The Academy/Development squads watch thread 2024/25

[Mike Hunt]

I'd like to see Cooper playing against 'adults', much like Ugwe there looks like a lot of potential but hard to judge how much of it is due to superior physical attributes compared to players of their own age. How would Cooper fair against a 6'4'' 30 year old centre forward, how would Ugwe cope with a centre back who could handle him physically ?

Only one way to find out !

He still loses concentration in the games I've seen, not yet ready to play against adults. He is definitely going in the right direction though,

Well Jem and Alex were in and out of the first team at 19, and cooper is 18... Maybe a loan to a League 2 side? Only going to get better with experience...

[maffff]

I do wonder when we are bringing players in - Edwards, Urbancic, Dvali, Vashchuk, Gogic, Cardwell, Collins, Sweeney, Friðjónsson, Lawal, Jules etc at 16+ whether the view is to complement the youth teams or at these ages they are brought in as they are considered to have potential to have an impact on the first team in the near future... at that sort of ages real talented youth players are already starting to have league careers and embed. How many of these will we go on to release?

Not saying that the domestic and local talent is any further behind, but surely you'd only want to be bringing in those which will advance the team from their current position. We have some great emerging talents as it is that could make an impact on the first team at some point in the future if they keep developing, all the keepers are highly rated [Henly, Lincoln, Moore, Ward, Southwood], - Tshibola, Cooper, Arnold, Partridge, Griffin, Hector, Keown, Obita, Tanner, Fosu, Murombedzi, Uwgu, Taylor-Crossdale and Samuel, to name but a few. Some of the younger guys, Lawal and Husein, have made appearances above their age category, etc.

[winchester_royal]

U18's beat Newcastle 2-1

#buildevolvesuceed

[maffff]

Good start to the season for them again...!

[SCIAG]

Is what they said of Jack Mills

I swear you have to write off every young player we have for little or no reason

Not sure if srs

Yes, I'm being serious.

If a player has a loan spell that doesn't quite work out completely perfectly, you write them off. You have made posts of that ilk about Taylor, D'Ath and Ugwu in the past 6 months. I tend to agree with you that Taylor has probably missed his chance, but writing off D'Ath because you saw a Cheltenham fan write a less than glowing review of his second match is ludicrous.
You wrote off Obita this summer because he didn't get mentioned on the official site for a few weeks (your exact words were maybe they [Obita and Taylor] are not the golden boys they used to be?"
And now you compare Jake Cooper to Jack Mills?

[maffff]

Yes, I'm being serious.

If a player has a loan spell that doesn't quite work out completely perfectly, you write them off. You have made posts of that ilk about Taylor, D'Ath and Ugwu in the past 6 months. I tend to agree with you that Taylor has probably missed his chance, but writing off D'Ath because you saw a Cheltenham fan write a less than glowing review of his second match is ludicrous.
You wrote off Obita this summer because he didn't get mentioned on the official site for a few weeks (your exact words were maybe they [Obita and Taylor] are not the golden boys they used to be?"
And now you compare Jake Cooper to Jack Mills?

Ugwu - show me somewhere I'm being serious. I'll give you Samuel and Ikpeazu.
Taylor probably has missed his chance. D'Ath I think too, they're a bit old to have not made any inroads to the first team. D'Ath has blown hot and cold at several places, but more cold than hot. I'd love to be proven wrong with either, they actually have an affinity to the club and we have better prospects, e.g. Tanner who are closer in terms of ability than their age.

Obita was lauded when he signed a contract before, rejecting Redknapp on his doorstep. So why wouldn't the club want to announce he's signed a new contract, especially when he could be regarded a first team player? His development appears to have stalled a little and he is no longer the name the club raves on about, we could and probably should have been expecting him to be on the bench today, in the last three seasons he's stayed at the same point of the periphery of the first team. Although when he does play he looks like he could be one of our best wingers, and he seems to always do well on loan. Something doesn't quite add up, maybe the club are playing down his profile a little to take pressure away to integrate him. I don't know. You tell me.

Cooper - tongue in cheek, just saying being an England youth means nothing. He's a serious talent, if he can stop switching off he'll have a massive future ahead of him.

I think the crop of last years u18s have better potential than most of the u21s. Not writing every player off, just think in 5/6 years more of that batch will be in/around our first team. Realistically any of the keepers could make it, Tshibola, Tanner, Ugwu, Cooper, Fosu-Henry, Kuhl seem to be emerging the fastest but, Griffin, Keown, Arnold, Edwards, Kelly, Sweeney, Partridge, Murombedzi, etc etc etc have shown the ability to have a crack at it and I'm probably doing a load of others a disservice there.

There's nothing more I want to see than a serious team of homegrown talents, so lighten the oxf*rd up yeah?

[AkpansBFF]

Yes, I'm being serious.

If a player has a loan spell that doesn't quite work out completely perfectly, you write them off. You have made posts of that ilk about Taylor, D'Ath and Ugwu in the past 6 months. I tend to agree with you that Taylor has probably missed his chance, but writing off D'Ath because you saw a Cheltenham fan write a less than glowing review of his second match is ludicrous.
You wrote off Obita this summer because he didn't get mentioned on the official site for a few weeks (your exact words were maybe they [Obita and Taylor] are not the golden boys they used to be?"
And now you compare Jake Cooper to Jack Mills?

Ugwu - show me somewhere I'm being serious. I'll give you Samuel and Ikpeazu.
Taylor probably has missed his chance. D'Ath I think too, they're a bit old to have not made any inroads to the first team. D'Ath has blown hot and cold at several places, but more cold than hot. I'd love to be proven wrong with either, they actually have an affinity to the club and we have better prospects, e.g. Tanner who are closer in terms of ability than their age.

Agree with most but dont write taylor off yet, I know he hasnt got himself in the first team much but theres still a few years for him to come good!
Obita was lauded when he signed a contract before, rejecting Redknapp on his doorstep. So why wouldn't the club want to announce he's signed a new contract, especially when he could be regarded a first team player? His development appears to have stalled a little and he is no longer the name the club raves on about, we could and probably should have been expecting him to be on the bench today, in the last three seasons he's stayed at the same point of the periphery of the first team. Although when he does play he looks like he could be one of our best wingers, and he seems to always do well on loan. Something doesn't quite add up, maybe the club are playing down his profile a little to take pressure away to integrate him. I don't know. You tell me.

Cooper - tongue in cheek, just saying being an England youth means nothing. He's a serious talent, if he can stop switching off he'll have a massive future ahead of him.

I think the crop of last years u18s have better potential than most of the u21s. Not writing every player off, just think in 5/6 years more of that batch will be in/around our first team. Realistically any of the keepers could make it, Tshibola, Tanner, Ugwu, Cooper, Fosu-Henry, Kuhl seem to be emerging the fastest but, Griffin, Keown, Arnold, Edwards, Kelly, Sweeney, Partridge, Murombedzi, etc etc etc have shown the ability to have a crack at it and I'm probably doing a load of others a disservice there.

There's nothing more I want to see than a serious team of homegrown talents, so lighten the oxf*rd up yeah?

[sandman]

U21's lose to Fulham who seem to have the Indian sign over our developmental teams.

[maffff]

U21's lose to Fulham who seem to have the Indian sign over our developmental teams.

Every time.....

Best English u21 team by a mile

[Jay o/]

I think we may see Jake Taylor on the bench at Derby, that's unless we get our arses in gear and get a midfielder in on loan.

[ZacNaloen]

I'd like to see tish get involved, he's a quality footballer and the best midfielder in that u21s squad, but he does lack experience which may go against him.


D'ath in terms of style is the most like for like replacement.

Jake Taylor does his best work in the wrong part of the pitch.

[winchester_royal]

'Greed, and based on the Oman game I think Nige puts Tish ahead of Jake. If Guthrie can't play on Saturday I think he'll make the bench.

[winchester_royal]

A good weekend for the younger lads away at Man City. U18's won 4-2, Kelly (2), Stacey, and Kuhl the scorers. U17's won 5-1, with the two new boys Cardwell (3) and Collins (2) sharing the goals.

[Mike Hunt]

A good weekend for the younger lads away at Man City. U18's won 4-2, Kelly (2), Stacey, and Kuhl the scorers. U17's won 5-1, with the two new boys Cardwell (3) and Collins (2) sharing the goals.

Kelly's free kick is a peach!
http://instagram.com/p/ekRe_VRkoz/

[Samrfc01]

My friend works as a community coach at the dome and also watches alot of the younger age groups.

He said that the academy (U16 downwards, i think) are currently competing in a youth tournament with other English teams and that our academy is the only one to be in the final of all 3 age groups (u16, u14 and u12's). He said that he reckons our academy is one of the best in the country. He doesn't support the club so he has no reason to bias either (he's a Chelsea fan and actually said our youth teams are better than theirs).

Looks like the next 5-10 years could be exciting with a lot of talent coming through.

[One8Seven1]

Well Obita told Dellor he now hopes to have given Adkins a headache, and he wants to feature in the first team more now. He likes to play in the centre and see a lot more of the ball, and can obviously play out wide and exploit his pace. I think we've got a decent young player here, and we'll see more of him this season.

[SCIAG]

(he's a Chelsea fan and actually said our youth teams are better than theirs).

Chelsea promote their youth players quicker than we do though. We only promote our exceptional players, and then generally only by a couple of years, but Chelsea's top scorer in the U21s has just turned 16. So whilst our youth teams seem to outperform Chelsea's, it isn't a fair comparison because our teams are years older.

Chelsea also have the edge when it comes to recruitment. I would hazard a guess that 75% of the best young players in the Reading area sign for Chelsea.

[ZacNaloen]

It seems most youth teams promote exceptional players more readily than we do, does it make those individuals better players in the long run?

[SCIAG]

It seems most youth teams promote exceptional players more readily than we do, does it make those individuals better players in the long run?

It's pretty much impossible to tell. Chelsea have produced more (and better) Football League quality players than us in recent years, but is that because they promote young players early, or because they have better coaching, or are better at getting and keeping the best players, or...?

I doubt any team would ever agree to a fair trial to test whether it actually works, or even makes things worse.

[Ian Royal]

Hard to fault our way of doing things as well, seeing as we've had four of our first eleven as academy graduates more than once this season.