2017-18 PL2 Thread

Would be a great opportunity for Lamela

 

One of my brothers drew my attention to this. This young man is some player...........Very well worth watching

 

Dammit, I'm still on the Samuel Shashoua hype train!

 

Looks excellent! Lovely crisp, quick passing. Doesn't do the thing that bugs me about so many PL players which is to pass just behind their target - they get the ball but all the momentum is taken out. Skipp's passes are all to feet or just in front. Lovely.

 

Promising. Happy to do the dirty work, win the ball and block shots, but also comfortable on the ball and always looking forward.
Bit more defensive minded than Winks, perhaps? I wonder if they could work well together, down the line?

 

He's got a bit of everything. Combative but not overly aggressive, athletic but with good control, excellent vision, a really good short and long passer and for his age a considerable 'engine'. Most impressive, for me, is his ability to read the game and be in the right place when we don't have the ball and then to break into space when we do. Like with Dele Alli's movement, you can't coach that.

He's a first year Academy player, that was Real Madrid's youth team and he looked like a professional player against them. Him and Harry Winks in the centre of midfield? I would think so. Keep working hard young man, you've certainly got the talent.

 

Knowing where to be to win the ball without making a tackle is the flip side of the coin to finding acres of space, for me.
Virtually impossible to coach, but invaluable.
If he has a bit of both, then he's got the potential to make a real impact. Needs tons of work, of course, but he's one to keep an eye on.

 

Oh yeah, this was going on last night...

 

I get the feeling that our current youth sides just aren't up to it, at the moment.
Some exciting prospects in there, but the overall quality just doesn't seem to be there, unfortunately.
Not about results, though. If we can bring through one or two a season, then we're doing very, very well.

 

In the meantime our u19's beat Dortmund and Real Madrid

 

And lost to APOEL! I know what you mean, though.
Overall results for the youth teams have been far from great, I'm afraid.
I'll ignore the Checkatrade, because of scheduling and the clash with internationals, but the tables don't lie:
https://www.premierleague.com/tables?team=U21
https://www.premierleague.com/tables?team=U18

As I said, the results aren't the most important thing, but I do feel that there's something missing, for some reason.
I could be wrong, of course, as I don't get to see much of it and largely have to rely on reports, but I don't think it's clicking just yet.

 

I don't know what age the Valencia players were but we had a lot of younger age players in our side. Our stated aim is to progress the individual, as opposed to be looking at collective success. I think that's right.

I'd prefer to get that one or two contending for the first team and putting Lyons-Foster and Skipp in at 17 probably does that.

 

I largely agree, but I still think that there's a place for establishing a winning mentality at that level and being competitive.
It's a tricky balance.

 

One name sticks out from this starting lineup...

 

Another defeat:
http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/new...chelsea-premier-league-2-match-report-181117/

 

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It's almost as if there's spots available for the Apoel match...

 

If the job is done after the results tonight, there may well be.

 

A rank bad penalty miss by Edwards. Lefties shouldn't take penalties, it's been researched and they have a lower success rate.

 

3-1 - beauty from Sterling.