A quick recap/summary on our CEE Cup players before other events overtake us. It's difficult to figure out just how good or poor our opposition were, so it needs taking into account when rating our players - Burnley u18s are literally not in the same league as us, not even in the 2nd division of the u18s league as far as I can tell. Though they may have beefed up their Academy of late, and generally we had the youngest average age of the teams we played against.
I was particularly interested in the 1st year Scholars / 16 year olds to see what they are like, I hate to be negative on our youngsters but harsh reality suggests that a lot of our 2nd year Scholars won't be offered contracts at the end of this season. We had six 16 year olds start the final. Defreitas-Hansen the GK looked ok - note, I got it wrong in an earlier post the huge GK in team photo is the 17 year old Joe Hilton. Pawel Zuk and Tom Warren were ok playing out wide , but whereas Warren scored a couple of goals Zuk did very little except a few runs. Michael Collins at left CB had a sound tournament and looked very composed throughout. Ellis Simms with his six goals grabbed the headlines, and he could of had 10 with chances not taken. . I think everybody who saw a few games would rate Anthony Gordon as our man of the tournament, unusually agreement there for GOT! He looked for me like a mix of Dowell and Anthony Evans in that he had features of both, but was different from say a young Ross Barkley. Simms and Gordon look like the ones to watch so far.
Of the 2nd year Scholars , I was pleasantly surprised as to how well they did, maybe a year of full time training has made all the difference. Con Ouzounidis impressed me with his play at right CB, as did the two central midfielders of Scully and Kerr. Some people liked Kerr more , I preferred Scully , just opinions differing. Of the two full backs Duke-McKenna was fast paced and tricky going forward , Nathan Moore probably more defensively sound. If I was being harsh I would say that while all of these five showed promise I think they'll struggle to get into our U23s team later on in the season. This aspect, selection for U23s while an u18 is an important one for me, as we don't get to see enough of them playing or in training etc, and no matter what our opinion is if Unsy is taking a shine to them thats the opinion that counts.I'm reminded of our Dallas Cup win last year and how well players like Brewster, Broadhead and Holland were doing for the i 18s at the time, yet none broke into our then u 21s .
I enjoyed watching these youngsters do the business , and hopefully in a few years time we'll be nodding wisely and saying "Ah yes , I remember first seeing him at that CEE Cup we won" as a couple make their first team debut. And I'm more optimistic about the u18s this season than last , but we will see.
I was particularly interested in the 1st year Scholars / 16 year olds to see what they are like, I hate to be negative on our youngsters but harsh reality suggests that a lot of our 2nd year Scholars won't be offered contracts at the end of this season. We had six 16 year olds start the final. Defreitas-Hansen the GK looked ok - note, I got it wrong in an earlier post the huge GK in team photo is the 17 year old Joe Hilton. Pawel Zuk and Tom Warren were ok playing out wide , but whereas Warren scored a couple of goals Zuk did very little except a few runs. Michael Collins at left CB had a sound tournament and looked very composed throughout. Ellis Simms with his six goals grabbed the headlines, and he could of had 10 with chances not taken. . I think everybody who saw a few games would rate Anthony Gordon as our man of the tournament, unusually agreement there for GOT! He looked for me like a mix of Dowell and Anthony Evans in that he had features of both, but was different from say a young Ross Barkley. Simms and Gordon look like the ones to watch so far.
Of the 2nd year Scholars , I was pleasantly surprised as to how well they did, maybe a year of full time training has made all the difference. Con Ouzounidis impressed me with his play at right CB, as did the two central midfielders of Scully and Kerr. Some people liked Kerr more , I preferred Scully , just opinions differing. Of the two full backs Duke-McKenna was fast paced and tricky going forward , Nathan Moore probably more defensively sound. If I was being harsh I would say that while all of these five showed promise I think they'll struggle to get into our U23s team later on in the season. This aspect, selection for U23s while an u18 is an important one for me, as we don't get to see enough of them playing or in training etc, and no matter what our opinion is if Unsy is taking a shine to them thats the opinion that counts.I'm reminded of our Dallas Cup win last year and how well players like Brewster, Broadhead and Holland were doing for the i 18s at the time, yet none broke into our then u 21s .
I enjoyed watching these youngsters do the business , and hopefully in a few years time we'll be nodding wisely and saying "Ah yes , I remember first seeing him at that CEE Cup we won" as a couple make their first team debut. And I'm more optimistic about the u18s this season than last , but we will see.
