U18 Premier League National Final: Saints 1-2 Man City

[Matthew Le God]

Watch the game live here...

 

[Jimmy_D]

Gerrrrrrrin!

[igsey]

1-0 Saints! Doyle after a forced error with high pressing.

 

 

[Matthew Le God]

Doyle scores 1-0 to Saints

They are pressing alot better than the 1st team!

Edited 19 May, 2022 by Matthew Le God

[Toadhall Saint]

Just now, Matthew Le God said:

Doyle scores 1-0 to Saints

Thry are pressing alot better than the 1st team!

They are doing a lot of things better than the first team tbh

[Jimmy_D]

Damn, 1-1

[igsey]

1-1, typical City goal - got to the byline, hard low cross and turned in at the six yard line.

[Jimmy_D]

2-1 down now...

We'll need to dig deep

[Saint Charminster]

1-2 got caught in the break with a high line

[Toadhall Saint]

City are a very good side.

[Jimmy_D]

Sonnie Davis playing!

That's Kelvin Davis son, I remember him coming on and scoring a penalty against his Dad in Kelvin Davis testimonial as a kid!

[stevy777_x]

15 minutes ago, Saint Charminster said:

1-2 got caught in the break with a high line

Well then they are not pressing better than the first team then

[tajjuk]

17 minutes ago, Toadhall Saint said:

City are a very good side.

Yeh they won like 13-0 recently I think and 6-0 vs Spurs U18 side, they invest heavily in their youth teams. 

[Toadhall Saint]

2 minutes ago, tajjuk said:

Yeh they won like 13-0 recently I think and 6-0 vs Spurs U18 side, they invest heavily in their youth teams. 

Yep they do that.

[Jimmy_D]

Starting to create some chances now, we're certainly not out of this!

[SuperSAINT]

Good attacking options on the bench too.

[Suhari]

Enjoying this.

Running out of time to equalise now.

[Matthew Le God]

13K at St Mary’s 

[SuperSAINT]

4 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

13K at St Mary’s 

Impressive!

[Jimmy_D]

Into 5 mins of stoppage time, still need another one to take it to extra time...

[Jimmy_D]

Ah dammit, lost 2-1, final score.

Great effort, really could have gone our way on another night.

[The Cat]

Thought we gave a good account of ourselves there. Man City have some ridiculous players in that team. Could have done with Ballard being fit and Dibling being fit enough to start, would have made a real difference.

Hilarious half arsed pitch invasion from some overexcited 15 year olds after the game. A couple of stewards and security enjoyed taking some of them out.

 

[Ivan Katalinic's 'tache]

Played well and no shame in losing to a very decent City side. Saints can be proud of their achievements this season.

Also good to see the playbook being adhered to at all levels by taking the lead and then losing...

[warsash saint]

1 hour ago, Matthew Le God said:

13K at St Mary’s 

13k may have been booked but no way there was 13k there.  Half that I reckon!

[Charlie Wayman]

A familiar story of not taking our chances when we had a period of dominance soon after half time. Cooler heads and we could even have won this.

Maybe the kids were intimidated by the large crowd. On the whole though they acquitted themselves well.and at times played better football than the seniors. Two or three of these lads seem to have what it takes to make it through to the senior team.

Edited 19 May, 2022 by Charlie Wayman

[The Cat]

 

 

 

[kitch]

3 hours ago, Jimmy_D said:

Sonnie Davis playing!

That's Kelvin Davis son, I remember him coming on and scoring a penalty against his Dad in Kelvin Davis testimonial as a kid!

Said the same to my kids!

[S-Clarke]

The kids can hold their heads high, they were up against one of the best young teams in the world. Gave a good account of ourselves by the sounds of it.

Certainly lots of positive from the under age groups this year, so it's not all bad.

[Saint Garrett]

56 minutes ago, The Cat said:

 

 

 

Moron central there tonight. Full of little chavvy kids. 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

1 hour ago, S-Clarke said:

The kids can hold their heads high, they were up against one of the best young teams in the world. Gave a good account of ourselves by the sounds of it.

Certainly lots of positive from the under age groups this year, so it's not all bad.

I did think City were going to get a few in the first half. But we did well, had a decent sized part of the game when we had chances to level it, and some chances out with that too. Lots of pluses.

[stevy777_x]

So disappointed, Uefa Youth league would have given us a huge platform

[skintsaint]

Classic Saints. Can't hold onto a lead.

[John Boy Saint]

8 hours ago, Saint Garrett said:

Moron central there tonight. Full of little chavvy kids. 

Ah it kept them off the streets for a couple of hours - certainly seemed like the Northam under 18s academy work experience up the back - reminding us of who they were with a chorus of “school in the morning, we’ll be in school in the morning”. 
 

I was good to be able to get to see what is on the pathway with us. There wasn’t much between the 2 teams overall in performance, they both made similar mistakes. You could see elements of the City play book in numerous passages of their play, but then I guess you know very clearly that to be the next Phil Foden the mountain to climb is a damn big one. 
Our boys acquitted themselves well, and think the “home” big crowd atmosphere did overwhelm or maybe influence them a little as the cheer for our opener was no doubt the biggest they had enjoyed all season, and in wanting to have some of that for themselves tried that little bit too much. The Sonny Davis free kick outside the box in front of a noisy Northam possibly illustrates that, when he got too far under the ball, his reaction was that it was his worst free kick of the season.

[The Cat]

6 hours ago, stevy777_x said:

So disappointed, Uefa Youth league would have given us a huge platform

Would have been brilliant. Sure we would have attracted a few players over the summer and been guaranteed to keep those that other clubs are sniffing around.

Imagine how gutted my son's mate is who plays for the U16's. He could have been off to Europe for a few games next season.

[The Cat]

8 minutes ago, John Boy Saint said:

Ah it kept them off the streets for a couple of hours - certainly seemed like the Northam under 18s academy work experience up the back - reminding us of who they were with a chorus of “school in the morning, we’ll be in school in the morning”. 
 

I was good to be able to get to see what is on the pathway with us. There wasn’t much between the 2 teams overall in performance, they both made similar mistakes. You could see elements of the City play book in numerous passages of their play, but then I guess you know very clearly that to be the next Phil Foden the mountain to climb is a damn big one. 
Our boys acquitted themselves well, and think the “home” big crowd atmosphere did overwhelm or maybe influence them a little as the cheer for our opener was no doubt the biggest they had enjoyed all season, and in wanting to have some of that for themselves tried that little bit too much. The Sonny Davis free kick outside the box in front of a noisy Northam possibly illustrates that, when he got too far under the ball, his reaction was that it was his worst free kick of the season.

Thing is a lot of those kids weren't all from Northam, Millbrook etc. Loads from Netley, Hedge End, Bitterne there last night etc.

There's a lot 15/16 year olds giving it large at Saints these days. Some even going to Eastleigh games too and acting up. There was a bit of a scrap there after the Grimsby game last weekend which some of them were involved in.

[John Boy Saint]

1 hour ago, The Cat said:

Thing is a lot of those kids weren't all from Northam, Millbrook etc. Loads from Netley, Hedge End, Bitterne there last night etc.

There's a lot 15/16 year olds giving it large at Saints these days. Some even going to Eastleigh games too and acting up. There was a bit of a scrap there after the Grimsby game last weekend which some of them were involved in.

I was tongue in cheek referring to the noisy urchins up the back of the Northam last night as apprentices to inhabit that stand in years to come: not where they lived - Just like the Chapel and Kingsland is peppered with “lads” who did their time running the gauntlet back in the dark days of the 1970s and 80s 😁

 

[kitch]

Our no.7 (Edwards?) He's a right box of tricks! Some really tidy feet under pressure.

[david in sweden]

13 hours ago, Toadhall Saint said:

City are a very good side.

......and we can see why with their slick first-time passing and a right winger who ruled the game.

The City no 3 (?)  Max Alleyne ... was in Saints schoolboy side, but move to City as a a 15 year old ...and Saints got £1.5 million for him.  

Says it all really.    Nevertheless , it is surely the best U18 Saints side in living memory. 

[Saint86]

8 minutes ago, kitch said:

Our no.7 (Edwards?) He's a right box of tricks! Some really tidy feet under pressure.

Was a standout player for me. Even against the best couple of city players. Hopefully we start to see him making a breakthrough over the next couple of seasons.

[SuperSAINT]

7 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Was a standout player for me. Even against the best couple of city players. Hopefully we start to see him making a breakthrough over the next couple of seasons.

He finally got fit towards the end of the season and really started to hit form. Great to see.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

4 hours ago, skintsaint said:

Classic Saints. Can't hold onto a lead.

Just what I thought when they got their second. A watching Ralph torn between losing a goal and pride at his playbook really working across all levels of the club. 🙂

2 hours ago, The Cat said:

Would have been brilliant. Sure we would have attracted a few players over the summer and been guaranteed to keep those that other clubs are sniffing around.

Imagine how gutted my son's mate is who plays for the U16's. He could have been off to Europe for a few games next season.

I'd not heard of it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Youth_League.

Seems to be weighted in favour of clubs already in the Champions League. No doubt to cement their place as giant talent Hoovers forever. Since City are already one of those, it would be nice to see it extend to the other finalist.

I also noted UEFA pinched the idea from someone else. Football governing bodies are the bastions of integrity 🙂

27 minutes ago, kitch said:

Our no.7 (Edwards?) He's a right box of tricks! Some really tidy feet under pressure.

I shall resist the use of diamond to describe his performance, as I'm sure he's already sick of it. He did really well. Not quite as consistent across such a big game, but I though Finnigan also did well.

22 minutes ago, david in sweden said:

 Says it all really.    Nevertheless , it is surely the best U18 Saints side in living memory. 

Looking forward to MLG upping the PA for them on FM. 🙂

[Dusic]

Regarding the UEFA Youth league whilst I'm sure great to be a part of it suits clubs like City and Chelsea who have stacks of players in each age group.

For an Academy like Saints with smaller squads I'm not sure it would be as beneficial as lots of midweek games and some travel would mean players unavailable for U23 games and a lack of consistency in the team selection.

Will be interesting to see which of these players push into the 23s full time next season and how they do.

Also further reason to sell the likes of N'Lundulu, Vokins, Ramsay etc this summer.

[Nordic Saint]

3 hours ago, The Cat said:

Thing is a lot of those kids weren't all from Northam, Millbrook etc. Loads from Netley, Hedge End, Bitterne there last night etc.

There's a lot 15/16 year olds giving it large at Saints these days. Some even going to Eastleigh games too and acting up. There was a bit of a scrap there after the Grimsby game last weekend which some of them were involved in.

I was at that Eastleigh v Grimsby game and didn't see that although I did see the stewards take one of them out during the game.  Where exactly did it happen? The antics of the mob of teenagers behind the goal in the South Stand are generally quite amusing. At least Eastleigh, unlike Saints, have a noisy mob behind both goals and stick the away fans in the corner. I'm surprised there was a scrap as the 500+ Grimsby fans were all men, mostly over 30, and the Eastleigh mob are all, as you say, about 15/16.

Still on the subject of Saints/Eastleigh connections, I think that the Korean youngster, Yang Seung-woo, who was released by Saints Academy in 2019, could turn out to be a pretty good player. He's just earned his first professional contract at Eastleigh but I can see him playing at a higher level in the future. He's got the same agent as Broja.

Edited 20 May, 2022 by Nordic Saint

[VectisSaint]

4 hours ago, Dusic said:

Regarding the UEFA Youth league whilst I'm sure great to be a part of it suits clubs like City and Chelsea who have stacks of players in each age group.

For an Academy like Saints with smaller squads I'm not sure it would be as beneficial as lots of midweek games and some travel would mean players unavailable for U23 games and a lack of consistency in the team selection.

Will be interesting to see which of these players push into the 23s full time next season and how they do.

Also further reason to sell the likes of N'Lundulu, Vokins, Ramsay etc this summer.

The domestic champions path in the Youth League is less onerous, with a knockout 2-leg format for first 2 rounds and then knock out for the last rounds when they join the CL teams. In reality qualifiers only end up playing about 3 ties if they are moderately successful. 

[John Boy Saint]

3 hours ago, VectisSaint said:

The domestic champions path in the Youth League is less onerous, with a knockout 2-leg format for first 2 rounds and then knock out for the last rounds when they join the CL teams. In reality qualifiers only end up playing about 3 ties if they are moderately successful. 

Wasn’t there a sort of youth champions league that ran as a sort of undercard for the main event and was played earlier in the day of the headline evening game - I think it might have been only during the group stage - I seem to recall my Chelsea supporting brother in law mentioning it    quite recently. Taking a bunch of nippers with the main entourage minimised the expense and gave the lads some experience.

[The Cat]

6 hours ago, Nordic Saint said:

I was at that Eastleigh v Grimsby game and didn't see that although I did see the stewards take one of them out during the game.  Where exactly did it happen? The antics of the mob of teenagers behind the goal in the South Stand are generally quite amusing. At least Eastleigh, unlike Saints, have a noisy mob behind both goals and stick the away fans in the corner. I'm surprised there was a scrap as the 500+ Grimsby fans were all men, mostly over 30, and the Eastleigh mob are all, as you say, about 15/16.

Still on the subject of Saints/Eastleigh connections, I think that the Korean youngster, Yang Seung-woo, who was released by Saints Academy in 2019, could turn out to be a pretty good player. He's just earned his first professional contract at Eastleigh but I can see him playing at a higher level in the future. He's got the same agent as Broja.

It was outside afterwards. One of the kids I know managed to cut up his hand pretty badly and ended up in A&E.

Probably the Eastleigh kids acting up and some older Grimsby fans got pissed off and whacked them.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

1 hour ago, John Boy Saint said:

Wasn’t there a sort of youth champions league that ran as a sort of undercard for the main event and was played earlier in the day of the headline evening game - I think it might have been only during the group stage - I seem to recall my Chelsea supporting brother in law mentioning it    quite recently. Taking a bunch of nippers with the main entourage minimised the expense and gave the lads some experience.

Could it have been

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NextGen_Series

?

[davefizzy14]

I thought Diamond Edwards stood out as did Kami Doyle who took his goal superbly. Ryan Finnagan too played well.