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Under 21 and under 18 teams


stevy777_x

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We seem to getting tonked every week by very high scorelines.

I know it's not all about results and producing players for the 1st team, but why are getting beaten up by nearly every team we play?

Bad coaching? Talentless players? Not playing as a team? Players being played above their normal age groups?

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Could this simply be a hangover from our time around 2008/09? The youngsters who should have entered the academy at that time as 11 year olds didn't due to cut backs and now we are having a barren spell as those age groups now come through.

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U21's have players on loan as they aren't good enough to make the step up (or aren't getting a chance) and U21 football will stifle their development. The better U18's then get bumped up which leaves them short but the coaching / management at U18 level has been an issue ever since Dodd and Williams left.

 

I don't know the exact reason they left but the rumour was that they (read: Les Reed) wanted a more modern approach to the coaching. Anthony Limbrick was the U16 coach at the time and highly thought of and the club were aware that the U18's weren't going to be that good so for the sake of continuity they appointed Limbrick. However, at the end of his first season it was clear that whilst he was a good coach as a Manager he had some areas lacking, particularly around his experience of the game. Craig Fleming was brought in to help him.

 

This summer Limbrick went back to Australia - again I don't know the reasons but Fleming now appears to have assumed the role of U18 Manager. Is he suited to it? I am not sure. However, the U18's are lacking in talent - only a few U16's got scholarships and the rest of the group who are new are made up of rejects from other Academies (from bigger clubs like Arsenal and Chelsea). The reason our intake is lacking is because these are the kids that joined us as nippers (8 - 10) during our plummet down the leagues when our scouting and set-up was not as good and other clubs could make better offers.

 

So it will be lean for a few years but things should pick up again in 2-3 years which is effectively when intakes post-takeover will start to come through.

 

As for the U21's I don't know why Martin Hunter wasn't at the Norwich game on Monday night so it will be interesting to see what the news is there.

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SPURS 0-2 SAINTS .....(I watched most of this on Spurs link which was free for this game)

 

Matt Targett scored with a free kick just on HT.

Spurs played Andros Townsend and most their attacking efforts seemed directed via him.

He was well-marshalled by the Saints defence and although Spurs were dominant for 20 mins.or so after the break, they went a bit flat after Townsend went off.

 

Spurs put on attacking subs. in an effort to get back into the game, but paid the price when Josh Sims broke away with a run and beat the oncoming Spurs keeper. 2-0

 

Saints were looking stronger at the back and Gazzaniga was there to make saves when needed, and was helped by some wayward shooting by the Spurs strikers.

 

Spurs played quite a physical game and Saints were awarded around a dozen free-kicks in the 2nd half, and the tricky Josh Hesketh (who was fouled for the Saints first goal) was a victim on many occasions, and three or four Saints players needed the medics on for treatment in the second half.

 

Two Saints players got yellow cards in the last 10 minutes, but the Spurs players went unpunished, when at least 2 of them were lucky not to get a red at some stage.

 

A good solid performance for the U21's which put a run of defeats behind them, but unfortunately they have only one more league game before mid January.

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Bipolar results. 7-2 at Norwich and then 0-2 tonight!

 

Upto ...three (?) over-age players are allowed in U21 games and Norwich put out a strong side that night. Although scoring first we conceded 4 goals in 10 minuted in the first half , after which there was no way back. Although we looked much better second half, Norwich then came with several late goals.

It was a nightmare debut for U18 full back Bakary and Saints were without the services of three regular strikers. 2-7 although decisive didn't reflect the whole game.

 

Some results reflect the choice of line-up, although even Spurs came unstuck when including England (:lol:) player Andros Townsend, who was properly sewn-up by Targett and the Saints' defenders. Even the additional height /weight advantage in the Spurs midfield was not equal to the skills of Sims, Seager, McQueen and Hesketh.

 

NOTED: Sunderland has an excellent U21 side (top of table) whereas their first team is in the Prem's bottom three. Wonder if Sam looks at them at all?.

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The trouble with u21 football is the inconsistency of lineups. One week the teams have U18 or even U17 players in the squad other days there may be 3/4 recovering/frozen-out first team players. Saints U21s record this season so far shows that without McQueen playing they struggle. I suspect there may be a case for Gazzaniga also having a positive major bearing on Saints U21 winning too.

 

U21 stats with/without McQueen

Result Opponents Home/Away McQueen playing McQueen scoring

W 2-0 Spurs A Yes 0

L 2-7 Norwich A No

L 0-2 Everton H No

L 0-2 Sunderland H Yes 0

W 5-2 Reading A Yes 1

W 3-1 Leicester H Yes 1

D 1-1 Middlesbrough H Yes 0

W 3-1 Chelsea A Yes 2

D 2-2 Man City H Yes 0

 

Win ratio

With McQueen P7 W4 D2 L1 57%

Without McQueen P2 W0 D0 L2 0%

 

I think it was McQueen who was fouled in the incident that led to the first goal but I may be wrong. I was watching at the Lamex so had no chance to rewind.

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Also there is such a gap between U21 football and PL football.

 

Someone like Seager scores better than 1 in 2 at U21 level yet isnt seen as a viable option for the first team, even off the bench.

 

Similarly Gallagher was an U21 regular and can't get a game for a struggling MK Dons side.

 

Yeah, I think had Sam joined MK Dons when they were in League 1, he'd have probably featured more. I remember that they signed a couple of strikers straight after they signed Sam.

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Also there is such a gap between U21 football and PL football.

 

Someone like Seager scores better than 1 in 2 at U21 level yet isnt seen as a viable option for the first team, even off the bench.

 

Just saying "PL football" is too broad. Its significantly harder to get on some Premier League team benches than others. The quality standard at Saints means any youngster is competing with senior internationals in every position (multiple ones in quite a few positions). That isn't the case at all clubs.

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Just saying "PL football" is too broad. Its significantly harder to get on some Premier League team benches than others. The quality standard at Saints means any youngster is competing with senior internationals in every position (multiple ones in quite a few positions). That isn't the case at all clubs.

U21 football doesn't prepare players for the quality needed to play in a PL starting XI then.

 

Besides, few U21 regulars make any PL benches apart from in times of an injury crisis.

 

Look at the main players we have brought through into the first team setup with success and few spent more than a year playing U21 football before making the step up. Because they were just better players.

 

The U21 league is mostly made up of players who will end up in the lower leagues.

 

There is no obvious solution either.

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FA Youth Cup 3rd round tonight at St Marys v Birmingham City, £3 adults , £1 concessions . 7pm kick off. Well worth going along for those of you interested in seeing the current batch of academy players. Good to get a few fans down there to support the lads.

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He is the one we got from Shrewsbury I think.

 

If that's what we're planning on moving to the next level with in a few years time we need to abandon all hope. It's just pure junk. Saints U18s now 3 down after less than 20 minutes. Birmingham look so much more robust and efficient (except their keeper, he looks about as crap as ours).

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U18s are 3 - 0 down after 20 mins to Birmingham, we were playing really well earlier in the season!

Bear in mind that Birmingham u18s are in the second level of the u18 Professional Development League, i.e. 2 levels below Saints in the u18 Premier League. This is the level that we should be seeing new youngsters coming through, rather than the u21, and frankly we have become gash, in the words of Alpine. It is very worrying how bad our much lauded academy has become, we should be able to teach the Americans a thing or two.

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If players like Reed, Seager, Hesketh, McQueen, Target are not going to be involved with the first team they need to go out on loan and not to Championship or lower league teams, they need to go abroad and play in the top divisions of places like the Netherlands and Belgium, both leagues are well known for giving young players and chance and producing some very talented players. Most teams in these leagues will not have the money to sign a team of full internationals like most Premier League teams do so they have to give young players a chance. Our younger players need to be playing at a higher, more skilled level of football than what they would play in England. Chelsea do it with many of their best young players, three played against us in the Europa League, and those players are know better than our youngsters.

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If players like Reed, Seager, Hesketh, McQueen, Target are not going to be involved with the first team they need to go out on loan and not to Championship or lower league teams,

 

two things.

ONE - I think some of them may be involved before the end of the season.....between injuries and poor form there aren't many more to choose from...

 

TWO - there really isn't that much depth if the U21 /U18 sides. We try to bring younger players, but 5 U18 lads have had some game time with the U21 side (mainly due to injury problems at the higher level), and the Youth Cup side (lost to Birmingham last week) included a 15 year old full back ...who (to his credit) looked OK for the day - and considering the negative result - However, there is a long way to go before expecting them to be good enough for the First team bench - let alone thinking we've found another Shaw or Chambers.

 

Targett is adequate cover for Bertrand, but will not replace him whilst Bertrand is England's left back. I'd like to see Ryan Seager get a few sub.apps of more than 5 mins.

Sam Mc Queen has been very unlucky with injuries in the past year, and Hesketh (who is a very talented MF) looks more frail than Clasie and would get cut to pieces by some of the Prem. defenders. Perhaps Reed would be worth a loan-out, but he does seem to collect yellow /red cards with an alarming frequency.

 

Except for Turnbull and Stephens very successful loan(s) to Swindon, most lower clubs seem to want a " loan player " just to make up the numbers on their benches.

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been thinking about this recently. yes I think that it's a shame we don't have more youth coming through in this years squad.

 

however, what I realised was also that other than the youth team and steven davis, we really don't have any mature, proven or reliable premier league first teamers from the UK. not saying it's a bad thing, but the likes of sunderland, stoke, palace, leicester, all have british first teamers who have been around a while, proven themselves in championship or premier league for years. all our players in the first team are either not homegrown or else foreign.

 

bit of a change these last two seasons in that regard

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been thinking about this recently. yes I think that it's a shame we don't have more youth coming through in this years squad.

 

however, what I realised was also that other than the youth team and steven davis, we really don't have any mature, proven or reliable premier league first teamers from the UK. not saying it's a bad thing, but the likes of sunderland, stoke, palace, leicester, all have british first teamers who have been around a while, proven themselves in championship or premier league for years. all our players in the first team are either not homegrown or else foreign.

 

bit of a change these last two seasons in that regard

 

To be fair we'd have one of the best homegrown teams in Premier League history if the big clubs hadn't wanted all the players. When we received big money for them it probably didn't make sense to then pay big money for other homegrown players if the club thought that more value existed outside the UK. It's hard to then just replace with youth products and it will be a dry few years compared to what we are used to because a) we're at a higher level than ever before, and b) the intakes that are coming through now are either players released from other Academies or players who joined us at 8/9/10 when we were on our decline and not recruiting as well.

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To be fair we'd have one of the best homegrown teams in Premier League history if the big clubs hadn't wanted all the players. When we received big money for them it probably didn't make sense to then pay big money for other homegrown players if the club thought that more value existed outside the UK. It's hard to then just replace with youth products and it will be a dry few years compared to what we are used to because a) we're at a higher level than ever before' date=' and b) the intakes that are coming through now are either players released from other Academies or players who joined us at 8/9/10 when we were on our decline and not recruiting as well.[/quote']

 

yup all fair points, I think it's expected, if not disappointing

 

trouble is there seems to be more risk with seeking players outside the UK. I mean when is charlie adam, albrighton etc. ever going to play for anyone else? minimal chance of them playing for another prem club, but no chance of them playing abroad. but for almost all our players they'd consider a move (or came from...) to a foreign league.

 

just more risk as more potential options for moving somewehere that isn't staying insouthampton

 

it's not a be all end all situation, and don't get me wrong I quite like the diversity in the squad and the fact we've got a lot of int'ls, but the benefit of local/homegrown or the very least English players like we're used to is that they are more likely to stick around, giving more of a stable wider squad (even if they aren't in the matchday team each weak)

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