he'd been hiding.
Just thinking. Where does that leave Alnwick? A message to him from BBM? 7 of the starters and 6 of the bench came through the ranks.
All told we have now used 11 players who came up through our ranks. Only Chambers and Willock from the senior group are now playing. Pretty damn impressive. In fact one of their subs, Bakare, used to captain our under 23's.
BBM said we'd like him. A pity his first outing ended the way it did. We seem to be blessed with young central midfielders.
Without wishing to go over the top, Mafico reminded me of a young N'Golo Kante. Mopping up loose balls in midfield and bursting foward with pace - this kid is going to be very good.
Even if he doesn't hit those heights, he's better than a lot of our signings over the last 10 years and more. Many of the youngsters are. Wherever we are at the end of the season, we haven't wasted anything on poor signings or given stupid contracts to anyone. Free and gratis from our academy. Easy on the eye as well. A season together will do wonders for them. Hopefully youngsters coming along behind will see the benefits of staying. Lawlor said BBM's influence was key to him signing a new contract. Tan needs to recognise what is happening and support it. No 'club signings', a footballing philosophy, no u-turns. If things keep moving the way they are, losing players and losing BBM will be the risk.
He was quick out of the blocks to intercept the short corner and set Davies free. Fair play to Davies, he anticipated what was happening and was on his bike sharpish. Despite the speed to the break, and I've mentioned this before, players were busting a gut to get in the box. There were 5 players arriving in the box as the ball hit the back of the net. Much of that is the pace of the players, but as important is their desire to get there and their reaction to the break. It is difficult not to get ahead of ourselves. I know 'it's only league one', I know things will go wrong and we'll lose games, but it's nice to be excited.
