Just out of interest, and I don't know the answer to this, does the academy side he posted such great stats for play a more counter attacking style as I thought all the academy teams tried to replicate the first team style?
Not trying to trip you up as I know you are a big champion of the academy players and much more knowledgeable than myself about these sides.
Because its been brought up a few times.
You have to be careful looking at goals and assists at academy level and saying we have a future star there.
The level is really quite low, and you have to really watch and see why certain individuals dominate.
Some examples are of strikers who can score loads because they can boss the defenders easily like Delap. He may still be a great player in the future, but his stats were misleading.
When we had the golden trio (Foden, Brahim, Sancho) playing for the u21s, people forget they were barely 17 and you can visually see them making a mockery of that level.
That combined with their young age made it obvious they would make it.
Back to Borges, as mentioned, he does well when he has the space and can run into it, kinda like Rabbi Matondo. His style is a bit erratic but seems to work for him, his control isnt suited to a possession style. I am also curious to see how he kicks on when his speed wont be as much of an advantage against men.
I'll attempt to answer this...
Basically the kids try to play the same style, but aren't quite as good at is as the 1st team, so you automatically end up with more transitions and counters throughout the game.
Also the opposition are never quite as disciplined as senior teams we play and dont sit in as much.
Borges is quite direct and has done well for us - under those circumstances. The first team would be a different challenge.
Thanks for the response. Your view is consistent with Mattys, which in turn reinforces what FantasyIreland is saying. Hopefully he can have a great career and it looks like this might have been a consideration this when picking his next move.One of the main reasons is that the academy teams he plays against don’t just stick 11 men behind the ball like most teams do to our first team. So he has plenty of space to run into.
Thanks for the response. That makes a lot of sense. Only seeing the highlights of these games he obviously looks very impressive and obviously the stats back that up as well. Now you have said that it is noticeable how much space he has had when remembering back to some of his goals etc.
Its funny if you asked me 5 years ago I would have sworn blind you needed players like Sterling/Sane on the wing with that directness and pace to exploit the limited gaps behind the defence - but as always Pep finds another way.
Gonna have to agree to disagree then.The level is not low at all haha they’re the best players in the country playing against each other. It’s just some clubs have a squad full of good players whilst others don’t. But the level is not poor at all, grass roots is poor level if you want to make a statement like that
Thanks for the response. Your view is consistent with Mattys, which in turn reinforces what FantasyIreland is saying. Hopefully he can have a great career and it looks like this might have been a consideration this when picking his next move.
You’re talking absolute shite mate
It’s not like MCFC.35 to be a contrarianThe level is not low at all haha they’re the best players in the country playing against each other. It’s just some clubs have a squad full of good players whilst others don’t. But the level is not poor at all, grass roots is poor level if you want to make a statement like that