Opposition fans back from the game - 24/25 page 225 onwards

[maffff]

Ah, some duplications...

[PistolPete]

I've never watched an U18 Reading game before and only watched 60 mins last night. Would you agree we 'hoofed it long' and does anyone know if that is our usual strategy?

[SPARTA]

I've never watched an U18 Reading game before and only watched 60 mins last night. Would you agree we 'hoofed it long' and does anyone know if that is our usual strategy?

Plenty of passing football in Adkins' favoured formation. The U18's and U21's look very good and some of the football at times has been superb. Last night in patches was exceptionally - the through ball for 4-4 (?) was sublime. It's a shame the first-team can't adapt as well as these sides have, but I can't wait for when we do! Really entertaining football.

11 mins of highlights here - http://t.co/4UYsIbtRqw

[SCIAG]

I've never watched an U18 Reading game before and only watched 60 mins last night. Would you agree we 'hoofed it long' and does anyone know if that is our usual strategy?

Nah, it's total bollocks from the Liverpool fan.

Last night, both teams tried to play good football. Liverpool's players, particularly at the back, weren't really good enough to pull it off, and they often lost possession due to poor passes or non-existent first touches. On the other hand, we were good enough to keep possession. There were a few long balls up to Stacey at 4-2, but that was all.

Our set-up in possession is something like this:

---------------Ward----------------
--Dickie------------------Hyam---
Watson------Kuhl----------Owusu
-------------Fridge-----------------
Stacey--------Kelly-----------Fosu
-------------Cardwell---------------

But it is very fluid, the midfielders will all happily swap positions.

We don't even go with two banks of four in defence. Last night, we were man marking and pressing high, which forced them to kick long. It's totally the opposite strategy to "two banks of four"!

Last night was fairly typical for us- we're very much a possession orientated team, and have been for several years.

[andrew1957]

I cannot believe the idiot form Liverpool saying that was hoof ball. I thought it was a fantastic advert for positive football from both sides. Sore losers!

If he thought that was hoof ball heaven knows what he would think of our first team this season - let alone last season.

[Ian Royal]

I cannot believe the idiot form Liverpool saying that was hoof ball. I thought it was a fantastic advert for positive football from both sides. Sore losers!

If he thought that was hoof ball heaven knows what he would think of our first team this season - let alone last season.

on the basis of the comment I'd not assume he's capable of thinking. Our passing wasn't as slick as it could be a lot of the time a and fair to say we've got a.couple of units to play the lone striker role. But se look to me a good balance of pssession, passing, running it and directness.

What hoof ball team plays it around at the back and has cbs who'll burst forward with the ball at feet? Or plays tight passes on the deck through midfield..all things I saw from us.

[KC Royal]

I've never watched an U18 Reading game before and only watched 60 mins last night. Would you agree we 'hoofed it long' and does anyone know if that is our usual strategy?

Plenty of passing football in Adkins' favoured formation. The U18's and U21's look very good and some of the football at times has been superb. Last night in patches was exceptionally - the through ball for 4-4 (?) was sublime. It's a shame the first-team can't adapt as well as these sides have, but I can't wait for when we do! Really entertaining football.

11 mins of highlights here - http://t.co/4UYsIbtRqw

Yea, I've seen a few of the games this season, the Accrington game in the Youth Cup on Youtube and both last night's game and the U21 game recently on LFC TV and that seems to be our philosophy. I think we can be guilty at times of overplaying though, in the Liverpool games particularly, and U21 especially, (although there were highlights of the U18 league game earlier in the season on LFC TV flagged up on here beforehand where I thought this was possibly also the case, plus an unwillingness to track back when we did lose it). But Liverpool do press high up the pitch which I guess may not be the case across the board. I can't remember it being an issue in the Accrington game.

When Dolan was caretaker last year from his comments it was quite clear he wants that philosophy to run through the whole academy, and from reading bits of his Youth Cup team's games in 2006-2007 it was the same then. I agree with you Sparta, after one of the earlier games I saw I too felt that they seem better suited to the way Adkins wants to play than the first team do. I'm sure he'll be keeping a close eye on their development in the coming years, and how they might cope with the demands of the Championship, or the PL if we're there and they get a chance, will be interesting to see...

[ZacNaloen]

The worst part of the Liverpool bitterness is the assumption that for the sake of development we should just let Liverpool do whatever they want in possession and not try to spoil by putting them under high pressure. (which by the way is what they did to us as well), most of their chances came from pressing our CB's and keeper who were trying to play it out. If we went long ball at any point it's because they forced us to and that will actually have been their game plan as they probably though they could soak up any long balls we would play tot cardwell or the wings.

It may also be about development, but games against tough opponents and learning how to cope, shut down, and win against them is just as important to Readings academy. And it's important for Liverpools players development as well. They aren't going to make it if they never learn how to counter teams that press, or teams that defend, or teams that steam roll them. In this instance they lost against a team that can do all three.

[If you still hate Futcher]

Interesting, which part of the FA coaching manual advises fouling an opponent in order to be able to take a breather if you're suffering from cramp/injury

Do the scallies post any reasons why they think:

"Obviously they're setup to win"

"Their players are athletes rather than ball players"

"Our development coaches are prioritising winning over development"

or is it just sour grapes. The "athletes" comment is probably down to the fact that a lot of their players were suffering from cramp, but that's more due to poor conditioning and preparation on their part. [STEREOTYPE}Also can we help it if evolution has bred Scousers to be smaller to allow them slip through open/broken windows easier. [/STEREOTYPE]

Obviously you can discount anything that Michael Sweeting Tweets as the ramblings of a deranged idiot

[melonhead]

I've never watched an U18 Reading game before and only watched 60 mins last night. Would you agree we 'hoofed it long' and does anyone know if that is our usual strategy?

Plenty of passing football in Adkins' favoured formation. The U18's and U21's look very good and some of the football at times has been superb. Last night in patches was exceptionally - the through ball for 4-4 (?) was sublime. It's a shame the first-team can't adapt as well as these sides have, but I can't wait for when we do! Really entertaining football.

11 mins of highlights here - http://t.co/4UYsIbtRqw

Yea, I've seen a few of the games this season, the Accrington game in the Youth Cup on Youtube and both last night's game and the U21 game recently on LFC TV and that seems to be our philosophy. I think we can be guilty at times of overplaying though, in the Liverpool games particularly, and U21 especially, (although there were highlights of the U18 league game earlier in the season on LFC TV flagged up on here beforehand where I thought this was possibly also the case, plus an unwillingness to track back when we did lose it). But Liverpool do press high up the pitch which I guess may not be the case across the board. I can't remember it being an issue in the Accrington game.

When Dolan was caretaker last year from his comments it was quite clear he wants that philosophy to run through the whole academy, and from reading bits of his Youth Cup team's games in 2006-2007 it was the same then. I agree with you Sparta, after one of the earlier games I saw I too felt that they seem better suited to the way Adkins wants to play than the first team do. I'm sure he'll be keeping a close eye on their development in the coming years, and how they might cope with the demands of the Championship, or the PL if we're there and they get a chance, will be interesting to see...

i cant wait till dolan gets his chance at the top job, when this crop of youngsters comes through

[Vision]

DeveLOLopment.

By my reckoning Liverpool have spent over £100m in the last 3 years or so buying young British talent developed by other clubs. In the same time period only Jay SpeaROFLing and Martin KeLOLOLy have played for their first team on an even semi regular basis.

Things may well prove to be different if Rodgers has the job for a period of time with the likes of Flanagan and some of the promising kids from last night breaking through but they're hardly in a position to take the moral high ground just yet.

[TBM]

I dont understand their argument though....

Who's to say the way they are developing players is the correct way? - surely the point of a youth team is to develop players to eventually bring in to your first team? - what is the point in teaching this tippy-tappy football if the style isn't what the club wants the focus to be?

I mean, look at Mourinho's teams - not pretty football, very strong defence but the results speak for themself. Are Liverpool honestly saying they would rather not win anything over getting results that win games/trophys?

[tidus_mi2]

I loved reading those tweets on the previous page, especially the one about not producing first team players when the list of former academy players currently in the top 2 tiers of English football is:

Gylfi Sigurdsson
Jem Karacan
Alex Pearce
Alex McCarthy
HRK
Simon Church
Simon Cox
Ben Hamer
Jordan Obita
Jake Taylor
Michael Hector

Took a bit of liberty adding Hector and Taylor to the list since they're bit-part players at the moment but they're not too far off, did I miss anyone?

[PistolPete]

James Henry last year and next year?
Darius Henderson?

Or are those pre academy as it is?

[toppy]

Its like they/he watched a different game. I don't believe there was much 'hoof-ball'. It all seems very bitter!!

[wally bassoon]

I loved reading those tweets on the previous page, especially the one about not producing first team players when the list of former academy players currently in the top 2 tiers of English football is:

Gylfi Sigurdsson
Jem Karacan
Alex Pearce
Alex McCarthy
HRK
Simon Church
Simon Cox
Ben Hamer
Jordan Obita
Jake Taylor
Michael Hector

Took a bit of liberty adding Hector and Taylor to the list since they're bit-part players at the moment but they're not too far off, did I miss anyone?

How many came through between 1995 - 2005?
I can only think of
Neville Roach
Byron Glasgow
Any others?
And we were playing at a lower level

This shows how far the youth system has come.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Tyson

[wally bassoon]

Tyson

I knew I had another in mind when I typed that.

They were pretty barren years all the same.

None of those three can really claim to be a success.

[Wycombe Royal]

Tyson

I knew I had another in mind when I typed that.

They were pretty barren years all the same.

None of those three can really claim to be a success.

Jamie Ashdown

[SCIAG]

I loved reading those tweets on the previous page, especially the one about not producing first team players when the list of former academy players currently in the top 2 tiers of English football is:

Gylfi Sigurdsson
Jem Karacan
Alex Pearce
Alex McCarthy
HRK
Simon Church
Simon Cox
Ben Hamer
Jordan Obita
Jake Taylor
Michael Hector

Took a bit of liberty adding Hector and Taylor to the list since they're bit-part players at the moment but they're not too far off, did I miss anyone?

James Henry is only playing in League 1 because Lomas is an idiot.

Then there's Charlie Austin and Connor Wickham at QPR and Leeds respectively. Ji Dong-Won is playing for Augsburg/Dortmund. Nam Tee-Hae was playing in Ligue 1 but has gone chasing the money in Qatar.