Under 21s (Match updates and news)

5-0, another nicely worked goal, and Kedwell cuts in from the left and fires home.

This looks a very good side, some well taken goals, making Wednesday look really poor across the entire pitch.

Thanks for posting the YouTube link @danny777 .  Thoroughly enjoyed that.  A better watch than the first team!

Great performance from our lads !

Probably should read ANOTHER great performance ! 

Although this is a very young side (18 and 19 most of them) they can compete physically with the Wendies and other sides (no idea on their ages).

And we can clearly outplay them.

A lot of these lads have played alongside each other for many years now and it shows.

Maclorg didn't have much to do but did it well.  He can pass it out from the back but when he needs or wants to can kick it long and way into the other half.

Good that they play in a similar style and formation to the first team, defence strong, lots of runners and unlike our first team, lots of goals from midfield.

I hear Leaburn likely to play for the U21s on Friday.  Not sure about when Dixon will play.

I noticed none of the trialists were in the squad, decisions made or maximising the squad?

seth plum said:

Caught up on the stream.
Looked a mismatch, yet we weren't playing any 'nearly senior' players what with the silly buggers Cup against Cambridge tomorrow. I don't know the strength of the Sheffield Wednesday side.
What it made me think of was this 'Category One' status we're continually denied. Does the U21 system come under category one? Anyway we have been a big fish in terms of results in a small pool now for a number of years at U21 and U18 level and below. Regularly almost dominating leagues and getting to the finals of loads of cups.
I wonder if we would be able to play teams of a higher standard if we had category one. I accept that at that level we would probably be in the lower reaches, but the opposition would be better, we may learn more, we may be less open to people nicking our players, and it seems we have little more to prove at the levels we play at the moment.

I looked over the last 10 seasons of league tables for our u18s on the youthhawk website.

Including the northern section, no club has come close to consistently finishing as high as we have.

We finished 1st for the last 4 seasons, before that we finished 2nd for 4 years out of 5, with the other finish being 6th. In the year before that we finished 1st, giving us 5 1st places and 4 2nd places for our u18s over the last 10 years.

I believe Sheff Utd and Wigan have the next most 1st places, with 2 each.

http://youthhawk.co.uk/w/index.php/2023-24_Under-18_League_2

I've only looked back at the last few seasons for our u21s, and while their record isn't as good, you could argue that's because our better u21s get involved in the first team at around 18-20 years old. And of course this season they've started brilliantly, despite a good number of academy players being part of the first team squad.

Category One was a big aim for TS, while I think it was Methven who recently talked about aiming to become one of the top five most productive academies in the country (vs wherever we are now, 8th I think?). If that's the ambition then I expect Category One is a big part of that.

It's going to be very interesting to see who comes in as Head of Player Development, the new role mentioned when the news about Steve Avory was announced. We must have offered Will Abbott a good salary to come here, I would guess we'll aim high for this role too.

Kap10 said:

I'm not knowledgeable about any of our younger mens squads, but do you think that some are ready for loans out to the National League or lower National League South and would they benefit from such a loan at this stage of their career.

If you are between 16 and 18 you have your school work as well as your football coaching and matches so only once you have finished the academy part of your career about 19 would that be an option and in many cases playing in the U21 with lads you know is more beneficial than going out on loan with different coaches and team mates.

There is a time when a loan may be needed for  personal and football development but not every player will benefit like Scott Parker at Norwich and Karlan Grant at Crawley.

If you are 21 and 22 and not making the 18 man 1st team squad too often then a loan is needed as your career has stalled. 
Lucas Ness had reached that stage at 22 and if Notts County hadn't signed him he would've gone out on another loan.

Another angle to add is that some players don’t need loans, and that’s not just obvious stand outs like Gomez, Lookman or Shelvey. Players like Solly and Cousins didn’t either.

If we do loan any out I doubt it’ll be more than a couple at a time for some of the reasons Henry gave.

fenaddick said:

A lot of them also aren’t necessarily ready for NL but wouldn’t suit the football played at NLN/S which is a bit more ‘classic’ non league and more physical than it is technical. Casey and Mbick would be the standouts for a loan but as Henry said that can’t really happen for Mbick and I think I saw Casey training with the first team recently

I know Henry spoke about the mentality for Mbick living away from home, but is that something known about him?

fenaddick said:

ForeverAddickted said:

fenaddick said:

A lot of them also aren’t necessarily ready for NL but wouldn’t suit the football played at NLN/S which is a bit more ‘classic’ non league and more physical than it is technical. Casey and Mbick would be the standouts for a loan but as Henry said that can’t really happen for Mbick and I think I saw Casey training with the first team recently

I know Henry spoke about the mentality for Mbick living away from home, but is that something known about him?

Was more the age thing I was focussing on, he still has to be in education. That's harder if he gets shipped off to Torquay for example

Ah yes... I see what you mean, thanks