EDS v Liverpool on Saturday

[twosips]

Just seen that. I'll have to get home for the actual game at 3 o'clock but i might watch the first half.

"U18 v Boro:Tickets issued first come first serve basis & can be collected from the West Gate pedestrian access, located off Alan Turing Way."

Where's that? Is that basically next to the minihad or the etihad?

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Just seen that. I'll have to get home for the actual game at 3 o'clock but i might watch the first half.

"U18 v Boro:Tickets issued first come first serve basis & can be collected from the West Gate pedestrian access, located off Alan Turing Way."

Where's that? Is that basically next to the minihad or the etihad?

Fairly certain it's the Minihad close to the entry to the CFA stadium. Might see you there. Are you doing the 21's Liverpool game?

[twosips]

I am indeed.

Gonna be a regular thing now i think for me - due to constantly and forever being skint i think it's likely i'll attend pretty much every academy game and just watch the first team games at home and occasionally treat myself to both if i can. Getting to Hyde wasn't really possible for me so the CFA has actually made life easier as i spend 90% of my time in the City centre so i can finally go to these games, which i've wanted to do for ages.

It's looking likely i'll be heading to the Schalke game before the Barca match on my own so if i don't catch you tomorrow it'd be nice to say hello at that game sir!

[Douglas Higginbottom]

I am indeed.

Gonna be a regular thing now i think for me - due to constantly and forever being skint i think it's likely i'll attend pretty much every academy game and just watch the first team games at home and occasionally treat myself to both if i can. Getting to Hyde wasn't really possible for me so the CFA has actually made life easier as i spend 90% of my time in the City centre so i can finally go to these games, which i've wanted to do for ages.

It's looking likely i'll be heading to the Schalke game before the Barca match on my own so if i don't catch you tomorrow it'd be nice to say hello at that game sir!

I'll be in about 6 layers of clothing under a grey City hoody :) Planning to get a ticket for the under 18's game str8 after the 21's.

[Duckman]

Any rivers available?

[Douglas Higginbottom]

So the first match v Liverpool U 21's didn't go so well did it. It looked a physically strong Pool side and for a while we just didn't get going and went one down.That seemed inevitable to me as any time they went down our right side we seemed wide open.I just can't get my head around why Bossaerts gets a game and this time Maffeo was on the bench!!

Then half way thru the half we took Boss off and put Maffeo on and for me the game changed.We were no longer a soft touch for Pool to attack and we started to get more of the ball and play a little but without seeming to be too threatening.Some decent bits and pieces but I just felt we had a few players not playing well and lacked a little something.

Celina wide right isn't his best position, Boadu as a center forward doesn't work for me against strong defenders and a team,once they were 1 up, who just sat back and pressed every player hard once we got forward. Barker was our best threat but they sorted him with 2 or 3 most of the time.Add to that Ntcham had a pretty poor day as did Bryan in his center back role.

The 2nd half was very much City in control but with no certainty we would score. Vierr amazed me by taking Boadu off for Pozo when it seemed to cry out for Ntcham to go off. Byrne and Glendon got pleanty of the ball in the middle but didn't have the key but Byrne was getting forward a lot and his equaliser came from Ntcham spreading it to Celina who found Byrne.

Could we win? We certainly were the team most likely but the ref saw to it we would lose giving a pen. I couldnt tell for sure but it looked doubtful and the City players were incensed. But the bottom line is we were not good enough today.

So onto the 18's game and the nonsense about being able to watch this or not was just farcical. After being told there would be limited "tickets " available we were then told we could get them from 9.30 by Supporter Services. Long story short nobody at the CFA had a clue what we were on about and most didn't even know there was an 18's game. Even 20 minutes in the main reception got me nowhere although I did get to shake Kiddo's hand and say hello.

But get in we did in the end.Middlesboro are top of the 18's league and you could see why.Bigger and stronger and one guys beard looked like it must have taken a couple of years to grow. Lost that one 2 nil or at least when I left for the Etihad they just scored their 2nd and we didn't look like scoring.Only 1 of this team I believe were genuine under 18's but 7 of the under 21's could have played under 18's.That's the way we roll.

So onto the Etihad for about 3.10 and basically a clueless insipid performance by the first team.Enough about that.

The only potentially good news was that I finally found a guy who seemed to know something about the whole nonsense about behind closed doors games etc etc. He didn't quite say these words but they simply have not got their act together about how to police more than one thing at once at the academy.They were worried if they gave tickets out in advance that they would end up with bodies wandering all over the place and they have to restrict the numbers accordingly.

Why they didn't explain and say there were a limited number of spectators allowed and do it on a first come first served basis maybe by phone or whatever I don't know but he assured me they would have it right for the next time. Maybe they will but somehow I won't bank on it.

[twosips]

In general your thoughts were very similar to mine, Doug. Typed a load on bluemoan so can't be arsed typing it all again here as you summed up how i feel about most of our players very well.

One thing that did strike me though is that sometimes this playing people out of position to further their development thing will sometimes lead to some serious confusion and embarrassment. Bryan for example looked lost at CB imo and Boadu clearly isn't a striker. He tries but definitely hasn't got that instinct. I get why theyre doing it but i do think as a 'team' we'll continue to see some indifferent performances every now and then.

In general i thought Maffeo was brilliant when he came on and Angelino just liked like sheer potential class as he always does. Barker was quiet i thought. The team definitely misses a focal point. Is it just me or are we not really blessed with natural striking talent coming through? I'm not counting Ambrose as he's stationed out wide these days, and Pozo (who i think will get his form back) isn't a striker either really. We've got a lot of 'attackers' but not necessarily proper finishers.

Oh and i was sat right near half way near the posh people seats and Txiki, Soriano, Marwood, Kidd, Summerbee were all sat right behind me nattering away the whole game. Soriano has a proper presence about him. Saw Wilcox doing his research too, and Kries/Reyna from the NYCFC set up scribbling away as well.

[Moonchesteri]

In general your thoughts were very similar to mine, Doug. Typed a load on bluemoan so can't be arsed typing it all again here as you summed up how i feel about most of our players very well.

One thing that did strike me though is that sometimes this playing people out of position to further their development thing will sometimes lead to some serious confusion and embarrassment. Bryan for example looked lost at CB imo and Boadu clearly isn't a striker. He tries but definitely hasn't got that instinct. I get why theyre doing it but i do think as a 'team' we'll continue to see some indifferent performances every now and then.

In general i thought Maffeo was brilliant when he came on and Angelino just liked like sheer potential class as he always does. Barker was quiet i thought. The team definitely misses a focal point. Is it just me or are we not really blessed with natural striking talent coming through? I'm not counting Ambrose as he's stationed out wide these days, and Pozo (who i think will get his form back) isn't a striker either really. We've got a lot of 'attackers' but not necessarily proper finishers.

Oh and i was sat right near half way near the posh people seats and Txiki, Soriano, Marwood, Kidd, Summerbee were all sat right behind me nattering away the whole game. Soriano has a proper presence about him. Saw Wilcox doing his research too, and Kries/Reyna from the NYCFC set up scribbling away as well.

Have you heard about this cool function called copy-paste?

Thanks for your reports btw. Always nice to read them as the match reports on OS are pretty useless imo

[twosips]

Ha I meant i simply don't want to just literally repeat posts on different forums, especially considering Doug said more or less the same as me anyway :)

One thing i have noticed, and i've only been to three youth team games in the flesh now, but i've found that the opinions of others who watch the academy games always seem to tally together whereas opinions on the first team just tend to vary wildly. Wonder why that is?

Maybe people are just a little more forgiving/attentive and less emotionally erratic or something. It's nice though either way.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Ha I meant i simply don't want to just literally repeat posts on different forums, especially considering Doug said more or less the same as me anyway :)

One thing i have noticed, and i've only been to three youth team games in the flesh now, but i've found that the opinions of others who watch the academy games always seem to tally together whereas opinions on the first team just tend to vary wildly. Wonder why that is?

Maybe people are just a little more forgiving/attentive and less emotionally erratic or something. It's nice though either way.

Nah it's because the intelligent ones go to the youth games !

On the striker thing it does feel that's a position we don't seem to have a clear striker/leader of the line type of player. The exception I hope is Ambrose who currently gets played wide right but I feel might end up centrally. He does seem to have all the attributes and most importantly does score goals.

The ones lower down the ages seem to be Isaac Ricketts Buckley (if I have that right) but he is basically a small lad with pace and again I am not sure if he is a striker and Faour who just isn't a striker at all for me.Quite skilful maybe but I feel better suited to the 10 role or even a regular midfield role.

In the 2nd half I sat just in front of a family who seem like regulars based on their knowledge of all the players but my word the mother didn't like Ntcham! Granted today he had a poor game but he was so useless and always is as far as she was concerned. I used up plenty of my patience ensuring I didn't say anything.

[Ted Hughes]

I thought Ntcham had a good game.

Liverpool were very well organised, hard working & cynical, but played out of their skins overall.

City were below par for some reason but lost mainly due to right back/defence problems & no proper cf. Bosaerts being shit & Drury not quite in step with the team at right back. Boadu playing well but not a natural cf. When Maffeo came on at rb, we ripped them to bits at times but didn't finish. City had the players, Liverpool had the back 4.

I wasn't impressed at all with Angelino at fullback personally. I thought his defending was crap on the day, but some of the other stuff he did was brilliant. He has such a good, & powerful left foot, & such a good tirst touch, I'm not sure him playing left back all the time is getting the best out of him. He can pass & hit a ball like Beckham, & imo should be doing it a lot & should be practicing free kicks loads, every day. He has the power to be lethal in that & his crosses/diagonals could be deadly for someone like Bony if worked on. He would be not far away from first team level as a midfielder, soon imo, if we worked on it.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

I am surprised you thought Ntcham had a good game Ted as I thought he was quite a bit below his standards this season. Maybe I was being a little influenced by the classic non stop Ntcham hater behind me who seemed to blame him if he was withing 50 yards of anything that went wrong.

Re Angelino I often feel that he can be really good and bad almost at the same time.He is an all action type of player and clearly loves the attacking part of the game. He looks exciting doing it as it's always at pace and he does have a great left foot and the one thing guaranteed is maximum effort. He is clearly still learning and I feel his final ball does need to be better in the attacking third and defensively he needs to beware of diving in too often but overall he is a talent that should be given a chance with the first team sooner rather than later.

A midfield player? I am not sure about that based on the times I have seen him play in the wide left "midfield " role but you never know and I am sure Patrick will play him there again in the future to see how he has developed and whether indeed it will become his best position.

Maffeo though is a full back and a very good one.

[Ted Hughes]

I am surprised you thought Ntcham had a good game Ted as I thought he was quite a bit below his standards this season. Maybe I was being a little influenced by the classic non stop Ntcham hater behind me who seemed to blame him if he was withing 50 yards of anything that went wrong.

Re Angelino I often feel that he can be really good and bad almost at the same time.He is an all action type of player and clearly loves the attacking part of the game. He looks exciting doing it as it's always at pace and he does have a great left foot and the one thing guaranteed is maximum effort. He is clearly still learning and I feel his final ball does need to be better in the attacking third and defensively he needs to beware of diving in too often but overall he is a talent that should be given a chance with the first team sooner rather than later.

A midfield player? I am not sure about that based on the times I have seen him play in the wide left "midfield " role but you never know and I am sure Patrick will play him there again in the future to see how he has developed and whether indeed it will become his best position.

Maffeo though is a full back and a very good one.

I thought Ntcham had a very difficult job due to the way the teams were set up & without him, City would really have struggled to get forward. Maffeo looks a really promising player, allround. Had he been able to stay at fullback, I think we would have won. Him moving to fill in for Bryan, killed us.

I am not writing off Angelino as a fullback, (although he seemed to be trying to win the ball by going for Liverpool player's ankles with his face on Saturday) but I can just imagine him being a real pain closing down in midfield, & his left foot should be a weapon not just at crossing, but passing & shooting. I don't think we see enough of it.

I thought Lahm was one of the best midfield players on the pitch when Pep played him there, & I could see Angelino doing that kind of job, in a Barca style team with a quick energetic midfield, as opposed to purely a fullback or winger type job.

We have to evolve once Yaya goes, & having several players like that , who are full of energy without the ball, but also footballers, could be the way to go.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

I am surprised you thought Ntcham had a good game Ted as I thought he was quite a bit below his standards this season. Maybe I was being a little influenced by the classic non stop Ntcham hater behind me who seemed to blame him if he was withing 50 yards of anything that went wrong.

Re Angelino I often feel that he can be really good and bad almost at the same time.He is an all action type of player and clearly loves the attacking part of the game. He looks exciting doing it as it's always at pace and he does have a great left foot and the one thing guaranteed is maximum effort. He is clearly still learning and I feel his final ball does need to be better in the attacking third and defensively he needs to beware of diving in too often but overall he is a talent that should be given a chance with the first team sooner rather than later.

A midfield player? I am not sure about that based on the times I have seen him play in the wide left "midfield " role but you never know and I am sure Patrick will play him there again in the future to see how he has developed and whether indeed it will become his best position.

Maffeo though is a full back and a very good one.

I thought Ntcham had a very difficult job due to the way the teams were set up & without him, City would really have struggled to get forward. Maffeo looks a really promising player, allround. Had he been able to stay at fullback, I think we would have won. Him moving to fill in for Bryan, killed us.

I am not writing off Angelino as a fullback, (although he seemed to be trying to win the ball by going for Liverpool player's ankles with his face on Saturday) but I can just imagine him being a real pain closing down in midfield, & his left foot should be a weapon not just at crossing, but passing & shooting. I don't think we see enough of it.

I thought Lahm was one of the best midfield players on the pitch when Pep played him there, & I could see Angelino doing that kind of job, in a Barca style team with a quick energetic midfield, as opposed to purely a fullback or winger type job.

We have to evolve once Yaya goes, & having several players like that , who are full of energy without the ball, but also footballers, could be the way to go.

Amen to having players who are full of energy. Not sure about the comparison with Lahm though as I don't think Angelino has anything like enough composure for that type of role.As a wide player maybe but even there I fear he would be a little like Kolarov.Yes a great left foot and attacking well in all aspects but not the quality and touch needed.

But hell he is only 17 isn't he so let him keep developing in both roles to see which he is best suited to.

Isn't it weird to think how massively Maffeo affected the game. First we were in all sorts of trouble with Bossaerts at full back and he came on to totally change that and help us take over the game.Then when he switched to center back we seemed to lose something again down the right side.He is such an intelligent player but it's still unusual for a full back to change a game like that.And again only 17 isn't he?

[Wonderwall]

I enjoyed the game on Saturday, it was definitely a game of two halves. First half Liverpool were by far the better team and their striker Jerome Sinclair looked very good and was a handful the whole game. 2nd half was all city and it was a travesty to have lost the game.

I am not sure what happened with Bossaerts, he was so bad, it will knock his confidence being taken off in the first half. He wasnt happy about it either, he took his shirt off and was gesturing as he walked down the tunnel, he must have been told to get his arse back out to the dugout as he re-appeared a minute later and sat with the lads on the bench. Vieira is a strange one, he set us up that way and realised it wasnt working, but instead of changing the shape he changed personnel. Not sure if its a pat on the back he should get or a bollocking for getting it so wrong to begin with.

I spent the first half sat about the half way line and the 2nd half behind the goal, it was good to see the 1894 group there to give the lads some vocal backing. Vigouroux's (Liverpool goalkeeper and David James lookalike) distribution was excellent throughout the game, however, the one moment he slipped when taking a goal kick was greeted with cheers and then the chant, "Same old scouser, always slipping" which was pretty funny.

I thought Bryan was having a decent game and didnt understand the sub to take him off and put drury on at RB and move Maffeo into CB. Also Angelino did a few good things, was full of energy and loves to ping the ball 50-60 yds across field. Byrne has a look of Jack Wilshire about him (poor lad) and I thought he was actually offside for his goal which he took very well.

Overall it was a disappointing result but it was nice to see our shiny new reserve stadium. Very weird that it has windows and you can see in to the pitch from the outside! Quite a few hull fans came over to see the set up too, just to see how the other half live :-)

[Ted Hughes]

I am surprised you thought Ntcham had a good game Ted as I thought he was quite a bit below his standards this season. Maybe I was being a little influenced by the classic non stop Ntcham hater behind me who seemed to blame him if he was withing 50 yards of anything that went wrong.

Re Angelino I often feel that he can be really good and bad almost at the same time.He is an all action type of player and clearly loves the attacking part of the game. He looks exciting doing it as it's always at pace and he does have a great left foot and the one thing guaranteed is maximum effort. He is clearly still learning and I feel his final ball does need to be better in the attacking third and defensively he needs to beware of diving in too often but overall he is a talent that should be given a chance with the first team sooner rather than later.

A midfield player? I am not sure about that based on the times I have seen him play in the wide left "midfield " role but you never know and I am sure Patrick will play him there again in the future to see how he has developed and whether indeed it will become his best position.

Maffeo though is a full back and a very good one.

I thought Ntcham had a very difficult job due to the way the teams were set up & without him, City would really have struggled to get forward. Maffeo looks a really promising player, allround. Had he been able to stay at fullback, I think we would have won. Him moving to fill in for Bryan, killed us.

I am not writing off Angelino as a fullback, (although he seemed to be trying to win the ball by going for Liverpool player's ankles with his face on Saturday) but I can just imagine him being a real pain closing down in midfield, & his left foot should be a weapon not just at crossing, but passing & shooting. I don't think we see enough of it.

I thought Lahm was one of the best midfield players on the pitch when Pep played him there, & I could see Angelino doing that kind of job, in a Barca style team with a quick energetic midfield, as opposed to purely a fullback or winger type job.

We have to evolve once Yaya goes, & having several players like that , who are full of energy without the ball, but also footballers, could be the way to go.

Amen to having players who are full of energy. Not sure about the comparison with Lahm though as I don't think Angelino has anything like enough composure for that type of role.As a wide player maybe but even there I fear he would be a little like Kolarov.Yes a great left foot and attacking well in all aspects but not the quality and touch needed.

But hell he is only 17 isn't he so let him keep developing in both roles to see which he is best suited to.

Isn't it weird to think how massively Maffeo affected the game. First we were in all sorts of trouble with Bossaerts at full back and he came on to totally change that and help us take over the game.Then when he switched to center back we seemed to lose something again down the right side.He is such an intelligent player but it's still unusual for a full back to change a game like that.And again only 17 isn't he?

I don't mean Angelino showing the same composure as Lahm (I doubt Lahm could have done that at the same age) I just mean being in the same kind of inside position, closing down quickly, winning the ball & distributing it, but with an attacking threat (& possible scoring threat). Once Yaya goes, I don't thibnk we can replace him with similar, so I think we will need to up the overall enrgy of the team to compensate. Having several players who play high tempo, winning the ball back, but who can also create, may be the only way to actually do it. I could see Angelino in that & also Denayer, Kean Bryan etc. (obviously not all together). I could see Angelino coming on somewhere in a 5 man midfield, robbing the ball off people, passing it around, firing off shots & generally enjoying himself. Coming on as a fullback, would be a big responsibility & he would be under a lot more pressure.

Maffeo seems to be a proper defender, but when he does actually come forward, he is imo quietly just as good as Angelino in the attacking area (although I think Angelino is potentially another level going forward).

Maffeo is 18 in July. Angelino has just turned 18 (correction not 19!) in Jan. Both seem to be really committed litlle fuckers as well as talented.

[twosips]

Denayer looks like he could be a brilliant midfielder. If he's not in our squad next season we've fucked up.

[Ted Hughes]

Denayer looks like he could be a brilliant midfielder. If he's not in our squad next season we've fucked up.

He may yet make it straight in as a cb.

If he'd been playing on Saturday, that goal wouldn't have been scored, for a start.

[blues2win]

It looks like a choice between Boyata and Denayer next season because MDM is getting year I believe. Denayer ought to get the nod but in that case he's got to be given a chance to play especially in the domestic cups.

[Ted Hughes]

It looks like a choice between Boyata and Denayer next season because MDM is getting year I believe. Denayer ought to get the nod but in that case he's got to be given a chance to play especially in the domestic cups.

Yeah, we have to make that decision with his future in mind. If he plays the season at City, he has to play a decent number of games.

I would have thought right back would be a piece of piss for him though tbh, & def mid, so he could get games in more than one position.

But he must play if we bring him back. Otherwise loan him out again.