FA Youth Cup - Lets have some positivity for the u18's

[ZacNaloen]

Key players didnt perform tonight. Dominated play but came up against two brick walls and got caught on the break twice.

[Long_Boi]

Agree with the above post.

Bolton didn't offer much, but took their chances. The number 10 Tom Youngs caused a couple of problems for us & obv got a goal for them.

Technically we were by far the better side, especially when down to 10 men.

In terms of the red card Kuhl lost the ball, then tried to make up for it & took the guy out from behind so ref had no choice but to give him a second yellow. Good player, didn't play well tonight, but he'll learn.

[shaka's shorts]

Back from the game - I am sure they cannot believe that they lost that. We were comfortably the best team but lost down to 2 or 3 key errors.

Some real positives and you can see that there are some really good players in this team, but a defensive mistake as Keown and Long went for the same ball, a missed pen and a sending off that was caused by a misplaced pass that resulted in a lunge from behind. I thought Kuhl took the ball but other posters said he took the man and I didn't have a great view of it.

Players that impressed me:

Cooper - left sided centre back, extremely tall but also good feet, brought the ball out of defence and looked a player
Griffin - quick and skilful left back
Kuhl - looked a class player, good midfield distributor and will surely learn from the sending off
Tsishbola - looked the player with the most natural ability, good skills and vision, had too much to do in centre mid once we were down to ten
Tanner - alwats impressed when I see him, plays as a second striker (a bit like Peter Beardsley used to play), some wonderful touches and turns, we were nowhere near the threat once he moved to the wing after they went down to ten men
Fosu - tricky winger, beat someone almost every time he had the ball, sometimes tried to beat too many players when he could have crossed it. A real talent

You can see why Ikpuzu scores goals, he is a Beast physically, but today was not his night and he looked very upset when he was substituted.

The boys will be gutted, but they have had a great season and there is some real talent there.

The worst performer by far, was the ref! He constantly stopped the game for niggly fouls (a couple of times when the team getting the free kick was through on goal) and his constant fussiness spoiled the game.

[SCIAG]

Yeah, I echo the above. Hippolyte was their main threat, we were generally better but neither side threatened much and they did better in front of goal.

Cooper looks really good. Last year I thought Partridge had his back to a degree, this year he was the reason we were on top for so long, he would just repel every attack. Keown on the other hand looks better at full back IMO, his positioning needs a bit of work at centre back. Griffin and Long got forward well but often they weren't found. Kuhl did fairly well in a role he's not used to playing (tbh I'd rather have had Kelly there and maybe Kuhl further up the pitch), his touch let him down for the sending off. Tshibola (sp) came into it a bit more after Kuhl went off, could have had a couple, and linked up well with Tanner and particularly Fosu-Henry.
Tanner was a bit isolated at times, he showed some good dribbling skills but drifted in and out, maybe needs to work on his vision but was generally impressive when on the ball. Stacey had a massive fan club in G8, and put some good balls into the box, but struggled a bit in the more advanced positions- looks to have all the attributes as an attacking full back though. Fosu-Henry showed some nice touches of skill, for ability he's as good as if not better than Obita IMO, and he works hard defensively, but again, sometimes he was trying to do too much. His penalty wasn't very good either. Ikpeazu's touch has improved, I don't think the midfielders really know how to play with him though. Another who needs to offload the ball earlier.

All in all, a promising lot. They need to keep their heads down and work on a few things. A shame Keown, Stacey and Long can't all play right back really.

Second goal looked offside.

MOTM Cooper for me. I could see him being involved with the first team if we go down. Our best young centre half since Pearce.

[Fox Talbot]

Rather disappointed tbh. Very similar to last year's exit v WBA at same stage. Dominated play, had better players but lack a winning mentality.

The penalty was sloppy, the sending off predictable and unnecessary, the first goal not just a cock-up on the touchline but a failure to make any tackle in the box. Thought the keeper might done better on both the goals and had little else to do. The 8, 10 and 11 were pretty to watch though.