COYS - Reserve match review

[P-L-P]

Line up was:

----------------------Forecast--------------------
Gunter----A.Henville----Dervite----Gilberto
F.Allen---Livermore----Maghoma---Hutton
-----------Pekhart---------Taarabt-------------

Final Score - Spurs 0-3 Chelsea (Di Santo hat trick)


Firstly, an awful match, and a referee who is unlikely to be enjoying any career progression any time soon. The first penalty and sending off looked controversial to say the least, and whilst he was over officious in some respects, he also managed to let some pretty unpleasant tackles from either side go unchecked.

There’s really only one place to start, and that’s Taarabt. He played up front with Pekhart, which was particularly interesting to me, because that’s where I would say should theoretically be his best position – dropping off into the ‘hole’ behind a target striker. However, he managed to do everything he could to prove me entirely wrong, as well as any one who still harbours high hopes for him. He was fecking awful. He looked totally disinterested for the most part, and when he did get involved, his contribution was diabolical. He looked sluggish, failed to pull off any piece of skill he tried and succeeded in finding blind alleys where there seemed only space, time after time.

I have to say, he certainly ain’t going to be anywhere near the first team again this season, and I’m not sure next season is going to be a break through either on this evidence. Perhaps the rumours about him wanting out are true, but then again his performances in recent weeks for the stiffs have been productive, so hopefully this can go down as merely a bad day at the office.

Pekhart alongside him, was almost as bad, but in his defence there was no service whatsoever. None of the penetration from the flanks that there had been against Ar5ena1 last week and, as ever, central midfield is a creativity free zone. Pekhart’s first touch was poor though, and his passing wayward when he did manage to hold the ball up and have a chance to bring others in to play. Anyone expecting him to be part of the first team next season is going to be disappointed. Realistically, it’s pretty unlikely that he’ll make it at Spurs, I’d say. They need to get him out on loan as soon as possible if there's to be any chance of developing him into a serious player now he doesn't have the height advantage he held at youth level to make him stand out.

One other negative, before some positives – Gilberto. He’s going to be a problem. He’s just not a left back, he looks completely clueless at times, and struggles to even hold a basic line, which Chelsea should have exploited on at least a couple of occasions. At left midfield, maybe he can contribute something, he does show signs of some nous in terms of overlapping inside and out and combinational play in the final third (though not tonight), but we will definitely get torn apart with him at fullback in the Premiership.

Positives were basically the rest of the defence. Archibald-Henville was impressive again, but he does tend to wander and create spaces. He also might lack a little bit of pace for the Premiership, but he certainly looks the most likely of any of the current crop of academy graduates to make the first team. Dervite also shows some promise – very dominant in the air, pretty decent distribution and technique, but again not sure about how his pace would hold up at a higher level. Gunter was our best player, the only one who posed any kind of threat going forward, pretty solid defensively, and is clearly well on his way to understanding his position. If he can improve his play in one on one defensive situations, I’d have no problem with him as second choice rightback going into next season.

Another player who I’ve been quite impressed with is David Hutton. He’s tiny, which probably rules him in terms of making the first team, but technically I’d say he’s the best player in the reserve group. Very nice first touch and moves well with the ball. Looks like he has a decent delivery on him aswell.

The others can all pretty much be written off in terms of a) making the first team b) earning fees when they depart (which are the two main criteria that justify an academy, in my opinion). Forecast is nowhere near good enough, even for the reserve level, Livermore has some nice touches but is far too cumbersome and neither one thing or the other in central midfield, and Maghoma just doesn’t look like a player to me, which goes for Fraser Allen aswell.

All in all, it’s very disappointing to see no apparent advancement in the reserve/development area of the club. We have a dedicated Sporting Director whose main responsibility is to improve this aspect of the club. I appreciate that there may be some serious talent coming through the academy in the next few years, but really, he should have done more to improve the pool of players there in the meantime, in my opinion. This is something Arnesen at least attempted to do. The development of what talent there is in that group is going to be stunted by not having a better general level of quality across the board, in my opinion. This is particularly apparent in central midfield and up front, where we have virtually nothing of note. Some Dervite-esque signings would be advisable for those areas, I’d say.

*apologies for the lengthiness; the usual disclaimer goes that these are entirely my subjective, uneducated opinions - they’ll probably actually all turn out to be stars really.

I have never really rated Taarabt myself to be honest. Cant even seem to pick the simplest of passes.

I cant wait until someone makes the Ronaldo comparison.

 

[Kendall]

Shame, because I have high hopes for the back 4 in particular.

I find it strange people are calling for Taarabt and Pekhart to get a shot in the first team when they've been shit all season in the reserves.

Only Spurs could sign Brazil's left back and for him to forget how to play there.

 

[P-L-P]

Shame, because I have high hopes for the back 4 in particular.

I find it strange people are calling for Taarabt and Pekhart to get a shot in the first team when they've been shit all season in the reserves.

Only Spurs could sign Brazil's left back and for him to forget how to play there.

L ets face it Brazil have always been better going forwards and he has scored one for us this season Eek:wink:

 

[eddiebailey]

For views from SC members who were at the match see:

http://www.spurscommunity.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=29966

 

[P-L-P]

For views from SC members who were at the match see:

http://www.spurscommunity.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=29966

Sorry Eddie didnt mean to steal your thunder.

Good report by the way.

 

[eddiebailey]

Sorry Eddie didnt mean to steal your thunder.

Good report by the way.

Not mine. Coyboy deserves the plaudits.

But I had not seen the COYS report and it is good to have different perspectives. Everyone seems to agree about Adel though...

 

[Blotto]

Good to see Dervitte back in there again; he's supposed to be the shiznit.

 

[DC_Boy]

Thanks for posting this P-L-P

the more reserve reviews the better as far as I'm concerned

must say TRoy looks the one 'most likely to' any time soon - and there are plenty of prem CBs who 've made it whilst lacking a little pace

 

[donny1013]

Taarabt is just one of those players that i cannot see playing regularly for us in the EPL. I think in Spain he would possibly be better suited due to the fact it is more technical. However, he is still young and has a lot to learn so hopefully he can prove me wrong.

 

[tRiKS]

The pace thing might not all be lost on Troy anyway. I rperesented the school at 100/200m from 11 to 14 but thren growth spurts slowd me down (bones grwo qucker than muscles and it weakens them as the stetch to catch up) and by 16 I barley made the house 4 x 100 team on sports day... I carried on being relatively slower until about 19/20 where i'd caught back up and was one of the fastest footballers in my league for years. now age and injury is pulling me backwards again. Although i doubt troy will be electric theres a decent chance he'll be quckier than he's looked recenlty in a couple of years time.

 

[DC_Boy]

cheers for info Triks

certainly going from memory, so may be wrong, more of our goals are conced from set pieces, crosses, routine build up, than where a CB is caught for pace - so to me pace is nowhere near the main attrute of a CB - and a long line of England players from Terry & Woodgate back to Bobby Moore and doubtless beyond testify to that

 

[tRiKS]

a general note. the year we had Arnesen we ripped up the reserves.. since Chelase have had him thier resereves have got better and better. Were there any good young player worth a shout playing for the Chav stiffs?

 

[DC_Boy]

a general note. the year we had Arnesen we ripped up the reserves.. since Chelase have had him thier resereves have got better and better. Were there any good young player worth a shout playing for the Chav stiffs?

Seems like this di Santo (spelling?) guy is brilliant and a total class or 2 above any of our reserves (this is pure spec by me BTW based on what I've read)

 

[eddiebailey]

a general note. the year we had Arnesen we ripped up the reserves.. since Chelase have had him thier resereves have got better and better.

I am not convinced by Frankie's record as a scout. The year we one the reserve title it was with players who had been with the club as schoolboys since before Frankie's arrival. The only youngster brought in by Frank who played a significant part was Mills. Almost all the young reserve players bought in by Frankie turned out to be duds.

Much has been written about how poor our Academy was and how it has been overhauled, but I am not yet seeing any notable improvement in the quality of the output. (Though in fairness we have been incredibly unlucky with injuries to young players over the last couple of seasons.)

Chelsea's are performing much more strongly at reserve level now, but that is at least in part because Grant seems to have reversed the apparent policy of not playing the overpaid prima donnas of the first team squad in reserve games.

 

[yanno]

I am not convinced by Frankie's record as a scout. The year we one the reserve title it was with players who had been with the club as schoolboys since before Frankie's arrival. The only youngster brought in by Frank who played a significant part was Mills. Almost all the young reserve players bought in by Frankie turned out to be duds.

The most striking thing about Chelsea's youth team, which has just reached the FA Youth Cup Final, is how few English players it contains compared with ours. The number of non-English players poached as kids was also apparent in the goon reserve team that played us recently.

As Eddie Bailey suggests, there are very mixed views on Arnensen's scouting record:

http://football.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2273337,00.html

Yet, while players such as Ben Sahar - a muscular Israeli forward who has scored for his national side - and Scott Sinclair, a lithe winger borrowed to some effect by Championship sides, have made sporadic appearances at times of injury, not a single academy graduate has established himself as a regular member of the senior squad, never mind as a first-choice player.

No admirer of Arnesen's recruitment policies, José Mourinho publicly discussed the shortage of usable talent during his injury crisis of last season, while a member of the former manager's backroom staff sums up the youths as 'some good boys, nice lads. But there wasn't one that we looked at and thought he would be a first-team player.'

However, a Chelsea spokesman said: '[Our academy's] results are now being seen with the youth team in their first FA final since 1961, two academy boys having made their first-team debut this season and 17 England internationals representing their country at under-21 and below.'

 

[tRiKS]

perhaps it's more to do with the pressures and contact he made with Clive Allen aposed to the individuals he brought in. I was certainly getting at the fact that from a date piont of view, ours went wayward at the time Arsnesen left and thiers had an upturn at the time he join. Conicidence it maybe. I also take little value from Joses comments on the lack of useable 17yr olds to go into a championship challanging or CL playing first team. I daresay if Chealsea were a mid table team that pool of players would be more "useful" i.e. Man city's lot of good but not premiership winning ability youth players. This afterall is a club preparded to sell a 21 year old DCM international. Arnesen in reposnse to those Jose commnets also sadi you wouldn't see his bebenfits for a few years. Thats a fairenough answer, and just one year on from thet the youth team is in the FA final and the reserves team are higher in the reserev league thatn they have been for a while. Despite us being apparantly underpar not many teams have beaten us 3-0 for a long long time at that level.
I would suggest Jose is one extreme of the Frankie fan club and Jol is the other. The truth no doubt lies somewhere inbetween.

We've also been relauctant to play our first team squad players, Rocha is a rareity compared to most other teams. i notice the only other teams who consistenly play 10-11 starters in the stiffs that are not first team rejects are chavs and goons.

 

[tRiKS]

cheers for info Triks

certainly going from memory, so may be wrong, more of our goals are conced from set pieces, crosses, routine build up, than where a CB is caught for pace - so to me pace is nowhere near the main attrute of a CB - and a long line of England players from Terry & Woodgate back to Bobby Moore and doubtless beyond testify to that

you're welcome.

I do think one of your pair preferably has to be rapid.

Woodgate is ok pace wise. i suspect Troy will be about woodgate pace... whcih is faster than Terry and Dawson but slower than Rio and Ledley. compfrtabel enough to recover distance provided, as you rightly say, his other attributes like awarenss and positional sense are good.

 

[DC_Boy]

you're welcome.

I do think one of your pair preferably has to be rapid.

Woodgate is ok pace wise. i suspect Troy will be about woodgate pace... whcih is faster than Terry and Dawson but slower than Rio and Ledley. compfrtabel enough to recover distance provided, as you rightly say, his other attributes like awarenss and positional sense are good.

good points as usual Triks - generally of course one of the CBs should be pacy -

but Terry and Carvalho - are either pacy? Moore and Charlton - not much pace there - Charlton and Hunter, ditto, there are doubtless others people can bring up

Bruce and pallister - how fast was Pallister- can't really rember - Adams & Bould not fast I think

 

[tRiKS]

good points as usual Triks - generally of course one of the CBs should be pacy -

but Terry and Carvalho - are either pacy? Moore and Charlton - not much pace there - Charlton and Hunter, ditto, there are doubtless others people can bring up

Bruce and pallister - how fast was Pallister- can't really rember - Adams & Bould not fast I think

Carvahlho is quick. The other partnerships are from an old and a very old era. I don't think persoannly any of those would cope as well in 2008 as they did in thier eras ,what with the new active non active and the fact the average pace of game has increased. It's also relaitve.. pallister and Moore were both considered reasonably fast but nither would get near the speed deamons playing today.
Do you know, and this is a fasincating stat, that since only 1995 the game intenstity (jugged on average speed of player over distance covered in a match) has nearly doubled. Bentitez made reference to it, defending his roatation policy a few seasons back. My best mate and liverpool fan was defending him and sent me a link to the opta research as proof. If i can dig it out i'll post it. Now if its twice as intense/quick since 1995 imagine what the differnce is compared to 1985 or 1966? .. all of the players you mentioned were good enough technically though to not be total numpties. I may still opt for a 1966 Moore over a 2008 Bramble.

I think in todays environment you can bring up exceptions like Cara and Hyppia from a top PL defence but liverpool play a deeper role and counter attack as a team.
I still think, especailly for a team playing 442 and looking to press to the halfway line, one cb with at least near comperable pace to the fastest forward running with the ball, is preferable. And 75% of the top 4 clubs in our league have that. Rio, Toure & Gallas, Carvahlo. then of the next tier Lescott, King, Davis, Distin, Richards.