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Ted Hughes wrote:Nice work, again.

I wonder if Angelino will debut this weekend or whether they will bottle out of playing him ?

Lampard is playing & it's on Sky, but I'm more interested to see how Angelino copes, suddenly thrown in vs full sized blokes, (if it happens).

wouldn't be surprised if he comes off the bench this weekend, considering he played in a friendly yesterday. Lampard didn't feature, so more likely to play IMO.

if he doesn't play against Toronto, i wouldn't consider it to be a disappointment - i would take it as they want him to have a bit more time training with the team before throwing him in - he'll get plenty of time the rest of the season.

I see Twosips fighting his corner on BM, regarding the number of youth team players in the Australian tour squad. Fair play to you. I wouldn't have the energy, or will to bother.
I think it is a great opportunity for the young lads and they will be getting the chance to to do preseason training with the senior setup as much as anything else.
I think it is a necessity for the senior squad, as we don't have the numbers back anyway to play a training match. I can only see a benefit for all concerned.

Hiwula signed a permanent contract with Huddersfield

Wonderwall wrote:Hiwula signed a permanent contract with Huddersfield

Any mention of a fee. £500/750000 sounds fair with a sell on clause

Not heard any prices

I saw loads of tweets saying £150k+add ons

What happened to Maffeo?
He just tweeted "Back to Manchester to start the injury recovery. It's been amazing to live this great experience with the first team."

Moonchesteri wrote:What happened to Maffeo?
He just tweeted "Back to Manchester to start the injury recovery. It's been amazing to live this great experience with the first team."

He was holding his hamstring last game, 1st half.

Ted Hughes wrote:

Moonchesteri wrote:What happened to Maffeo?
He just tweeted "Back to Manchester to start the injury recovery. It's been amazing to live this great experience with the first team."

He was holding his hamstring last game, 1st half.

ah, I missed that. Thanks Ted.

Devante Cole was on trial for West Ham tonight. Gutted he's gonna be leaving. Shame as he had a real chance at one point

twosips wrote:Devante Cole was on trial for West Ham tonight. Gutted he's gonna be leaving. Shame as he had a real chance at one point

I think this is the MO from hereon in. We were wondering but heard nothing and those of us that go to the eds and keep our ear to the ground heard very little. However it was vice versa for the main guys who are now being promoted to the 1st team.

Cole has had plenty of opportunity at a lower level and did OK. However last season at mk dons, he was hardly used in the crucial run in.

He will make a living

Surprised that Cole has gone, well not that he's gone, as it seemed strange we haven't seen him, but that the geezer on Bmoon who gets all the info on stuff like this & called Hiwula leaving well before it hit the press, said Cole was signing a new deal. Not usually wrong.

I wonder if signing Unal, & that French lad, caused Cole to have a last minute change of heart.

Ted Hughes wrote:Surprised that Cole has gone, well not that he's gone, as it seemed strange we haven't seen him, but that the geezer on Bmoon who gets all the info on stuff like this & called Hiwula leaving well before it hit the press, said Cole was signing a new deal. Not usually wrong.

I wonder if signing Unal, & that French lad, caused Cole to have a last minute change of heart.

Maybe he is signing a new deal and then we are flogging him for a few quid? Did we not do something similar with Huws?

Dubciteh wrote:

Ted Hughes wrote:Surprised that Cole has gone, well not that he's gone, as it seemed strange we haven't seen him, but that the geezer on Bmoon who gets all the info on stuff like this & called Hiwula leaving well before it hit the press, said Cole was signing a new deal. Not usually wrong.

I wonder if signing Unal, & that French lad, caused Cole to have a last minute change of heart.

Maybe he is signing a new deal and then we are flogging him for a few quid? Did we not do something similar with Huws?

Looks like he may be going to West Ham, he's having trials now & played in a West Ham XI yesterday............

Went to Rhyl last night to see the u18s in a preseason friendly against Rhyl's first team.

It was an incredibly young City team. Most literally just 15/16 with a couple of exceptions up against actual men, and some giants too. Not kidding - their centre forward was basically a tree. About 6'5, at least, and probably pushing 20 stone. Probably late twenties too. Massive. He wasn't the only one either. Just a hugely strong team, and very organised too. I'll give em credit where it's due.

Hugely enjoyable game though. We pipped it 1-0 and you could tell the kids were really pleased with the result. Wilcox was great the whole game - was stood right infront of me so I could hear him barking out orders throughout and it's fascinating. He's a really good coach. Balances the line between tough but fair and highly motivating really well...

We had Albinson in goal, two incredibly young fullbacks in Duhaney and Blackshaw and a centre half pairing of Josh Murray and Ask Kigbu. As ever, there was three in midfield with Patching and Diallo the ones breaking forward and a tiny little number 6, davenport, holding. Isaac Buckley was on the right wing, Spanish wonderkid Brahim on the left with that Swedish lad Faour through the middle.

I may as well get to the point - Brahim is a real talent. He was relatively quiet in the first half as he stuck to his left wing role. Hard-working and diligent, yes, but also only on the periphery of the game. Second half he started to drift infield and he came alive. Numerous delightful runs and I was purring at some of them. His feet are magnificent - one drop of the shoulder on the edge of the area that left a defender about a foot taller than him on his arse was just wonderful. His resulting shot with his weaker right foot wasn't bad either, heading into the top corner before the keeper turned it round the post. He claimed the assist for the winning goal, driving the middle, skipping past a challenge and perfectly weighting a through ball to Buckley who slotted past the keeper well. Most encouragingly, he seems to have a bloody brilliant attitude. He's tiny, but he was just bouncing off challenges, closing everyone down and he looked delighted at the final whistle despite it being a friendly. Don't wanna get carried away, but technically he reminds me of Kinkladze, but with fight. Scarily good potential. Can't wait to see him this year for the u18s regularly. Don't be surprised if we fast forward 12 months and he's doing what Garcia is doing on tour with the first team.

He wasn't the only one who played well. Patching was good, stronger than I've see him before but elegant, technical and purposeful too. Radar for the final ball was a tad off, but it was a good shift. Diallo is another hugely talented player. Strong in the challenge and measured on the ball and i thought the tiny but tenacious davenport had a good game sweeping everything up infront of the defence. Really like the look of Kigbu at CB - big lad, and a proper leader. Strong as an ox, often out-jumping their absolutely massive forward who made Kigbu look small, despite probably standing at around 6'2 himself. He was rapid as well, and seemed to enjoy stepping into midfield with the ball. Highly promising. Defensively the team was good all considering - they battled well. Murray holding firm in the middle with the fullbacks both really strong in the tackle, getting forward with energy too. Albinson had a really good game in goal too.

Faour was decent - been critical of him before but he really worked his arse off, running the line and holding up play a lot better than I've seen him do it in the past. Nearly scored a Ronaldo like free kick from about 40 yards too. Buckley was a handful as ever. Such an industrious little player - never stops running and possesses a decent amount of skill and a lot of pace. Took his goal well too. Overall it was a really enjoyable game. Rhyl were a good test, despite obviously being nowhere near as technically efficient as our prospects they put up a good fight and the u18s can rightfully enjoy that victory in a game that was literally men against boys. Can't wait for the new season now.

Also, shout out to our new third choice keeper, Mr Doug Higginbotham. Should have seen the save he made as the ball rocketed towards his face during the second half right behind the dugout. Joe hart would have been proud ha.

twosips wrote:Went to Rhyl last night to see the u18s in a preseason friendly against Rhyl's first team.

It was an incredibly young City team. Most literally just 15/16 with a couple of exceptions up against actual men, and some giants too. Not kidding - their centre forward was basically a tree. About 6'5, at least, and probably pushing 20 stone. Probably late twenties too. Massive. He wasn't the only one either. Just a hugely strong team, and very organised too. I'll give em credit where it's due.

Hugely enjoyable game though. We pipped it 1-0 and you could tell the kids were really pleased with the result. Wilcox was great the whole game - was stood right infront of me so I could hear him barking out orders throughout and it's fascinating. He's a really good coach. Balances the line between tough but fair and highly motivating really well...

We had Albinson in goal, two incredibly young fullbacks in Duhaney and Blackshaw and a centre half pairing of Josh Murray and Ask Kigbu. As ever, there was three in midfield with Patching and Diallo the ones breaking forward and a tiny little number 6, davenport, holding. Isaac Buckley was on the right wing, Spanish wonderkid Brahim on the left with that Swedish lad Faour through the middle.

I may as well get to the point - Brahim is a real talent. He was relatively quiet in the first half as he stuck to his left wing role. Hard-working and diligent, yes, but also only on the periphery of the game. Second half he started to drift infield and he came alive. Numerous delightful runs and I was purring at some of them. His feet are magnificent - one drop of the shoulder on the edge of the area that left a defender about a foot taller than him on his arse was just wonderful. His resulting shot with his weaker right foot wasn't bad either, heading into the top corner before the keeper turned it round the post. He claimed the assist for the winning goal, driving the middle, skipping past a challenge and perfectly weighting a through ball to Buckley who slotted past the keeper well. Most encouragingly, he seems to have a bloody brilliant attitude. He's tiny, but he was just bouncing off challenges, closing everyone down and he looked delighted at the final whistle despite it being a friendly. Don't wanna get carried away, but technically he reminds me of Kinkladze, but with fight. Scarily good potential. Can't wait to see him this year for the u18s regularly. Don't be surprised if we fast forward 12 months and he's doing what Garcia is doing on tour with the first team.

He wasn't the only one who played well. Patching was good, stronger than I've see him before but elegant, technical and purposeful too. Radar for the final ball was a tad off, but it was a good shift. Diallo is another hugely talented player. Strong in the challenge and measured on the ball and i thought the tiny but tenacious davenport had a good game sweeping everything up infront of the defence. Really like the look of Kigbu at CB - big lad, and a proper leader. Strong as an ox, often out-jumping their absolutely massive forward who made Kigbu look small, despite probably standing at around 6'2 himself. He was rapid as well, and seemed to enjoy stepping into midfield with the ball. Highly promising. Defensively the team was good all considering - they battled well. Murray holding firm in the middle with the fullbacks both really strong in the tackle, getting forward with energy too. Albinson had a really good game in goal too.

Faour was decent - been critical of him before but he really worked his arse off, running the line and holding up play a lot better than I've seen him do it in the past. Nearly scored a Ronaldo like free kick from about 40 yards too. Buckley was a handful as ever. Such an industrious little player - never stops running and possesses a decent amount of skill and a lot of pace. Took his goal well too. Overall it was a really enjoyable game. Rhyl were a good test, despite obviously being nowhere near as technically efficient as our prospects they put up a good fight and the u18s can rightfully enjoy that victory in a game that was literally men against boys. Can't wait for the new season now.

Also, shout out to our new third choice keeper, Mr Doug Higginbotham. Should have seen the save he made as the ball rocketed towards his face during the second half right behind the dugout. Joe hart would have been proud ha.

Is Brahim the kid we signed from Malaga (i think) a couple of years back?

Nice report BTW

He is indeed.

Great read TS. You've stopped a lot of the pre-season boredom with your excellent reports. Well done lad. ;-)

How does Faour look? I remember in a tournament a couple of seasons back he was tremendous and it seemed everything went quiet on him after that.

Slim wrote:How does Faour look? I remember in a tournament a couple of seasons back he was tremendous and it seemed everything went quiet on him after that.

I am still waiting to see that something special from Faour but he is growing on me and I need to recognise how young he still is. He has probably flattered to deceive but last night I was quietly impressed. He was up against a big big guy and took the buffeting in his stride and I thought actually used his body quite well to shield the ball and hold the ball up. Had couple of blocked attempts on goal and showed great belief when he hit the free kick just over in the 2nd half.

Brahim looked something special in that second half. He had runs which really lifted the whole crowd with his pace and dancing feet but there was a purpose and end product. Comparing him to Kinkladze I think is fair and time will tell whether he can live up to that and even go further with maybe a greater appetite for the game.

I thoroughly enjoyed the game last night watching the ultimate in men against boys. Sat with Twosips just behind Jason Wilcox was also enlightening. He does shout quite a lot but it seemed to be a mixture of 2 things. One was encouragement over things they did even if it didn't come off and second were regular reminders of positional stuff. Telling individuals to be further up, deeper or whatever. Just added to enjoying the game for me to be that close to the manager.

Nice taster for the season and I can't wait for more. Off to watch the ladies tonight.