Home v Stevenage - Tues Feb 11th

It’s work in progress.
Stuart’s getting to understand some of the players. Loved his passion.

 

I expect more from a player, who clearly has something otherwise Barnsley wouldn't have had him

Did get better as the game went on, but in the first half he was neither fast or skilfull although his crossing was fairly OK

 

What was that? Dog & Duck Albion versus Red Lion Athletic. The pitch and conditions notwithstanding that was poor showing from both sides.

 

Playing against a National League full back is definitely going to be better for the lad than playing against a Wimbledon cast off at Sheffield Wednesday's development squad (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osaze_Urhoghide) in a non-competitive farce.

These lads are unfortunately being sold down the river by clubs who want to play Champ Manager and make tons of cash on kids nobody else could coach to an acceptable level.

It's very unfair to dupe youngsters into playing in a 'big clubs' development squad. Quite what we were thinking, I've no idea.

Where even are those lads we signed? Tom Clare?

Just let them go get first team football against men in non-league.

 

Despite what @Park bantam is accusing me of, I'm looking forward to watching DMH develop.

Just feel for the lad that he's wasted a few years at such a low level.

If he'd gone and earned an honest living, he'd probably be better than he is now. Like Jake Wright after we released him.

 

We will have to agree to disagree this is a very inexperienced player who showed promise for me. Tracked back better tonight as well something he didn’t do when he came on Saturday

 

False economy.

Barnsley signing him doesn't mean a thing - these clubs need to sign enough players to actually constitute a development squad. It just makes Championship clubs sign youngsters that League One and League Two clubs decided weren't good enough. That's all it is. They need defenders, midfielders, strikers, and a goalkeeper. They aren't bringing in excellent youngsters, they're just signing whatever is available and pretending their coaching is so good it will 'develop' them into first team-ready players.

These squads might have two or three that will make it, the rest are filler.

Damn it, I said I wasn't going to get involved...

 

Woods IMHO is a quality player.

 

DMH is a good advert for development squad he left our youth team because he had no where to go. If he hadn’t been picked up by Barnsley he may have drifted out of the game and there are plenty of others like him

 

No, Jake Wright is a good advert for NOT joining a development squad.

Went to a non-league side, quickly rose through the ranks, became a top end League One first team defender.

Sign for a team that wants to play you in the first team, or don't sign for anyone.

Look at Connor Wood.

Played non-league for a while, signed for a team that were never going to play him, wasted his time and didn't develop, but finally arrived at a team that did want to field him and see how he's developed now.

The lad was nearly hopeless when he arrived, now he's one of our best players.

Like DMH, Wood isn't young, but fortunately they have time on their side.

 

Now now Fordy, everyone is entitled to an opinion.

 

To be fair, if you get a chance at a prem club then you go for it. I also think DMH would probably be out of football by now if he hadn’t gone to Barnsley- this six month deal is probably the making or breaking of him as a pro footballer.

Agree that the system is flawed though.

 

Yeah, I don't blame the players to be honest, I blame the clubs selling them down the river with false dreams.

It's all a bit X-Factor for me - "LOOK WHAT YOU COULD WIN", except a right back released by Wimbledon is no more likely to succeed at Sheffield Wednesday than a lad doing karaoke on the weekend is going to land a number one hit record (not impossible, but extreme odds against it happening).

Development squads are a disgrace, and the players that come out of them and break through to the first team would have been better served on loan to a lower league or non-league side.

 

Just watching the highlights (https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/11931956/bradford-3-1-stevenage) Jake Reeves' positioning is phenomenal.

Aside from busting a gut alongside DMH for one attack when he should have been played in, aside from being the man diving for the cross when Connolly broke away at pace, who is the man backing up Shay when he scored the second goal? Reeves. Every chance of scoring that if Shay misses the ball, and who is the man preventing an almost certain goal an almost certain goal from a long throw that eventually led to Novak's goal?

Reeves.

Fair play to Jake, reviewing the footage, he could have been MOTM tonight if Shay hadn't bagged two.

 

Agreed. I thought Reeves had a very good game today. His workrate and engine are phenomenal. The total opposite of Akpan, who shows two or three nice touches per half (just to illustrate the player he could be if he weren't such a lazy get) between long periods of sauntering around, not getting involved, ducking out of tackles and generally being a waste of protoplasm. He's a massive luxury that we can't afford, in any sense.
Interesting that, now Stuart's back, Jake is showing sides to his game that had completely disappeared under Bowyer - forward passes, breaking into the box, having shots at goal. He's a class act at this level, regardless of what @Fordy117 thinks.

 

Nowhere near as often as Akpan does. And Reeves does a hundred other things per game while Akpan is allowing opposition players to run past him as he daydreams about being back in the Championship.
Tackling certainly isn't Reeves' strong suit, but he contributes so much more to the team than Akpan.

 

I think he was probably trying a bit too hard to impress tonight if that makes sense? With his first full game debut on his return to his boyhood club, kind of not easy to get a bit carried away! I think there's something in there that needs to be persevered with...........time will tell.

 

Classic fordy

 

Your profile picture is quite fitting.