Hello all. Chelsea fan.
When you consider that City are indisputably one of the two best academy sides in the country, the disparity between the teams last night was pretty remarkable. I think one interesting cause of that can be found in the comparison between Callum Hudson-Odoi and a couple of your lads. Diaz and Foden are extraordinarily talented kids, perhaps more so than Callum, but talent means nothing unless it's applied effectively and, on this night at least, your two lads were not able to do that.
I arrived late, just after we had opened the scoring. I read your team on the way to the ground in a post in this thread. From it, I understood that Foden had been named on the bench and took my seat believing that he wasn't in the side. It wasn't until more than ten minutes later that I noticed he was out there. When he received a ball in the 20th minute with his trademark surety of touch and graceful movement he was unmistakeable. I don't about what happened before I got there, but between the 8th and the 20th minutes, Foden did nothing which announced himself to me.
Everything Foden does looks good, and the same goes for Diaz. The pair spent the whole game looking really good, but achieving really little. Such talented footballers are always going to have their moments but, overall, they just moved the ball around in a pretty way without ever really hurting us. I know many of you believe that your star pair were subjected to repeated and deliberate fouling but, without wanting to start any kind of argument, that is honestly not how it looked to me. They were fouled, but all players who carry the ball attract challenges, some of which turn out to be fouls whether intentional or just mistimed. Our ball carriers were fouled too.
My point is that I saw no hurdles for Foden and Diaz last night that they might not expect to face on a game by game basis as their careers develop. Their challenge is to overcome any hurdles and to positively influence the game for their team. In this fixture, they were not able to do it. When our two sides face each other at U18 level, they each face their toughest test of the season. There is therefore good reason to hope that these encounters are a part of the learning process for all involved, and that the experience will turn out to be useful. Especially perhaps for Phill, being the younger lad.
Callum on the other hand seemed to me to impose himself on the game more effectively. Both games actually. I feel that the difference between what he was able to contribute, and what your key players were able to, was a major factor in the outcome of the tie.
On a rather more negative note a couple of players did not impress me last night. Many of you talk about the physical difference between the sides. While I think it's possible to make too much of that, it does seem to me to apply to our left back. In my view Juan Castilo's limitations will be exposed once he's facing players who can match his strength and power. My other disappointment will be of more interest to you; Jadon Sancho.
Sancho showed nothing which encouraged me to have hopes for his future. There can't be so much expectation around him if he does not have the ability to back it up, but it was nowhere to be seen yesterday. If I had never heard of Jadon, nothing I saw from him yesterday would make feel I needed to keep an eye on him as a potential future star.
Here's to part four, around the same time next year.