Academy Watch 2022-3

Some goal that, beauty.

 

Keeper didn't think so. Had to go off injured after headbutting the post.

 

Oh dear! I think I would have headbutted the post if I'd been beaten from that far out.

 

The results from our academy sides are appalling. Can't be good.

 

Basically our U18s are our U21 side, meaning our U16s are our U18s, so both squads are facing an uphill battle as they're regularly up against teams more physically developed than they are

The cull of our academy last summer is a big part of why

 

And we've got very few out on loan, so our academy needs a lot of work.

 

I've seen it said that our approach to our academy is to use academy matches as livefire exercises to work on specific aspects of their game in a match setting. For example one match would be about holding up the ball, another might be about close control, and another working on short, quick passes

Basically it's like we realised that both our U21 and U18 teams are often going to be face-to-face with players much more developed than they are, for example Alfie Devine, Roshaun Mathurin and Yago Santiago are all 18 but are major parts of our U21s, so it's more important to build muscle memory first

Although it would also help if the club updated the academy section of the website, as the squads have been out of date since the summer. Case in point, look at the teamsheet for yesterday's game: Morgan, Ajayi, Hall, Akhamrich, Krasniqi, Chaplin, Wilhoft-King, Owen, Irow, Black and Lehane are not listed, similarly I don't see Will Lankshere (who played a whole four seconds tonight) anywhere on our site either

 

Well that's heartening to hear from Jamie Donley's father...

 

Richarlison at the match:

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Sign says, "Lucas, can I have your shirt?"