The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

[Loramski]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

It looked a strong team that started but O'Keefe lost the ball in midfield twice which led to their first two goals (keeper didn't do too well for those either). Damour also missed a clear cut chance and we should have been at least level at half time rather than three down. However, there seemed to be a huge improvement once those two had been replaced and I thought we were unlucky not to get at least a point. (Coventry no. 11 - Allasani - looked a good young player throughout).

Yes, O'Keefe was an absolute clown to start with. Swore at the 17-year-old Bagan for misplacing a pass then swore at Damour for doing the same before misplacing a number of passes himself as well as letting himself get dispossessed in key areas, as you say. The turning point was dropping Humphries into defence after half an hour, he gave the two young centre halves some much needed support as well as freeing up the two full backs (who were excellent I thought) to play pretty much as wingers. Suddenly the problem of having four centre-midfielders had been solved and we were fine after that. Everyone put a shift in, Williams & Bolger got a run-out, the Academy lads didn't look out of place and we could easily have got at least a draw if we'd got our second a bit earlier. Humphries was man of the match for me, really impressed by him tonight.

[the other bob wilson]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

I daresay if the game gets a mention on a Coventry website it will say that Cardiff had "first teamers" O'Keefe, Darmour and Healey in their side, yet I thought they were three of our weaker players.

You would have thought O'Keefe would be in a pretty good mood when you consider that this was, almost certainly, his first appearance in a long while, but, whether someone did something to annoy just before kick off I don't know, his expletives came over loud and clear on the video stream, as did his "body language" which was a picture of frustration and annoyance. The ironic thing being that, for much of the game, he passed the ball as badly on many occasions as the two team mates he berated had done once in the opening minute or two - some allowance should be made for his rustiness, but, O'Keefe didn't do himself any favours last night.

Humphries did a Connor Coady impersonation in the second half (I mean that in a good way), but I've never seen Coady score a goal like that - using him in a back three would be an experiment worth continuing with, but do you see the first team ever using a member of a back three in the way Wolves do?

I thought Dan Martin (who has done well in other games I've seen him play) was good and I'd say the team improved with the introduction of Williams and Bolger, while Mayembe didn't look out of place either when he came on.

Clive is right to question our keeper for at least one of the first two goals as well.

[Loramski]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

City Academy already 4-0 up in the first half at Palace. Ryan Reynolds back in the starting line-up, Spence, Bowen, Evans and Colwill with the goals.

[life on mars]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

City Academy already 4-0 up in the first half at Palace. Ryan Reynolds back in the starting line-up, Spence, Bowen, Evans and Colwill with the goals.

Yes seems an impressive win :

https://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/2019/february/u18s-report-eagles-fall-to-clinical-bluebirds/

[the other bob wilson]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

City's Development team (they are currently only above bottom placed Colchester on goal difference) are at Millwall with a team which includes Stuart O'Keefe and new signings Dan Williams and Aaron Bolger - 0-0 after twenty minutes.

[the other bob wilson]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

City's Development team (they are currently only above bottom placed Colchester on goal difference) are at Millwall with a team which includes Stuart O'Keefe and new signings Dan Williams and Aaron Bolger - 0-0 after twenty minutes.

City leading 1-0 thanks to a Lloyd Humphries penalty with less than ten minutes to go.

[Loramski]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

City leading 1-0 thanks to a Lloyd Humphries penalty with less than ten minutes to go.

That's how it finished. Good result and good for the Academy centre backs to keep a clean sheet too, presumably Humphries was helping them out again but its a confidence booster for them all the same.

For some reason, our FAW Youth Cup semi-final with Swansea is now being played at Llanelli's ground on Weds, March 6th.

https://www.swanseacity.com/news/faw-youth-cup-date-confirmed

[Loramski]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

City Academy already 4-0 up in the first half at Palace. Ryan Reynolds back in the starting line-up, Spence, Bowen, Evans and Colwill with the goals.

The highlights of this game are up. I mentioned last week that I wasn't quite sure about Spence's fitness levels but his form is excellent.

https://www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/card...video-archive/ (U18 highlights; Palace)

[the other bob wilson]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

The highlights of this game are up. I mentioned last week that I wasn't quite sure about Spence's fitness levels but his form is excellent.

https://www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/card...video-archive/ (U18 highlights; Palace)

Lovely finish by Spence for the first goal and Sam Bowen's wasn't bad either - all done without any one in the eleven that I would call a specialist striker.

[Loramski]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

Lovely finish by Spence for the first goal and Sam Bowen's wasn't bad either - all done without any one in the eleven that I would call a specialist striker.

We had two of them (Griffiths & Isaak Davies) when we played Palace at home and lost 1-0, it's a funny old game. I remember texting my lad when I turned up to the Watford DVP game a while back saying it was going to be a long night because we haven't got a striker and we ended up winning 7-1, Man City didn't have one for the first half of our cup game with them but they seemed to manage ok. If you've got a number of players making runs from midfield and good enough passers to pick them out (Reynolds ball to Evans for the 3rd against Palace is a great example) then it must be pretty hard to deal with.

[the other bob wilson]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

We had two of them (Griffiths & Isaak Davies) when we played Palace at home and lost 1-0, it's a funny old game. I remember texting my lad when I turned up to the Watford DVP game a while back saying it was going to be a long night because we haven't got a striker and we ended up winning 7-1, Man City didn't have one for the first half of our cup game with them but they seemed to manage ok. If you've got a number of players making runs from midfield and good enough passers to pick them out (Reynolds ball to Evans for the 3rd against Palace is a great example) then it must be pretty hard to deal with.

I'm sure most traditional British centreback types would much prefer to have a striker to mark for ninety minutes rather than not knowing how and when they would have someone to look after.

[Rjk]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

What are the first impressions of that Bolger we signed on loan?

[Loramski]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

What are the first impressions of that Bolger we signed on loan?

He only came on for twenty minutes last week, I'm wary of saying he was an improvement on O'Keefe because you might think I'm damning him with faint praise but he slotted in well and contributed to a strong finish for us. I haven't seen his name mentioned with regards to yesterday's win but he played the 90 minutes and, presumably, played his part in the clean sheet.

It's an area we need to strengthen with Arter, Gunnarsson and Camarasa all likely to be leaving at the end of the season so let's hope this is leading somewhere positive. I like the look of Duffus at that level (but he seems to be made of glass), Humphries was excellent in a back three last week, Reynolds is impressing for the Academy, Spence is playing very well too but we really need one or two of these guys to push on now or its going to be an expensive rebuild in the summer. Too early to say whether Bolger is going to be the answer but the under-23s have two home games coming up so TOBW should be able to give us a better assessment of him soon.

[Loramski]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

Highlights of the under-23s win at Millwall here. Something tells me that Dan Martin missed Warnock's e-mail explaining what he expects from his full backs.

https://www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/card...video-archive/ (U23 Highlights; Millwall)

[the other bob wilson]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

Highlights of the under-23s win at Millwall here. Something tells me that Dan Martin missed Warnock's e-mail explaining what he expects from his full backs.

https://www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/card...video-archive/ (U23 Highlights; Millwall)

You can't read too much into three or four minutes highlights, but that was like that Welsh Youth Cup match when Martin seemed to be directly involved in all ten of the goals we scored - he was, apparently, at the heart of all of our best attacking moves on Monday and a clean sheet suggests it wasn't at the cost of his defensive responsibilities.

I thought he was good against Coventry the week before as well.