Under 18's v Middlesboro

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Just back from the Juve game. a 2.3 defeat and I would say Juve were worth it overall.

We started well and got a goal.Good work down the left, Cole rolled it back for Ntcham and his shot was parried for Pozo to tap in.But when they scored direct from a free kick it all seemed to go wrong from that point on.Sadly I thought we went missing in the middle of the park and fairly direct play was causing us all sorts of problems.

Bearing in mind their ages I thought Lopes and Pozo had some very good moments but Cole up top disappeared after a very good hard working start.And we played 3 at the back with Rekik,Bossaerts and Plummer with Drury and Meppen-Walter as wing backs.

I liked Ntcham but again he is young and disappeared a little too much but the lad is talented as well as strong.

[Beefymcfc]

Sounds like the future Doug. Three at the back is where we are heading, I think. We've seen Barca do it but only due to player shortage, why are we trying to force the issue?

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Sounds like the future Doug. Three at the back is where we are heading, I think. We've seen Barca do it but only due to player shortage, why are we trying to force the issue?

Maybe they played it tonight to see the sort of things that go wrong! 2 of the 3 tonight are very young in Rekik and Bossaerts.I wouldnt say it was the system that was the problem tonight. 2 of the goals were direct free kicks.

Generally though we just weren't good enough in key areas at key times.Defence,midfield and attack to a lesser degree.