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Love this quote ,makes me feel good .
""Absolutely buzzing to make my first team debut tonight for the club I’ve been at since I was 7 (Blue heart). Really appreciate the opportunity given to me and thanks to everyone who’s helped me along the way (Folded hands)""
Bring on the younger lads Mick please , we have had so many false dawns with this development at our club , I d take a step backward to get these lads playing .
Maybe I've missed something but it seems the youth players Harris was benching are different to the ones MM seems to prefer. I don't think I'd ever seen Colwill name before MM arrived and now he's the next big thing (literally). Or maybe I just don't pay enough attention to the youth teams.
I always have a keen eye on our youth development (no, not like THAT. No need to call the police), but I too hadn't heard of Colwill until he was named on the bench a few weeks back.
As an obsessive Football Manager player, I went and checked him out. His attributes weren't good, and they gave him a strength rating of 1/20. Judging by what I've seen of him in recent highlights, it might need juuuuuuust a small tweak here and there. Buzzing for the lads, hope they can push on.
They showed highlights of the U23's game vs Colchester during the Coventry game half time interval and I was impressed with Isaac Davies.
Very pacey (albeit what looked like a very young Flint was marking him i.e. quite limited in the pace department) and some clinical finishing.
This news is good, now to get them some first team experience, just training with and being round the first team squad is a start.
Obviously we want City to win every game and if we did that, we would have a play off place (minimum).
However, once Championship football is secured, I'm sure most of us risk a top place finish if it meant blooding some of these kids.
Even if we get a playoff spot , we would likely be outclassed as soon as we played anyone good (see our matches against the top 3 this season), although it is always nice to dream. It might better in the long run for the club if the faint glimmer of the playoffs disappears over the next couple of weeks and we bring through a couple more youngsters.
that said, it's better to bring players into a side that's playing well, rather than one that is struggling.
This season the record for Academy players (incl. Brown and Harris) in the first team - up to the Coventry - match is:
Bagan: 4 league starts, 1 FA Cup start, 20 league bench, 1 EFL Cup bench
Harris: 6 league starts (subbed every time late 2nd half), 14 league bench (came on 6 times), 1 FA Cup bench (came on)
Sang: 7 league bench, 1 ELF Cup bench (came on)
Patten: 5 league bench, 1 FA Cup bench
Zimba: 2 league bench
Evans: 2 league bench, 1 EFL Cup bench, 1 FA Cup bench
Davies: 2 league bench
Ratcliffe: 2 league bench
Brown: 2 league bench
Colwill: 2 league bench (came on very late once)
D'Almeida: 1 EFL Cup bench.
The introduction of 9 subs has obviously helped, but that is not a bad break-through picture for the Academy.
Harris hardly included any youngsters at the start of the season, and MM seems unwilling to trust them off the bench now (at least until or unless we are safe and the play-offs are out of reach). But it is a world away from what we have seen in past seasons.
Stand out player for the U23s. He can play defensively if needed, is quick on the ball, good control and comes across as having a decent footballing mind. From the little I've seen, he can turn a game in an instant. One for the future.....but getting a chance now to impress.
Did we extend Mark Harris contract beyond this season?
squad 3.jpg
I've attempted to visualize the squad based on the current formation.
First team in blue, youngsters in yellow.
Players due to leave us in the summer in red text.
Hard to read your chart, but I don’t think you’ve included Sam Bowen (who was on the bench for one of the FA Cup games with Reading last season I believe) to the midfield, Ben Margetson (currently on loan to Sutton) as a defender and James Waite as an attacking midfielder- Taylor Jones has played a few matches for the Under 23s at right back lately, as has Owen Pritchard at centre back and centre midfield.
Its just another view I guess we all look at players and think differently,.
Some say Mick prefers Pack into Ralls , which a lot would disagree with .
Does he prefer Ojo to other wingers .
Does he rate Flint where Harris didn't .
It could be he looks at players with a different eye , bases his selections on what he wants of them and thier attributes, then motivates them to deliver , its good man management perhaps ??