Saints Academy Thread

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James G said:
Yeah, but again, he seems such a 1%er athlete for the age group that he can move faster, stronger and his jump is good too. He can achieve a lot right now through athleticism. I'll be interested to see him at U21 someday where he will come up against more canny defenders and the odd experienced pro.
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In the Norwich preview Fleming mentions he has players he wants to push to the u21s and I think Olomola has already featured on the bench for them, so we may find out soon.

The trouble with the U21 league is that the fixtures are so sparse(12 team league). Monday will be the first game in a month and after a match next week, they're going another month without a match and shortly after that there is another break for winter/christmas
 
Team for Tonight

Gazzaniga, Mugabi, Cook, Wood, Debayo, Reed, Gape, Hesketh, Willard, Seager, Wilkin

Bench; Isted, Little, Johnson, Bakary, Olomola

Willard & Wilkin have been promoted from the u18s to the starting eleven. Don't know if it is their debuts at this level, but the recent loans out the door are keeping the production line moving.
 
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Commentators have confirmed Sims & McQueen are injured. Think Seager & Hesketh are the likely candidates for a place on the bench wednesday. Both linking up well so far

0-1 Everton at half time. After a bright start, saints have been restricted to mainly counters. Seager forcing a good finger tip save from the Everton keeper after a good one two with Hesketh.

Everton have a striker who has been modelling himself on Papa Waigo, getting caught offside on a number of occasions. The goal came from a free-kick on the edge of the area(one of those cross-cum-shots) which the defenders should have dealt with.
 
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Saints about to activate beast mode. Olomola coming on

Seager likely on the bench wednesday. Jim Lucas confirming in commentary
 
0-2 Everton FT

Everton keeper made four or five top saves and the scoreline was a little harsh on Saints.

Positives: Another bright performance from Hesketh,at the heart of every attack. Olomola gave an encouraging performance and looked great in and around the area. Hit the bar and forced two of those top saves from their keeper. At 16 Tyreke Johnson has a bit of pace and was also unlucky not to get on the score sheet.

Negatives: A general lack of composure. In possession and in defence, where the team seemed panicked. Think this is where Reed & Gape need to develop themselves and set the tone for the team. Understand Reed would have taken a big knock in his confidence to find himself out of the first team squad, but he is not going to get back in it with average displays at this level.
 
The problem as I see it at the moment is that the U21's / Development Squad League isn't fit for purpose, too disjointed. As a result our squad has been cast to far flung areas of the Country to get experience and we are left using kids to play in a senior League. Those that have been farmed out don't seem to be getting games either, so that is a waste. Time to get them back into a concentrated squad playing for Southampton, give them an identity and a reason to prove themselves.
 
SAINTDON13 said:
The problem as I see it at the moment is that the U21's / Development Squad League isn't fit for purpose, too disjointed. As a result our squad has been cast to far flung areas of the Country to get experience and we are left using kids to play in a senior League. Those that have been farmed out don't seem to be getting games either, so that is a waste. Time to get them back into a concentrated squad playing for Southampton, give them an identity and a reason to prove themselves.
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Thanks to YouTube i've been able to catch a few u21 games this season and the problem for McCarthy was that the u21 level was no longer seriously challenging him. He was physically too strong for the majority of the strikers and this was either his third or fourth season playing at this level. This is when you need the variety of opponent that the reserve league would offer.

Although I thought our defending was a negative last night in terms of performance. It shows that the two young centre backs were playing at the right level for their ability and they will gain more from these matches.

Agree the league structure needs to be looked at, the cynic in me thinks they're trying to justify the B team idea
 
I guess that had they still been here and available there are a number of loanees that would have featured tonight, RonKo has a very limited squad left to chose from.
 
SAINTDON13 said:
The problem as I see it at the moment is that the U21's / Development Squad League isn't fit for purpose, too disjointed. As a result our squad has been cast to far flung areas of the Country to get experience and we are left using kids to play in a senior League. Those that have been farmed out don't seem to be getting games either, so that is a waste. Time to get them back into a concentrated squad playing for Southampton, give them an identity and a reason to prove themselves.
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This has been the case for years. When we went down and then back up the leagues it was a major nightmare and we would change to a different league structure every season. Not sure what the perfect solution is though.
 
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