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Scored two beauties in an earlier game and ran the show according to reports. Still on the radar

twosips wrote:If anyone fancies watching it he's playing for Portugal u19s here..

http://live.drakulastream.eu/static/pop ... 65220.html (or its on eurosport for those that have it)

Semi-final.. He's already had one lovely little turn and shot.

Any chance of a little analysis of his game tonight at some point? Cheers.

Sure. Well it's nearly half time and so far you can see his talent. It's a pretty boring game truth be told. Portugal have had most of the ball but Serbia are incredibly well organised...

Though despite it being quite a stale environment on the rare occasions he has got on the ball he's looked bright. About ten minutes in there was one moment of magic. Little flicked turn (a fair bit like Jovetic's flick for the last goal last night) made him spin his man at the edge of the area and he drilled it right at the keeper from 20 yards. Was nice.

In general, and the commentators have mentioned this too, he looks very sharp when he gets the ball. Yeah, he's given it away a couple of times, but there is a real urgency about his play at least. Very direct and pacy, which i like personally. Couple of times he's just upped the pace and skipped past a challenge or two and drove right at the defence, but with technical ability - not aimlessly like Andros Townsend or something.

He's clearly got *something* and he seems one of the main men in a very talented Portugese team. Really reminds me of somewhere between Sanchez and Pedro personally. He's currently kinda playing all across the front line popping up wherever he wants to.

Hoping he'll get on the ball a bit more in the second half.

Lopes' first against Isreal was a deflection, but still looked as though he took it well.

His second (Portugals 3rd) was an absolute beauty!

Highlights of Portugal U19 Vs Israel U19s are here HERE

Basically nothing happened apart from when Lopes was on the ball, & he got few passes as they are a bunch of selfish fuckers. I recon our U18s would play Portugal off the park at football. Against a solid defence, they are useless.

They have some players who are capable of scoring great goals, but apart from Lopes, the real quality is in their defence imo. Lots of greedy fancy dans in attack who just run head first into the opposition, very similar to the young English teams; all trying to do it themselves.

Lopes was playing real football & is on another level entirely. It makes you realise also, how good Iheanacho is when you see the lack of awareness of these lot & compare it to the little exchanges he was playing with Jovetic. Lopes had nobody to play with for anything like that. Rodriguez is one of the greediest cunts i have ever seen. He could step right into the England team in place of Gerrard.

Lopes is class. Our lad Intima also played for these the other day & it was 25 minutes before he got his first pass. He also played with intelligence but it was wasted.

Most of those players will disappear, but I doubt that will happen to Lopes; he is too good for that team.

Can't really disagree with any of that. Got more and more frustrated watching that game as it became evidently clear that the Portugese had no fucking clue what to do, and the only one player actually doing fuck all when he got the ball (lopes - even the commentators alluded to that) was having to work his arse to get a touch. Lopes shoulda been fed so many more times. Great to see though how good he actually is. Love his acceleration and his purpose. He's one of those forward players who can basically do everything - he's fast, two-footed, can play a pass, strong, can finish and can skip past challenges for fun and has great technical ability.

If he's not at least the level of someone like Navas i'll eat my virtual hat. I know Navas is no Aguero, but fuck me he's a good player, a champions league player, and well worth around £20m these days, and if we can produce players of that quality instead of splashing out every year then we'll save ourselves a fortune and build a formidable squad. Lopes should become a valuable member of our first team squad in my opinion if things go well. He's got 'it'...

twosips wrote:Can't really disagree with any of that. Got more and more frustrated watching that game as it became evidently clear that the Portugese had no fucking clue what to do, and the only one player actually doing fuck all when he got the ball (lopes - even the commentators alluded to that) was having to work his arse to get a touch. Lopes shoulda been fed so many more times. Great to see though how good he actually is. Love his acceleration and his purpose. He's one of those forward players who can basically do everything - he's fast, two-footed, can play a pass, strong, can finish and can skip past challenges for fun and has great technical ability.

If he's not at least the level of someone like Navas i'll eat my virtual hat. I know Navas is no Aguero, but fuck me he's a good player, a champions league player, and well worth around £20m these days, and if we can produce players of that quality instead of splashing out every year then we'll save ourselves a fortune and build a formidable squad. Lopes should become a valuable member of our first team squad in my opinion if things go well. He's got 'it'...

Yeah I think that about captures it.

We don't know exactly how good he will become, but it will be very surprising if he's not at least 'good enough' for the first team in the near future. Then it's a matter of whether he ends up a Navas level player or an Aguero level player.

Honestly think inside the next two or three seasons we'll see 5 or 6 lads forcing their way into the squad. We've just got too much talent in the lower ranks, and they're finally being coached properly. Personally find it more exciting than a big name signing.

twosips wrote:Honestly think inside the next two or three seasons we'll see 5 or 6 lads forcing their way into the squad. We've just got too much talent in the lower ranks, and they're finally being coached properly. Personally find it more exciting than a big name signing.

Something about keeping a running tally on your unborn chicks goes here.

There are certain players who never get a mention amongst all these 'wonderkids'. Such as Devante Cole & Jordi Hiwula for example.

Of course Lopes & Iheanacho are younger, & have a bit of 'wow' factor about them, & we have a bit of a queue of potential star kids coming up behind, but these lads have been quietly opening up defences & scoring goals for a few years now. Cole has developed from a simple striker to someone who can play right across the front 3 & keeps setting up goals, & Jordi keeps scoring them.

I know our standards are very high now, but sometimes players just take to the job when given an opportunity.

Many reservewatchers don't hold out high hopes for them, but I hope we give these two a chance & don't just write them off. We saw that little shit Hernandez come off the bench & win points for the rags, & we have seen Wellbeck fill a position for them many times.

A couple of young, quick, goalscoring forwards off the bench may be just the ticket sometimes rather than bringing on an established player who needs a rest.

twosips wrote:Sure. Well it's nearly half time and so far you can see his talent. It's a pretty boring game truth be told. Portugal have had most of the ball but Serbia are incredibly well organised...

Though despite it being quite a stale environment on the rare occasions he has got on the ball he's looked bright. About ten minutes in there was one moment of magic. Little flicked turn (a fair bit like Jovetic's flick for the last goal last night) made him spin his man at the edge of the area and he drilled it right at the keeper from 20 yards. Was nice.

In general, and the commentators have mentioned this too, he looks very sharp when he gets the ball. Yeah, he's given it away a couple of times, but there is a real urgency about his play at least. Very direct and pacy, which i like personally. Couple of times he's just upped the pace and skipped past a challenge or two and drove right at the defence, but with technical ability - not aimlessly like Andros Townsend or something.

He's clearly got *something* and he seems one of the main men in a very talented Portugese team. Really reminds me of somewhere between Sanchez and Pedro personally. He's currently kinda playing all across the front line popping up wherever he wants to.

Hoping he'll get on the ball a bit more in the second half.

Much appreciated.

Ted Hughes wrote:Basically nothing happened apart from when Lopes was on the ball, & he got few passes as they are a bunch of selfish fuckers. I recon our U18s would play Portugal off the park at football. Against a solid defence, they are useless.

They have some players who are capable of scoring great goals, but apart from Lopes, the real quality is in their defence imo. Lots of greedy fancy dans in attack who just run head first into the opposition, very similar to the young English teams; all trying to do it themselves.

Lopes was playing real football & is on another level entirely. It makes you realise also, how good Iheanacho is when you see the lack of awareness of these lot & compare it to the little exchanges he was playing with Jovetic. Lopes had nobody to play with for anything like that. Rodriguez is one of the greediest cunts i have ever seen. He could step right into the England team in place of Gerrard.

Lopes is class. Our lad Intima also played for these the other day & it was 25 minutes before he got his first pass. He also played with intelligence but it was wasted.

Most of those players will disappear, but I doubt that will happen to Lopes; he is too good for that team.

Chortle.

Ted Hughes wrote:

twosips wrote:Can't really disagree with any of that. Got more and more frustrated watching that game as it became evidently clear that the Portugese had no fucking clue what to do, and the only one player actually doing fuck all when he got the ball (lopes - even the commentators alluded to that) was having to work his arse to get a touch. Lopes shoulda been fed so many more times. Great to see though how good he actually is. Love his acceleration and his purpose. He's one of those forward players who can basically do everything - he's fast, two-footed, can play a pass, strong, can finish and can skip past challenges for fun and has great technical ability.

If he's not at least the level of someone like Navas i'll eat my virtual hat. I know Navas is no Aguero, but fuck me he's a good player, a champions league player, and well worth around £20m these days, and if we can produce players of that quality instead of splashing out every year then we'll save ourselves a fortune and build a formidable squad. Lopes should become a valuable member of our first team squad in my opinion if things go well. He's got 'it'...

Yeah I think that about captures it.

We don't know exactly how good he will become, but it will be very surprising if he's not at least 'good enough' for the first team in the near future. Then it's a matter of whether he ends up a Navas level player or an Aguero level player.

Is someone in a specific position going to have to move aside for him or does he look like he can fit in anywhere?

Peter Doherty (AGAIG) wrote:

Ted Hughes wrote:

twosips wrote:Can't really disagree with any of that. Got more and more frustrated watching that game as it became evidently clear that the Portugese had no fucking clue what to do, and the only one player actually doing fuck all when he got the ball (lopes - even the commentators alluded to that) was having to work his arse to get a touch. Lopes shoulda been fed so many more times. Great to see though how good he actually is. Love his acceleration and his purpose. He's one of those forward players who can basically do everything - he's fast, two-footed, can play a pass, strong, can finish and can skip past challenges for fun and has great technical ability.

If he's not at least the level of someone like Navas i'll eat my virtual hat. I know Navas is no Aguero, but fuck me he's a good player, a champions league player, and well worth around £20m these days, and if we can produce players of that quality instead of splashing out every year then we'll save ourselves a fortune and build a formidable squad. Lopes should become a valuable member of our first team squad in my opinion if things go well. He's got 'it'...

Yeah I think that about captures it.

We don't know exactly how good he will become, but it will be very surprising if he's not at least 'good enough' for the first team in the near future. Then it's a matter of whether he ends up a Navas level player or an Aguero level player.

Is someone in a specific position going to have to move aside for him or does he look like he can fit in anywhere?

In the Portugal team, he is playing more of an attacking mid or No10 role (without receiving even 10% of the passes such a player would normally get) but often in the EDS etc, he's out wide or more of a striker. He isn't a player we see dropping into defensive centre mid for example, so it will be an attacker or Nasri/Silva who makes way. I don't know which role he prefers, but I doubt we would see him given a key creative role in the 1st team, so I imagine it's a wide job, or up front next to the cf.

He is much more likely to score a goal than Silva or Nasri for example (even now at first team level I would say) but not as 'cute' with the passing. I'm not sure he will become that kind of really clever ball threading player, but he's already more likely to beat two players & smash a shot into the top corner, than either.

But we don't know where he will play in France; he may come back from there deadly in a particular position & force himself into the plans.


If I had to guess what he will end up as, I would say a less physically strong but faster version of Tevez who can also play on the wing.

Thanks, Ted.

This has been a terrific thread and I've really enjoyed reading all the comments. Thanks to everyone who has posted.

It does seem to suggest that, in these depressing FFP times, we can be a little optimistic with regard to the quality of the youngsters who could be coming through our system, in the not too far distant future.

This has been a terrific thread and I've really enjoyed reading all the comments. Thanks to everyone who has posted.

It does seem to suggest that, in these depressing FFP times, we can be a little optimistic with regard to the quality of the youngsters who could be coming through our system, in the not too far distant future.

I would also like to thank those of you who watched and contributed. Thanks.

MC, I think that if push came to shove and we were sanctioned with both this and that, with the players coming up the system we could probably hibernate for a while a la Arsenal until we could start purchasing expensively again.

Cocacolajojo wrote:

This has been a terrific thread and I've really enjoyed reading all the comments. Thanks to everyone who has posted.

It does seem to suggest that, in these depressing FFP times, we can be a little optimistic with regard to the quality of the youngsters who could be coming through our system, in the not too far distant future.

I would also like to thank those of you who watched and contributed. Thanks.

MC, I think that if push came to shove and we were sanctioned with both this and that, with the players coming up the system we could probably hibernate for a while a la Arsenal until we could start purchasing expensively again.

I may be looking through blue tinted spectacles, but I feel we are in a much stronger position than Arsenal were, if we did find ourselves in that situation.

I'll try to expand on my reasoning behind that when I get a minute later.

I may be looking through blue tinted spectacles, but I feel we are in a much stronger position than Arsenal were, if we did find ourselves in that situation.

I'll try to expand on my reasoning behind that when I get a minute later.

Looking forward to reading it!

I really like Devante Cole. He's just very effective and I'm with Ted on this. I'd like to see him given a chance... you can laugh at this, but I'd like him to be our Welbeck. For all his faults he's undoubtedly been useful for United and he's one of their own so there's an affinity towards him with the fans and I'd like that for Devante. Plus he is a good player too..