Re: Under 18's game V Man Utd last night

[Jambo]

Just thought I would give some feedback on the game last night between the U18's and Man Utd.

You can read a couple of reports  at http://www.friendsoffulham.com/forum/index.php?topic=30137.0

The team Lineup was:
                                 Marek Rodak,
Josh Passley, Liam Donnelly, Stephen Arthurworrey; Tom Richards,
Patrick Roberts, Solomon Sambou,Emerson Hyndman, Lyle Della Verde ('45), .
                              Muamer Tankovic,
                              Cauley Woodrow

Subs: Max Oberschmidt, Cameron Burgess, Daniel O'Reilly, Noe Baba, Moussa Dembele ('45).

It was a tight game with both sides making chances, but happy to say we edged it and were much the better team in the last 15 minutes.
Utd had a couple of useful players and I would keep an eye out for Andreas Pereira, a Belgium player who they got from PSV I believe.

Anyway thoughts on the players. I know what most of you want to know...are any of them ready to step up to the first team?

Well I think the answer is, well not really but...maybe a couple could get a runout as subs next season.

Three players really impressed me last night, There was Passley who had a good game at RB and also was very good attacking and has a good cross. He's well built and I would say he could make an appearance in that RB spot. I'm not saying he's going to hold down a place but it would be interesting to see him against better wingers.
Woodrow also led the line well and had a number of shots that were saved and also hit the post. I'm not sure how many times he had to chest the ball down but it was a lot. He is the type of player we dont have in the first team setup at the moment and his play outside the box is better that Trotta when I saw him at this level.
Tankovic played behind Woodrow (he moved to the left late on in the second half)and was everywhere, involved in most moves we made. Him and Woodrow had a good partnership going.

A quick rundown on the others:
Rodak: Did what was required of him, needs to put on a few pounds I think, but kicking was good and long. Looked to move the ball out quickly (he wont last long at Fulham doing that then  fp.gif)
Donnelly: Did his job, the quiet one of the CB's.
Arthurworrey: I tweeted last night he's like a young Zat Knight, but hopefully without the errors. Has a decent long pass on him, and he looks outside this age range, a tall lad. Good on the floor and had a couple of runs up field with it.
Richards: Had a quiet first half, more involved during the 2nd half and got a decent shot in at one stage. Tackles well and quite brave with one challenge when he got clouted by a utd player.
Roberts: a boy even in an U18's team. He looks about 13.Was much better in the second half and likes to run at players, but a bit of a cliche as a winger lots of effort not much final ball.  He has the tricks (one in particular he must have tried 5 times and worked once) and shows promise. I would say years away from making an impact.
Hyndman: Similar to Roberts in that he's young, small and slight and to be honest you would have struggled to know he was on the pitch.
Sambou: Did a lot of the hardwork in CM, strong and tough in the tackle, was involved in some decent moves. For me he was carrying Hyndman throughout the game. We tended to play stright up to Woodrow/Tankovic or down the wings and less through CM.
Della Verde: Played just the first half. Was involved in one major piece of action down the wing but apart from that not a lot offered from him. Replaced at HT by Dembele.
Dembele: Started on the wing second half and then for the last 20 moved up front. I was wondering what all the fuss about him is about until he went up front and then he shown pace, aggression/Strength and a good touch. Never really got near scoring but was causing the UTD defence problems.

On reflection an ok game with a few chances for both sides. We have a good team mentality by the looks of it. The question is will any of this group make it?
the 3 I said at the start are the closest to possibly getting a sub appearance, if you pushed me to name one player to give 20 minutes to before the end of the season I would give Woodrow the shot, closely followed by Passley.

thanks for the report.   :54:

[Burt]

A good write-up, thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[MasterHaynes]

Couldn't get there last night as I'm in the States at the moment but the three you picked out have consistently looked stand out players for the last 18 months.
I liked Passley when he played in the centre of the defence last season as he read the game as if he had a crystal ball in hs pocket, stood up well to much bigger, older and stronger players.
Woodrow has a so much awareness of other players, bringing them in to attack well and not only runs all day for the team with pace is a very good cool finisher. I would hope a number are already training with the first team occasionally.
It will be interesting to see how the team reacts to the pressure of knowing that nothing less than a win could cost them the championship having topped it from the first game, players with a winning mentality is something we really need going forward . Everton are a very good team, if they win their last three games they could still finish above us so tough game, would love to be there hope all the season ticket holders that can go get down there and cheer them on.You can't buy this sort of experience. COYW

[MJG]

Seeing Andreas Pereira comes on for his Premier League debut for Manchester United made me dig this out. He impressed me that night.