RESERVES MID-TERM REVIEW
The team has played a total of 20 games which equates to four a month or once a week which is fairly good in comparison to past seasons. This gives plenty of opportunities for players to get action and also get some continuity going.
In addition, we have seen the elevation of many of the team that won the FA Youth Cup last season including Jurado, Bennett, McNeill, Hansen-Aaroen, Forson, Fredricson and Gore all of whom have featured in 50% of those matches. This is great from a development perspective, but obviously these youngsters will make mistakes which we have seen with the number of goals we have conceded.
However, on the down side, we have struggled to score goals, there are still players who haven't played much at all and there seems to be a lot of injured players at the club right now.
We have seen a real lack of quality at Reserve level for some years now in terms of goalscoring, which reflects not only how many games we win and our position in the table, but also the confidence that success brings. Taking Mason Greenwood out of the equation as he is an outlier, it's been years since a striker at the club has got anywhere near 15-20 goals a season. This season we have only scored 27 goals in the 20 matches to date. Our top scorer is Shoretire with 5 and McNeill and Forson with 4 each. McNeill's total includes 3 penalties. The three highest playing midfielders are Savage, Hansen-Aaroen and Mainoo who have six goals between them. McNeill has yet to step up into the more physical world of second team football, but the talent is there having scored a bagful at U/18 level last season.
Having watched all the games, our possession is comparable to any other team and we create chances but tend slow it down, lose possession or run out of ideas when we reach the final third. Something the club will no doubt be aware of. This is particularly evident when we play better teams such as Manchester City and Bolton in the EFL Trophy. We failed to score in every one of the International Cup games and also in the final two EFL matches.
In terms of player development, taking injuries out of the equation, there are still players not getting enough playing time. Iqbal, who is training with the first team, has only played six competitive games all season, Collyer has only started four whilst we have so many keepers it's impossible to give them all match action. Vitek (8), Mastny (4), Bishop (6), and Mee (2) makes me wonder how so little game time gets them ready for senior football?
If you look at injuries, I can't remember the last time we had so many players injured. At some time or other Mengi, Bernard, Emeran, Pye, Hugill, Mather, Mejia, Pellestri, Kambwala have all had long spells on the sidelines. That's nearly a whole team. I don't know if that is bad luck, over-training, poor medical advice or some other factor but it the same at Academy level.
Finally, if we look at loans, this area of football is one of the toughest to manage. Whilst some loans seem to be going well for players...Laird, Fernandez, Diallo and Mejbri come to mind...for others it's been a mixed bag. Will Fish at Hibs, Charlie Wellens at Oldham Athletic, Ethan Galbraith at Salford City have fallen off the radar a little. I am reluctant to be too critical, as getting loans right is really difficult and you need to be careful. This is one area to continue to watch in the second half of the season. Personally, I would be looking for 'decent' loans for the likes of Elanga, Savage, Iqbal, Mengi, Bernard and Hardley in the January window. They need to be playing more regularly and against higher calibre teams/players.
Everyone will have different views of the management under Mark Dempsey, the quality of players at the club, the decisions taken by the people in charge...at the end of the day it's a competitive environment and the best players will no doubt succeed regardless. As always, watching the development to the first team is all part of the reason why we follow reserve team football.
Let's hope for a better second half of the campaign.
Top Appearances:
18 - Hardley, Savage, Jurado, McNeill
16 - Hansen-Aaroen
15 - Mainoo, Bennett, Forson
13 - Shoretire
11 - Fredricson, Huddlestone
10 - Gore
Top Goal Scorers:
5 - Shoretire
4 - McNeill, Forson
3 - Hansen-Aaroen
2 - Mainoo, Jurado
1 - Savage, Bennett, Hugill, Wellens, Garnacho