U21s v QPR (a) 7pm

[Mad Cyril]

Isn't the Premiership what they play for in Rugby?

[spudski]

Yesterday's winner.

 

[Malago]

6 minutes ago, spudski said:

Yesterday's winner.

 

That kid’s going places.

Edited February 14, 2023 by Malago

[Bourne End Red]

15 hours ago, Davefevs said:

He appears to have worked really hard to become a real pest of a midfielder, in the Korey Smith mould.

Hi Dave, who out of the younguns are the next ones to keep an eye out for. Any particular ones that stand out you think may get a sub appearance or two maybe this season ?

cheers

15 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Edited February 14, 2023 by Bourne End Red

[Merrick's Marvels]

14 hours ago, BLRed said:

How is Ben Acey doing? Still a way off first team consideration? Was hoping he may have a similar trajectory to Scott 

What are the odds on Guernsey producing 2 Alex Scotts, do you think? 

Just from a purely statistical point of view, the odds are stacked against Acey being anywhere near Scott's level.

Good luck to the lad but don't hold your breath.  

[Port Said Red]

14 hours ago, BLRed said:

How is Ben Acey doing? Still a way off first team consideration? Was hoping he may have a similar trajectory to Scott 

He is almost exactly 1 year behind Scott in age. He has something about him and has a look of Scott in how he plays, whether he has the mental toughness yet that Scott clearly has, I am not sure. He was signed for the U18S but has had some minutes in the U21S, he went back to Guernsey on loan around Xmas, but has played most games since coming back. 

I might be wrong but I get the feeling that he and Taylor-Clarke among others, are being tested out in a more defensive role. Maybe because it's an area where we don't seem to have a ready made replacement at the moment? Shame he went off injured last night, hope it's just a niggle.

20 minutes ago, Bourne End Red said:

Hi Dave, who out of the younguns are the next ones to keep an eye out for. Any particular ones that stand out you think may get a sub appearance or two maybe this season ?

cheers

Clearly because he has been given minutes already Taylor-Clarke seems to be in favour, and for Marlee Francois to make the bench against WBA after only being back from a long injury a couple of weeks is really encouraging.

I think @Davefevsand I have both been banging the drum for Palmer-Houlden, he is already showing signs of being a leader of the line and has something different to the other lads up front.

The one who looks like he might jump the queue is Elijah Morrison, he isn't 17 until next month and is already showing well in the U21S, he has played a variety of positions when I have seen him play, but he didn't look phased by any of them.

[Davefevs]

42 minutes ago, Bourne End Red said:

Hi Dave, who out of the younguns are the next ones to keep an eye out for. Any particular ones that stand out you think may get a sub appearance or two maybe this season ?

cheers

Others feel free to chip-in…they may well have seen more than me, especially this season due to lack of much Robinstv coverage.

Beyond the ones that have already featured on the first team (inc Omar Taylor-Clarke), you’ve obviously got:

• Olly Thomas
• Elijah Morrison

Who’ve both been on the bench this season.

Then in no particular order:

• Raph Araoye - LCB in the Lloyd Kelly mould, played some pre-season games and looked comfy.  I imagine he is behind the decision to let Towler move on!
• Jamie Knight-Lebel - RCB who reminds me of the ex-German / Liverpool RB / CB Markus Babbel in the way he plays and moves (not to be confused with Ryan Babelj.  He’s a Canadian u20 international playing well above his age group.  He assisted Thomas’s goal last night.
• Seb Palmer-Houlden - CF hard-working who has got a decent all-round game.  11 goals for the u21s this season.
• Mac Boyd - GK a touch of the Edwin Van der Sar about him

I also like Zac Bell (RB) but waiting to see if he kicks on.  The other one I’ve not seen but heard really good things about is the other Guernsey lad Tim Ap-Sion, a rapid CF.  He’s out with an ACL injury.

Who have I missed?

[mozo]

37 minutes ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

What are the odds on Guernsey producing 2 Alex Scotts, do you think? 

Just from a purely statistical point of view, the odds are stacked against Acey being anywhere near Scott's level.

Good luck to the lad but don't hold your breath.  

Are you saying that Acey will be even better? 

[Davefevs]

Just now, mozo said:

Are you saying that Acey will be even better? 

Imho he’s not on Alex’s level at all.  That’s not being harsh, but I think Scott is a one-off, and unfair to try to compare Ben to him.

[mozo]

1 minute ago, Davefevs said:

Others feel free to chip-in…they may well have seen more than me, especially this season due to lack of much Robinstv coverage.

Beyond the ones that have already featured on the first team (inc Omar Taylor-Clarke), you’ve obviously got:

• Olly Thomas
• Elijah Morrison

Who’ve both been on the bench this season.

Then in no particular order:

• Raph Araoye - LCB in the Lloyd Kelly mould, played some pre-season games and looked comfy.  I imagine he is behind the decision to let Towler move on!
• Jamie Knight-Lebel - RCB who reminds me of the ex-German / Liverpool RB / CB Markus Babbel in the way he plays and moves (not to be confused with Ryan Babelj.  He’s a Canadian u20 international playing well above his age group.  He assisted Thomas’s goal last night.
• Seb Palmer-Houlden - CF hard-working who has got a decent all-round game.  11 goals for the u21s this season.
• Mac Boyd - GK a touch of the Edwin Van der Sar about him

I also like Zac Bell (RB) but waiting to see if he kicks on.  The other one I’ve not seen but heard really good things about is the other Guernsey lad Tim Ap-Sion, a rapid CF.  He’s out with an ACL injury.

Who have I missed?

We're never going to have to sign a player again with this conveyor belt...

[Davefevs]

3 minutes ago, mozo said:

We're never going to have to sign a player again with this conveyor belt...

It’s actually quite scary how these young’uns seem to come up into first team training, and hit the levels required and all of sudden are in first team contention.

We still have Benarous to come back fit.

I know it won’t happen but imagine:

O’Leary

Vyner Knigh-Lebel Araoye Morrison

Taylor-Clarke Scott Benarous 

Bell Palmer-Houlden Conway

and I’ve not picked Thomas, Kadji, etc.

[mozo]

9 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

It’s actually quite scary how these young’uns seem to come up into first team training, and hit the levels required and all of sudden are in first team contention.

We still have Benarous to come back fit.

I know it won’t happen but imagine:

O’Leary

Vyner Knigh-Lebel Araoye Morrison

Taylor-Clarke Scott Benarous 

Bell Palmer-Houlden Conway

and I’ve not picked Thomas, Kadji, etc.

Mind-blowing 

[NcnsBcfc]

12 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

It’s actually quite scary how these young’uns seem to come up into first team training, and hit the levels required and all of sudden are in first team contention.

We still have Benarous to come back fit.

I know it won’t happen but imagine:

O’Leary

Vyner Knigh-Lebel Araoye Morrison

Taylor-Clarke Scott Benarous 

Bell Palmer-Houlden Conway

and I’ve not picked Thomas, Kadji, etc.

Or Pring, Low, or Francois.

Amazing turnaround in just a few years.

When you look at that article of the 63 players bought by LJ . How many of these would have had game time in the first team squad?

Good knows where we would have been as a club now without all these academy players, and of course the money raised from Semenyo.

[Davefevs]

Just now, NcnsBcfc said:

Or Pring, Low, or Francois.

Amazing turnaround in just a few years.

When you look at that article of the 63 players bought by LJ . How many of these would have had game time in the first team squad?

Good knows where we would have been as a club now without all these academy players, and of course the money raised from Semenyo.

Ooooooooops.  

Nige and Tins have a new challenge, how do they improve the squad without blocking pathway?  Gonna be interesting to see how they do that.

[NcnsBcfc]

50 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Ooooooooops.  

Nige and Tins have a new challenge, how do they improve the squad without blocking pathway?  Gonna be interesting to see how they do that.

It's a good place to be in.

Hopefully some more of them will get decent league loans next season. Like Josh Low is getting at Walsall, and Towler had at Wimbledon.

Non-league loans for some of the under 21s are really on a hiding to nothing. I get it for the 18/19 year olds. But the 20+ year ones need a decent league loan to bridge that gap to the Championship.

Still can't quite believe that it was only a couple of months ago, that we thought Bell would benefit from a loan at Cheltenham. 

[Davefevs]

Just now, NcnsBcfc said:

Still can't quite believe that it was only a couple of months ago, that we thought Bell would benefit from a loan at Cheltenham. 

You never know!  He might be 7th choice by the end of March

[Northern Red]

48 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Ooooooooops.  

Nige and Tins have a new challenge, how do they improve the squad without blocking pathway?  Gonna be interesting to see how they do that.

Can't remember if it was at the fans forum or another interview, but Tins said that one of the things they now consider when looking at areas to strengthen is what they've got in the academy in that position and where they are in their development, e.g. could they make the step up and how far away are they from it.

 

[Port Said Red]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

Ooooooooops.  

Nige and Tins have a new challenge, how do they improve the squad without blocking pathway?  Gonna be interesting to see how they do that.

It was the issue that Alan Dicks had back in the day, but that was because the first team had an average of 21 anyway, so getting the next generation of youngsters game time was really hard, especially as there was only 1 sub for most of his time here. 

[Davefevs]

14 minutes ago, Northern Red said:

Can't remember if it was at the fans forum or another interview, but Tins said that one of the things they now consider when looking at areas to strengthen is what they've got in the academy in that position and where they are in their development, e.g. could they make the step up and how far away are they from it.

 

He did indeed.

The chart below shows how many Academy players have featured in our match day 18/20 this season.

and here’s the same one but without unused subs:

Green - GK, Red - Outfield, Orange - Sub, Grey - unused Sub

Its mighty impressive.

 

[James54De]

2 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Others feel free to chip-in…they may well have seen more than me, especially this season due to lack of much Robinstv coverage.

Beyond the ones that have already featured on the first team (inc Omar Taylor-Clarke), you’ve obviously got:

• Olly Thomas
• Elijah Morrison

Who’ve both been on the bench this season.

Then in no particular order:

• Raph Araoye - LCB in the Lloyd Kelly mould, played some pre-season games and looked comfy.  I imagine he is behind the decision to let Towler move on!
• Jamie Knight-Lebel - RCB who reminds me of the ex-German / Liverpool RB / CB Markus Babbel in the way he plays and moves (not to be confused with Ryan Babelj.  He’s a Canadian u20 international playing well above his age group.  He assisted Thomas’s goal last night.
• Seb Palmer-Houlden - CF hard-working who has got a decent all-round game.  11 goals for the u21s this season.
• Mac Boyd - GK a touch of the Edwin Van der Sar about him

I also like Zac Bell (RB) but waiting to see if he kicks on.  The other one I’ve not seen but heard really good things about is the other Guernsey lad Tim Ap-Sion, a rapid CF.  He’s out with an ACL injury.

Who have I missed?

The two centre half’s are my stand outs. I’ve been banging the JKL drum for a while. He shines in most games I have seen. 

[bcfc01]

From the games/players I've seen;

Raph Araoye & Jamie knight-Lebel - both quite young but both quite cultured CBs, I would expect them to push on next season (saw Araoye in the Bournemouth friendly pre-season and, although only 17, didnt look out of place at all).

Omar Taylor-Clarke - as Fevs says, a Korey type player who looks almost ready for the first team (or a first team on loan).

They would be my picks, but there are a few others worth keeping an eye on as per above.

Also, loaned out players like Kadji at Swindon who looks good, but I get the impression he needs a gee up now and then. I like Joe Low at Walsall as well, Baker type player, not sure if he will come back or go the way of Towler, who I also liked.

Quite a few coming through and Tinnion has said the younger age groups have some exciting kids.

 

[Sleepy1968]

8 hours ago, spudski said:

Yesterday's winner.

 

Near perfect back-flip. A 9.7 from me.