The Academy/Development squads watch thread 2024/25

[Saaaaaaaammmmmm]

Ooh 1-1

Excellent finish by Frost, Chelsea being made to pay for being profligate, lovely play by Novakovich

[Saaaaaaaammmmmm]

Should have been 2-1, Barrett played in nicely by Bennett but misses the one-on-one, left-back turned centre-back McIntyre did really well in the build up

[Ian Royal]

Not really heard of Frost before last week, but he looks pretty strong all round.

[Saaaaaaaammmmmm]

Not really heard of Frost before last week, but he looks pretty strong all round.

Seemed to be one of three outstanding players from the Under 18s last season along with Josh Barrett and Sam Smith, but it's good to see him transition straight into playing regularly for the U23s

Speaking of Barrett, he's been subbed off after an hour and disappeared down the tunnel. Mr Vancooten on

[Saaaaaaaammmmmm]

Not looking good for Cooper, Zak Jules is also a 6ft, left-footed centre-back except Jules is quick, looks good on the ball, and on the basis of tonight can defend pretty well and mistake-free

East on for Bennett

[muirinho]

Not looking good for Cooper, Zak Jules is also a 6ft, left-footed centre-back except Jules is quick, looks good on the ball, and on the basis of tonight can defend pretty well and mistake-free

East on for Bennett

2-1!! Sam Smith - who had just come on.

[Ian Royal]

Not looking good for Cooper, Zak Jules is also a 6ft, left-footed centre-back except Jules is quick, looks good on the ball, and on the basis of tonight can defend pretty well and mistake-free

East on for Bennett

And then there's Dickie and Hyam. Jules has looked impressive both times I've seen him. I think I understand Griffin now... he's decent in the air... but he's not a full back and I suspect he'll be looking for non-football related jobs in a year or two.

Lubbly stuff from Smith there.

[Saaaaaaaammmmmm]

Excellent, we've nicked it at the end, poor slide tackle from Chalobah and Sam Smith with pretty much his first touches burst through and slammed it home

Chelsea TV commentators fuming at how much their side have dominated to go home with nothing

[Ian Royal]

Excellent, we've nicked it at the end, poor slide tackle from Chalobah and Sam Smith with pretty much his first touches burst through and slammed it home

Chelsea TV commentators fuming at how much their side have dominated to go home with nothing

Serves them right for banging on all half about how they'd be disappointed to go home with a point at 1-1.

[Saaaaaaaammmmmm]

Another good win seeing we beat Man City in our only other Mad Stad game, and we can now add Chelsea to a growing list of decent teams we've beaten this season (Arsenal and League 1 Bristol Rovers being the others)

Good to see Frost and Smith coming up from the 18s and scoring, thought Novakovich looked decent as always but I'm not sure what he could add to his game to turn him into a decent Championship striker. He's got superb close control, but he doesn't have anything that would convince you he's going to get a lot of goals at any level

Jules continued to be great after I praised him, and Barrett was good until he came off after 60 for whatever reason, you wouldn't think he'd be making the bench tomorrow but you never know. Vancooten also looked tidy

[Pepe the Horseman]

Not really heard of Frost before last week, but he looks pretty strong all round.

He's definitely being frozen out.

[sandman]

Somebody call the Police, Richard Hawley, sorry Chelsea have been robbed.

Don't know how we got away with that but have to admire the character to come through despite playing poorly.

Reminded me a lot of the first team with unnecessary and sloppy passing at the back trapping ourselves in front of our own box. The passing is admirable but hopefully as some of them progress they'll learn when it's the right time to play it and when it's not. Impressed with Jules despite getting slightly caught out for their goal. Barrett did okay when he got the ball but was getting very frustrated at the lack of service to him. Both our goals were taken well and Frost was probably our best player.

[Nameless]

Should have been 2-1, Barrett played in nicely by Bennett but misses the one-on-one, left-back turned centre-back McIntyre did really well in the build up

McIntyre is a centre back, not a left back.

That was a slightly weird game. Chelsea were a very good team, and we rarely beat a Chelsea age group side. In the first half they pressed us very hard and we had no answer, we looked disjointed and struggled to put a pass together. But we had the best chance of the match when Cardwell missed from 3 yards.
Second half we were much improved, played the ball around better and were much more competitive whilst still not being as good as Chelsea. We made too many errors and tried to play difficult passes too often. But we battled and then took the chances when they came, plus the keeper made some excellent saves.
Thought it was cheeky of us to give Liam Moore a run out in defence, not sure why we used the name Zak Jules on the team sheet.

[Nameless]

Somebody call the Police, Chelsea have been robbed.

Don't know how we got away with that but have to praise their character.

I think you need to remind yourself how football works....

[genome]

Not really heard of Frost before last week, but he looks pretty strong all round.

He's definitely being frozen out.

I've heard he has ice cool composure

[CountryRoyal]

You know what they say... Sign of a good team when you still win despite playing badly.

[Nameless]

Somebody call the Police, Richard Hawley, sorry Chelsea have been robbed.

Don't know how we got away with that but have to admire the character to come through despite playing poorly.

Reminded me a lot of the first team with unnecessary and sloppy passing at the back trapping ourselves in front of our own box. The passing is admirable but hopefully as some of them progress they'll learn when it's the right time to play it and when it's not. Impressed with Jules despite getting slightly caught out for their goal. Barrett did okay when he got the ball but was getting very frustrated at the lack of service to him. Both our goals were taken well and Frost was probably our best player.

Actually I thought the opposite ! They simply were not patient enough to keep recycling the ball and too often tried to play the risky pass which didn't work. They spent relatively little time trying to build position and too often the supporting players were out of position meaning there was no outlet pass, or just one option which was easily closed down. they did make too many unforced errors and there were some instances where they got trapped by the excellent pressing game Chelsea used but if they had had the technique and tactical confidence the first team are developing they would have played out of it rather than resorting to attempting long balls which we rarely won.

[Nameless]

Just realised that the Chelsea manager was Adi Viveash.
Sad to see an ex Royal down on his luck. Maybe we could find a role for him ?

[Royalwaster]

Reminded me a lot of the first team with unnecessary and sloppy passing at the back trapping ourselves in front of our own box. The passing is admirable but hopefully as some of them progress they'll learn when it's the right time to play it and when it's not. Impressed with Jules despite getting slightly caught out for their goal. Barrett did okay when he got the ball but was getting very frustrated at the lack of service to him. Both our goals were taken well and Frost was probably our best player.

That's the first team who just played excellently against Barnsley is it?

[SCIAG]

Good game. Chelsea were in many ways the "better side" but we had the four best chances so I don't think we stole the points or anything. McIntyre and Jules restricted them to speculative efforts, their defenders made too many mistakes.

Although there were a few times where McIntyre and Sheppard struggled to play it out, generally speaking we were playing a lot of risky forward passes that I don't think the first team would have gone for. There were definitely quite a few times when the full backs were pushed right up when they could have been providing an outlet pass.

First time seeing the mystery man Van Cooten. He wasn't on for long but I have no idea what he's supposed to bring us that our other right backs can't.

Barrett was our main threat in the first half, Frost came into it more when he was moved out wide and also put in a good defensive shift. I don't rate Nova as a winger at all, let's keep him in close orbit around Cardwell/Smith.