Got something to say or just want fewer pesky ads? Join us... 😊

Register Log in

Chelsea U18 13 - 0 Brighton



GT49er

GT49er

Well-known member
Feb 1, 2009
46,706
Gloucester
chaileyjem said:
For context : In recent weeks though the u18s have beaten both Arsenal and Spurs and were unlucky to get knocked out of the FA Youth Cup on penalties after reaching the 4th round.

No idea what happened yesterday mind.
Click to expand...
Exactly. They haven't been doing badly - lower mid table (9th. out of 12). And ahead of Southampton - and we all know the calibre of their youth team products over the years! Chelsea are top, and pretty much owning the league, so defeat is no great surprise. The margin is, though - 13-0 is more than just a good thrashing. No report on Seagulls website yet (anybody know how long it usually takes to put the report up?) but it will be interesting to see if there were any particular circumstances that contributed to this whopping defeat.
 




B

BigGully

Well-known member
Sep 8, 2006
7,139
chaileyjem said:
For context : In recent weeks though the u18s have beaten both Arsenal and Spurs and were unlucky to get knocked out of the FA Youth Cup on penalties after reaching the 4th round.

No idea what happened yesterday mind.
Click to expand...

To a point it can be difficult to assess youth team results, you can never be sure which players might be representing Arsenal, Spurs or Chelsea, whilst when Brighton play them you kind of know notwithstanding injuries that we will have our very best players at our disposal involved, rather worryingly Chelsea might not have had their best team out yesterday, perhaps they have a FA Youth Cup game this week which might effect a stronger than usual selection.

So those previous good results I dont think negates a 13-0 drubbing yesterday, it is a result that might seriously undermine where comapratively our academy youngsters might be at present, I cannot recall such a result at youth level in recent times, even prior to our new investment when the disparity in resoucrces were greater than they are today, perhaps its an indication that generally our youngsters were more competitive then than they are now, which would be worrying.
 


B

Billy in Bristol

Well-known member
Mar 25, 2004
1,423
Bristol
Is it worth me wetting my bed over this?
 




hart's shirt

hart's shirt

Well-known member
Jul 8, 2003
10,157
Kitbag in Dubai
At least they kept the scoreline to under 18.
 




AZ Gull

AZ Gull

@SeagullsAcademy Threads: @bhafcacademy
Oct 14, 2003
11,697
Chandler, AZ
chaileyjem said:
For context : In recent weeks though the u18s have beaten both Arsenal and Spurs and were unlucky to get knocked out of the FA Youth Cup on penalties after reaching the 4th round.

No idea what happened yesterday mind.
Click to expand...

5th round, [MENTION=24867]chaileyjem[/MENTION], for the first time since the 2005-06 season.
 










AZ Gull

AZ Gull

@SeagullsAcademy Threads: @bhafcacademy
Oct 14, 2003
11,697
Chandler, AZ
GingerBeerMan said:
You seem to have a chip on your shoulder about this. Last time I saw someone so angry about the youth side, it was because they had a child who had been released in the past. Sure you don't have a connection to the team?
Click to expand...

I am curious who [MENTION=35095]BevBHA[/MENTION] is. He has posted on here that:-

1) He is a semi-pro player
2) Has played with and against Fikayo Tomori
3) Knows the two Sussex-born young pros at Chelsea personally (Isaac Christie-Davies and Charlie Wakefield)
4) Has trained and played with Brighton-born Charlie Gilmour (young Arsenal pro)
5) Has a sound knowledge of the local lads in the U-23s (Tom Cadman, George Cox and Connor Tighe).

As regards Albion's academy, he has posted:-

"Brighton notoriously do not take many local boys on, its a well known fact if you are involved in a high level of youth football in the area"

and

"Other than that the club seem to venture further afield for talent and other clubs are taking talent from sussex (see Greg Luer at Hull as one example)".


Given all of that, if I was a betting man I might hazard a guess that he was a local lad, probably a contemporary of some of the players listed above, and who was possibly in Albion's academy but wasn't taken on as a scholar. Now, someone who fits that profile is Ben Pope (who played in the same Brighton Boys U-11 side at Wembley in 2009 alongside Tom Cadman, Isaac Christie-Davies, Charlie Wakefield and George Cox) and was in Albion's academy up to U-16 level when he was released during the 2013-14 season and now plays for Worthing.

But who knows?
 


AZ Gull

AZ Gull

@SeagullsAcademy Threads: @bhafcacademy
Oct 14, 2003
11,697
Chandler, AZ
albionfan37 said:
We might've had a lot of 15-16 yr olds out who knows at that level? Freaky results are part n parcel of development
Click to expand...

GT49er said:
That's why I was asking - maybe someone was there and can give us the low-down.
Click to expand...

In purely age terms, the two sides weren't too dissimilar; for outfield players Albion had 4 x 2nd-year scholars and 6 x 1st-years, Chelsea had 5 of each.

However, for Albion it was a much less experienced side than has played recently in the FA Youth Cup; for various reasons, the following players from the cup-run did not feature on Saturday:- Jayson Molumby, Danny Mandroiu, Reece Meekums, Max Sanders, David Ajiboye and Aaron Connolly.

Centre-back Sam Rolph was making only his 3rd appearance of the season (due to injury); likewise, right-back Hamish Morrison was making only his 3rd start. Stefan Ljubicic up front was making just his 3rd start, and two midfielders were making their 4th and 6th starts respectively.

This isn't to offer any excuses, merely to present some facts. It was certainly a poor result. As has already been mentioned, sometimes high scores happen. Earlier this season Albion lost 7-4 at home to Reading. Last campaign they started the season by losing 5-1 at Spurs, beating Swansea 6-0 and then losing 6-1 at Leicester (in consecutive matches!).

It should also be pointed out that Chelsea currently have the strongest U-18 side in England - by a country mile. Having already won the U-18 Premier League South title in 2014-15 and 2015-16, they had wrapped up the title for the 3rd consecutive year prior to Saturday's game. They have also won the FA Youth Cup for the last THREE seasons and in this year's competition are through to the semi-finals, having scored 15 goals so far without reply.
 




sparkie

sparkie

Well-known member
Jul 17, 2003
12,498
Hove
BevBHA said:
Not seen a thread about this other than the link to the game thread. Yes you are reading that correctly 13 (thirteen) - 0.

Three hatricks. A category 1 academy should not lose by more than 4 goals tops to anybody that is simply embarrassing considering the money being spent on youth development.
Click to expand...
[emoji38]ol:
Shouldn't your name be BevCPFC ? ???
 


Lower West Stander

Lower West Stander

Well-known member
Mar 25, 2012
4,753
Back in Sussex
Interesting thread.

Making excuses for a 13-0 defeat is like burying your head in the sand.

This is top level youth football and that sort of thing just shouldn't happen. My son is a county level goalkeeper and the sight of that poor guy in Brighton's goal as goal after goal went in was really sad. Heaven knows the impact that will have on him and the rest of the team.

Questions definitely need to asked and heads should roll in the youth management team. No team of lads hoping to make a career out of football should be subjected to that.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 


B

BigGully

Well-known member
Sep 8, 2006
7,139
AZ Gull said:
I am curious who [MENTION=35095]BevBHA[/MENTION] is. He has posted on here that:-

1) He is a semi-pro player
2) Has played with and against Fikayo Tomori
3) Knows the two Sussex-born young pros at Chelsea personally (Isaac Christie-Davies and Charlie Wakefield)
4) Has trained and played with Brighton-born Charlie Gilmour (young Arsenal pro)
5) Has a sound knowledge of the local lads in the U-23s (Tom Cadman, George Cox and Connor Tighe).

As regards Albion's academy, he has posted:-

"Brighton notoriously do not take many local boys on, its a well known fact if you are involved in a high level of youth football in the area"

and

"Other than that the club seem to venture further afield for talent and other clubs are taking talent from sussex (see Greg Luer at Hull as one example)".


Given all of that, if I was a betting man I might hazard a guess that he was a local lad, probably a contemporary of some of the players listed above, and who was possibly in Albion's academy but wasn't taken on as a scholar. Now, someone who fits that profile is Ben Pope (who played in the same Brighton Boys U-11 side at Wembley in 2009 alongside Tom Cadman, Isaac Christie-Davies, Charlie Wakefield and George Cox) and was in Albion's academy up to U-16 level when he was released during the 2013-14 season and now plays for Worthing.

But who knows?
Click to expand...

I am not sure it is necessary nor helpful to try and identify any poster, especially if he is just offering information that if true gives us all an insight into what he himself might have experienced, so I do not think it disqualifies his view, quite the opposite.

I hadnt really noticed his previous posts, but as I am sure you know they do mirror my own view, if as I do he feels it is a pointless quest to recruit from further afield and he has been a victim of the policy then it is worthwhile to hear is view, especially when it offers very similar outcomes than if you recruit more locally then more power to him and his view.

Each Irishman, Icelandic, Norwegian or Scots player recruited does inevitabely squirt out a local youngster of a similar talent, so it always boils down to club policy and I think it is preferable to try and recruit and support local talent above others, its vanity and prejudice from those working within the Academy to do otherwise.
 






hans kraay fan club

hans kraay fan club

The voice of reason.
Helpful Moderator
Mar 16, 2005
61,259
Chandlers Ford
BigGully said:
I am not sure it is necessary nor helpful to try and identify any poster, especially if he is just offering information that if true gives us all an insight into what he himself might have experienced, so I do not think it disqualifies his view, quite the opposite.

I hadnt really noticed his previous posts, but as I am sure you know they do mirror my own view, if as I do he feels it is a pointless quest to recruit from further afield and he has been a victim of the policy then it is worthwhile to hear is view, especially when it offers very similar outcomes than if you recruit more locally then more power to him and his view.

Each Irishman, Icelandic, Norwegian or Scots player recruited does inevitabely squirt out a local youngster of a similar talent, so it always boils down to club policy and I think it is preferable to try and recruit and support local talent above others, its vanity and prejudice from those working within the Academy to do otherwise.
Click to expand...

That side that played mostly WERE local lads - they were just too young and inexperienced for that opposition. You are more well versed in youth / academy stuff than most on here [MENTION=5101]BigGully[/MENTION] - you know better than most that there will always be bizarre results at this time of the season, because of team mis-matches for the following reasons:

Many of the best U18s have been moved up to U23 to see how they get on / prep for next season.
Many of the best U23s and some U18s have been sent out on loan to experience men's games (immediately after the FAYC exit)
Some players have been released to look for new clubs, leaving shoolboys to fill the gaps.
(In this case some of the better players were on, or just back from International duty - Mandriou, Molumby, Connolly)

Not that any of that can fully explain a defeat of THIS magnitude, but there is some context to consider.
 


U

Uter

Well-known member
Aug 5, 2008
1,474
The land of chocolate
I think there is a danger of reading too much into this result. Obviously it's embarrassing and not particularly beneficial to either side when this happens, but I think if anything it demonstrates the strength of Chelsea rather than our weakness. They are miles head of everyone else in England, except maybe Man City. They have absolutely dominated youth football over the last few years, notching up many FA youth cup triumphs and 2 UEFA youth league titles (their record in that competition is better than anyone in Europe, let alone England) regularly clocking up 5 or more goals. Indeed, they thrashed Aston Villa 12-2 a couple of seasons ago. They are capable of thrashing anyone on their day, and unfortunately it was us on this occasion. It's difficult to overstate just how good Chelsea are.

If this result means anything, I think it's an argument for restructuring the current Cat 1 U18 league into two national divisions, rather than the present northern and southern leagues.

Bear in mind we had gone into this game unbeaten in 7, with wins over Arsenal and Spurs. I also watched the FA youth Cup game against Stoke where I thought we looked technically superior and were desperately unfortunate to not progress to the quarter finals. We are not as terrible as this result suggests.

I can't comment on the current recruitment policy, and I would certainly prefer to see local talent given an opportunity, but I don't think it's particularly fair to use Charlie Wakefield and Isaac Christie-Davies as a example of how we overlook talent under our noses. They joined Chelsea aged about 11 or 12, long before we had a Cat 1 academy. Even with the excellent facilities we have now it's hard to persuade youngsters to stay if Chelsea start showing an interest. Ten years ago it would have been nigh on impossible.

Having said all that, it is terribly disappointing to see a defeat like this, but the nature of youth football is to throw up some unusual scores on occasion.
 


B

BigGully

Well-known member
Sep 8, 2006
7,139
hans kraay fan club said:
That side that played mostly WERE local lads - they were just too young and inexperienced for that opposition. You are more well versed in youth / academy stuff than most on here [MENTION=5101]BigGully[/MENTION] - you know better than most that there will always be bizarre results at this time of the season, because of team mis-matches for the following reasons:

Many of the best U18s have been moved up to U23 to see how they get on / prep for next season.
Many of the best U23s and some U18s have been sent out on loan to experience men's games (immediately after the FAYC exit)
Some players have been released to look for new clubs, leaving shoolboys to fill the gaps.
(In this case some of the better players were on, or just back from International duty - Mandriou, Molumby, Connolly)

Not that any of that can fully explain a defeat of THIS magnitude, but there is some context to consider.
Click to expand...

I was going to ask this and was aware that perhaps it might seem to undermine my view a little, however if those that havent been playing and did play Saturday are local then they have not been experiencing much game time as those that play regular and might not be local, undermining match fitness, confidence and experience, they remains a consequence of the recruitment policy.

My general point is if you sign a youngster from say Ireland against a local youngster they can sometimes be afforded preferential contract length and support from those that have played a part in getting that youngster to Brighton, whereas 'little Jimmy' from Worthing that has been there since age 12 years old and has fewer allies.

Of course this has to be underpinned by an acknowledgement that the very best local youngsters are as good as the recruited further afield young players, my view is they are, we cannot get first dibs on the rare few that are exceptionally outstanding, they go eslewhere anyway.
 




hans kraay fan club

hans kraay fan club

The voice of reason.
Helpful Moderator
Mar 16, 2005
61,259
Chandlers Ford
BigGully said:
I was going to ask this and was aware that perhaps it might seem to undermine my view a little, however if those that havent been playing and did play Saturday are local then they have not been experiencing much game time as those that play regular and might not be local, undermining match fitness, confidence and experience, they remains a consequence of the recruitment policy.

My general point is if you sign a youngster from say Ireland against a local youngster they can sometimes be afforded preferential contract length and support from those that have played a part in getting that youngster to Brighton, whereas 'little Jimmy' from Worthing that has been there since age 12 years old and has fewer allies.

Of course this has to be underpinned by an acknowledgement that the very best local youngsters are as good as the recruited further afield young players, my view is they are, we cannot get first dibs on the rare few that are exceptionally outstanding, they go eslewhere anyway.
Click to expand...

But, taking the Wakefield, Christie-Davies examples, is it not equally true that we may not have first dibs even on the local 'exceptionally outstanding' youngsters?

We are not a top four club. We will always have to be clever in recruitment, wherever we can find them. Every single poster on this forum would love it if we were a stable Premier League club, with 8 first team players born and raised in Sussex. Literally EVERYONE wants that, but it will never happen. Its simply unrealistic.

I also think your general perception of the make up of the academy intake is rather wide of the mark, too. There's a pretty healthy % of local lads. The high profile ARRIVALS who join aged 17-19 are always more 'exotic', but that's self-evident surely? The locals are not going to sign at that age (Starkey and March excepted) because they are here already?
 


J

Jim D

Well-known member
Jul 23, 2003
5,249
Worthing
Lower West Stander said:
Interesting thread.

Making excuses for a 13-0 defeat is like burying your head in the sand.

This is top level youth football and that sort of thing just shouldn't happen. My son is a county level goalkeeper and the sight of that poor guy in Brighton's goal as goal after goal went in was really sad. Heaven knows the impact that will have on him and the rest of the team.

Questions definitely need to asked and heads should roll in the youth management team. No team of lads hoping to make a career out of football should be subjected to that.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

If we were getting beaten by double-digit scorelines every week then I would agree - but we aren't. One thing the coaching team will be doing this week is looking for the reaction of the players. They will want to see a determination in the players to up their game and never get caught like that again. Although it's a different scenario I would put it in line with our defeat at Cardiff last year followed by our 4-0 win in the next game.
The term 'character building' is often overused after a negative event but that's just how the team and coaches should see it. It's better to get these things addressed now than in a couple of years time when the same players are needed for the senior squad.
 


You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Albion and Premier League latest from Sky Sports


Top
Link Here