Academy & U21s

[bluebruce]

4-1, a Huddersfield consolation goal from Pat Jones whoever he is.

Looks like our final sub (only 3 allowed I believe) was Morton off for Horlock on 71 minutes.

Edited February 7, 2023 by bluebruce

[Uddersfelt Blue]

Was at the game (literally 10 minutes down the road)

What a difference from the sluggish performance against Wigan. OK against a much inferior team but hey we played really well, slick passing and confident play. 

Dolan was superb and surely a shoe in for Watford. Full of running, trickery, skill and enthusiasm. Interesting to see him wide left and wonder if he will replace Brereton.

Szmodics was particularly bright and even Gallagher showed that he can create and score. A great pass out wide and got on the end of the ball in.

Good to see the management team out in force. 

Morton has to be back for Buckley. He is quality

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, Uddersfelt Blue said:

Was at the game (literally 10 minutes down the road)

What a difference from the sluggish performance against Wigan. OK against a much inferior team but hey we played really well, slick passing and confident play. 

Dolan was superb and surely a shoe in for Watford. Full of running, trickery, skill and enthusiasm. Interesting to see him wide left and wonder if he will replace Brereton.

Szmodics was particularly bright and even Gallagher showed that he can create and score. A great pass out wide and got on the end of the ball in.

Good to see the management team out in force. 

Morton has to be back for Buckley. He is quality

Good to see. I believe their first team was playing tonight at Blackpool.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

2 minutes ago, Uddersfelt Blue said:

Was at the game (literally 10 minutes down the road)

What a difference from the sluggish performance against Wigan. OK against a much inferior team but hey we played really well, slick passing and confident play. 

Dolan was superb and surely a shoe in for Watford. Full of running, trickery, skill and enthusiasm. Interesting to see him wide left and wonder if he will replace Brereton.

Szmodics was particularly bright and even Gallagher showed that he can create and score. A great pass out wide and got on the end of the ball in.

Good to see the management team out in force. 

Morton has to be back for Buckley. He is quality

Dolan is one of the few players we have that looks like he enjoys playing football and wants to be out there.

[Sparks Rover]

4 minutes ago, Uddersfelt Blue said:

Was at the game (literally 10 minutes down the road)

What a difference from the sluggish performance against Wigan. OK against a much inferior team but hey we played really well, slick passing and confident play. - 

Dolan was superb and surely a shoe in for Watford. Full of running, trickery, skill and enthusiasm. Interesting to see him wide left and wonder if he will replace Brereton. 

Szmodics was particularly bright and even Gallagher showed that he can create and score. A great pass out wide and got on the end of the ball in.

Good to see the management team out in force. 

Morton has to be back for Buckley. He is quality

Come on mate...

[Uddersfelt Blue]

Yes it was definitely a much inferior Huddersfield team but a useful match to give some of our senior players an opportunity to show their quality during 90 minutes of football

[Sparks Rover]

3 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Dolan is one of the few players we have that looks like he enjoys playing football and wants to be out there.

Sadly he isn't up to the job no matter how much he enjoys it.

[Sparks Rover]

Just now, Uddersfelt Blue said:

Yes it was definitely a much inferior Huddersfield team but a useful match to give some of our senior players an opportunity to show their quality during 90 minutes of football

Just pissing in the wind I'd say against kids

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

2 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

Sadly he isn't up to the job no matter how much he enjoys it.

He’s a better bet than Vale. That’s all that matters at the moment.

[Uddersfelt Blue]

6 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

Come on mate...

Do you have anything positive to add mate? I can only comment on what I saw tonight and last night. 

[roversfan99]

Dan Butterworth missed a penalty against Accy Stanley tonight.

[BlackburnEnd75]

38 minutes ago, Uddersfelt Blue said:

Was at the game (literally 10 minutes down the road)

What a difference from the sluggish performance against Wigan. OK against a much inferior team but hey we played really well, slick passing and confident play. 

Dolan was superb and surely a shoe in for Watford. Full of running, trickery, skill and enthusiasm. Interesting to see him wide left and wonder if he will replace Brereton.

Szmodics was particularly bright and even Gallagher showed that he can create and score. A great pass out wide and got on the end of the ball in.

Good to see the management team out in force. 

Morton has to be back for Buckley. He is quality

What are your thoughts on Leonard. Ready for 1st team involvement?

[Uddersfelt Blue]

Took his goals well and clearly knows where the net is.

Hard to judge in a game like this but can’t be any worse than the other strikers we have currently 

[Sparks Rover]

1 hour ago, BlackburnEnd75 said:

What are your thoughts on Leonard. Ready for 1st team involvement?

I identified Leonard about 18 months ago as the best of this crop.  He seems to be able to play against most standards of youth/21 opposition with a fair amount of ease, he can go past a player and his balance is very good.  He should be getting time on the pitch if Vale does.  He's a proper footballer 

Personally I fancy him to make the biggest impact of all these young lads.

Edited February 8, 2023 by Sparks Rover

[Sparks Rover]

1 hour ago, Uddersfelt Blue said:

Do you have anything positive to add mate? I can only comment on what I saw tonight and last night. 

You're describing players as world beaters who we all know aren't good enough for what we really want

[joey_big_nose]

Surely giving Leonard a crack at Watford, at least for 30 minutes, has to be on the cards?

Agree Dolan should come back in for Brereton on the left for Watford. Maybe we move Brereton central, or start Gallagher, or start Leonard. What we should absolutely not do is start Vale.

Or..... given the desperate state we are in wonder if we could end up playing Hedges centrally thinking about it? Can hold onto the ball, link up, has a bit of presence about him. But... no scoring record really. 1 in 6 for Aberdeen. But if we were going to makeshift a established player into a central striker I'd go for him over Szmodics or Dolan as I think he could physically handle the centrebacks the best with his back to goal.

[Exiled_Rover]

5 hours ago, benhben said:

Are there not rules against so many first teamers and players over 21 playing for the U21s? I'd have thought there would be a limit not nearly a full side. 

JDT seems to treat the U21s like an old school reserve side. I remember as a teenager when blackburn reserves played at Morecambe Fcs ground just round the corner from me. £3 a game and it was mostly first teamers who didn't play at the weekend. Had some big names down there. Dwight Yorke, Diego Forlan, David Ginola, Jason Wilcox to name a few.

Bit worried some of our genuine U21 prospects struggle for game time now.

I don't think that's been a problem - tonight was the 7th game for the U21s since the start of January. Plenty of game time to go around. 

[Mattyblue]

End of the day only the best of the crop will make it into the first team anyway, so they will still get U21 starts when first teamers are involved.

Surely better for said cream of the crop to play with the likes of Dolan and Brittain than some lad that will probably end up in non league…

[Trinidad Rover]

11 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Dan Butterworth missed a penalty against Accy Stanley tonight.

He is never going to make it. 2 goals in 19 matches in league 1.

Mowbray rated him I think.

[joey_big_nose]

31 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

End of the day only the best of the crop will make it into the first team anyway, so they will still get U21 starts when first teamers are involved.

Surely better for said cream of the crop to play with the likes of Dolan and Brittain than some lad that will probably end up in non league…

Yeah, one of the innovations JDT has introduced which I quite like is dropping players down to play in the 21s regularly. Let's everyone know where they stand in the pecking order, and gives them a platform to perform to get back in the side. Worked well for Dack and JRC. Less well for others... but better than players just disappearing into a blackhole and not appearing for months.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, Trinidad Rover said:

He is never going to make it. 2 goals in 19 matches in league 1.

Mowbray rated him I think.

I did until he got that long standing back injury. That’s guaranteed to make life more difficult for a footballer - see Dahlin.

Edited February 8, 2023 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[joey_big_nose]

37 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I did until he got that long standing back injury. That’s guaranteed to make life more difficult for a footballer - see Dahlin.

Yeah - I remember maybe his second ever start for us and he was really dynamic. Looked a very exciting player. But then got injured and when he came back was appalling.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

55 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

Yeah - I remember maybe his second ever start for us and he was really dynamic. Looked a very exciting player. But then got injured and when he came back was appalling.

I had disc problems - playing football was murder, even at amateur level.

[roversfan99]

3 hours ago, Trinidad Rover said:

He is never going to make it. 2 goals in 19 matches in league 1.

Mowbray rated him I think.

I'm not sure he did, he made up the numbers I think off the back of no reinvestment of the Armstrong money.

[Exiled_Rover]

On 08/02/2023 at 00:01, Sparks Rover said:

I identified Leonard about 18 months ago as the best of this crop.  He seems to be able to play against most standards of youth/21 opposition with a fair amount of ease, he can go past a player and his balance is very good.  He should be getting time on the pitch if Vale does.  He's a proper footballer 

Personally I fancy him to make the biggest impact of all these young lads.

I've no idea how good he is as I've literally never seen him play - but I did note that he was the only one that warmed up properly at half time in the Birmingham FA Cup game.