The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

[thehumblegringo]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

Lost 3-0.

I couldn't find the stream on the FAW website but reading the twitter feed we were doing really well until a defensive mix up cost the second goal.
It was always gonna be an uphill struggle as we have a few stronger u19s out on loan (Bird, Humphries etc) but hopefully it will prepare the boys for Chelsea away!

[the other bob wilson]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

I couldn't find the stream on the FAW website but reading the twitter feed we were doing really well until a defensive mix up cost the second goal.
It was always gonna be an uphill struggle as we have a few stronger u19s out on loan (Bird, Humphries etc) but hopefully it will prepare the boys for Chelsea away!

Just watched a highlights package on the jacks website and there was more coverage of attacks by us rather than them until it got to 2-0. The first goal may have prevented if the City wall had jumped, while the second one was a shocker as the centrebacks and keeper made a right mess of what was just a straightforward long punt down the middle.

Nevertheless, this result means that the jacks are now, almost certainly, going to win their eighth successive Welsh Youth Cup - what an indictment of our Academy that is.

[thehumblegringo]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

I've spoken to a mate who went to the game and he tells me that we were far the better side and dominated between the 1st and 2nd goals creating a host of chances.
The second goal was a disgrace and I'd be pissed of if an under 12 side conceded that.

There are many positives to take from this team at the moment.
As Warnock said last week, Harris is not far away, and Welch must be close to knocking on the door too.

Apparently the best player on the pitch yesterday was q5 year old Sion Spence so I take heart that even though we lost there were a lot of positives without Bird and Humphries who would have made a difference.

[the other bob wilson]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

I'm not having a go at the current side too much Gringo because the truth is that Swansea have moved past us now at youth level and the result, or score, yesterday didn't surprise me at all. My beef is that this situation has been allowed to happen over an eight year period where the jacks have completely dominated the only club tournament that can go someway towards measuring the strengths of Welsh clubs at Under 19 level. For the first five or six years of that period, we were on an equal footing with the jacks and I saw us beat them at various levels (including a 6-1 win at Under 18 level) yet they always seemed to get the better of us in the games that really counted - maybe this good group of Under 16s we have will redress the balance a bit, but we've stopped producing our own first team players and that cannot all be blamed on Russell Slade because that was the case before he came along.

Anyway, just to say that the Development team game against QPR at Cardiff City Stadium (kick off 7 o clock) still looks to be on

https://twitter.com/CardiffCityDVP?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

[the other bob wilson]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

Tonight's team;-

O'Reilly, Baker, Tutonda, Huws, Ajayi, James, O'Sullivan, Wharton, Zohore, Immers, John

Rees, Coughlan, Southam, Skapetis, Weymans

Skapetis is a new name to me, I presume it's this bloke

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2617309/Peter-Skapetis-completes-300-000-QPR-reserves-Stoke-City.html

[jon1959]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

Tonight's team;-

O'Reilly, Baker, Tutonda, Huws, Ajayi, James, O'Sullivan, Wharton, Zohore, Immers, John

Rees, Coughlan, Southam, Skapetis, Weymans

Skapetis is a new name to me, I presume it's this bloke

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...toke-City.html

Interesting. I had a quick look on Skapetis' twitter - and although he doesn't use it much there is a tweet from June that says: Been hit hard with injury over the last 2 years but I know what I'm capable of and what I'm heading towards. A £300k fee for a QPR reserve striker is fairly serious money. I assume he has now been released by Stoke and Warnock has taken him on some sort of short term contract for a look?

The rest of the side is strong, with Immers, Huws, Ajayi, John etc starting. I don't recognise any names in the QPR team - except Finney - so maybe they're not using this fixture as a training match for first team squad players?

[jon1959]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

4 - 0 win for Cardiff u23s:

21 - Zahore
55 - Zahore
58 - Skapetis
81 - Ajeyi

[Loramski]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

Interesting. I had a quick look on Skapetis' twitter - and although he doesn't use it much there is a tweet from June that says: Been hit hard with injury over the last 2 years but I know what I'm capable of and what I'm heading towards. A £300k fee for a QPR reserve striker is fairly serious money. I assume he has now been released by Stoke and Warnock has taken him on some sort of short term contract for a look?

The rest of the side is strong, with Immers, Huws, Ajayi, John etc starting. I don't recognise any names in the QPR team - except Finney - so maybe they're not using this fixture as a training match for first team squad players?

Skapetis came on and scored in a 4-0 win, didn't stand out though. Zohore scored two goals on the break, the second finish was classy after a poor first touch had taken him close to the keeper. The usual hit and miss stuff from him but no shortage of effort again. Ashley Baker impressed at right back, Semi Ajayi hardly put a foot wrong and got the final goal, Theo Wharton got some good tackles in and had a tidy game.

A lot more big clearances than usual at DVP level but, to be fair, there was also some excellent counter-attacking football which, I suppose, justified being prepared to give possession away in that fashion. Weird to see a City team breaking in numbers, unique even.

[the other bob wilson]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

Only just read your comments Loramski, but they tie in almost exactly with mine - here's my piece on last night's match.

http://mauveandyellowarmy.net/

[thehumblegringo]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

Just watched a highlights package on the jacks website and there was more coverage of attacks by us rather than them until it got to 2-0. The first goal may have prevented if the City wall had jumped, while the second one was a shocker as the centrebacks and keeper made a right mess of what was just a straightforward long punt down the middle.

Nevertheless, this result means that the jacks are now, almost certainly, going to win their eighth successive Welsh Youth Cup - what an indictment of our Academy that is.

It is a disappointing stat that Swansea have won it 8 years in a row but it doesn't change the fact that they were heavy favourites on Sunday and by all accounts we were by far the better side until a ridiculous defensive error cost us the second goal.

To bring some perspective, Swansea had 6 u21s in their starting line up on Sunday while I think we had 3. Possibly our two strongest players who would be u19 are out on loan at Weston so are ineligible to play.

We also had a 15 year old in Sion Spence not only starting but by all accounts (according to mate who is a Jack) was the best player on the pitch!

Swansea played the lad Joe Rodon who has been in the first team squad and is the next big thing down there and as a club they have been in a position to pay £250k to Hull academy to take Daniel James off their hands as a 16 year old.

We can just about pay 250k for a first team player these days.

We all know that the club has been mismanaged in recent years and that the academy has been largely forgotten about by first team managers since Sam Hamman left to be fair but there are many reasons to be optimistic at the moment.

The u18s have got one or two players training with the first team and for the first team in a long time are in serious contention for getting into Warnock's squad.

Under them we have kids like Spence and Bowen and would have had Matondo but his departure was out of the clubs control.

I went to Treforest on Sunday and watched Cardiff's younger kids beat Swansea convincingly at u10s u12s and u13s level on Sunday and we had the best players on the pitch at all those levels on Sunday. Apparently the 9s won too and the u11s drew but a few of their better players were playing up for the u12s.

I know all these kids are way way off affecting the first team at present but it just highlights that as an academy we are still more than competing despite the amount of money and category one status and Swansea's scatter gun approach in the valleys at the moment.

We are in decent shape at youth level Bob and having read Warnock's biography I believe if the kids are good enough they'll get their chance.

[Landaff the rising sun]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

My lad's team made it through to the Quarter Finals after a 3-0 win against Llanelli. They've got Bangor City in the next round, thankfully at home. Cambrian & Clydach play some great football and are top of Welsh Prem Development League (South) and according to the UEFA have the best academy in Wales (away from the big 3).
Our under 17's played the Swans Under 16s at the start of the season, drawing 1-1 - I really wasn't impressed by the Jacks and found that Cardiff have far better teams at that age group and below.

[the other bob wilson]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

I've not got the time at the moment, but I'll try to reply to the points made in the last two posts later on. In the mean time, it appears that our coach Jarred Harvey agrees with the Swansea fan Gringo talked to about Sion Spence - here's what he had to say about Sion's performance;-

"There are certainly many positives take from this game including a number of good performances from our apprentices. But I must mention Sion Spence, the youngest player of the pitch, who was outstanding today showing superb creativity and composure in the midfield at such a young age, and was an absolute joy to watch."

Read more at http://www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/news/...AWYwtxQWoVd.99

I thought he was our best player when I watched the Under 18s ten days ago against Colchester and it's very encouraging that Sion appears to not just be playing well, but also playing consistently as a 15 year old against lads three and four years older than him.

[BlueToujours]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

I've not got the time at the moment, but I'll try to reply to the points made in the last two posts later on. In the mean time, it appears that our coach Jarred Harvey agrees with the Swansea fan Gringo talked to about Sion Spence - here's what he had to say about Sion's performance;-

"There are certainly many positives take from this game including a number of good performances from our apprentices. But I must mention Sion Spence, the youngest player of the pitch, who was outstanding today showing superb creativity and composure in the midfield at such a young age, and was an absolute joy to watch."

Read more at http://www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/news/...AWYwtxQWoVd.99

I thought he was our best player when I watched the Under 18s ten days ago against Colchester and it's very encouraging that Sion appears to not just be playing well, but also playing consistently as a 15 year old against lads three and four years older than him.

If he continues his development then how long will it be before the Man City scouts or others start sniffing around. It is quite depressing that until we can get Category 1 Academy status then the likelihood of having another Aaron Ramsey breaking into the First Team is quite remote.

[thehumblegringo]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

If he continues his development then how long will it be before the Man City scouts or others start sniffing around. It is quite depressing that until we can get Category 1 Academy status then the likelihood of having another Aaron Ramsey breaking into the First Team is quite remote.

Scouts have already sniffed around mate and i believe he turned them down to stay here.

[Loramski]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

Only just read your comments Loramski, but they tie in almost exactly with mine - here's my piece on last night's match.

http://mauveandyellowarmy.net/

Yes, it does feel like there's a real significance to these games now. I thought it interesting that the game was played at all, I'm sure the club wouldn't have wanted two games in three days on a wet pitch and would have wanted it moved or postponed but there was obviously an importance attached to it as Rowberry was doing the coaching again while Nicholson and Johnson spent most of the night sat in what looked like naughty chairs behind the dug-out.

On saying that, I wonder what the first-team significance was last night? A look at John as a left winger? Unlikely as he got switched to left back at half time. Another chance for Immers and to impress and a chance to look at Skapetis? Yes to both but the way we set up and played may have been more meaningful. Very close to a Slade type 4-4-2 with the ball being regularly hoofed out of defence didn't bode well early on but there was method to the madness. The first goal was stunning, the second and third weren't goals we see at first team level either.

I'm assuming that the switch to a midfield four was largely to have a look at Huws alongside a central midfield partner and while he wasn't stunning he has an energy and a desire to get forward that Whitts hasn't got coupled with a range of passing that Ralls doesn't have for now. He was involved in a lot of the breaks and other good stuff we did, he didn't go missing when QPR had the ball either. Food for thought for Warnock if he's looking to get away from the current 4-1-4-1 that Huws doesn't seem to fit into.

One other thing. If the first team were set up to play like that, who would we use up front? While Zohore is rightly fourth choice for now, surely Lambert, Fred and Chamakh would all have needed jet packs to have kept up with the breaks last night. I don't know much about Newport but get the impression that Jon Parkin's injury has led to them playing a counter-attacking game which has suited Rhys Healey perfectly. If we want to change to that type of game, have we got the style and quality of forward to make it work?