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Academy Under 18s season 2011/12


fantram

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imo he is dreadful, he should be at a lower league club

Like Ethan Moore?

So unless a player has the potential to be a world star, Villa should just dump them?

Villa need a squad of youngsters in each age group to be able to compete in the various competitions. They can't all be amazing, but they all play an important role. They also develop at different rates, how many who saw Chris Herd play 3 or 4 seasons ago would have picked him out?

But hey, carry on making your judgments about small snapshots of players, its not like you're going to ruin your credibility.

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imo he is dreadful, he should be at a lower league club, good to see the future world class star jack grealish doing well

World class... I suppose a career playing for the mighty Cheltenham Town beckons then?

It's far too early to throw around superlatives at his age unless like Rooney and Fabregas he is pretty much on the first team sheet already. Don't get me wrong it's good to hear about a kid with promise, but it doesn't mean it will be fulfilled.

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Mikey Drennan is a very good player and very highly rated by the coaching staff. He was put straight into the reserves as a 16 yr old and scored on his debut against Blackpool last season.

His form dipped as the season went on (probably due to being homesick) and he decided to go back to Ireland. The club didn't want to release him and he has decided to give it another try.

We sometimes forget that these players are only young lads and are away from their family. Some lads can take it in their stride and other boys struggle when away from home.

Jack Grealish, Jordan Graham, Callum Robinson, DJ, Daniel Crowley, Gary Gardner etc are all terrific prospects and all of them might end up in our first team but the reality is that even Gary Gardner has only a 50/50 chance of being a Villa first team regular.

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Mikey Drennan is a very good player and very highly rated by the coaching staff. He was put straight into the reserves as a 16 yr old and scored on his debut against Blackpool last season.

His form dipped as the season went on (probably due to being homesick) and he decided to go back to Ireland. The club didn't want to release him and he has decided to give it another try.

We sometimes forget that these players are only young lads and are away from their family. Some lads can take it in their stride and other boys struggle when away from home.

Jack Grealish, Jordan Graham, Callum Robinson, DJ, Daniel Crowley, Gary Gardner etc are all terrific prospects and all of them might end up in our first team but the reality is that even Gary Gardner has only a 50/50 chance of being a Villa first team regular.

So well said! Once a player has become a member of the first team squad, fine, think anyone is entitled to their opinion.

However, when they are young kids chasing their dreams i think its quite crass to slag them off, and just as crass to claim they are the next Messi, David Beckham or Jermain Beckford. They're all following a dream and we'd all love to be in their position, but they are kids.

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Daniel Crowley is a very hot prospect. He is 14 years old and already in the England schools team. He has been playing for our U16s against the top U16s in the country since he was 12 years old. He is a midfield player in the Barry Bannan mold.

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so had the dreadul Michael Drennan scored for us in 3 matches in a row, Cardiff, Watford and Rosenberg?

No, 4 in a row - he scored a hat trick against MK Dons :winkold: Who said he was dreadful? :|

Did that question needed to be even asked ;)

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so had the dreadul Michael Drennan scored for us in 3 matches in a row, Cardiff, Watford and Rosenberg?

No, 4 in a row - he scored a hat trick against MK Dons :winkold: Who said he was dreadful? :|

Did that question needed to be even asked ;)

:D i thought you'd pop up

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Football can be a very strange game sometimes.

We played away against top of the table Coventry City this morning and fielded a very young but skillful team against an older and very powerful team who are in very good form.

We played Melvin, Ward and Burke in midfield with Graham, Robinson and Grealish up front. The skill and interplay between the front six in particular had Coventry chasing shadows but unfortunately after creating chance after chance with brilliant attacking play we proceeded to miss them all.

Half-time came with the score 0-0 when we should have been at least 4 goals to the good.

The second half continued as the first half with great skill from especially Grealish and Coventry trying to rough up their more skillfull opposition (nothing wrong with that)

The Coventry right back finally got booked for his 27th foul on Grealish and then as the game got a bit spicey Kinsella and Grealish both went into the refs book for backchat.

Then the inevitable happened. Coventry took the lead with a far post header very much against the run of play.

Villa hit back and another Grealish run into the area attracted a challenge from a defender, Jack went down claiming a penalty and picked up a second yellow for taking a dive.

My first reaction was that it was a penalty but AVTV will show the truth.

Down to ten men we still played some excellent football and Darkin, on as sub, hit the post with a header and then Graham Burke hit the bar with a shot from the edge of the box.

It wasn't our day and Coventry added a late goal to make the score even more cruel.

FT Coventry 2-0 Villa

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The U16s were playing at Coventry this morning but they were quite far away so I don't know how they got on. I haven't seen much of them this season and they are largely a new team from last year so no doubt I will see them in a complete match soon and will be able to tell you if there is anyone else that I think you should keep an eye out for.

Grealish was brilliant this morning but TM will not be pleased with his first booking and it remains to be seen if he deserved the second.

I was very impressed with him last week against Watford because I thought he wasn't having the best of games early on, against a right back who appeared to have his measure and he also gave the ball away for Watfords equaliser. Instead of going into his shell as most wingers normally do, he got better as the game went on and ended up running the fullback ragged and scoring a brilliant goal as well.

To me this shows he has great belief in his own ability and nothing phases him.

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He doesn't need to be rushed as he is still an U16 player. I am sure the Academy staff will know when he is ready. We have several other players who might be considered for a first team place like Gardner, Burke, Carruthers and Johnson and the first teams league position will have some bearing on them getting a chance.

I think we play Bristol City away in the youth cup.

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