ARTICLE: Under-23s in action this afternoon

[ClaretTony]

League game v Birmingham today

See link
http://www.uptheclarets.com/under-23s-i ... -afternoon" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[MACCA]

As per title thread, 10 minutes left.
Very young side however.

[Tall Paul]

It's probably Jeff Hendrick's fault.

[UpTheBeehole]

It's probably Jeff Hendrick's fault.

Anonymous yet again. As though he wasn't even there.

[MACCA]

I'd like to say you are probably wrong.
He's away on warm weather training.

[JimmyMac'sMate]

Thought the game was behind closed doors so how have you got in pal utc

[bfcmik]

0-5 with a couple of minutes to go. Firmly rooted to the bottom of the division.

[bfcmik]

Finished at 0-5. 0-3 at half time.

[superdimitri]

Man that sucks. Nothing like a thrashing to harm confidence!

Well I guess you have to learn to bounce back from it.

Duff is having a far tougher time with the u23 squad compared to the youth team.

Is it because it's men against boys?
Not used to competing at that level?
Poor morale in general for players who know they probably won't make the first team?
Or do they just miss Ulvestad?

[bfcmik]

Thought the game was behind closed doors so how have you got in pal utc

The scores appear live on https://www.soccer24.com/.

[JimmyMac'sMate]

Thanks utc

[MACCA]

Thought the game was behind closed doors so how have you got in pal utc

Not sure if it's classed as behing closed doors. Staff, Parents & scouts are all allowed to watch. Was easily over 50 watching.
Possibly let fans in too, if you asked.

CT would be better fixed for answering that one.

[FCBurnley]

Surely players such as Wells and ONeill etc would be better playing for the U23`s than `training`in Portugal ? How many minutes has Wells played since he signed ( inc non first team games ) ?

[ClaretTony]

CT would be better fixed for answering that one.

It was behind closed doors

[mkmel]

Who is the Under 23s coach?
Is it Mike Duff?

[Braindead]

So we are sat comfortably at the bottom of a league containing sides all below us in the league pyramid and just been hammered 5-0?

Not great times for the 'next generation' of players we hope will become first teamers in the future.

[Woodleyclaret]

Long Ginnelly Aygei Massanka all loaned out to help develop.Why are we playing in the u23 league with these players missing? The whole development of our rising stars is going to take longer than some anticipated.Mike Duff is certainly getting a baptism of fire which he won't shirk from and the team and Mike will succeed.

[ClaretTony]

Long Ginnelly Aygei Massanka all loaned out to help develop.Why are we playing in the u23 league with these players missing?

And yet, when we weren't playing in a league, there were demands to do so. You have to look beyond the results. In yesterday's game, Birmingham's players averaged more than two years a player older than ours, they had two in with first team experience. We all want to win every game but it was always going to be very, very difficult for us at this level with the players we have available to us.

[bfcmik]

Some people seem to be having difficulty remembering how big a step we have taken in gaining admission to this league and the equivalent youth league too.

We have gone from the development squad playing a few behind closed doors games a season, often arranged by the opposition to give some game time to returning injured players and where we still generally ended up with a defeat, to regular games and a format that will eventually lead to better quality players either being signed on or staying at the club rather than going out on loan. (I do get the impression that the lads out on loan at the moment are being somewhat 'shop-windowed'!).

The young lads playing in the u23 team at the moment are gaining invaluable experience of the demands of playing professional football and of the skillset and physicality required to successfully compete. At the same time the club is gaining valuable insight into the strength of character and potential of these youngsters

[JimmyMac'sMate]

I think the category 2 status might have come a bit to soon regarding the players and staff at the present that is why we might have had three or four trailist playing yesterday planning for next year which is not a bad thingthe facility we have in place are fantastic which is a credit to the club my thoughts and my thoughts only are under 18s doing ok no better standard than cat3 football under 23 needs to have a big improvement player and result wise ps the 1st team are doing brilliant utc

[randomclaret2]

At which point are we allowed to criticise our Under 23 s results. ?

[Heaton's Gloves]

As a premier league club, perhaps we should be doing better in terms of youth recruitment? All I ever read about is our youths, under 23’s etc taking a beating. Doesn’t sound very promising. We should be recruiting better and spreading the net further. Don’t shoot me. It’s just my opinion!

[ClaretTony]

At which point are we allowed to criticise our Under 23 s results. ?

Criticise all you like random, but you have completely missed the point if that's what you want to do. We knew how difficult it was going to be this season even before we kicked off. That's obvious when you firstly look at the age of our team compared to the others and then you note that many of the better players have gone out on loan.

The simple answer is that the under-23 team, like the under-18 team and all those below it are part of our academy where the objective is the development of young footballers. Winning is good, losing not so good, but it is all about player development.

[ClaretTony]

As a premier league club, perhaps we should be doing better in terms of youth recruitment? All I ever read about is our youths, under 23’s etc taking a beating. Doesn’t sound very promising. We should be recruiting better and spreading the net further. Don’t shoot me. It’s just my opinion!

To recruit well you need good recruitment staff. To coach those recruited players you need good coaching staff. Get that and you are moving in the right direction. We were moving in that direction up to 2011 when suddenly we were beset with Blake and his team. Virtually all of the scouts and coaches left, some pushed by the horrendous bully Blake but most of their own choosing. Just over a year ago our academy was at a shockingly low ebb. It's rebuilding time and that is going to take some considerable time. We've got some good people in there again now working very hard, but someone once told me that for every year of damage it will take much longer to restore. We are still nowhere near where we were in 2011 sadly. But we are moving in the right direction.

[boatshed bill]

I'm not sure you learn a lot by getting hammered, to be honest.

[ClaretTony]

I'm not sure you learn a lot by getting hammered, to be honest.

I think you often learn more by losing than winning.

[MACCA]

We are miles away, years away in truth.
Rome wasn't built in a day.
The foundations are there now, the support is now in place, but now its about building the reputation of the academy up.
Bad news travels fast, and our reputation was in peices as an academy.
We are now putting all those things right slowly but surely, and doing it in the right order IMO.

As for the Birmingham result, their lads we're bigger, faster and stronger than us, but also a lot older too.
2 years in player development at that age us absolutely massive, even more so when you look where we were 12 months ago.

It's a long time, but give it 5 years and we will start seeing/hearing about some prospects that have come through, and who knows that's when we might need it most. Who knows what's round the corner in football. In 5 years a lot can happen.

[boatshed bill]

I think you often learn more by losing than winning.

Perhaps in a close contest, but not a mis-match.
Only my opinion, CT, but I've seen some young teams' morale get damaged.

[piston broke]

Just read the match report, on the club site, we also had 3 triallists playing.
Along with the 2 year age difference, mentioned above, these guys could have turned up on the day to say their hellos.
Not a team as you'd want it but hopefully improving.

[ClaretTony]

Just read the match report, on the club site, we also had 3 triallists playing.
Along with the 2 year age difference, mentioned above, these guys could have turned up on the day to say their hellos.
Not a team as you'd want it but hopefully improving.

There have been other results like that and there will be more.

The question is do we want a winning team at this level or do we want to maybe bring through a couple of players? I think we need a few years at this level before we can even start to judge how well or badly we are doing.

[piston broke]

There have been other results like that and there will be more.

The question is do we want a winning team at this level or do we want to maybe bring through a couple of players? I think we need a few years at this level before we can even start to judge how well or badly we are doing.

Agreed. I don't mind defeats at age group level. You know all 11 aren't going to make top pros. What you want is for the individuals to be selfish enough to focus on their personal development within the team environment.

[bfcmik]

Perhaps in a close contest, but not a mis-match.
Only my opinion, CT, but I've seen some young teams' morale get damaged.

I think what you get from a whopping is an insight into the players characters. Did they keep trying up to the end or let their heads drop? Did they become rattled or scared by the size of the opposition? Did they accept defeat with, "Oh well!" or was it, "I think we will do better next time." All invaluable in determining whether a player has what it takes to become a pro.

Add to that that a scoreline may not truly represent the action during the game (e.g WBA 0-1, Man City 1-4 FA Cup, Palace (h) 1-0) and there are many things that can be learnt in a 0-5 game.