Brighton U18's lose 8 - 0

[Icy Gull]

I recall reading a post on here a couple of weeks ago
about how incestuos the lower age groups of the academy were, who you know rather than how good you are :
I assumed it was rubbish at the time but looking at the results....

 

[chaileyjem]

I reca reading a post about how incestuos the lower age groups of the academy were, who you know rather than how good you are : shrug: I assumed it was rubbish at the time but looking at the results....

Those results this season when the u18s beat Spurs, Chelsea, Liverpool, Villa, Norwich and Southampton ?

 

[Icy Gull]

Those results this season when the u18s beat Spurs, Arsenal, Liverpool, Villa, Norwich and Southampton ?

As I say I have no idea, just thought it was worth mentioning.

 

[BigGully]

Do you know if the academy still play that negative pass it around the back boring system that poyet implemented?
I do recall all our sides playing this idiotic way a few years ago
The academy was always goner take years to produce anyway

I think most Academy's try and play a similar way, it just depends how any coach interprets/tolerates passing and the inevitable risks that style produces.

I am not sure of the virtues of any youth team playing a similar style as any first team, at the age of 16-18 years you will need to develop a basket of technical, psychological, physical and tactical skills to try and offer a greater chance of succeeding in a career, specialising purely on any first team managers principles might prove extremely risky as that manger is likely to be sacked before the end to their scholarship before a new manager with new ideas are then foisted upon a young player, so a more wider development programme would surely be preferable.

 

[perseus]

They've had a very disappointing second half to the season , partly because promising players like James Tilley have been promoted to the u21s.
But this season the u18s have had victories over Southampton, Spurs, Chelsea, Villa, Norwich and only 2 weeks ago Liverpool.

How many will be 19 next season? A new crop of youngsters and some are only 16?

How many Youth Cup winners make it above Championship standard?

 

[Rookie]

Without knowing the team, I would guess that the team put out would have been very young. Not the best results (no idea about performances though as the club seem reluctant to mention much about the youth teams) since Rusk stepped up though

 

[chaileyjem]

Not the best results (no idea about performances though as the club seem reluctant to mention much about the youth teams) since Rusk stepped up though

There's 2 pages about the u18s in every programme. and a match report for every single u18s match on the club website.
http://www.seagulls.co.uk/fixtures-results/youth/

 

[Rookie]

There's 2 pages about the u18s in every programme. and a match report for every single u18s match on the club website.
http://www.seagulls.co.uk/fixtures-results/youth/

Yes a report about a game for the u18 but nothing about the players, or highlights of the game (they are all recorded). We have to rely on AZ for info on certain players. For example are those players u16 who have stepped up , players who have been told they won't be playing for BHA next season etc. The bits in the programme are nice, but still very little on actual detail.

 

[chaileyjem]

Yes a report about a game for the u18 but nothing about the players.

Apart from who played, was subbed, scored, photos etc. The programme v Watford had an analysis of the u18s season and 3 more pages on the Academy/Women teams.
Appreciate you want more (highlights , contract details ?, subjective analysis ?) but some of this is rightfully not made public and its certainly not "nothing" and its not "the club seem reluctant to mention much about the youth teams". Others on here as you say often do a good job of filling in those gaps.

 

[Rookie]

Apart from who played, was subbed, scored, photos etc. The programme v Watford had an analysis of the u18s season and 3 more pages on the Academy/Women teams.
Appreciate you want more (highlights , contract details ?, subjective analysis ?) but some of this is rightfully not made public and its certainly not "nothing" and its not "the club seem reluctant to mention much about the youth teams". Others on here as you say often do a good job of filling in those gaps.

Don't believe I requested specific contract details (who has been told they won't be back next year is different and some can be found on Twitter), but a quick look at other clubs websites (I chose Palace and Wolves) gives far more information about the players in the u21s and Palace also has information about the u18s. I personally think it would be nice to see who could possibly be the next up and coming player or where various players have come from. As AZ has proven the information is out there so its not a secret, but would be nice if the club chose to make that info available through their various portals.

 

[GT49er]

Ready for the first team in three to five years ..... oops!

Hopefully there were reasons for this defeat (other than being sh*te) - some indeed have been suggested on this thread already - so I'm not going to get too upset about it. If the U18s continue to get overwhelmed, though, it will be a cause for concern - we have taken an almighty step into this academy business.

 

[chaileyjem]

Ready for the first team in three to five years ..... oops!
If U18s continue to get overwhelmed, though, it will be a cause for concern - we have taken an almighty step into this academy business.

So what conclusion would you draw from fact that 2 weeks ago the u18s beat Liverpool. ?

 

[GT49er]

So what conclusion would you draw from fact that 2 weeks ago the u18s beat Liverpool. ?

No more conclusion than I drew from the 8-0 defeat. As I said, reasons for it have been suggested, and they may be right. Of course, there may be reasons why we beat Liverpool too - it appears that victory was a one-off in a long series of defeats.

 

[London Irish]

Blimey all 4 wheels are loose

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

It's rare for the u18s to be discussed on here . Wrong to make a rash conclusion about this poor result or equally the victory over Liverpool a fortnight ago or defeats of Chelsea etc earlier this season.

For about the first time ever, I completely agree with you. These games are where those very young players learn their trade, for better or worse. The club had some Albion under-10 (I think) tiddlers on the pitch at half-time a couple of games back. Are we supposed to vilify those also, the first time they run up against an unplayable set of under-10s?

 

[Phat Baz 68]

Academy's working then !

 

[AZ Gull]

What division are they in ?
What's the record over the whole season ?

At U-18 level, the 24 Category One academy teams are divided into a north and south division (with 12 teams in each).

Albion finished 8th in the south division (above Fulham on goal difference), with a record of:-

P 22

W 8
D 3
L 11

F 37
A 41

The two divisions were then each split into 3; the top 4 from each division were placed into a mini-league where each team played every other team once, meaning a 7-game play-off. The same happened for teams finishing 5th to 8th, and for teams finishing 9th to 12th.

Albion, with their 8th place finish, were in a mini-league with Wolves, Derby, Liverpool and Sunderland from the north division, and Reading, West Ham and Leicester from the south division. Their record in this mini-league was:-

P 7

W 1
D 2
L 4

F 9
A 20

They finished bottom of this play-off league. So, you could argue they finished 16th out of 24 teams overall.

As you mentioned, they definitely had two very different halves to their season. After they had beaten Southampton 4-0 on 10 January, they lay 3rd in the table but with a game in hand (and one point behind) Aston Villa. They then lost their final 7 league matches and only just finished 8th.

It does make you wonder how much of this was down to the loss of Simon Rusk to the U-21s. To answer [MENTION=3714]We're the Stripes[/MENTION] question, Ben Smith has been the interim coach since Rusk moved up. It is easy to say that results deteriorated due to older lads being promoted to the U-21s and youngsters being called up, but EVERY team does that as the season progresses.

 

[BigGully]

At U-18 level, the 24 Category One academy teams are divided into a north and south division (with 12 teams in each).

Albion finished 8th in the south division (above Fulham on goal difference), with a record of:-

P 22

W 8
D 3
L 11

F 37
A 41

The two divisions were then each split into 3; the top 4 from each division were placed into a mini-league where each team played every other team once, meaning a 7-game play-off. The same happened for teams finishing 5th to 8th, and for teams finishing 9th to 12th.

Albion, with their 8th place finish, were in a mini-league with Wolves, Derby, Liverpool and Sunderland from the north division, and Reading, West Ham and Leicester from the south division. Their record in this mini-league was:-

P 7

W 1
D 2
L 4

F 9
A 20

They finished bottom of this play-off league. So, you could argue they finished 16th out of 24 teams overall.

As you mentioned, they definitely had two very different halves to their season. After they had beaten Southampton 4-0 on 10 January, they lay 3rd in the table but with a game in hand (and one point behind) Aston Villa. They then lost their final 7 league matches and only just finished 8th.

It does make you wonder how much of this was down to the loss of Simon Rusk to the U-21s. To answer [MENTION=3714]We're the Stripes[/MENTION] question, Ben Smith has been the interim coach since Rusk moved up. It is easy to say that results deteriorated due to older lads being promoted to the U-21s and youngsters being called up, but EVERY team does that as the season progresses.

This is true but not necessarily in sync, such an emphatic trouncing as 8-0 suggests that there might have been some differences on the age, experience and therefore physicality which will always effect the outcome of youth games.

Similarly it might represent that the new set of players are not particularly strong, but that might be a little unfair so I am going with an out of sync age group

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

Brilliant, let's not just knock the confidence of the 1st Team, we may as well jump on the backs of the lads too!

 

[SAC]

There's 2 pages about the u18s in every programme.

Before or after your programme notes, Paul?