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The Youth Players/On-Loan Thread 2017/18

Now


England U21 v Ukraine U21
International
18:00
BT Sport 1 / BT Sport 4K UHD

Josh Onomah Is playing
 
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Onomah much better second half, good involvement in the move that led to the first goal then a couple of very decent runs and lay-offs that could have led to more plus a couple of excellent tackles.

Seems much more at home playing for England youth teams than for club sides, probably because he was playing in his favourite position.
 
I think this season with Bruce has seen Onomah regress more than anything.

I watched most of the U20 WC last summer and Onomah grew into the role. He is a confidence player in a way, but by the 3rd game he looked like a young Dembele and was our standout player. Tonight he didn't look anywhere near that player and was closer to a young Sissoko at times.

He does appear lazy, just by the way he ambles around the pitch, but tonight I thought he was lazy. Too many half hearted runs when he needed to be putting more in to get back into position, not providing a passing option and frankly looking on a different wavelength to the rest of the team by his positioning. There was that sharpness of mind that was missing, which only showed itself in flashes.

I really don't want to write the lad off, but all the promise he showed last summer seems to have been wiped away during this season at Villa.
 
Cochise said:
I think this season with Bruce has seen Onomah regress more than anything.

I watched most of the U20 WC last summer and Onomah grew into the role. He is a confidence player in a way, but by the 3rd game he looked like a young Dembele and was our standout player. Tonight he didn't look anywhere near that player and was closer to a young Sissoko at times.

He does appear lazy, just by the way he ambles around the pitch, but tonight I thought he was lazy. Too many half hearted runs when he needed to be putting more in to get back into position, not providing a passing option and frankly looking on a different wavelength to the rest of the team by his positioning. There was that sharpness of mind that was missing, which only showed itself in flashes.

I really don't want to write the lad off, but all the promise he showed last summer seems to have been wiped away during this season at Villa.
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Even in the 2nd half? He had a poor first 45 but I thought he had a very strong 2nd half and was dominating the midfield by the end of it.
 
I recall the ball going through Davies more often, definitely a lot more early on in that half.

Id say from 60 minutes onwards he picked up, before that he looked indecisive on defensive actions. Good, strong runs on the ball and some good passes, but he didn't look mentally switched on. Kind of how some midfielders know where they need to be, he didn't always look certain.
 
Cochise said:
I think this season with Bruce has seen Onomah regress more than anything.

I watched most of the U20 WC last summer and Onomah grew into the role. He is a confidence player in a way, but by the 3rd game he looked like a young Dembele and was our standout player. Tonight he didn't look anywhere near that player and was closer to a young Sissoko at times.

He does appear lazy, just by the way he ambles around the pitch, but tonight I thought he was lazy. Too many half hearted runs when he needed to be putting more in to get back into position, not providing a passing option and frankly looking on a different wavelength to the rest of the team by his positioning. There was that sharpness of mind that was missing, which only showed itself in flashes.

I really don't want to write the lad off, but all the promise he showed last summer seems to have been wiped away during this season at Villa.
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Whilst it's fair to say Josh did look slow at times the way he seems to amble about, for me that bolded comment is very unfair and I'll tell you why.

I rewatched the game closely this morning mainly to get a better understanding of why things seems to have gone so wrong for him at Villa.

For a start it's fair to say that especially over the first sixty minutes or so he made several mistakes, a couple of which could easily have cost his side dearly. I'd also agree that for a lot of the time - though not all - he seemed to lack any real zip and generally seemed noticeably slower than those around him to close down his man down. I think this can partly be put down to his languid style and partly to what seems like a lack of urgency on his part.

But as to not providing an option, that I wholly disagree with. Because he was constantly moving around the whole time to ensure he was always in space and providing a passing option in the middle of the park. In fact he never once stopped, so, far from not offering an option he was actually exceptional in that regard!!

Aside from the mistakes and that somewhat languid style of his I thought his overall contribution was pretty decent. One of his biggest strengths is his ability to set off an attack to a well placed forward runner and that is something he managed on a number of occasions, most notably in the second half but also once or twice in the first.

Indeed it was his excellent first-time forward pass to Maddison in the 42nd minute that released the Norwich man into space down the right flank from where he put a superb cross into the path of Calvert-Lewin for England's first goal. There were also several other quality forward runs from deep to set up team-mates around the edge of the box that were reminiscent of his performances in the U20s WC and early days at Villa.

So whilst it could be seen why the Villa fans have been getting on his back for his lack of urgency in the press - an unforgivable sin to English fans it would seem - it was also reassuring to witness still some of the coruscating attacking flair he showed at the U20s WC.
 
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I think at the start of the second half we were in a 433 and in the first 10 minutes he was in more aggressive/higher risk reward postions. After the shape change he was deeper and saw more of the ball, though again there were times the England buildup went around him and he didn't move out to make a different option.
 
mudshark said:
Anybody bothered about this Madueke kid apparently wanting out? I'd never heard of him.
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He's one of our best U16s and also an England regular at that age group. As I said before though, this is going to happen more regularly as our "trump card" over our rivals was that we offered a better first team pathway but now that's no longer really the case there's little reason why they won't just go to whoever's offering the most money.
 
I'd get that from an u18 or u21 going somewhere with a first team pathway, but 16 yo to UTD. Seems it's more money driven.
 
Yoof said:
He's one of our best U16s and also an England regular at that age group. As I said before though, this is going to happen more regularly as our "trump card" over our rivals was that we offered a better first team pathway but now that's no longer really the case there's little reason why they won't just go to whoever's offering the most money.
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well he is not going to get a better first team route at Utd either so its all about the money

tbh id rather we became the club that consistently promotes youngsters rather than waste money on overpriced cr@p in this crazy transfer market, even if it means we are more inconsistent in the league which i dont think would happen anyway
 
DeleHarry said:
i thought he looked very promising in pre season and have been surprised at how few chances he has had in the first team squad
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Poch wont give youngsters the same chances he did in previous seasons, the stakes are higher now.

Shows how much life can be about timing and being in the right place at the right time.

If kane was a couple of years younger of if Walker-Peters a couple older things would look so much different.
 
It's vital we clear out senior players who are average so there is room for young players to contribute - as Winks did. Problem is a player like Sissoko is useful. Youth players don't tend to come with his physicality and speed. But do offer other attributes. GKN blocked Edwards, and you could argue Sissoko blocked a youth prospect, and neither have long term futures here. So its vital we clear mediocre players out the squad if we can to continue giving youth players some time to play.
 
SpurMeUp said:
It's vital we clear out senior players who are average so there is room for young players to contribute - as Winks did. Problem is a player like Sissoko is useful. Youth players don't tend to come with his physicality and speed. But do offer other attributes. GKN blocked Edwards, and you could argue Sissoko blocked a youth prospect, and neither have long term futures here. So its vital we clear mediocre players out the squad if we can to continue giving youth players some time to play.
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When did Sissoko get promoted to mediocre?
 
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