The Academy/Development squads watch thread 2024/25

[P!ssed Off]

Wusu, Wusu, Wusu!

[NewCorkSeth]

AMAZING

[sputnik]

Lovely stuff!

[Ian Royal]

OoooooWUUUsssssUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

[winchester_royal]

We've been really quite good since half time.

[Ian Royal]

We've been really quite good since half time.

Absolutely, turned on the class and urgency.

[NewCorkSeth]

We've been really quite good since half time.

Absolutely, turned on the class and urgency.

Good thing Hector inspired them

[P!ssed Off]

3-0

[NewCorkSeth]

GOOOAAAL

[GreaterTorontoRoyal]

Harry "Styles" Cardwell!

[sputnik]

Quite enjoying the commentary tbh. Perhaps Dellor should be taking a few notes.

[Ian Royal]

Well Big Hec's rap wasn't as awful as I was expecting. Good on him for honouring his bet.

[NewCorkSeth]

Good game, good commentary, good night

[andrew1957]

Excellent win tonight. A totally dominant performance from start to finish. I thought all the back 5 did well - although the keeper had nothing to do really. Owusu and Watson did very well coming into attack.

Kuhl ran midfield and looks a real prospect. Kelly very good again and tonight Fosu had a much better game. Cardwell did everything you could expect of a forward including notching a goal. But for me MOTM by a long way was Stacey. He looks a really good player and could go on to greater things. In fact a good number of these players could become first teamers in due course.

Well done guys. A great chance to get into the semi finals, as we are at home in the next round.

[Ian Royal]

Excellent win tonight. A totally dominant performance from start to finish. I thought all the back 5 did well - although the keeper had nothing to do really. Owusu and Watson did very well coming into attack.

Kuhl ran midfield and looks a real prospect. Kelly very good again and tonight Fosu had a much better game. Cardwell did everything you could expect of a forward including notching a goal. But for me MOTM by a long way was Stacey. He looks a really good player and could go on to greater things. In fact a good number of these players could become first teamers in due course.

Well done guys. A great chance to get into the semi finals, as we are at home in the next round.

Stacey has something of Little about him IMO. Agree the full backs were super as well.

[winchester_royal]

Good summary Andrew, find it difficult to disagree with any of that. Kuhl completely bossed that second half, and set the platform for the front 4 to cause havoc at regular intervals. It's noticeable how many options he has when on the ball though, the movement off the ball throughout the team was outstanding.

That Accrington team beat West Ham earlier in the competition so they're no mugs, but we made them look exceptionally ordinary. A really exciting group.

[Royals and Racers]

Don`t know if this has been posted -home to Watford or Liverpool in quarter final(they are playing Wed 19th)
If we get past that in the 2 leg semi we would meet winners of Man city/Fulham or Huddersfield/man utd 1st leg would be at home

[Royalwaster]

Good summary Andrew, find it difficult to disagree with any of that. Kuhl completely bossed that second half, and set the platform for the front 4 to cause havoc at regular intervals. It's noticeable how many options he has when on the ball though, the movement off the ball throughout the team was outstanding.

That Accrington team beat West Ham earlier in the competition so they're no mugs, but we made them look exceptionally ordinary. A really exciting group.

Yeah was just thinking ... we beat Accrington ... big deal! But I guess if they beat West Ham who usually have a very decent youth set up, it's maybe better than I thought. First time I've heard of Acc having a decent youth set up though .... ???

[SCIAG]

MOTM for me was Dickie. Also very impressive by Watson, Owusu and Stacey. I was disappointed by the three in midfield (Kuhl made some good interceptions but they struggled to create anything, Sammi in particular hasn't quite lived up to expectations), but it looks like I was in a minority there.

As a non local fan I have to ask, is this the usual standard of our youth teams? cuz these guys look bloody good.

A few years ago, we had an excellent side containing Hamer, Pearce, Julian Kelly, Karacan, Henry, Robson-Kanu, Church, Bignall, and sometimes a young Icelandic midfielder, all of whom went on to play for us.

Then we had a few quieter years that were dependent on a few stand-out talents like McCarthy, Jake Taylor, Abdulai Bell-Baggie (now in League 1), and D'Ath.

The past three years we've looked really good, but this is probably the most balanced side we've ever had. The past few years you could probably point to one or two and say "yeah, he won't make it", but this year it would be harsh to definitively rule anyone out.

[KC Royal]

Finished watching on youtube a short time ago. Having missed the last round I was looking forward to seeing this and hoped for a comfortable win. I wasn't disappointed, and we were in control really throughout. Owusu, Kuhl (not only looks like Luiz but plays like him too) and Kelly all excellent, but the standout player for me was Stacey. Outstanding performance from him.

We may have gone further than the class of 2007 by reaching the quarters but I'm not sure whether this matches what that team did yet. We had tougher matches then (IIRC none of the ties we had included a club whose first team were outside the top two tiers) and we won more emphatically, but I do wonder how far this team can go.
At the very least we're seeing future first team players here. I looked back at that 2007 team maybe a year ago and half of them have played in the top two divisions and the majority of that half have received international call-ups. Contrast that with the Liverpool team that knocked us out and went on to win the cup, and only 2 players i'd heard of now, Jay Spearing and the captain (?) Jimmy Ryan who I think is playing lower league football now.