They are far bigger, quicker, move the ball better. Pretty much all aspects of the match so far. The size difference between our no9 and their no6 is crazy.
SAFC U21 1-4 Wolverhampton Wanderers U21 Sunderland Under-21s’ Premier League Cup group campaign came to an end on Thursday afternoon, as the young Lads were beaten 4-1 by Wolverhampton Wanderers. Wolves raced into a four-goal half-time lead at Eppleton, Owen Hesketh with a hat-trick, supplemented by Harvey Griffiths’ early opener. Michael Spellman reduced the arrears in the second half, before Ethan Kachosa was sent off late on following a second bookable offence. With qualification into the knockout stages from Group H mathematically out of reach, the opening game of 2023 for our U21s enabled players to reclaim sharpness after the festive break and over a fortnight without football. The match itself – rearranged from late November as heavy fog abandoned the original group fixture between the sides – started with a physically dominant Wolves side flying from the traps, opening the scoring inside eight minutes as Griffiths marauded forward from midfield and found the bottom corner with a low shot. Hesketh then met a pull-back from the byline to double the lead from eight yards, before adding his second and Wolves’ third on 27 minutes with a tap-in from closer range. The closest the Lads came in the first half was via captain Ellis Taylor’s whipped free-kick from 25 yards, the left-footed strike dipping a fraction too late. Nathan Fraser struck the crossbar at the other end as the visitors hunted a fourth, which came when Owen Farmer was fouled by Cameron Jessup inside the area – Hesketh slotting in the penalty for his hat-trick. After the break, Sunderland enjoyed a marked improvement and forced efforts towards goal through Ben Middlemas and substitute Connor Pye, Adam Richardson making an astute save at the other end to stop a fifth from Tyler Roberts. The consolation goal arrived midway through the second half, as Spellman found space on the left-hand side of the area and tucked away a smart finish, delivering minor reward for the Lads’ efforts in the second 45. As the game ebbed to an end, Kachosa was shown a second yellow with two minutes to play, the bookings issued for a shirt-pull and a cynical foul respectively. The full-back will now miss Monday’s hosting of Middlesbrough. With just four days to prepare to take on the Teessiders at Eppleton in the return of Premier League 2 action for the first time since before the World Cup, Graeme Murty and John Hewitson’s young charges have a quick opportunity to respond. SAFC U21: Richardson; Kachosa, Jessup (Pye 55’), Wilson, Bainbridge; Burke (Chiabi 66’), Scott (Moore 73’); Taylor ©, Middlemas (Robinson 66’), Spellman; Gardiner. Subs not used: Cameron. Shambles
Not the best result but even our under 21's who can't get in the first team weren't playing today, so nowt to worry about.
The decline in performances collectively have been worrying for some time now . For two years to be precise, not just yesterday.
We lost a lot of young talent under Donald's ownership. Most of these would have been playing in our u21, if not the first team by now. Hopefully we'll start to see the U18 starting to progress into the U21 Squad over the next few seasons.
True but not the whole story. We also lost some very good coaches ., I hope this improves with the recent appointments as we cant go on looking backwards and making excuses we certainly need to improve something , results are crucial.
We employed Murty, so that's a step in the right direction. The important thing for the U21's, is to prepare players for the first team. At U21 level, it's hard having a settled team, with players either going out on loan or being called up for first team selection. The U18's seem like a really promising group, and I'm sure a few will start to progress to the U21.
We seem very lightweight, Boro are just taking the ball off our players so easily whenever they want. Like men against boys watching their strikers and our defence.
