Academy And Under-23s

Won 3-0 in the end. Master Cleverley is doing an excellent job....as I knew he would.

 

As HB1 has already posted, a 3-0 win (Lawson got the third) means we're into the semi-finals

Millwall beat Fleetwood 2-1 so they too are through. I don't think the other 2 ties have been played yet

 

Perhaps a slightly younger group than the Man City game?

Albeit both Nabizada and Odiase are 16.

Hopefully there'll be highlights of this up on youtube, though I doubt it.

 

I don't think it's a younger group per se, all 16 players named today are listed in the under 18 squad with the majority being 17

I think the likes of Mullins, Adu-Poku and now Ramirez-Espain & Messiah-Edwards are now often with the under 21's so there was little point playing them

As I've mentioned before, it's a bloated under 18 squad so I think there'll be an eye on controlling minutes played for each individual, the odd injury, natural squad rotation and several moving up an age bracket

 

They most certainly haven't been played yet because Burnley v Oxford is scheduled for February 13 and Sheffield United v Swansea the following week on the 21st, so a while until the semi-final line up is decided

 

2 loans have come to an end

Firstly, George Abbott has officially returned from his 1 month deal at Potters Bar where I think he managed just 45 minutes on debut before getting injured

The second loanee to return is Roraigh Browne. The young keeper spent 3 months at Northwood FC and was given glowing praise by the club earlier in the week. It's nice to see WFC also receive kind words in their handling of the deal with The Woods

The Isthmian League South Central Division side (that just rolls off the tongue like a drunk Ru Paul tribute act in 17" platforms walking on the famous cobbles of Coronation Street) have since announced the return of 'fans favourite' Andrew McCorkell to take over between those two upright sticky things

 

He may have some talent but that is one shocking barnet

 

After a decent quarter-final win against Hull in the Under 18 PDL League Cup, Watford's young charges now have two big league games to contend with

Tomorrow sees them at home against current league leaders Bristol City where a win will take Watford top

The following week they're away at Charlton. They currently sit fourth but with enough games in hand to overtake our under 18 side

While winning isn't the be all and end all at academy level, it would be nice for the club to win something, especially with the main squad starting to shrivel like a salted snail as the games pile up

 

Sack the Board!

Trash the Training Ground!

Write Indifferent Letters to the Watford Observer!

The under 18's lost 2-1 against Bristol City this morning

Will Pozzo never learn - you don't win anything with kids, not even in the kids league

 

Dawid Hamiga (18) should return from his 1 month loan this week (it officially ends on the 13th) as Slough have no more games until the 17th

He was named on the bench 5 times but wasn't in the squad for Saturdays 4-3 away win at Torquay United, which should prove to be the 6th and final game of his loan

Of those 5 games starting from the bench young Dawid managed 0 minutes on the pitch. Ouch

Not ideal but maybe he had a hoot trying to find Britain's first ever zebra crossing (note to Dawid, the original no longer exists) or has been busy visiting Frank Rotherham Mouldings, home of the first ever modern day plastic wheelie bin. Overall though, his time in Slough turned out to be a bad month at the office

 

I wasn't going to bother posting but wins are in such small supply right now and this one was quite an impressive victory for the side "who lose every week" (according to some) last night, the under 21's coming away 1-0 winners against the QPR Development Squad with Adu-Poku scoring the only goal

The R's are top of the table and this was just their third defeat in the league. For a little bit more kudos, they included 2 first team defenders (their words) and Watford played for over half an hour with just 10-men after James Clarridge was sent off

Tobi Adeyemo also played the final 20 minutes, his first appearance this season, and Watford now sit smack bang in the middle of a 10 team table - t'riffic!

 

Was that his debut?

 

His official debut, yes. I'm guessing he's appeared as a trialist before he signed though

 

Roraigh Browne has packed his bag and said goodbye to the Vicarage Road circus - for now

The young shot stopper is now on loan to Walthamstow until Middlemarch has completed its run

What? Sorry, he's on loan until the middle of March. Easy mistake to make

Walthamstow play in the Isthmian League Division One North, which is tier 8 I think

 

I'm surprised they were put in that league, guess its what it is, quite long journeys for their away games, as far as Lowerstoft and Wroxham, shame for them they aren't in the Isthmian South Central league where they would be playing the likes of Uxbridge and Southall!

 

Two more out on loan as of today

Michael Adu-Poku (18) and (he's a) keeper Gabriel Ortelli (17) have got a supersaver ticket to Kings Langley to see the sights, ply their wares and hopefully blossom just as spring arrives (kind of)

More fleshed out information here; https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/24126134.watford-send-two-young-players-kings-langley-loan/

 

Another loss for the under 18s this morning. This time against 4th placed (with games in hand) Charlton, Watford once more on the wrong end of a 2-1 scoreline

It's a shame the season looks to be petering out after a promising start, but then that's youth football. The team will be switched around, players are leaving to go out on loan (a very good development within the academy that this is happening more & more at under 18 level), so while a 'title' probably won't happen now it hopefully shows signs of a decent batch of players coming through

And there's always next season...

This was the table before todays game

 

The under 21's (who remember, lose every week apparently) drew 2-2 against 3rd placed Bournemouth this afternoon, coming from 0-2 down.

I don't go anymore so my takeaways are from whatever I've read post match and a pizza with a crunchy side salad. Nice

Michael Adu-Poku played Saturday for Kings Langley and laid on an assist while today he scored 2 in a minute just after half-time to level the scores
The goals are really well taken while his touches leading up to his shots were very good too

A word for Charlie Davis (I'm not a fan), his ball over the top for the second was a peach. Superbly weighted, good vision and showing good composure - we'd literally just won the ball back after Bournemouth restarted the game following Add-Poku's first so adrenaline will have been pumping

The goals via twitter; https://x.com/WatfordFCAcad/status/1760002555906555979?s=20

Toby Adeyemo once again came on for another 20 minute cameo to continue his come back

Jeremy Ngakia didn't play but did take part in a friendly over the weekend

As I've mentioned previously, George Abbott was injured on debut for Potters Bar and it's now been reported he has a fractured fibula

Anyone who follows Andrew French on twitter (not in person, 10 yards behind lurking furtively in the bushes) will have seen him mention Kenny Jackett (DoF at Gillingham) and David Pleat (minus a hat - it's all in the detail this reporting malarky!) were at todays game. I'm pretty sure they must live locally because whenever I used to go to see the academy sides the two of them were usually in attendance, so nothing new there

 

I'm surprised this hasn't been posted already as it's been reported for a while now...

Raul Vancea* made his debut on Wednesday for England at under 16 level in the Football Federations Cup against Saudi Arabia. England won 3-1

The other teams competing are Sweden and South Korea

*Guess where he plays - left-back!

 

Welcome to Man City

 

I know you're only (half?) joking but he played against City in the FA Youth Cup game in December so they'll definitely be aware, as I'm sure they would've been for a while if he's that good

Chelsea will know of him too as he was there from under 9's to under 14's

He's also still only 15 for a couple of more months

 

Put him on the bench against Huddersfield then bring him on with 2 mins left of the game. At least we will get a lot more money for him when he gets poached.

 

A 3-2 win for the free scoring under 18s at home to QPR this morning. They couldn't could they? No idea on the other scores so I cannot answer that question, sorry

 

Well, I have some kind of answer to the above question; it's back on! (though unlikely)

Results for the top 4 went this way today

Cardiff City 3-2 Bristol City
Watford 3-2 QPR
Charlton don't play until Tuesday (and are going to have a bit of a backlog with their fixtures as the season closes)

Current table
1: Currents
2: Raisens
3: Grapes
4: Prunes

Probably more importantly, the Under 18 League Table
1: Bristol City..............gp 18 won 12 drawn 2 lost 4 gf 41 ga 25 pts 38
2: Watford...................gp 18 won 12 drawn 1 lost 5 gf 50 ga 25 pts 37
3: Cardiff City.............gp 15 won 9 drawn 2 lost 4 gf 38 ga 28 pts 29
4: Charlton Athletic...gp 13 won 7 drawn 4 lost 2 gf 38 ga 24 pts 25

 

Our two goals scored by the sons of two legends: Andriy Shevchenko and Tommy Smith.

 

Saw this in the WO write-up of the u17s cup win vs Burnley:

"Raul Vancea is away representing England Under-16s"

So that's next out the door confirmed. Albeit it sounds like he was at Chelsea as a younger kid but left there a few years ago. But he's the only player in the squad aside from a couple of Saints lads and one Blackburn player not at a PL club.

It appears he's yet another LB like Galvez and Amass before him, quite funny.

There are a bunch of Romanian football sites tracking his progress as his parents are Romanian (hence the flag they stuck on the image below).

 

The next out of the door maybe, but on the bright side, another £75.00 transfer fee on the way.

 

You only had to look a little bit up this page to see it had already been posted (post #3556)

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On a separate note, I'm off (only came back for the Pozzo meeting - parly-wotsit - and this place is not a healthy site for me to visit regularly) so I'll return to the shadows when I do have an occasional look in

Good luck everyone, supporters and club alike, stay healthy and be kind to each other. Adios!

 

Doh.

That's a shame, don't be a stranger.

 

That's a shame but take care of yourself and reach out if you ever want to talk outside WFC forums.