Academy & U21s

[rigger]

10 hours ago, riverholmes said:

Interesting that Ash Phillips was out with an injury picked up on international duty. That's one of, it seems, a number of injuries he's picked up this season. They seem to all have been relatively minor but I think it should be a matter of concern for Rovers, considering his age and the regularity that he is playing for U23s, U18s and internationals, all against players above his age.

Rovers rotate their goalkeeper for the U23s, virtually every match. I would look to give Phillips some rest. This season has been blighted by major injuries to Isaac Whitehall, Lenni Cirino, Sam Barnes and others, so some caution and reflection might be helpful.

It might be announced as a minor injury, but he has been out for three weeks so far. That to me seems more serious.

Edited March 4, 2022 by rigger

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

11 hours ago, riverholmes said:

Interesting that Ash Phillips was out with an injury picked up on international duty. That's one of, it seems, a number of injuries he's picked up this season. They seem to all have been relatively minor but I think it should be a matter of concern for Rovers, considering his age and the regularity that he is playing for U23s, U18s and internationals, all against players above his age.

Rovers rotate their goalkeeper for the U23s, virtually every match. I would look to give Phillips some rest. This season has been blighted by major injuries to Isaac Whitehall, Lenni Cirino, Sam Barnes and others, so some caution and reflection might be helpful.

Maybe he’s out grown his strength at the moment.

[RoverCanada]

Thought I'd do another loan roundup (no, YOU should have better things to do on a Sunday...)

Hayden Carter - Portsmouth (currently 10th in League 1)

10 starts, 1 unused sub, 826 minutes, 1 goal, 0 assists

- Seems to be getting universal plaudits from Portsmouth fans, who are already hoping he'll stick around for another season-long loan. Looking like a successful loan spell so far!

- His screamer of a goal, which has already been posted, but why not post it again: 

- Don't think his little nutmeg earlier was posted, so that's a fun little watch too:

Sam Burns - Scunthorpe (currently bottom of League 2)

8 starts, 2 subs, 1 unused sub, 624 minutes, 2 goals, 0 assists

- Mostly getting starts on an apparently awful Scunthorpe side.

- His 2 goals came in one game. You can see both in the last 30 seconds of these highlights. One scrappy, the other a decent finish: 

Harry Chapmen - Burton Albion (currently 15th in League 1)

Since returning on loan: 1 start, 5 subs, 2 unused subs, 176 minutes, 0 goals, 0 assists

- Had 9 starts (+ 1 EFT start), 4 subs (+1 FAC start), 3 unused subs, 824 minutes (+ 75 cup minutes), 1 goal, 0 assists during his initial loan

- Seems to be relegated to a 2nd half attacking sub role for his second loan spell on a Burton side struggling for goals

Daniel Butterworth - Fleetwood Town (currently 19th in League 1)

3 starts, 3 subs, 316 minutes, 0 goals, 0 assists

- Minutes/starts are inconsistent, and apparently played out on the wing a couple times rather than up front. Would hope he'd be lighting up L1 (and he's not that young at 22 anymore), but at least finally getting some semi-regular minutes.

Tyler Magloire - Northampton Town (currently 2nd in League 2)

7 starts, 2 subs, 2 unused subs, 634 minutes, 0 goals, 0 assists

- I imagine he's simply auditioning for a L2/NL-ish contract next year at this point, but good for him seemingly nailing down a starting spot in a 2nd place L2 side after some mixed previous loans

Louie Annesley - Woking (currently 18th in National League)

13 league starts (+ 1 FAT start), 3 subs, 1,229 minutes (+ 90 FAT minutes), 0 goals

- Regular starter. Seems to be placed all over the park (I think I've seen the BBC have him down at RB, CB, MF, and LM)

Dan Pike - AFC Fylde (currently 4th in National League North)

14 starts, 1,247 minutes, 0 goals, at least 1 assist (can't find a tally, but see video below) (combining his two loans as I think they were only broken up by injury)

- Suppose you'd hope he'd be at a higher level this year, but at least getting a lot of minutes as a regular starter. Can't really find any comment/review of his overall play.

- Video of a cross assist:

Joe Nolan - Curzon Ashton (currently 12th in National League North)

6 starts, 1 sub, 554 minutes, 0 goals, 

- Seems this loan is actually over now (think it was always only a 'short-term' loan), but got a decent amount of minutes while he was there anyway.

Connor McBride - Queen's Park (currently 4th in Scottish League 1)

2 starts, 4 subs, 285 minutes, 0 goals

- Always an odd one considering there were earlier murmurs of a (EFL) L1 loan. Now seemingly only a semi-regular at a pretty low level... was missing from the lineup for some reason yesterday.

Edited March 11, 2022 by RoverCanada

[RoverCanada]

D'oh. Just realised I forgot to add Joe Hilton, who is worthy of mention given he's seemingly had a decent run with Hamilton. He's held on to the starter's role after initially taking over from their regular keeper, Fulton, due to injury (and, as I note below, maybe poor results with Fulton).

Joe Hilton - Hamilton Academical (currently 8th in the Scottish Championship)

16 league starts + 7 cup starts, 9 unused subs, 1440 league minutes and 630 cup minutes, 5 league clean sheets and 2 cup clean sheets.

- Hamilton are currently last in the Scottish Championship in goals against, but it's worth noting there's an extreme split between his starts and Fulton's starts: 1.06 GA/G for Hilton vs 2.17 GA/G for Fulton. Extrapolating Hilton's results would place them 5th in GA.

- On the negative side, he is now out with a knee injury for 4 weeks. So, he's missed the past two starts.

Edited March 11, 2022 by RoverCanada

[RoverCanada]

On a positive note, Butterworth got his first senior goal shortly after subbing on for Fleetwood Town yesterday. Play starts around the 40 second mark of the highlights below (3-2 loss to Burton. Chapman played the full 90 minutes. Didn't have a hand in any of Burton's goals, but he does deliver a decent cross for a shot that hits the post)

And McBride got an assist laying off a one-two for a long range strike after subbing on for Queen's Park FC (I do question if reporting such updates its even worthwhile for a SL1 loan haha, but there ya go)

[G Somerset Rover]

These lads involved in goals will soon have that knocked out of them when they return to Brockhall.

[rigger]

U23s 2-1 down at arsenal, Half-time.

[rigger]

U23 now 2-2 Jack Vale scored, so he wont be in tomorrows squad. Finishes 2-2, a good result.

Edited March 14, 2022 by rigger

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, rigger said:

U23 now 2-2 Jack Vale scored, so he wont be in tomorrows squad. Finishes 2-2, a good result.

I’ve played 4 games in a weekend a few times as a kid. Most weekends it was three games. School or Town morning Youth Club afternoon. Sunday team afternoon.

Edited March 14, 2022 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[rigger]

12 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I’ve played 4 games in a weekend a few times as a kid. Most weekends it was three games. School or Town morning Youth Club afternoon. Sunday team afternoon.

I regularly played three times a week and trained on the other four days, but it won't be allowed these days.

[rigger]

Does anyone know what is happening with Ash Phillips, he doesn't seem to be anywhere at any level ?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

24 minutes ago, rigger said:

Does anyone know what is happening with Ash Phillips, he doesn't seem to be anywhere at any level ?

Isn’t he injured at the moment ?

[rigger]

26 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Isn’t he injured at the moment ?

He was walking around at the U23s game against QPR in the cup, a few weeks ago. Not heard nothing definate since then. 

[Guest]

Jack Vale called up for Wales U21

[bluebruce]

7 hours ago, JoeH said:

Jack Vale called up for Wales U21

He has played for them before hasn't he? Or am I thinking of someone else?

[Guest]

25 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

He has played for them before hasn't he? Or am I thinking of someone else?

Yes he has. Scored I think last time he went, maybe even two goals if I'm remembering right.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

On 15/03/2022 at 11:02, rigger said:

I regularly played three times a week and trained on the other four days, but it won't be allowed these days.

I was reading about Andy McEvoy earlier. He played for Rovers on the Saturday and scored twice then he travelled to Dublin to  play for the Republic of Ireland on the Sunday and scored another two ! 

[Cherry Blue]

Dack playing for U23s tonight v Derby. Rovers 2 1 up with 15m to go.

Sharpe writes "The big news is that Bradley Dack starts for Rovers, captaining the side on his sixth appearance since his return from injury. Great credit to Dack to feature in this, having been involved in the last three first-team fixtures and many of the senior players given a few days off during the international break, for Dack to be involved says plenty about his character. Will benefit undoubtedly from more match minutes, even at Under-23s level."

[rigger]

Rovers U23s beat Derby tonight 2-1 in a really poor game. Both teams and the Ref making loads of errors all over the place. The result was more important than the performance, so the team will be happy. I have said this before and I will say it again, Dack did very little.

[Mattyblue]

And that doesn’t matter one bit in a youth game fitness exercise.

Edited March 21, 2022 by Mattyblue

[roversfan99]

Yep, and great news that he seemingly got through another 90 minutes unscathed. Hopefully him and Brereton will start at Coventry.

[rigger]

23 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

And that doesn’t matter one bit in a youth game fitness exercise.

That's your opinion. Mine is that he is miles away from first team fitness. It is not a fitness exercise, if you do very little.

[Mattyblue]

It’s not ‘my opinion’ to say senior pros play in youth games for fitness and recovery. That’s just a fact and always has been.

Bizarre you are still banging this drum…

[rigger]

3 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

It’s not ‘my opinion’ to say senior pros play in youth games for fitness and recovery. That’s just a fact and always has been.

Bizarre you are still banging this drum…

Mainly because every time I have seen Dack play,  he looks the same.

[Mattyblue]

So? 

He isn’t there to go full pelt and potentially relapse. Or to get crunched in a 50/50. It’s a cotton wool job. ‘Minutes under his belt’

That is literally it, bizarre that this still needs explaining to you.