City V St Pats

[Dubciteh]

So similar to what Dub City wrote, Pats shaded the game and deserved it, 3-2 in the end goals conceded were very poor, i have seen very little of the team other than the fa youth cup run and whatever games were televised last year so its mostly based on last night:

Billy O'Brien- Very poor, didnt do a hell of a lot right and did a lot wrong, positioning, kicking and even the saves he did make all were poor,

Sam Tattum- Also very poor, got caught out several times including for the first goal. He should of been caught out more but Pats didnt take advantage of him not marking, i dont think he did anything positive in the game, im prob harsh cos i play right back too but he along with Billy O Brien our worst players.

Charlie Oliver- Like his centre half partner Plummer i dont think he got much protection from midfield, was better in the second half but didnt fill me with much confidence in first half. Defence was a mess in the first half.

Ellis Plummer- Similar to Oliver, not much to add.

Ashley Smith Brown- i spent both halfs of the match on our right hand side so didnt get an up close view of him, what i will say is though there right winger scored twice, he played him onside for the first(admitedly O Brien at fault) and danced by him for the second.

Rodney Kongola- didnt do much, just sat there and gave it off as soon as he got it, got out muscled a few times and on other times won the ball back. Didnt make a good or bad impression on me.

George Glendon- Took his goal well, looked like he had a bit of magic but got over run a couple of times.

Bersant Celina- Looks like a footballer, acts like a footballer but doesnt actually do it as a footballer, I have seen him the most out of the players on view and he just doesnt it for me and i cant put my finger on why. Kind of drifts around not doing an awful lot and missed a couple of good chances, played Intima in the first half after he himself made a mess of a chance and then berated Intima for missing when it was his fault in the first place. Maybe the others can confirm but does he have an attitude problem?

Jorge Intima- Covered some amount of ground, his pace always looked a threat but his end product wasnt. Reminded me of Nathan Dyer from swansea. Does he speak english? Was beside him all second half and it looked like the only words he knew were "pass it"

Aaron Nemane- LIke Smith brown was on the opposite side to me but always looked a threat and most of our best bits came from him, also got a good assist for second goal(i think!), looked a good player but didnt get to see him as closely as Intima

David Faupala-Didnt do a hell of a lot except put the ball in the net from two yards out with no keeper. Anytime i have seen city youths play the central striker always annonymous, might be the system but got his goal so guess hes happy.

None of the subs made an impact with the exception of Paolo Fernandes, prob best player on the pitch for twenty mins he was on. Like a young Manu garcia( a 6 months younger version :D), some great touches, great feet and had a couple of decent shots. Looks quality.

Maffeo came on and despite me raving about him all game did nothing of note, hard for a right back coming on at 3-2 down after coming back from injury. Guess it was a stretch of the legs.

Vieira- From a personal point of view wasnt that impressed with him, didnt make much of an effort with the kids looking for autographs etc, seemed like he was in bad mood, this was an hour before ko and he was sitting in dug out on his own doing nothing. From a football point of view, just sat on the bench saying nothing dont think he stood up once, a few hand expression of frustration to his assistant other than that absolutely nothing, no instruction no encouragement nothing. I know its a friendly and i know he does his work on the training field but id expect a bit more. Dont think he would get away with that at senior level. Is he always like that at youth games?

link to goals last night:

https://www.youtube.com/user/stpatsfctv/videos

[twosips]

Ha! So...you were impressed then right?

Re Maffeo - I think expecting him to do anything of note is not really his game. He's a solid, tough and very technical fullback, but he's not gonna jump out and do something spectacular like Angelino. He's more your 8/10 at least week in week out Zabaleta type. Nemane's a good little player so no surprises that you rated him. Fernandes too is class. More attacking than Garcia and runs at people more.

Shame about Tattum - he's been good in the u18s. Always been full of energy and really reliable. Guess playing in such a makeshift team didnt help.

[Wonderwall]

Ha! So...you were impressed then right?

Re Maffeo - I think expecting him to do anything of note is not really his game. He's a solid, tough and very technical fullback, but he's not gonna jump out and do something spectacular like Angelino. He's more your 8/10 at least week in week out Zabaleta type. Nemane's a good little player so no surprises that you rated him. Fernandes too is class. More attacking than Garcia and runs at people more.

Shame about Tattum - he's been good in the u18s. Always been full of energy and really reliable. Guess playing in such a makeshift team didnt help.

Tattum has just been handed a contract hasn't he? When I have seen Tattum, he has played RB and was even captain and hasnt exactly ripped up any trees. When I see them both, it is very obvious why Maffeo is ahead in the pecking order

[Dubciteh]

Ha! So...you were impressed then right?

Re Maffeo - I think expecting him to do anything of note is not really his game. He's a solid, tough and very technical fullback, but he's not gonna jump out and do something spectacular like Angelino. He's more your 8/10 at least week in week out Zabaleta type. Nemane's a good little player so no surprises that you rated him. Fernandes too is class. More attacking than Garcia and runs at people more.

Shame about Tattum - he's been good in the u18s. Always been full of energy and really reliable. Guess playing in such a makeshift team didnt help.

Ha sorry didnt mean to sound too critical, i understand its makeshift and so on, im not expecting miracles! Yeah i understand about Maffeo.

Maybe Tattum just young, these are kids afterall and as i said only judging on one game.

Is Vieira always so quiet on the sideline?

[DoomMerchant]

Ha! So...you were impressed then right?

Re Maffeo - I think expecting him to do anything of note is not really his game. He's a solid, tough and very technical fullback, but he's not gonna jump out and do something spectacular like Angelino. He's more your 8/10 at least week in week out Zabaleta type. Nemane's a good little player so no surprises that you rated him. Fernandes too is class. More attacking than Garcia and runs at people more.

Shame about Tattum - he's been good in the u18s. Always been full of energy and really reliable. Guess playing in such a makeshift team didnt help.

Ha sorry didnt mean to sound too critical, i understand its makeshift and so on, im not expecting miracles! Yeah i understand about Maffeo.

Maybe Tattum just young, these are kids afterall and as i said only judging on one game.

Is Vieira always so quiet on the sideline?

I've heard through the grapevine that Pretty Boy Lee is a better manager than Paddy, so i'm not shocked by this news.

cheers

[Foreverinbluedreams]

Just back from the Bohs game, 3-1 to City. Celina with a stunning volley to equalise and then Barker and Celina again.

Standouts for me were the two above although Barker didn't really get going until the second half. Celina has lovely feet, making fools of the Bohs players on a few occasions and Barkers direct running is just a joy to behold. Nemane also very good first half but faded in the second.

From the rest the most impressive for me was Smith-Brown, named at left back but spent most of his time in midfield almost directly in front of Bryan at centre back with Maffeo played the same kind of position in front of Humphries, fascinating to see how they shaped up, almost in a square with Horsfield dropping back between them to start moves from deep.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

Oh and have to add, was really impressed with how good Gunn was with the ball at his feet, his passing was spot on every time even under pressure.

[twosips]

Sounds good. Cheers for the report man. Having seen the lineup im not surprised it was a much more assured display than the previous EDS game. That's much more representative of a standard EDS team.

Interesting that Smith-Brown really impressed - he's a very assured player but usually competent and not necessarily a standout. That full-back dropping into midfield thing is pretty normal for Vieira's teams. It's weird innit? I guess they do it as part of their education but it can often leave us a tiny bit unbalanced when it goes awry. Lahm does similar for Bayern too doesn't he?

Celina's got all the ability in the world, just sometimes he drifts in and out of games. When it goes right though, it goes very right. Technically brilliant little player - only question for him is whether we have another Vladi Weiss, or something a lot more promising. Here's hoping he can actually exert his authority on games going forward. And yes - Gunn is a fantastic keeper in basically every aspect. I seriously reckon he'll take Hart's place eventually.

[Dub City]

Would agree with the standout players, Barker second half, looked really direct and positive initially in first half but then seemed to stroll around disinterested for the rest of the half, when the ball was played to his feet he was on it other than that looked lazy, was one cleared towards him and he didnt fancy the aerial challenge at all with their defender.
Celina goal was very well taken for the first and great play by Barker for the second, they really looked on the same wavelength second half.
Was also very impressed with Horsefield in the middle, looks very cool on ball and always available to collect from centre halves.

The full back thing is weird, last game i just thought the right back didnt have a clue where he was supposed to be but it looked much more organised and effective today.

Ambrose looked sharper than last time out and should have had a pen after rounding the keeper and being brought down, ref obviously didnt want to send keeper off so just waved it away.

Humphries looked really good, opposition very different for him today than last time out but if he looks this good at 16 he could be a world star at 26

Was great to see the team have heard so much of playing together although preseason and not in full flow some of the play was a joy to watch

[Mikhail Chigorin]

Just been pondering the full back situation, when they move across and push into midfield to form the 'box' formation with the two centre-backs.

What happens when/if the opposition play the ball long to the flanks and into the space vacated ?? Do the two centre-backs come across to cover, with the full backs filling in down the middle, do the two wingers track back to cover, or are the full backs required to go back wide again and do the covering aspect ??

Or is it any combination of these, depending upon circumstances ??


Whichever way it is played, it's a fascinating concept.