The Academy/Development squads watch thread 2024/25

[Hendo]

1-0 up against Man city. Weiser the scorer

Are you there Winders?

How is he looking?

[windermere_royal]

1-0 up against Man city. Weiser the scorer

Are you there Winders?

How is he looking?

Nope following it on twitter

[Hendo]

1-0 up against Man city. Weiser the scorer

Are you there Winders?

How is he looking?

Nope following it on twitter

Fair enough, anyone who did go tonight, would like to know how he got on.

Was hoping to see him the other night v MK Dons but obviously wasn't ready.

[mikey0406]

Watched the first half then my two year old got a bit restless... Run down of the first half

Samuels: stretched the back four no ends, skill full and held the ball up well, just looked a little rusty at times

Fosu: if he does not get played this year in the first team he needs a ball playing team in league 1/2 who will play to his strengths either ball behind the defence for him to run onto or ball to feet to beat players, the city defence tonight didn't have a chance against hiking the first half, they couldn't keep up

New player number 4 (lost the team sheet) likes to go to the floor and can see him picking up cards but saw plenty of the ball, good free kick although I thought the keeper should of done better

Our keeper, slightly shakey at receiving the ball to feet and distribution but made 2/3 good saves to keep city at bay, was v quick to get off his line

Our number 7 looked like he had plenty of attitude on the pitch, lots of f's directed at himself and his team mates... No idea why

Thought we played really well and if it was not for their keeper and a few last ditched tackles could of been 4 or 5

[Nameless]

Wiesel looks pretty useful, although he was a man amongst kids...
We were excellent first half, should have been more than 3 up but their keeper kept them in the game.
Fosu looked dangerous, Samuel had a nice first touch but posed no threat in the box. Osho looks to be a good prospect, incredibly calm.
Second half City dominated, pressed us higher and stopped us playing. Southwood was the busier keeper and is an excellent shotstopper.
Beating multimillionaires Citey is no mean feat, some very encouraging performances.

[Four Of Clubs]

Wiesel looks pretty useful, although he was a man amongst kids...
We were excellent first half, should have been more than 3 up but their keeper kept them in the game.
Fosu looked dangerous, Samuel had a nice first touch but posed no threat in the box. Osho looks to be a good prospect, incredibly calm.
Second half City dominated, pressed us higher and stopped us playing. Southwood was the busier keeper and is an excellent shotstopper.
Beating multimillionaires Citey is no mean feat, some very encouraging performances.

+2 for this - decided to escape domestic 'bliss' chez FoCcers and popped along - dragged my mate out too as it was free and free parking around the M'Stad so he didn't have to walk too far.

Agree with above - (No 4 was) Sandro Wieser scored with a neatly swerved free-kick into the bottom corner. Was good for the rest of the half too - subbed off at HT for Ryan East - who did nothing wrong and was subbed off himself late on, for Cardwell as we tried to retrieve the initiative - mostly in vain as this ref didn't like Harry either and appeared to blow up any time he challenged for the ball.

1st half Citeh keeper kept us out on his own for long periods and we could have been far more than three up by the break.

2nd half they pressed us but we looked a bit more solid, than the unit I watched when we caved in against Chelski late last season - think that was mix of u21/u18s - at least we were putting in some decent last ditch blocks and tackles - both their goals were avoidable but understandable given how both sides were tiring. Southwood in goal for us made some very good stops - at times quite acrobatic and was unfortunate to concede both goals.

Agreed Osho looked good on the ball - Hyam didn't do much wrong either and particularly gratifying was how well both FBs coped with some occasionally high-quality wing play around them.
Thought RB Sheppard had a touch of the 'Brynyar' about him - maybe just his frame and the way he runs - but he was dogged all night and made some promising forays. On the left McIntyre capped a strong 1st half with our third goal, driven high past their kp as the ball broke to him just inside the box.
Rinomhota put in a good shift in front of them too and out wide Stacey and Barrett supported the two main threats Fosu (who skipped past their kp for the 2nd after being played in on the left - by Stacey I think) and Samuel who carried more threat on the floor than the subs Cardwell or Nova who replaced Dom late on.

Even my mate confessed he'd enjoyed it (no Bars open on the concourse tonight though: is that an u23 rule or just staffing levels/cos it was free entry? - Not even sure if there was Hot food - just Hot/Cold Drinks and sweets)

[Nameless]

Just to highlight McIntyre is 17, starting his first game at U23 and was playing out of position. Thought he did pretty well....

[Reading Aloud]

Tom McIntyre is very well regarded at the club. He was injured for most of last season so has done fantastically well to make the u23's team. This chap is going places.

[SCIAG]

Best game I've seen from Rimonhota, Samuel, and even Fosu.

Stacey was very quiet in central midfield. We lacked width and times and could have done with him on the wing and either Fosu or Barrett central. Switching Sheppard and Stacey was another option.

McIntyre on the other hand looked completely comfortable at left back, possibly a little too ambitious when receiving the ball under pressure but a clear upgrade on Griffin. Very interested to see what happens to him in the long run.

I like the Brynjar comparison for Sheppard, right down to the occasional moment of utter magic. Nothing special from him on Friday.

Southwood's distribution is still a bit dodgy but he made up for it with some excellent saves.

Samuel hit a few shots when he should have been passing but finally looks like a genuine goal threat whenever he gets the ball.

Fosu was absolutely electric and could have had a hat trick. If he could perform like that every week then we'd have a really good player on our hands.

Wieser definitely looks the part, although a game against a bunch of (I'm guessing) 16-19 year olds probably isn't the best way to judge. He was sometimes a bit conservative but he looked like he combined Joey's physicality with Norwood's movement and Evans' passing. Excellent free kick too. I definitely see why we signed him.

[Sutekh]

Good profile here of the captain of the U16s at Reading

http://metro.co.uk/2016/09/05/metros-to ... i-6104933/?

[maffff]

First I've heard of him!

[Sutekh]

Reading have been drawn in the premier league cup group with Stoke, Sheffield Utd and Birmingham

[Sutekh]

New addition to the Academy...

A success for the youth team production line

Nineteen year old Cameron Green heralds the first real success of the Met Police Youth Team Project. Cameron was a star in last season’s U18 squad which fought its way through to the fourth round proper of the FA Youth Cup before finally being defeated by Wolverhampton Wanderers.

During that run Cameron was spotted by scouts from Reading and after training with them has now been signed on a two year contract and is looking forward to a career as a professional footballer.

Cameron was back at Imber Court to see his former team mates as the Met U18 team embarked upon this season’s journey with a 3-1 win over Three Bridges in the Preliminary Round of the FA Youth Cup.

Chairman Des Flanders said “this is a fantastic outcome for Cameron and for the Club and its Youth Team project. But it also highlights the shortcomings in the FA’s youth policy. Under FA Rules we were not allowed to sign Cameron on any kind of a contract while he was with us as a youth team player but, as so often happens, along comes a big club who can whisk the player away using promises until they finally make their minds up and we, the developing club get nothing. This needs to change.”

[Nameless]

Nice to see us described as a 'big' club.
Not sure he is correct that they get nothing. If we sell the lad Met Police get a sum as development compensation.
Is it morally correct that we can simply offer him a contract and we pay no fee ? I would have thought Met Police should get something or else what is the point of them developing good players ?

[Royalwaster]

Happens all around the country - with teams sniffing around youth football teams looking for talent from U8s upwards. As soon as someone develops into a real talent, they get whisked off to one of the academies ... a pain for your youth team, but part of reality. Sure you wish the lad well ... but you also bemoan the fact that you've suddenly lost one of your best players.

[Saaaaaaaammmmmm]

Non-League youth teams are a bit of a strange one, as the players aren't going to make a living out of football they usually leave anyway come 18 when they go off to University of wherever their job takes them. The club can't prevent them from leaving the area for another commitment, so not sure it's really worth investing too much in developing young players if they can't tie them down to any sort of contract.

The Met Police FA Youth Cup run was some achievement, presume we spotted Green as we were due to play the winners of their game with Wolves so probably had scouts there. A two-year deal at least gives him time to acclimatise to professional football. Rinomhota was signed from Portchester and after a steady first season now looks like the brightest talent in our Under-23 sqaud at just 18

[RoyalJones]

U18s FT: Reading 4-3 Spurs. House, Loader (2) and Odimayo the scorers for the Royals.

[Saaaaaaaammmmmm]

The U23s are playing Southampton right now and you can watch here: https://t.co/AQx9m9gFaB

No I don't know the team as no one at Reading cba covering and yes we're already 0-1 down

[Saaaaaaaammmmmm]

Kelly is playing which is a shame if we had any hopes of him featuring tomorrow, and I think Samuel as well but I can't tell

McCarthy in goal for Saints

We're also getting torn to shreds and it should be 0-3 without even exaggerating. 13 mins played

[Saaaaaaaammmmmm]

Okay 30 mins in and we've probably had about 15% possession

The fact I have no idea what formation we're playing probably says it all, but from what I can gather it's

Moore
Blonde RB (Sheppard?), McIntyre, Jules, Griffin
Rimonhota, Kelly, Bennett
Novakovich, Samuel, Barrett