Aston Villa Reserves/Academy games & information

[dave.woodhall]

75 mins 1-0.

[dave.woodhall]

83 mins 2-0 Burke.

[Percy McCarthy]

Woo-hoo, come on lads!

[spangley1812]

83 mins 2-0 Burke.

wasnt it Drennan.............

[PeterWithesShin]

Villa U19 2-0 PSV U19 - GOAL - 84 mins: Terrific solo effort from Michael Drennan. The Kilkenny-born marksman sprints down the left wing, skips past PSV skipper Menno Koch before surging into the box and slotting across the goalkeeper.

I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere about beating Koch into the box.

[dave.woodhall]

FT 2-0.

[Somniloquism]

So we now go second in the table then?

[spangley1812]

So we now go second in the table then?

Villa's hopes of reaching the last 16 have been boosted signficantly after a superb display against PSV Eindhoven. It means the young guns are up into second place in Group 4 going into the final game against Sporting CP in Lisbon on Wednesday November 28.

[Billy Walker]

Just looking at the Ajax team that faced Man City last night,  I'm sure one or two of them lined up against our lads in last season's NextGen. It makes you realise how talented the kids are at this level.

[villajk]

A very pleasant evening and not a bad game.

Well done the lads for a good win.

[Mister E]

Just looking at the Ajax team that faced Man City last night,  I'm sure one or two of them lined up against our lads in last season's NextGen. It makes you realise how talented the kids are at this level.

True, but we've been waiting a long time for the Bannan generation to make regular first-team appearances.
Do we think Drennan, Burke, etc are ready to step up right now, or even in 12 months' time?

Either Ajax's kids are a cut above or we're not blooding ours early enough ... or Ajax are prepared to take a more of a risk on the youngsters at first team level.

One way or t'other, we seem to struggle a little to get our kids to make the transition (do we make enough use of the loan system for the youngsters or are we relying on the youth leagues too much for their development?)

[fredm]

The problem has been that we have not made enough use of the loan system over the past 4/5 years.  As soon as a player is 18/19 he should be going out on loan and cutting his teeth.  Instead we have kept players at VP and praised them for winning the Reserve League, when in fact the majority of teams they have been playing against have been under 18's.

[Billy Walker]

Just looking at the Ajax team that faced Man City last night,  I'm sure one or two of them lined up against our lads in last season's NextGen. It makes you realise how talented the kids are at this level.

True, but we've been waiting a long time for the Bannan generation to make regular first-team appearances.
Do we think Drennan, Burke, etc are ready to step up right now, or even in 12 months' time?

Either Ajax's kids are a cut above or we're not blooding ours early enough ... or Ajax are prepared to take a more of a risk on the youngsters at first team level.

One way or t'other, we seem to struggle a little to get our kids to make the transition (do we make enough use of the loan system for the youngsters or are we relying on the youth leagues too much for their development?)

Yes, the key is in how we blood them.  The Bannan generation really have been up against it from the word go and haven't had the luxury of being gently introduced into a winning side  of experienced professionals.  It's been a tough baptism for those lads but hopefully they and the club will be all the stronger for it. 

As for the current crop, if we are doing well in the league come March/April, I would be tempted to get Drennan involved.

[ADVILLAFAN]

Thought Burke had a great game, clearly MOM. Scored his goal very nicely and after that every time we did a great pass it was him putting it through.

Drennan took the 2nd well too. Thought Grealish was quite good.

Our right-back struggled a bit.

[fredm]

Thought Burke had a great game, clearly MOM. Scored his goal very nicely and after that every time we did a great pass it was him putting it through.

Drennan took the 2nd well too. Thought Grealish was quite good.

Our right-back struggled a bit.

Yep Burke had a very good game, put some lovely balls through their defence, shows he has an eye for a pass.  He did however miss a glorious opportunity to score.  The right back I think I heard them say is actually a right midfielder who was filling in so perhaps he can have some leeway.  The other player he caught the eye was the No.4, an aussie (forget his name) who slotted into midfield and knitted it all together with ease and composure.