P!ssed Off Lawal. I lost count of the number of awful things he did. The Arsenal fans near me were laughing at him. 2/10
Sheppard. Did nothing for the most of the game, seemed to wake up for the last 10 minutes. 4/10
Thanks for the information PO (and JordCot). The snippets I saw looked quite promising, it's a shame the rest of the match didn't live up to them.
Lawal at left back is a bit perplexing.
We've never really produced a left back through the academy, I can only really think of Griffin who has really staked a claim to a senior contract and even then... the likes of Julian Kelly, Goddard, Obita and Owusu were all converted from other positions, and people like McClennan and Isaacs couldn't displace makeshift fullbacks. This year there is no left back again, and also no left winger (Davis has done quite well there in recent weeks).
Since he returned from injury, Sheppard has mostly been playing left back, but whilst he was out, Lawal was at full back a lot. I think they're trying for another Owusu, turning an unordinary winger into a threatening full back, as well as partially doing it out of necessity. I'm not surprised he got rinsed defensively, Owusu would have been exposed a lot more without Kuhl in front of him too. Not sure why they moved Sheppard forward, I can only think that they must have wanted him to get in more advanced positions. I agree with JordCot that he probably has the ability to play behind the striker. The only previous academy player I feel comfortable comparing him to is Tanner. But at least he knows how to play full back, which it doesn't seem Lawal does. Stick Lawal on the wing and let him create some space for the more creative players to do something.
Ian Royal What were the ages like? Was the team younger than last years lot were at the time?
PO correctly identifies that there's little difference between the sides in terms of raw age, but there's quite a lot in terms of experience.
Two years ago, our strongest U18 side was something like this: Lincoln; Long, Sweeney, Cooper, Griffin; Kuhl, Tshibola; Stacey, Tanner, Fosu; Ikpeazu (stick Keown in for Long or Sweeney if you wish)
A year before that, Lincoln, Keown, Cooper, Griffin, Tshibola and Tanner were all in the strongest side (and criminal Partridge aside, the others are still at the club, which would have been unthinkable a few years before that).
By the end of the season, Kelly and Hyam were playing regularly, and Kuhl and Fosu were getting minutes for the U21s. Heck, most of the side had some experience in the U18s the previous year too (friendlies were often organised with other U18 sides for a mix of the U16s and U18s to play in). Cardwell was pulling up trees at Hull and Sammi in Iceland. Last year's spine was relatively experienced.
Last season, only three members of this side were getting regular minutes and one of them was the goalkeeper. The exceptionally strong U18s side meant Husin hasn't played as much as Kelly had a year ago.
I don't like how verbose I'm being... tl;dr, this side is inexperienced, particularly without Ethelston or Waritay fit, and they also haven't been playing together as long
