Youth Teams Discussion.

[eez-eh]

3 hours ago, HuttonDressedAsLahm said:

I thought the clearly established reason is that we don't have B teams?

Give it a few years before we reap the benefits of the Old Firm colts playing against Civil Service Strollers and Open Goal FC. The world won’t know what’s hit it.

[accies1874]

17-year-old Ryan Oné makes his Premier League debut for Sheffield United. Almost certainly getting relegated but not bad for someone whose last league appearance came against Montrose. 

[Pie Of The Month]

Shame Heckingbottom looks set to lose his job fairly soon just as One breaks into the first team squad.

[accies1874]

If he's good enough to come on away to Arsenal then he's good enough to play for Scotland 

[velo army]

His old man was a big lump of a striker with the mobility and speed of a glacier iirc. I haven't seen this lad, but has the apple fallen far from the tree?

[gannonball]

28 minutes ago, velo army said:

His old man was a big lump of a striker with the mobility and speed of a glacier iirc. I haven't seen this lad, but has the apple fallen far from the tree?

He had the physique of a rugby prop but I thought he was fast enough considering the mass he was moving.

[velo army]

21 minutes ago, gannonball said:

He had the physique of a rugby prop but I thought he was fast enough considering the mass he was moving.

Aye that's fair. It was like putting a Thistle top on Magnus Ver Magnusson

Edited October 28, 2023 by velo army

[accies1874]

36 minutes ago, velo army said:

His old man was a big lump of a striker with the mobility and speed of a glacier iirc. I haven't seen this lad, but has the apple fallen far from the tree?

Very big for his age but quick too. He is good technically but doesn't always show it yet. He mostly played as a winger for us, but Sheffield United supposedly want to develop him into a different position (presumably striker) which will take a lot of work but I can see why they might want to develop him in that way. 

[Savage Henry]

4 hours ago, accies1874 said:

17-year-old Ryan Oné makes his Premier League debut for Sheffield United. Almost certainly getting relegated but not bad for someone whose last league appearance came against Montrose. 

How tall is he and does he run about much?

[Enigma]

14 hours ago, accies1874 said:

17-year-old Ryan Oné makes his Premier League debut for Sheffield United. Almost certainly getting relegated but not bad for someone whose last league appearance came against Montrose. 

Big shorts to fill.

[Alan Twelve]

Michael Mellon got a hat-trick for Morecambe yesterday. That's 10 goals for him already this season. One to watch.

[RandomGuy.]

Does it feel like we're on the verge of having a decent stock of strikers?

Rory Wilson the weird one where if he fulfills the hype he could just explode and become a star, but hes not far off turning 18 and still has no senior games.

[Alan Twelve]

25 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

Does it feel like we're on the verge of having a decent stock of strikers?

Rory Wilson the weird one where if he fulfills the hype he could just explode and become a star, but hes not far off turning 18 and still has no senior games.

Wilson seems a serious prospect, but he's a very long way from the first team at Villa. He's not even getting many minutes for their u-21s (although he's prolific for their u-18s) so I can't even see him getting a loan to get first team football for another couple of seasons. If he keeps scoring though, who knows?

[RandomGuy.]

20 minutes ago, Alan Twelve said:

Wilson seems a serious prospect, but he's a very long way from the first team at Villa. He's not even getting many minutes for their u-21s (although he's prolific for their u-18s) so I can't even see him getting a loan to get first team football for another couple of seasons. If he keeps scoring though, who knows?

Aye the lack game times a problem brewing, for me. Hes still 17 so its not huge but this time next year it will be. Plenty of kids bully youth levels then cant step up.

Very much a believer you have to hit around 100 senior games by 21-ish to have any chance of really making it at the top level (there will be exceptions), and the less you play/older you get, the lower your ceiling is.

Ideally Wilson gets some form of loan move in the next 12 months IMO, and within the next 2.5 seasons gets a loan spell where he plays regularly.

[Alan Twelve]

This is all wild speculation, of course, but I feel that he obviously has to establish himself as an u-21 at Villa before there's a chance of even a loan, never mind getting in the Villa first team squad. If he can do that this season then he's well ahead on his development - even next season would still mark him as one of their best prospects, I feel. If he even ever makes it to the Villa first team we have a serious talent - Villa are fantastic.

It's worth noting that there's a couple of other Scots who're on the fringes of the Villa u-21 squad, one of whom, Aidan Borland (formerly of Celtic), is even younger than Wilson.

[Alan Twelve]

A hat-trick for Wilson yesterday for Villa's u-18s. 15 goals in 9 games.

And another goal for Michael Mellon, this one in the FA Cup, in Morecambe's win away at Lincoln, who are a division above Morecambe. The magic of the cup, etc.

Edited November 5, 2023 by Alan Twelve

[PSJ.84]

 

[No_Problemo]

5 hours ago, Alan Twelve said:

A hat-trick for Wilson yesterday for Villa's u-18s. 15 goals in 9 games.

And another goal for Michael Mellon, this one in the FA Cup, in Morecambe's win away at Lincoln, who are a division above Morecambe. The magic of the cup, etc.

Wilson seems to quite clearly be playing a level below what he should be - bit odd the way he is being managed right now. 

It would be interesting to know the reasoning. 

Edited November 5, 2023 by No_Problemo

[albagubrath]

14 hours ago, No_Problemo said:

Wilson seems to quite clearly be playing a level below what he should be - bit odd the way he is being managed right now. 

It would be interesting to know the reasoning. 

It's a bit odd isn't it? I wonder if they have him going through some form of highly intensive training on something specific. For instance, strength and conditioning training to bulk up for adult football. It would make sense if they are beasting him in the gym to not push him too hard on gameday to avoid injury.

Utterly baseless speculation on my part of course, it's just difficult to reconcile his goal scoring record with his limited game time at a higher level. Admittedly I haven't seen him play for Villa so it might be that he is poor at other aspects of the game for them (outside scoring) but for Scotland his all round play is excellent, I think its fair to presume he is similarly good for Villa.

[Alan Twelve]

38 minutes ago, albagubrath said:

It's a bit odd isn't it? I wonder if they have him going through some form of highly intensive training on something specific. For instance, strength and conditioning training to bulk up for adult football. It would make sense if they are beasting him in the gym to not push him too hard on gameday to avoid injury.

Utterly baseless speculation on my part of course, it's just difficult to reconcile his goal scoring record with his limited game time at a higher level. Admittedly I haven't seen him play for Villa so it might be that he is poor at other aspects of the game for them (outside scoring) but for Scotland his all round play is excellent, I think its fair to presume he is similarly good for Villa.

I wondered myself if it might be that he's not physically ready for the older age group - looking at the picture of him in that tweet (obviously the best way to judge a player's physical attributes), he does seem rather slight for a professional footballer.