Ball Sup Blog... SUFC Academy U21 v Nottingham Forest (h)

[Greystones Blade]

Agreed. Individually we looked to have at least as good players as them. But it looked hard work for us to score, while they got theirs quite easily.

The U21 line ups change quite a bit, and especially defensively they've not had the chance to find consistency as a unit. Freckleton is frustrating. He looks very fast and strong in one minute, then gives away their opener. May have been a push though:

View attachment 181868

Offensively as well they have things to learn when it comes to playing style and passing and movement patterns. Faxton has superb composure for a goalkeeper and is a big talent. Peck is very talented midfielder and here they combine to play through Forest's pressure:

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This is a part of football that is a bit new. Teams know it can be effective pressing high, gegenpressing and all that. In turn this has lead to teams getting better at playing through this pressure - which is what Faxton, Peck and Sasnauskas do here.

But it's not the only point that you just keep the ball despite being pressed. It is a chance to create something. If the attacking team is alert enough, they can exploit these occasions where you've got past a couple of players and the rest haven't quite regrouped. It can be almost like a counter attack, even if you've started from the back.

But if the players aren't alert enough, not aware of the fact Faxton, Peck and Sasnauskas have managed to start something, it is often wasted There's no movement, Sasnauskas doesn't attack space with the ball. Instead he punts his long, which the Forest defenders just picks up easily.

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4 poor things with the above photo:

1 Sachdev is on his heels
2 Brooks is on his heels
3 Sasnauskas doesn't run with the ball
4 There is often space (yellow square) behind the presser (yellow circle) and we have noone trying to exploit it.


As Sasnauskas punts it forward the image below shows further the amount of space there was behind the original pressing Forest player:

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If we're going to teach our players to play through this kind of pressure we must also teach them to use the opportunity to try score a goal before the opposition have time to reorganise.

There were a number of similar occasions, and if these youngsters keep ignoring stuff like this, they may continue to wonder why they're losing against teams, who man for man don't seem any better than them.

Would it have been a different result if Blaster was playing?

 

[bertieblade]

Would it have been a different result if Blaster was playing?

Doubt it as we could not score at one end despite creating lots of chances and our defence at the other was terrible.
Peck was the standout player and must surely get some first team minutes this season.
Marsh is going to be a v good player but needs to bulk up.
Brooks has the potential to be a v good player but tries to play football in the wrong areas of the pitch which resulted in us giving them the second goal. Stick to what he is good at in the right areas and he will be a great asset but must be prepared to go out on loan for six months and learn how and when to play football.
Osula has pace, height, strength and at the moment the brains of Oli Burke he must spend time out on loan to learn team football.

 

[finlaytheblade]

Doubt it as we could not score at one end despite creating lots of chances and our defence at the other was terrible.
Peck was the standout player and must surely get some first team minutes this season.
Marsh is going to be a v good player but needs to bulk up.
Brooks has the potential to be a v good player but tries to play football in the wrong areas of the pitch which resulted in us giving them the second goal. Stick to what he is good at in the right areas and he will be a great asset but must be prepared to go out on loan for six months and learn how and when to play football.
Osula has pace, height, strength and at the moment the brains of Oli Burke he must spend time out on loan to learn team football.

Some really good posts on what's wrong with the level two academies.
We have coaches who work with what we have which is a good level of technical ability.
We look for late developers as the high flyers are picked up by academy 1 teams.We don't do badly and get some good results.
Would be interesting what % academy 1 players do actually reach the top as against our late developer's catching up both physically and mentally.
Academy 1 level is full of young athletes who can play ! It's the progress they make beyond this level that counts.
Assessing young players is difficult to get right and lots fall through the net at academy 1 we are always sniffing to pick up these players and do quite well with it.

 

[Bladeloyal]

Analyse all you want ,the young blades were far the better team on the night ,let down by some sloppy defending and poor finishing ,remember these lads are not the finished article,but in there you see some talent emerging and others not quite up to it ,that's what the academy is all about ,if you get one good player out of 20 you've done well .

 

[Grappler]

Just out of interest, was the game supposed to be "Under 21's" or just "Academy"? The lad who scored 2 for Forest (Konate) is 23, so I was just wondering.

We were by far the better team, technically, but couldn't find the goals or stop Forest scoring. It happens.

These are the same lads who are usually thrashing other teams, with Peck, Marsh and Osula usually on the score sheet (pre-injuries).

 

[EddieColquhoun]

Check scab fans crying over our line up. Hate them cunts

And celebrating that a 23 year old won them the game.

 

[Champagneblade]

Just out of interest, was the game supposed to be "Under 21's" or just "Academy"? The lad who scored 2 for Forest (Konate) is 23, so I was just wondering.

We were by far the better team, technically, but couldn't find the goals or stop Forest scoring. It happens.

These are the same lads who are usually thrashing other teams, with Peck, Marsh and Osula usually on the score sheet (pre-injuries).

Thought the same. Looks like we chose to have none over. If they had more than 3 then they should be kicked out.

 

[Ball_Sup (Phil)]

Just your gentle reminder that Fleck, Holgate, Trusty, Larouci, Bogle, Brewster, Coulibaly, Tom Davies, Anis Ben Slimane, Luke Thomas have all played in Sheffield United "Under 21" teams this season.

 

[Champagneblade]

Just your gentle reminder that Fleck, Holgate, Trusty, Larouci, Bogle, Brewster, Coulibaly, Tom Davies, Anis Ben Slimane, Luke Thomas have all played in Sheffield United "Under 21" teams this season.

You’re allowed up to 3 aren’t you at any given time. Isn’t that the rule?

 

[Ball_Sup (Phil)]

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