Exeter Fan Too

On 26/07/2021 at 16:45, sir_gary_cahill said:

Whenever I’ve seen Ben Chrisene play for our u18s or u23s, he’s been playing at left back, not left wing. He’s quite a natural footballer and good technically so he could play at left wing but I don’t recall seeing him play there

His principal position at Exeter was centre midfield. But because he's technically strong he could probably play in many different positions. I guess his main career won't be at left back; but its a really good education to play different positions and also in the 'what the team needs is more important than your preference for a particular position' 

Good to see that he completed the trio of pre season goals yesterday. Left foot, right foot, header.

Swansea would have been a disastrous first move into management. They are losing all their valuable/expensive/good players. The previous manager worked wonders on a shoestring with excellent loans to plug the gap.. and it will be worse this year.

Swansea will do far worse this year whoever is in charge ...and I wouldn't be surprised by bottom half/relegation battle.

On 27/05/2021 at 07:18, John said:

 

Have you got any more top young players for us like Ollie or Ben Chrisene, coming off your production line?  

thanks for the enquiry, apologies for delay in replying and if this is the wrong thread. BTW the Ollie cash (Exeter get 15% of Brentford's profit) has essentially kept the club (owned by a Supporters Trust) going during the pandemic. And the 15% of  add ons really help too, so we're very grateful that Villa have developed Ollie into an England international

The answer is yes, but there is disappointment that Villa aren't apparently in the race to sign them (disappointment because Villa conducted the Chrisene transfer in a more respectful and professional way than other Premier League clubs)

The year below Chrisene is a bumper year.  Sonny Cox , striker, likes scoring four goals a game - did so as they won the national final for Cat 2+3 Academies. And scored four for Man Utd in a PL U16 match in his game on trial there.  However, latest rumour is that Liverpool will pip Man Utd to this signing.

15 year old keeper Harry Lee has been training with Chelsea and Everton. On the bench often in League Two last season, Exeter are fighting to try to get him to stay. None of Liverpool, Man Utd, Chelsea or Everton are prepared to meet our valuations, so a Tribunal will result if either move.

As for Watkins-esque signings, 21 year old winger/forward Joel Randall  is being tracked by Norwich and Celtic - and a Championship club have had a bid rejected a couple of days back. Villa fans will understand why Norwich are looking to strengthen their wing/forward options! But I think that whilst a Chrisene route would be understandable for 15/16 year old Cox and Lee, 21 year old Randall would be better off following the Watkins route - he isn't (yet?) good enough for the Premiership and now needs to play regular first team football at ,say, Championship level.

of course he's going nowhere. Villa's main task is to keep Grealish. What sort of signal would it send to Grealish if the next most valuable player in the squad was sold?

there must be a joke somewhere about the appropriateness tonight of the name of that Spurs fan forum.

In fairness to Jamie redknapp on Sky he did manage to squeeze in the comment 'oh , and by the way, Villa should have had a penalty too'

Good to see Ollie back  to scoring with his left foot (after controlling the ball with his head)

A real strength is the range of goals with either foot or with his head - last season at Brentford his goals were 11 right foot, 8 headers, 7 left foot. And of course the 'perfect' hat trick v Liverpool.

This season in the Premiership its 7 right foot, 4 left foot, 3 headers (so far!).

On 01/05/2021 at 15:21, jacketspuds said:

Ampadu has always looked good in the CDM role. Would be a decent signing as can cover either position.

Last weekend's game showed how the signing of Ampadu on loan next season would provide much needed depth in a number of positions with just one (loan) signing.

With Mings missing he can cover at centre half, where he has successfully played in a Champions League quarter final.

With  e need for a CDM (and/or midfielders out of form)  he could play there as he has done in Euro/World Cup qualifiers.

And has played right back for Chelsea too, so useful cover for Cash injury/suspensions.

Still only 20 (and will still be 20 at the start of next season) is unlikely to get a regular first team spot at Chelsea but has enough promise/time on his side for Chelsea to prefer a loan to a sale.

And Smith/Villa tried to sign him two summers ago. Makes sense to me.

apologies if this is the wrong thread, but I'v just watched BBC's Road to Wembley FACup programme.

For the third round they mentioned Covid, a Villa team of youngsters ,then showed three goals with the commentary saying

"liverpool score after 3 minutes 40 seconds....three goals in 4 minutes for a Liverpool team let off the leash'

I could have sworn that something else happened in the game...

Watkins record this season - two bookings in 35 games before today, then two in one game. This referee is completely at odds with other referees assessment - he is not a diver and the referee was in no position to make the call he did.

Number of bookings this season

Harry Maguire 16

Ollie Watkins 4.

So who is suspended as a result? Absolutely bizarre.- 

the stats in the tweet from 'Tom' in this article are worth a read...

https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2021/04/28/but-i-thought-bamford-some-aston-villa-fans-react-to-interesting-tweet-about-ollie-watkins/

On 18/04/2021 at 07:39, mallett said:

....

I think it would be beneficial for us to have a real drive to get the U23 promoted to the higher division next season. The good players we all know we have got will be a year older. Maybe we should spend some money to fill in the weak spots in the team so that as a club our U23s are competing at a higher level in the following season. Anybody else got any thoughts?

Really good post by Mallett. I think the U23s should aim to get promoted when they are good enough rather than by buying players for the U23s. (merit, winning games, rather than spending money, to get promoted - an idea for the greedy six to copy, possibly).

Fine if the players signed are intended for the first team, or if the general improvement of the first team squad strengthens the U23s. But otherwise , as Mallett points out, the U23s should get better as they get older. So sign players if they might make it, but not just to strengthen the U23s.

I say chaps, could we move the topic on from the painful memories of the two legged League Cup ties?

Meanwhile here is a video from early 2017 that (to me) is quite entertaining. Ollie and best friend (since age 11) Matt Jay talk just as they were breaking into first team football (now Exeter's top scorer this season)Those who saw the video of Ollie's mother Ruby Washington may recall that it was MJ's dad who often did the ferrying around. Anyway see who's best at 5 a side, who understands what 'best at training' means and who was the top scorer in Ollie 's school football team....

On 11/03/2021 at 18:45, MrBlack said:

He is strangely missing from the training photos on the villa site from 2 days ago, but i'm sure we'd have heard something from the presser today if he was likely to be out.

That said, if we declare Watkins unfit before we name the starting lineup,  it's a give away that the opposition could play 2 at the back and not have have worry about us scoring.

I wonder whether this was relevant to what turned out to be his disappointing performance?  Compared to his normal output, he looked a bit like a Watkins who hadn't trained for a couple of days.

Meanwhile he can get the necessary breather from the gaps in Villa's fixture list. Only one game in three weeks in the rest of March. And in April its one game per week . And just one midweek fixture before the end of the season.

I actually think he is most naturally a number 10 (in say a 4-2-3-1). That was his position he was used in when he broke through into league football. Yes, I know there are quite a few options for Villa in that role (Barkley, Grealish etc). But imagine a Villa side with a different natural front man (Wesley, Abraham) with Grealish left of the three and Watkins linking the forward play as a number ten...and threatening either a central run at defenders and shot on goal ... or the late run into the box beyond the striker.

(don't get me wrong - we Exeter fans are enormously grateful that Brentford played him as a striker so helping to generate the goals and transfer fee. That 15% of Brentford's profit is what is keeping the club going through Covid)

Shock! Talksport presenter talks controversial rubbish!

Meanwhile breaking news. Apparently the Pope is a practising Catholic!

Ollie's grandad and uncle must be a bit fed up.

(Ollie was brought up as a boyhood Arsenal fan)

So v Arsenal its P2 W2. Goals F4 A0 (Watkins 3)

Sadly Tier 6 currently suspended. Season may not finish...

On 15/01/2021 at 18:50, OutByEaster? said:

Kesler definitely - I'm still not sure if Chrisene is just filling in at left back, he played in midfield before he came here and started in midfield for us at the start of the season with the U18's.

Chrisene definitely a centre midfielder when breaking into the Exeter first team squad as a 15 year old. That's where he came on when I saw him at St Andrews (!) at the start of last season as a late sub in the League Cup (against Coventry). His later sub appearances for the first team were usually replacing strikers or a winger when we were winning and running the clock down. His five first team appearances were laying down a marker , rather than trying to win games as they only amounted to about 25 minutes in total.

Interesting choice to use him at left back or, as in the Liverpool FA Cup game, as wide left in a 4-5-1. I thought of him as right, rather than left, footed - but it may be he is quite comfortable using either!  Not sure whether this is a development lesson/exercise or a long term plan!

On 15/01/2021 at 18:52, BOF said:

One thing I took from the Liverpool game was their pronunciation of Chrisene. I would've thought it was Chriseen. They said Chrisaynay. O...k...

Yes, that's right (at least that's the pronunciation used by the Exeter manager when referring to him)

As an Exeter fan I have always followed the exploits of Exeter's youth products avidly from their first steps. None more so than Ollie Watkins. So this season I had become a closet Aston Villa fan....but now its time to come out openly as supporting Villa (having done the same at Brentford previously)

My credentials as a Villa supporter are limited but include a) seeing all of Villa's televised live games this season (except the 7-2(Watkins 3) Liverpool game - don't ask) b!) having seen more minutes of men's football senior appearances by the Villa FACup  team  v Liverpool than 99% of the Villa fanbase, courtesy of Ben Chrisene's cameo debut sub  appearance  as a 15 year old at the start of last season in the League Cup away against Coventry(!)  c) and my firm commitment to the Claret and Blue podcast. And also I'm local, living midway between Mat Kendrick's Halesowen Town and Limpid's Sunny Bewdley.

I've really enjoyed the debates/info on here and in particular the spirit in which things are written and shared. I look forward to joining in.