05 Jan 2022 19:58:25
Jimmy! 💛💙👋⚽.
05 Jan 2022 21:15:37
Hope Summerville starts for LUFC in the Cup against West Ham
Re the U23s they have let large leads slip many times this season
Although I realise that Mark Jackson has had to make in many games enforced substitutions at half times or a variety of reasons.
06 Jan 2022 13:35:31
As with first team, U23 defence is constantly changing (due to injuries at both first team and u23 level - the defence and GK in the second half yesterday had never played together - again - so perhaps not surprising that misunderstandings and misplaced passes led to conceding goals. It probably didn’t help that James Debayo (who despite being only 16) had been our best defender, was struggling an injury or at least bad cramp from the 73rd minute at which point we were still leading 3-1.
Taking off Summerville and Drameh (who have an excellent understanding on the right flank) and Greenwood hugely affected our attacking play last night, and limited minutes at any level for McKinstry this season he seems a little lacking in match sharpness and hasn’t had the chance to build a good understanding with Max Dean etc. Hopefully the introduction of Mateo Joseph as another player consistently available (unless he picks up an injury too) , will help sustain our attacking potency through complete matches. It is to be hoped that this will help the U23s to avoid relegation, as that absolutely must be avoided.
The injury issues have also led to the use of U18 players for the U23s far more than would have been expected. Last night, half of the outfield players were stepping up from the u18s, including 3 in defence - whereas the Sunderland squad, including subs, contained only one u18 player (who didn’t play at all) , and a 23 year old first team CB working his way back to fitness, who is yet to play for their first team but has 40 appearances in the Swiss top division and one senior cap for Kosovo.
As I, and probably others on here, have said before, so long as we avoid relegation, at both first and u23 level, we’ll be able to look back at this season’s injury problems as a positive in providing opportunity for players across the Club to step up and gain valuable experience at higher levels, thereby building squad depth for future seasons. It is also often said you learn more in defeat (and presumably in draws too) than in victory, and so long as learning is taken from all these setbacks, the dropped points yesterday, and on previous occasions this season will prove valuable to these players’ development.
06 Jan 2022 23:20:47
Just how do you learn more in defeat and draws. I’m curious.
Surely you learn from any game and try and implement changes. The only diff being you learn not what not to do in defeat and what to do in a win. Spode draw can be bit of both.
We don’t seem to be learning too much in all the draws and losses we have had.
07 Jan 2022 00:34:11
Aus - the general thought is that if you lose (or even just draw) , players are more likely both to be self-critical and receptive to the coaches’ suggestions of how they could develop individually and as part of the team, which of course is the main point of academy games. Learning how to deal with disappointing results is also an important part of the players’ development, helping them to become more resilient a determined for future tough situations, both as a team and individually. We all know our Club doesn’t get an easy ride from anyone, and that flaky players have tended to struggle here - we need our academy players to be ready for the battles ahead.