U23 Round Up

Birmingham City U23 1 v Sheffield United U23 3

Premier League Cup, Group H

Played at The Automated Technology Group Stadium, Solihull Moors FC

Monday 20 February 2017

Twitter @ball_sup

My 190th ground watching a Sheffield United XI - all levels, all teams, all ages, all competitions, all surfaces. It used to be “on grass & with corner flags”. But, 3G pitches put paid to that - some of them are barely green. So, I’ve reverted to the “must have corner flags rule”.

The Game

Good win that. SUFC were dominant & convincing at times. But, fair do. Birmingham came out much better in the second half. Towards the end it was backs to the wall stuff for United. Action of the rearguard variety. Blocks. Off the line. Fingertip saves.

The players who caught my eye all got subbed. Game time, fixture management & rotation. Regan Slater rifled in the second goal. He was very busy. Comfortable with either foot. He closes down opposition players very quickly.

Graham Kelly is getting his second wind on the left hand side of that back three. He's a great organiser & communicator. His natural wingback tendency means he's great in “the O’Connell role”. Pushing forward with, and past, Stephen Mallon down the left. Confident that Reed and/or Slater will fill in for him. When Alex Brown replaced Kelly, the Blades went conventional four at the back.

I've written about Stephen Mallon's improvement. More of the same today at left wingback. Equally at home with mazy runs & defensive headers. A good all round game.

Reed took on the Coutts role. Coming deep back to the three. Giving them an outlet. Like Slater, he was also popping up all over. Very busy.

Three well taken goals from McNulty, Slater & Wright.

Noticeably, United's Academy has an encouraging & explaining culture. The staff & the players take that approach with each other. I see other teams bollocking each other. Oh, & the language…. But, our set up is less critical, less hostile.

Academy U23 Round Up

This competition, The Premier League Cup

After a short pre-qualifying stage, the PL Cup is now a long way through a 32 team in 8 Groups phase. Each team plays the others in the group home & away - 6 games in all. And the top two in each group qualify for a single leg last 16. The claimed “aim” is to provide more games for Development XIs. In United’s case, it gives us the chance to play teams from a higher level in the Pyramid to ourselves. We’re in a Group with today’s oppos Birmingham (from our level), Stoke (the level above us - Premier League 2, Division 2) and Reading (from the very top level - Premier League 1, Division 1).

That result today puts us 2nd behind Reading. We've got 8 pts. They've got 10 pts. Stoke are third with 5 pts. Birmingham are out of it with just 4 pts. Everyone in the group just has one game to play.

United now have one game left, against Birmingham, next Monday 27 February, 7pm at Bramall Lane.

Reading go to Stoke on Saturday 25 February. A win for Reading or a draw would see United into the last 16. And therefore a dead rubber next week for us v Birmingham. A win for Stoke would send us into that Birmingham game needing a point to qualify.

Brighton & Hove Albion, West Ham and Liverpool are the only teams to have qualified so far. So, most of the Groups are going down to the wire. The Group fixtures will all more-or-less finish by end-February.

The Blades top scorer in the Premier League Cup is Jake Wright The Younger with four. That puts him joint top with three others.

Professional Development League

Is split into North & South - 10 teams in each. You play everyone in your region home and away & everyone in the other region just once. To give a season of 30 games. The top two in each region play off to decide an overall winner. There is NO promotion & relegation. Teams very occasionally switch up or down based on the category of their Academy.

There have been a few League games today. Now that those have all shaken down, United have dropped from 3rd to 5th.

Top SWFC 39 pts from 21 games
2nd Hull City 33 pts from 21
3rd Crewe 29 pts from 20
4th Huddersfield 28 pts from 21
5th SUFC 28 pts (on goal difference) from just 17 games

The next game is this Friday, 24 February, 1pm up at Shirecliffe against Leeds United who are bang bottom 10th. With 19 pts from 19 games.

United’s top goalscorer in the Professional Development League is David Brooks. He has bagged 7 goals. That puts him joint tenth in the scorers list - headed by Ben Brereton from Nottingham Forest with 13.

The Central League Cup

SUFC are in the Northern Cup. Fourteen teams were split into 3 groups of 4 or 5 teams. Each team played the others in the group once. That phase has now finished. United qualified top of Group 1 with 9 points from 4 games. Putting us into a Northern Cup SF away at Fleetwood Town on Tuesday 28 February. The winners of that single leg affair will play the winners of Chesterfield v Wigan in the Northern Final.

That Semi Final emphasises the fixture pile up coming our way. United have games today, Friday, next Monday & next Tuesday across the three compos. As of today, some teams have played 4 League games more than us. They have 9 to play, we have 13 - and we’re still in both cups (for the moment). Helpfully there is no U18 fixture this Saturday. So, there’ll be a bit of squad rotation across Friday/ Monday/Tuesday.

The Beer

Ilkley Brewery, Hanging Stone, Oatmeal Stout on cask at 5%. Great beer that. If I was looking to pick holes, I'd say just a little too sweet. But, overall, it plays to my taste buds. Deep red fruit sweet. Gives way to some toasted nuts. Gives way to a long bitter finish. Very appealing to look at. Coal black. Almost brown head.

And. In the enormous & welcoming Solihull Moors Clubhouse. Guinness, Golden Ale on keg at 4.5%. Nothing on cask. Way it goes. No criticism here. Football clubhouses have to do what they can.

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