Under 18's V Hereford and 16's in Quatar

[bigblue]

What disappointed me was that our defenders didn't seem to have any aptitude for defending.

The Barca lads made plenty of mistakes, but they were all over us like a rash when we had the ball 1v1 & made us work for everything we got. We just stood & watched when they scored.

I'm sure we would have battered everybody if they had our defenders.

Someone mentioned before that a promising thing about watching City's youth is that they set out to play a certain way and are unafraid to make mistakes; even if they fuck up, they have the belief and freedom to stick with the game plan.

So the focus at this point might be to instill the new "City" system/mindset in our youth at the expense of results or stonewall defending. If that's the case, I applaud our coaches for their courage and have faith that good defending will come in time.

[Ted Hughes]

What disappointed me was that our defenders didn't seem to have any aptitude for defending.

The Barca lads made plenty of mistakes, but they were all over us like a rash when we had the ball 1v1 & made us work for everything we got. We just stood & watched when they scored.

I'm sure we would have battered everybody if they had our defenders.

Someone mentioned before that a promising thing about watching City's youth is that they set out to play a certain way and are unafraid to make mistakes; even if they fuck up, they have the belief and freedom to stick with the game plan.

So the focus at this point might be to instill the new "City" system/mindset in our youth at the expense of results or stonewall defending. If that's the case, I applaud our coaches for their courage and have faith that good defending will come in time.

That would probably be me.

I have made that point several times re our younger teams & am all for us playing football from the back. Just not into poor quality defenders. You can pass the ball & make mistakes but that has nothing to do with someone having no ability to tackle or no itelligence to mark. barca got mugged at the back plenty of times & made plenty of mistakes, as kids do, but if one of our players wanted to go past a Barca defender, he had to earn it. At our end if they got 1v1, they scored.

[bigblue]

That would probably be me.

I have made that point several times re our younger teams & am all for us playing football from the back. Just not into poor quality defenders. You can pass the ball & make mistakes but that has nothing to do with someone having no ability to tackle or no intelligence to mark. barca got mugged at the back plenty of times & made plenty of mistakes, as kids do, but if one of our players wanted to go past a Barca defender, he had to earn it. At our end if they got 1v1, they scored.

Makes sense and it pains me to see when younger players lack basic defending ability. If they have the necessary physical attributes, being a good defender is mostly mental; being able to read the game well and having the enough desire. Knowing when to cover, when to drop, when to occupy space, when to mark a player, what side to push an attacker to, when to dive in, when to hold steady.... then having the desire to beat the opponent in the battle for the ball. It's so frustrating when you see a youth player with incredible footwork when they have the ball turn to shit and stumble over themselves when trying to defend. Just get low, on your toes, make an angle with your hips, shuffle your feet, and keep your eye on the ball FFS

A good coach can turn a very average set of players into a great defensive unit by drilling the proper knowledge and mentality into their skull. So I guess we'll see how much proper defending is emphasized over the coming years