Reply With Quoteseems like we've just signed another player - sekou kaba
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Matt Bloxham on why Simic isn't getting game time for the first team yet:
"He is adjusting to the British game and is working really hard on that. His movement has been first class and his goal return has been first class. But we are looking to prepare him for the physical robustness that the first team would require in the Championship."
That might mean that they want him to do more fitness work and/or bulk up a bit first, and that's fine. But I don't think playing against youth team defenders is going to prepare him in any way shape or form for your average Championship centre half. At some point, they have to give him that experience; maybe he'd have been better served going on loan to, say, Scotland?
As for the drop-off of the 21s, probably more difficult to explain. IIRC, Riza was saying a few of them spend more time with the senior squad, so that probably hasn't helped in terms of continuity. It must be difficult for those players to stay motivated too, in fairness. Take Luey Giles, for example. On Friday he was playing against Marcos Asensio and Ollie Watkins in front of 40,000 people. Yesterday he was playing against some teenagers in an empty park. I'd probably struggle to get myself up for it as well.
seems like we've just signed another player - sekou kaba
17 year old previously at man utd academyOriginally Posted by Rjk
Interesting one, moving from them to us at that age.
https://www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/news...oins-bluebirds
Transfer market has him down as a centre forward, but no details !!!
How tall is he ?
Plays on the left as well, apparently
Rumour has it, that hes so quick, that he gets on the end of his own crosses
Big game for the under 21s tonight as they entertain West brom in the Premier league Cup at Leckwith, kick off 7 o clock. They'll have to play a lot better than they've done in their last two league games to make any further progress in the competition, but they raised their game to beat Everton in their group decider last month, so you'd like to think they can do it again tonight.
Interesting to see Conte involved again. I was thinking about him at the end of the Burnley game. It was crying out for a Southampton type cameo from him, Ng and Colwill did nothing wrong but obviously lacked the pace to get to the byline. I thought we might include him in the 25 man squad at the end of January but we didn't, even though we only went with 24 in the end. Now he's playing and keeping Beecher on the bench, odd situation.
Nyakhuwa scores in four minutes as he beats the keeper on his near post.
1-0 at half time. City having to do a lot of defending against bigger opponents, but they look dangerous when they get the chance to attack - Cody Twose is having an excellent game so far.
I think Conte was kept out of the 25 in case we wanted to sign a free agent
89th minute equaliser for West Brom. A sickener for City, but its been like attack v defence in the last half an hour - I dont get why City have only brought one sub on.
Extra time.
Finishes 1-1 - City look out on their feet.
Goes to penalties.
lost on pens
West Brom win 5-4 on penalties, Cody Twose, who had such a good game, shoots wide at 4-4.
2nd defeat of the season on penalties. Gutting.
I know Riza said this and that it was the plan all along, no reason to doubt him I guess. At the same time I wouldn't expect him to say 'we've screwed up here and left ourselves short' either. This came up in the loan thread the other day and I said there's no point in me speculating, I don't know enough about it. Are there free agents out there who are match fit and ready to step into a Championship side? I've no idea. We haven't found one yet if there are.
I don't even know what the rule is to be honest. If we can add a free agent to the 24, can we add a player who's already here? If we can't then it seems odd to be playing Conte at under-21 level, if we can then it doesn't seem the worst option to bring him in. Not only are we down to our last right back while Rinomhota's out but we haven't got an attacking option there anyway while Kpakio's out.
I don't know the rules either but I can't think of any reason why a club can't add someone already on their books to the 25 man squad - although from the way Riza originally explained the decision it sounded as if Conte was frozen out of the first team until the summer.
Derby signed Jeff Hendrick today, and Portsmouth signed Alexander Milosovic - both to the end of the season - and neither have played for ages but presumably both clubs have left a vacancy in their squad lists.
It'll be interesting to see how they go. Going with 24 seems like a gamble to me (especially with the injury problems we've had) but, like I said to you in the loan thread, if Riza is happy to trust the youngsters to cover any gaps in the squad while looking for a free agent then that's fair enough, I hope it's a gamble that pays off.
I'd say it was the midfield 3 who were tiring the most but we only had wingers and full backs on the bench. Mafico's energy would've been handy. Spiers had a good game, Nyakhuwa faded a bit but was still a threat to the end and Conte was the fittest player on the pitch so they didn't really need replacing. Beecher came on for Spiers in the end but it didn't change much.
WBA were big, strong and athletic but we stood up to them and counter attacked well. Neither keeper had much to do but I felt we got into dangerous positions more often than they did, for all the possession they had. The attitude was spot on, from back to front, everyone worked hard, stuck to their tasks, threw themselves into blocks and tackles and I never really felt a goal was coming until they finally opened us up after 90 minutes. We didn't buckle and could've won it in extra time, Simic's miss looked like a bad one although I was right up the other end so didn't have a great view of it.
By the way, I'm sure it was Dan Ola I saw going past on crutches earlier with a brace on his left foot. Shame if so, he'd been having a good season.
It was the best game I’ve seen Conte play for the under 21s and I agree that he looked fitter than his teammates in extra time. He could have been moved into midfield and Beecher brought on to play left back or Perrett dropped deeper with Conte replacing Wigley as a winger. I also agree that West Brom’s equaliser came as a surprise - they suddenly discovered a cutting edge they hadn’t shown before and promptly lost it again after they scored, but the ball was coming back at us all of the time and something usually cracks in the end when that’s happening.
Extra time was more even and, as you say, we had the best chance through Simic who claimed his shot had been deflected by a defender, but I couldn’t see one on the numerous replays they showed. The fact we were able to push forward more in extra time was surprising - West Brom would have been tired as well, but I just hope we weren’t playing under orders for most of the second half.
I watched it last night, mainly because I wanted to see how Simic was getting on, I thought Conte looked head and shoulders above everyone else and a lot fitter, I dont think the loan move worked out well for him, but there again it didnt really work out for Tanner when he went to York
I might be wrong but theres still something about Conte imho
Maybe the realisation of what its going to be like outside of league football can spur him on, hes worth persevering with
As for Simic, he worked hard and held the ball up, but it was a tough job as he was often isolated
I wonder if hell get any sort of run out in the first team this season?
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