chazzle_dazzle
Player Valuation: £35m
Connolly must be highly thought of due to his versatility... the fact he gets put in there without a blat of an eye lid speaks volumes.
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Connolly must be highly thought of due to his versatility... the fact he gets put in there without a blat of an eye lid speaks volumes.
Yeah the same could be said of his brief appearance for the first team at RB, having really only played 3 games there for for Barnsley and about 3 for the u21s this season . He's naturally right footed but also good with his left. He's got a little bit of everything in his locker but nothing e.g. Blistering pace, which makes him truly stand out. At 18 we haven't really had the chance to see how good he can be , he's going to play professional football without a doubt, just don't know at what level yet. We'll know a bit more over the next 12 months, not many defender make PL debuts at 18 so plenty of time to develop him properly .
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chazzle_dazzle
Player Valuation: £35m
Be interesting to see where he ends up - when he plays CM, what type of role does he play?
Was impressed with the lad when he came in, heard a few good things about him in the youth teams but only seen him properly when he came in.
Coffee and TV
Player Valuation: £25m
For people worried about Koeman and youth, the paper we're not allowed to link to reckons him playing young players was a reason we liked him:
[Koeman's] desire to give youth a chance – he has handed debuts to five Academy players in two years at Southampton – made him an attractive prospect for the Blues.
[Koeman's] desire to give youth a chance – he has handed debuts to five Academy players in two years at Southampton – made him an attractive prospect for the Blues.
summerisle
The rain, it raineth every day
Small video from CBBC 
about this year's Dallas Cup.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/watch/kickabout-usa-special-dallas
about this year's Dallas Cup.http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/watch/kickabout-usa-special-dallas
Hmm, we handed debuts to five Academy players in about 5 weeks last season, i guess it also depends on the quality you have in your Academy. The comments about Koeman and his apparent/suggested lack of interest in the Academy is a bit concerning, but we'll have to wait and see. I'm hoping we also appoint an innovative DoF to link up all these elements of the club.
Not big on detail but excellent publicity for us, and heh, it was a cup we won !Small video from CBBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/watch/kickabout-usa-special-dallas
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp....ngland-dna-roy-hodgson-centre-backs-euro-2016
Quite a nice article (and comments) on the state of defending in academies. Do we know much about the main principles we try teach our defenders? Is it all the Stones mould now? I know Holgate is at least like that but I do miss my bruisers.
Quite a nice article (and comments) on the state of defending in academies. Do we know much about the main principles we try teach our defenders? Is it all the Stones mould now? I know Holgate is at least like that but I do miss my bruisers.
Nice article indeed. Holgate is perhaps a good example. We bought him because of his skills going forward , but he has made at least 3 significant defensive lapses for the u21s, which have been shown in clips because they resulted in goals for the opposition - one goal in each of the Liverpool games and another poor back pass (WBA? I can't remember) towards the end of the season. At one stage he was on the PL bench presumably as RB cover, but Pennington, Connolly, Kenny all overtook him. Although in fairness he played well in the u21 0-0 draw with Chelsea last game of the season. It's tough getting selected as a young defender if you make mistakes at u21 level.
This bit interested me "A coach wants to see if you can anticipate, intercept, clear the box, read the game." I think the best "natural defender" I.e. someone who just wants to defend , we have in our youngsters is 17 yr old Morgan Feeney, . He's no Stones , but the bit about anticipate, intercept, clear the box, read the game certainly applies to him.
This is England U19's before first Mexico game, what struck me was how much Ryan Ledson (4) has developed physically in the past 12 months , haven't seen any pics of him since his loan spell. Callum Connolly on the other hand looks like he's got some further physical developing to do.
Looks like your generic 18-year old who loves Ibiza and girls which is a good thing in terms of physicality.
Blimey yeah he suddenly looks a big lad doesn't he. Bodes well
Haha, not sure what you mean there mate, you suggesting two weeks in Ibiza doing horizontal press ups will develop his physicality, or maybe bulking up to get the girls.
This u19 Euro tournament is quite odd in that it starts sometime in around mid July. So what do these guys do in next 6 weeks? You would imagine Ibiza is out but they need sone downtime as after that tourno theyll only get a short break before pre season stuff. Kenny in particular played a lot of football at Wigan, u21s, England, Oxford then for us . Even only 1 game meant his training carried on longer into May.
When would the final be? End of July? Unless they got a break straight at the end of May for a few weeks?
My point on Ledson was he looks like every 18-year old lad where I live which is good for him because he's filled out and looks dare I say it first team material physically now. May just have jumped ahead of Walsh and Williams again.
Was going to post this in the transfer thread but... what's the point.
Anyway apparently we're due to sign 18-year old goalkeeper Chris Renshaw from Oldham.
Anyway apparently we're due to sign 18-year old goalkeeper Chris Renshaw from Oldham.
catcherintherye
Player Valuation: £80m
I think this is a very interesting article. As a lad who would play Centre half who’s main skill was reading the game I can really see what they are saying. There is a very particular mindset involved in defending properly and orientating your entire thinking around preventing danger. I never really wanted more than 2 touches on the ball and most of my work would be done with 1.
There has been a trend for quicker more powerful defenders. Sometimes though having speed covers for a lack of defensive basics. More importantly it has led to defensive units resembling 4 individuals, as opposed to a unit of 4 who compliment one another.
In relation to our academy a perfect example that bucks this trend is Morgan Feeney. On the one hand as a 16 year old he looked a very slight lad who wasn’t the quickest. Definitely not one you’d look at and fancy them and one at first impression you’d look at and think he’s there to make up the numbers. However when you watch him, as has been alluded to he does the basics very well. Positioning, body shape & technique in the tackle.
Unfortunately as football fans generally we don’t view those things as worthy and praiseworthy as attacking facets of the game. It’s taken for granted everyone should be brave, be able to tackle but there is a lot of technical skill involved in the timing of the tackle of how you position yourself and decision making when to look to tackle. It’s clear that Feeney is very good on those attributes. That’s not to say he excels at youth level yet, and particular under 21’s as because of his lack of size he is still not that effective but as he grows you can see a very natural defender in there.
I am probably as guilty as this as anyone. I saw Lees (and indeed Yarney though I think Yarney has a bit more about him) and you take a look at their physique and are wowed and think they can make the step up. In spite of what scouts say I do think a lot of snap judgements are made like that. The problem with good defending is that it needs to be seen over a longer period of time and is more subtle. Sometimes it can be as simple as being stood 2 yards to the left where most players would be 2 yards to the right that will mark you out as a good defender. The art of good defending is focussing your entire attention on minimising risk and preventing danger.
Too often defending is reduced down to concepts such as “bravery” “bottle” and the like. That attitude pervades most English thinking. A lad who doesn’t tackle is a coward as opposed to a lad that doesn’t tackle may be lacking in the technique and confidence to do so. Even that article frames defenders such as Adams, Butcher etc as warrior types whereas the focus ought to be one them as technically and mentally very skilled players. I think that’s a key difference in thinking between the English and say the Italians who understand that defending is an artform just as other areas are.
The other lads I will give mentions to here are Kenny & Pennington. Unsworth spoke of Kenny being a “throwback” and a “proper defender”. Again that was clear form a young age. He didn’t have the height or physicality to play centre half but at youth level that’s where they persisted with him because they could see he had the technical and mental skills require to play that role. Ultimately he hasn’t developed the physical attributes yet but he will be a very good full back.
I would give a lot of credit to our academy staff for this. Many will put bigger lads in there to minimise risk and get better results. Ours persisted with Kenny and now Feeney even if they were a little smaller. I think having Stubbs/Weir and now Unsworth in charge, all defenders who didn’t rely on pace has definitely helped in that regard. I know Stubbs thought very highly of Kenny. We had a 16 year old lad who was probably 5 ft 7 and 9 ½ stone playing against men.
The other one I like is Pennington. He is a clever lad and you can see he gets the art of defending. The amount of blocks he gets is testament to his ability to read the game. I think he is a very promising player.
I know @blueblue has mentioned in relation Connolly we are very good at bringing through a certain type of player. I agree entirely, defenders up to central midfield players who display a “football intelligence” I think we have excelled at over the last 10 years. I’m not sure if it’s the coaching, what we look for in players or that we move them up the age groups quicker but we do a lot right there.
Even when we play the other two “top” academies Chelsea & Manchester City what is clear is often their players are bigger, quicker and stronger but maybe not as technically skilled in relation to defending (more so Chelsea). We are quite noticeably different there.
So yes I agree with much of the article. I put the blame on a lot of youth coaching and also scouting. I don’t doubt if you spoke to such academies they would bemoan the lost art of defending but probably not see how the re-enforce that. I am quite pleased to see that at Everton we are bucking the trend somewhat.