Bournemouth

[thehumblegringo]

Problem is, where do we go from Warnock? Undoubtedly he was the right man at the right time but we're going to need to move on. Having said that, he's actually brought in some half decent footballers in Reid, Murphy etc so maybe the transition won't be so bad.

I don't think it needs to be as disruptive as many are making out.

Once again I have to point to the example of Swansea. Though they probably have stumbled into the situation in many respects, nevertheless they built a very strong Cat 1 u23 squad that played a very different style of football to the first team under Clement, Bobley etc.

Now they have brought in a very competent manager who plays in line with the club's old philosophy and he is a manager who is willing to coach and develop players.

Their 3 scorers Saturday came from last year's u23s.

We need to do something similar but the u23s seem to be instructed by Warnock to play similarly to the first team, which is a departure from what they were doing a couple of years ago.

Perhaps I underestimate what is going on and maybe Bellamy is keeping this crop of 18s together with that in mind.
There are two problems with this though. Firstly, we are a Cat 2 academy so the players are not being tested against the best players in the country and secondly I think you'll find that most of the opposition our 18s are playing against week in week out are not 18 but more like 16 and are being pushed to advance themselves.

If this u18 group were really special they should be playing u23 football now.

[Pedro de la Rosa]

I don't think it needs to be as disruptive as many are making out.

Once again I have to point to the example of Swansea. Though they probably have stumbled into the situation in many respects, nevertheless they built a very strong Cat 1 u23 squad that played a very different style of football to the first team under Clement, Bobley etc.

Now they have brought in a very competent manager who plays in line with the club's old philosophy and he is a manager who is willing to coach and develop players.

Their 3 scorers Saturday came from last year's u23s.

We need to do something similar but the u23s seem to be instructed by Warnock to play similarly to the first team, which is a departure from what they were doing a couple of years ago.

Perhaps I underestimate what is going on and maybe Bellamy is keeping this crop of 18s together with that in mind.
There are two problems with this though. Firstly, we are a Cat 2 academy so the players are not being tested against the best players in the country and secondly I think you'll find that most of the opposition our 18s are playing against week in week out are not 18 but more like 16 and are being pushed to advance themselves.

If this u18 group were really special they should be playing u23 football now.

I thought Warnock didn't think u23 football was worth anything, so he's holding some back in the u18s. I think he's said that anyone likely to break into the first team will likely come from the u18s. Hopefully, with the absolute wedge we're going to get from this season, we can invest into a Cat 1 academy, not lose players like Rabbi Matondo on the cheap, and kick on. Do think that being Welsh gives us a slight disadvantage at times, becuase our younger players are much more likely to play international football at youth level and therefore are trust into the spotlight.

Still, hopefully a few wins and we can buy Rodon and Roberts for peanuts as they're both out of contract in the summer

[the other bob wilson]

I don't think it needs to be as disruptive as many are making out.

Once again I have to point to the example of Swansea. Though they probably have stumbled into the situation in many respects, nevertheless they built a very strong Cat 1 u23 squad that played a very different style of football to the first team under Clement, Bobley etc.

Now they have brought in a very competent manager who plays in line with the club's old philosophy and he is a manager who is willing to coach and develop players.

Their 3 scorers Saturday came from last year's u23s.

We need to do something similar but the u23s seem to be instructed by Warnock to play similarly to the first team, which is a departure from what they were doing a couple of years ago.

Perhaps I underestimate what is going on and maybe Bellamy is keeping this crop of 18s together with that in mind.
There are two problems with this though. Firstly, we are a Cat 2 academy so the players are not being tested against the best players in the country and secondly I think you'll find that most of the opposition our 18s are playing against week in week out are not 18 but more like 16 and are being pushed to advance themselves.

If this u18 group were really special they should be playing u23 football now.

The video of the Watford game on the weekend shows one of the visiting players who looks an awful lot younger and smaller than his team mates, so I'm sure you're right, the teams we play at this level every week are not always made up of eighteen year olds.

However, the inference of what you say about our team is that they are all "old" by the standards of the league they play in - this struck me as wrong, so I decided to look into it.

The team which played on Saturday was missing the best player in the under 18 squad in my opinion, Sion Spence - he was eighteen yesterday as it turns out. Also absent since very early in the season has been Keenan Patten who, with Spence and Sam Bowen makes up a very good central midfield three for this level - Keenan was born on 7/4/01, so, at seventeen, he's eligible to play for the Under 18s next season.

The team which played Watford contained one player, Nianza Mayembe, whose date of birth I could not find, but I can remember watching him play for our Under 16s against Swansea a couple of seasons ago (I met you at the game) and being told that he was 13 or 14 at that time, so, assuming that's true, he's got at least two seasons of being eligible for the Under 18s left.

The oldest of the other ten starters on Saturday was keeper George Ratcliffe who only reached eighteen on 12 September, centreback Ryan Reynolds is three days younger than George and they are the only two out of the ten who are eighteen today. Another centreback, Trystan Jones, will be eighteen on Sunday, but if I've understood the rules correctly, those three (plus Spence) are the only ones who won't be available at this level next season.

The rest are seventeen or under. Next oldest is captain Sam Bowen who was born on 14/1/01, while striker Dan Griffiths was born two days later. Recent signing from Southampton Joel Bagan won't be eighteen until the third of September next year and striker Isaak Davies only turned seventeen on the 25th of last month - so, that makes them eligible for another two seasons of Under 18 football I believe.

The other three are 16 year old's Connor Davies (born 7/5/02) and Rubin Colwill (27/4/02) and Eli King, who won't be sixteen until 22 December.

So, if the sides we are playing at youth level are including their fair share of under age players, then the same definitely applies with City. Most of these players were part of an Under 16 squad from a couple of seasons ago which struck me as, potentially, one of the best crops of youngsters I'd seen since we gained Academy status in 2004 and the intervening period has done nothing to make me change my mind.

I'm not going to say that there are x number of players who will play for City's first team in our Under 18 squad and their names are......., but I'd be very disappointed if none of them go on to be professionals at senior level who play league football - based on recent years though, how likely is it that they will do so at Cardiff?

[Loramski]

The video of the Watford game on the weekend shows one of the visiting players who looks an awful lot younger and smaller than his team mates, so I'm sure you're right, the teams we play at this level every week are not always made up of eighteen year olds.

However, the inference of what you say about our team is that they are all "old" by the standards of the league they play in - this struck me as wrong, so I decided to look into it.

The team which played on Saturday was missing the best player in the under 18 squad in my opinion, Sion Spence - he was eighteen yesterday as it turns out. Also absent since very early in the season has been Keenan Patten who, with Spence and Sam Bowen makes up a very good central midfield three for this level - Keenan was born on 7/4/01, so, at seventeen, he's eligible to play for the Under 18s next season.

The team which played Watford contained one player, Nianza Mayembe, whose date of birth I could not find, but I can remember watching him play for our Under 16s against Swansea a couple of seasons ago (I met you at the game) and being told that he was 13 or 14 at that time, so, assuming that's true, he's got at least two seasons of being eligible for the Under 18s left.

The oldest of the other ten starters on Saturday was keeper George Ratcliffe who only reached eighteen on 12 September, centreback Ryan Reynolds is three days younger than George and they are the only two out of the ten who are eighteen today. Another centreback, Trystan Jones, will be eighteen on Sunday, but if I've understood the rules correctly, those three (plus Spence) are the only ones who won't be available at this level next season.

The rest are seventeen or under. Next oldest is captain Sam Bowen who was born on 14/1/01, while striker Dan Griffiths was born two days later. Recent signing from Southampton Joel Bagan won't be eighteen until the third of September next year and striker Isaak Davies only turned seventeen on the 25th of last month - so, that makes them eligible for another two seasons of Under 18 football I believe.

The other three are 16 year old's Connor Davies (born 7/5/02) and Rubin Colwill (27/4/02) and Eli King, who won't be sixteen until 22 December.

So, if the sides we are playing at youth level are including their fair share of under age players, then the same definitely applies with City. Most of these players were part of an Under 16 squad from a couple of seasons ago which struck me as, potentially, one of the best crops of youngsters I'd seen since we gained Academy status in 2004 and the intervening period has done nothing to make me change my mind.

I'm not going to say that there are x number of players who will play for City's first team in our Under 18 squad and their names are......., but I'd be very disappointed if none of them go on to be professionals at senior level who play league football - based on recent years though, how likely is it that they will do so at Cardiff?

Great research, fair play. Mayembe was born in 2003 so can't be more than 15 yet. Bellamy obviously felt he wasn't suited to the wing back role so let him play left wing in a 3-5-2/ 4-4-2 on Saturday which meant he could conserve his energy and he not only played the 90 minutes but finished strongly too. Excellent tactics and credit to the rest of the team for adapting to them.

That's interesting that only a few lads will be coming up to the u-23s next season, I'd say two of them are big hitters in Reynolds and Spence, we'll need to make sure they're given every chance to develop properly next season if we can't get loan deals for them or (heaven forfend) they end up in the first team squad. Reynolds looks like a midfielder to me, centre-half seems too easy for him, but I've been very impressed. Looks like a strong character too, very promising. (It's ok, if we release him at the end of the season no one will remember where this post is to show me up).

The Watford lad was tiny, yes. James Waite will bully him if they meet up at under-23 level.

[the other bob wilson]

Great research, fair play. Mayembe was born in 2003 so can't be more than 15 yet. Bellamy obviously felt he wasn't suited to the wing back role so let him play left wing in a 3-5-2/ 4-4-2 on Saturday which meant he could conserve his energy and he not only played the 90 minutes but finished strongly too. Excellent tactics and credit to the rest of the team for adapting to them.

That's interesting that only a few lads will be coming up to the u-23s next season, I'd say two of them are big hitters in Reynolds and Spence, we'll need to make sure they're given every chance to develop properly next season if we can't get loan deals for them or (heaven forfend) they end up in the first team squad. Reynolds looks like a midfielder to me, centre-half seems too easy for him, but I've been very impressed. Looks like a strong character too, very promising. (It's ok, if we release him at the end of the season no one will remember where this post is to show me up).

The Watford lad was tiny, yes. James Waite will bully him if they meet up at under-23 level.

Thanks for that on Mayembe .

I've seen Reynolds play in midfield once or twice and also at full back and I agree he has a touch of quality - having mentioned Spence, Bowen and Patten being a good central midfield combination, I'd say the same applies to Jones, Bagan and Reynolds as a trio of centrebacks.

Connor Davies was still fifteen then when I saw him play at the Liberty Stadium in the Welsh Youth Cup Final in early May (seem to remember he got a yellow card) and he certainly wasn't intimidated by playing in a game where, like in the FA Youth Cup, older players such as Cameron Coxe, Mark Harris and James Waite were able to play.

Other names I should have mentioned are right sided players Jac Davies who will be eighteen in February, while Ryan Kavanagh (who'll be sixteen on Monday) has played a few times this season and not looked out of place at all.