I Make Pies

Started for England U18s this evening vs Northern Ireland and scored. Well done to him.

Triston Rowe played the last 15 mins.

29 minutes ago, useless said:

Just heard this thought 'I wonder if we're going to sell Tielemans for FFP reasons making a profit on what was a a free transfer, and Barkley will be his replacement'.

Maybe it's Luiz we are selling if Arsenal are interested are willing to offer big money. That would sort out any PSR issues and leave us with Tielemans + Barkley for that position. Not ideal, but would give Emery more room for manoeuvre this summer.

Can't believe I'm saying this but I'd rather Leeds won the final. I hate watching Southampton - slow, backwards and sideways possession for the sake of possession mixed in with plenty of diving and feigning injury from all their players.

Did they announce the academy player of the year at the awards dinner?

Watching the Leeds vs Norwich playoff match and Summerville has looked good. He has good technical skills, quick feet, awareness of his surroundings and decent decision making. I don't think he would take us to another level but if Emery wants that type of player as another option then we could do worse. He doesn't fit in with our recent record of signing physical beasts though. 

We have scored 76 goals this season with one game to go.

The last time Man Utd scored that many was 11 years ago until Alex Ferguson.

2 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

Wow, that is a run in worthy of Villa pre-Emery.

The games against the bigger teams has been the difference. Since our game against Tottenham in March both clubs have played Man City,  Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea. We got 5 points from those games, Tottenham got 0. The gap between us and Tottenham? 5 points.

21 hours ago, MWARLEY2 said:

Kadan is going to have to develop his game i think to stand a chance. As you say its one trick. Jimoh was poor tonight but he has everything in his locker.  The 2 i rate the highest though are Rowe and Borland. Rowe has everything to be a fullback.  Borland will only fail if he doesnt get any bigger. He is so so tidy with the ball . Makes it look easy but in reality its so hard to pick the right pass nearly every single time at 16 years old . He does. He is a tough cookie that i think would be doing even better if we had a big midfielder next to him. Alcock is technically good but playing 2 x 5'7 midfielders just isnt sustainable..

Maybe that's why Kadan has been playing on the right recently, to learn how to play on that side and develop his game. As @useless says, he has plenty of tricks which we have seen deployed when he's played on the left. His recent performances have been encouraging and much more like the player we saw 18 months ago. Hopefully his decision making in the final third will improve and pick people out more often like he did for Wilson's goal.

Frustrating loss in the end. Played well for twenty second half minutes after an even first half but then shot ourselves in the foot several times. The Norwich penalty was very soft also.

Anyway... some positives: Wilson will have a good career as long as he fills out a bit. He has an instinct in and around the box that no one else does and he found space on a number of occasions. Kadan Young (Motm) has one main trick which is to go on the ouside with his pace but Norwich still couldn't stop him because of his acceleration and balance. It was a bit like Aaron Lennon when he was in his pomp.

Comfortable win in the end against a category 2 academy team. There was a two or three minute spell after Coventry made a couple of subs where they tried to press us but we kept the ball away from them. It was very impressive as it killed any momentum they were trying to build. Looked a little vunerable on the counter but had plenty of chances to score more also.

Wilson was lethal in front of goal as usual. I'll give Alcock Motm for his control of the game in midfield and work rate. Cannot remember the last time Rowe did not impress.

Mark Delaney is the Coventry coach. Didn't know he'd gone there.

Hopefully we can get over the line, but if we miss out then the injury to Kamara with have done for us imo. I saw a video earlier in the season (cannot remember what it was called) illustrating a tactical change Emery made after the loss to Liverpool where he moved Kamara into a back three when we were attacking, giving us additional cover on the counter attack. I cannot help but think if he had been in that right sided defensive role yesterday Brentford would not have scored.

The situation reminds me of Watkins/Ings/Duran last season. People on this forum were nervous about selling Ings and having a youngster as backup but thankfully Watkins never got injured. This year we let Dendoncker go in January leaving Iroegbunam as backup, but Kamara got injured 10 days after the end of the transfer window. Emery will need to have a think about his approach in the final six games as we are conceding far too many. When Arsenal were 2-0 up yesterday they had ten men behind the ball and were throwing themselves in front of everything.

Just watched some of the England U20 match. Tim needs to improve his consistency (as most youngsters do) but some of the things he does are different class. He presents the opposition with a conundrum - press high and risk him turning his marker and driving through midfield. Don't press and he'll sit in and dictate the game.

15 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

Darvich? 

How was he out of interest? 

Rowe was up against Paris Brunner.

Don't remember Darvich standing out but I was focused on the Villa lads really. The German team was impressive in general though. They were bigger and more athletic than recent German youth teams I have seen.

Watched England 18s 0-0 Germany U18s while I was waiting for my electrician to turn up. Jimoh and Rowe both started. Jimoh played for a hour and Rowe the whole match.

Jimoh struggled to get into the game but worked hard. Rowe had a really good game which was very impressive considering this German team won the U17 World Cup last year and he was up against arguably their best player.

1 hour ago, Pongo Waring said:

Crazy that we signed a England U21 starter for 8 million. Bargain 

Only became a starter once he signed for a big club

Blackburn's aggressive tactics made it an entertaining game but I'm not sure it was the best strategy as it left them wide open at the back against our four star forwards. In fairness they could have scored more (as could we).

Motm - Kellyman. Blackburn kicking him throughout the first half made no difference. He was a class apart and looks too good for this level. Surely a loan is in the pipeline for next season (or even a few games for the first team?)

Rowe was excellent once again as were the centre backs. Considering the open nature of the game I can only think of one clear cut chance for Blackburn and that was late on in the second half. Wilson looks like he will score every time he has a chance and Afoka has too much physicality and nous against inexperienced U21 players now.

Seemed to have a lot of joy in the first half playing long balls then winning the second ball from a Stoke clearance. In the second half they stopped us from doing this but we weren't able to adjust. It was a shame we couldn't put the game to bed in the first half as they only had their first shot after half time (and scored from it). Our pressing was better in the first half also, although that may be down to tiredness later on in the game. Ref went from waving play on for fouls in the first half to dishing out yellows for everything in the second.

I'll give Motm to Borland. There wasn't an outstanding candidate but he controlled the game well in the first half and scored in the second.

This kid has the lot - size, athleticism, skill, and a picture of what's around him, resulting in three assists in the last two U21 games IIRC to go with two goals. It's still early in his development but I'd say he has a chance.

Missed the first twenty minutes. We shaded the first half, creating a few half chances, but weren't able to take any. Moving Patterson forward and Jimoh into the middle at half time made a big difference and Middlesbrough were unable to cope with them. They seemed to struggle with our physicality in general, and it was noticable how much bigger and more athletic our players were than theirs.

Jimoh and Patterson (Motm) were both excellent, as was Triston Rowe and the two lads in centre midfield.

Good win and a decent performance. Everton's threat came mostly from set pieces but otherwise we limited them to few chances. Our build up play looked crisp at times but we could make more of our attacking situations with better decision making in the final third.

Motm Jimoh-Aloba - looks a bit like Jacob Ramsey at times with his drives forward from midfield and ability to pick out teammates in the box. Kellyman looks a class act too. His finish after rounding the keeper was great - lifting it out of the reach of the defender rather than trying to roll it in.

12 mins of injury time was weird and Wright may have been lucky not to get a red, although Katsukunya was being fouled in the build up to that.

13 hours ago, MWARLEY2 said:

I thought Katsukunya looked really lanky and slow when i last saw him. So must be progressing well. Borland played Central or attacking mid ? 

Borland played centrally in one of the Luiz/Kamara roles. He was tenacious and showed calmness on the ball under pressure.

Pretty good performance in the first half with us pressing well but couldn't get in front. Swansea adapted in the second half and had the better of the chances, so a point was probably fair.

The team looked more physically imposing tonight in line with what we have seen with our recent first team transfers, so this appears to be a deliberate strategy from the club. Thought Katsukunya (motm), Kellyman and Borland were the stand outs tonight. Some of the better U18s were subs, presumably to keep them fresh for tomorrow.

Only 8 subs