Going through a few things this morning it became obvious one of the three on the pitch warming up who weren't on the team sheet was current academy player Ryan Suckling.
A quick review of todays U23 game versus Cardiff City. Official report; https://www.watfordfc.com/teams/under-23s/u23-report-reaction-watford-0-0-cardiff Team; Adam Parkes (gk) Michael Mullings (rb) Joy Mukena © (cb) Ben Tricker (cb) Tom Leighton (lb) Daniel Phillips (cm) Emmanuel Adebiyi (cm) Trialist #1 - Henry Wise (att-lm) Trialist #2 - Courtney Watson (att-rm) Louis Yamfam (att-cm) Jayden Bennetts (cf) Once again a slow start for the side but they grew more dominant by sitting back and allowing Cardiff come onto them. This left more space for the likes of Yamfam, Adebiyi and Phillips to exert their ball skills and play their way through Cardiff. Quite often though the final ball went astray or, in Yamfam's case more often than not, it was too late in coming. Phillips missed an early penalty which he won. A slight disagreement with Bennetts as to who would take the spot-kick which was defused by Bennetts just walking away. He obviously wasn't happy and his mood didn't improve when the penalty was saved. At half-time Phillips waited for Bennetts near the tunnel and all seemed well again. It was a frustrating 90 minutes all round for Bennetts as he was afforded very little protection from an otherwise pro-Watford referee. Parkes did all that was asked of him but I don't see a dominant presence in him at the moment. Michael Mullings had a cracking game at right back but must learn not to be manoeuvred to the wrong side when jockeying from behind. Tom Leighton had a very good game at left back. I've never been too convinced by Leighton but he defended very well today and looked far more adept going forward bar one moment when he comically stood on the ball and fell like a 3-legged old nag attempting fence one at Aintree. Both centre backs played well and stood up well against a giant centre forward. Mukena in particular brought the ball out comfortably on a number of occasions. Phillips sat deep in midfield and gave an U23 masterclass in how to turn your opponent. Distribution as the game went on was very good. Adebiyi and Yamfam were okay but neither were able to set Bennetts free when opportunities arose. Bennetts was isolated and through no fault of his own was unable to assert any pressure on the Cardiff defence because he rarely received the ball. Henry Wise isn't a winger and looked out of place on the left. Courtney Watson was once again listed as a trialist and showed very little today. He seemed to hide without the ball, offered little with it and when he tackled I was never too convinced he wanted to win it. His worst performance by far that I've seen. Subs; Ryan Suckling came on late for an injured Michael Mullings. No time to really show anything in defence or going forward. Suckling actually slotted into the left back spot with Leighton swapping over to right back. Imaad Sankoh came on for the disappointing Courtney Watson and Watford immediately improved in finding space off the ball and finding players with the ball. Sankoh played centrally with Yamfam moving to the right. Sam Sesay replaced Henry Wise on the left but didn't affect the game in any way. Cardiff looked okay as a team but offered little individually and they weren't helped by some poor decisions going against them by all three officials. If they'd had a more mobile number 9 they may have offered more of a threat bringing the ball forward.
Seems like Andy Scott may have been sacked? https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/s...andy-scott-about-different-role-with-hornets/
A quick post about todays U23 game against Barnsley, a 2-2 draw at Vicarage Road. The previous game had seven players listed as trialists while today had a possible eleven if the oncoming subs are included along with Henry Wise & Louis Yamfam, who have both featured a number of times recently. The development side have two games this week (Crystal Palace on Thursday up next I think) so there was always going to be some chopping and changing but the side today was full of players who must be on trial but were named on the team sheet nonetheless. g/k - Adam Parkes (19y/o, Watford) right back - Jamal Balogun (19y/o, currently at Reading where he signed his first pro deal in July 2018) left back - Cameron Green (19y/o, his situation is the same as Jamal Balogun) centre back - Joy Mukena (19y/o, Watford) centre back - Matthew Weaire (17y/o, currently a scholar at Brighton & Hove Albion) centre midfield - Louis Yamfam (21y/o, Watford, possibly still on trial after leaving Charlton Athletic) centre midfield - Henry Ochieng (20y/o, signed for Braintree Town at the beginning of last season before joining Welwyn Garden City on 28/3/19) attacking centre midfield - Henry Wise (19y/o, recently released by Derby County & has played a number of U23 games for Watford in the last couple of months) wide left - Harry Forster (18y/o, Watford and recently returned from a mid term injury) wide right - Marley Blair (19y/o, currently at Burnley where his 18 month contract expires in July 2019) striker - Connor Tomlinson (18y/o, Luton Town 2nd year scholar) subs; wide left - Alex Taylor (no details) attacking centre midfield - Kane Crichlow (18y/o, currently at AFC Wimbledon) striker - Oddyseas Spyridis (18y/o, West Ham academy product from Cyprus who is also listed as playing for Southampton this season) • • • • • Other development squad news; Kieran Holsgrove has left Watford and signed for Marine FC of the EVO-STIK Northern Premier League.
Richard Thomas has been appointed new academy manager. https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/s...-thomas-joins-watford-as-new-academy-manager/
https://www.watfordfc.com/club/academy/academy-phillips-bennetts-offered-pro-deals Professional contracts: Dan Phillips - two-year deal. Jayden Bennetts - one-year deal. Second-year scholars with third year option taken up: Emmanuel Adebiyi, James Hoskins, Harry Hudson, Reece Miller and Harvey White. New contracts: Adam Parkes - one-year deal. Harry Forster - one-year deal. Released: Ashley Charles, Andrew Eleftheriou, Sam Howes, Tom Leighton, Joy Mukena, Michael Mullings, Kai Sanders, Sam Sesay, Ryan Suckling and Ben Tricker. Imaad Sankoh is also set to sign a pro deal but could be joining Udinese in the summer. https://www.football-italia.net/137646/udinese-chase-watfords-new-kante
Anybody heard if Bayli Spencer-Adams (Arsenal, centre back) & Connor Tomlinson (Luton, forward) are due to sign for the under 23's once their contracts end at their current clubs? Both had trials towards the end of last season as well as many others. Kane Crichlow & Harvey White were on trial around the same time and have already signed.
Reece Miller may soon find his scholarship coming to an end: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9370671/royal-ascot-brawl-watford-footballer/
Certainly won't be getting a Professional contract now but then he'll probably claim we kept Troy Deeney after his offence.
Third academy signing since the end of the season. https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/s...n-lawal-joins-watford-academy-from-bohemians/ (Kane Crichlow & Harvey White are the other two confirmed so far.)
One of our ex youngsters is looking for fame via the reality show route: https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/17734583.footballer-from-watford-to-appear-in-love-islands-casa-amor/?ref=mr&lp=3
Here's a list of other players of theirs. Quite a large pool, with a few high profile ones including Kyle Walker, James Maddison and Danny Rose. From us they have Chalobah and Jakubiak. Hopefully his Watford career turns out better than either of theirs thus far. https://www.transfermarkt.com/base-soccer-agency-ltd/beraterfirma/berater/674
And to fully celebrate his arrival and make him welcome - the catering outlets have to sell a selection of Georgian wines and food.
Now Spencer-Adams has been announced I expect Tomlinson to join too. I'm sure there'll be others but those were the two I'd heard about.
As Carpster posted on another thread earlier today Cameron Green has signed for the development squad. Out of contract at Reading, he's a 20 year old left-back.
Before signing for Reading he was with the youth team of Metropolitan Police FC. Perhaps he's been signed to add some much needed discipline to the dressing room given the antics of Deeney, Miller, et. al. Having said that, he doesn't look especially intimidating.
Coming over from Chelsea where he spent 8 years, Max Thompson (a forward) has signed scholarship forms with Watford.
Not much info on him about. Appears to be 16, and was at Palace before Chelsea snapped him up aged 8: https://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/...snap-up-young-goal-machine-thompson-1-3557309 At the time a Palace fan posted: "Hope he's working at Tesco's aged 17" - it appears that prob won't be the case. https://www.cpfc.org/forums/archive/index.php/t-231410.html Must have been fairly highly rated still, as he was already playing for Chelsea's u18s while a 15 y/o: http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...nal-2-chelsea-2-2/+&cd=14&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=de
Whilst I don't know much about the players in our youth teams, we seem to be adding quite a few players that other clubs have let go...could this be to do with the B team idea that was floated round last year (https://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/sport/watford-overhaul-academy-structure-create-1141683) ?
Hi everyone, Yeovil Town fan here wondering what you thought of our new manager Darren Sarll? He's commented on our local radio about how he left Watford after the allegations against him: "You're back in management after you left Watford. There were some allegations made of bullying - that was a word that was used. Can you just clear up how you left Watford and what happened there? DS: There's nothing really to clear up. We left amicably. I felt that too much water had gone underneath the bridge in the way that I was treated, and I wanted to leave. Watford were okay with me leaving, and that was fine. I was pleased with the way I handled myself in the situation, which was a very highly pressurised situation, and a very depressing situation. It was an amicable parting. I'm a very honest integral guy. I live my life by some values, and very strong values like most of us have indoctrinated into us as young people. Once it had gone to that stage, I didn't want to work for that organisation. It's probably still the best seven months work that I've done at any club. We were in the semi-final of the FA Youth Cup. We had seven boys that made their international debuts. We had the best academic performance the club has ever had as an Academy. They're not byproducts of a bad environment. They're byproducts of a good environment. It's ironic because I'm very close to maybe taking one of their young players on loan for the season. I'm not sure that's allowed for a so-called bully. All I did there at Watford really was to create a really elite environment that allowed young people to thrive. I'm really excited that it's allowed me to be a free man, apply for the Yeovil job, become the Yeovil manager and hopefully take Yeovil to the next stage. That's the best thing that I could have wished for" Any idea who your player might be that he's alluding to bringing in on loan?
Always 2 sides to a story .. I am not sure who that loan player might be - we have so many youngsters ! BTW we have won the Youth Cup before so it wasn't the best performance ever ..
I wouldn't be surprised if we wanted Cassidy to go out on loan now he's 18 and proven himself at youth level. Likewise after the number of goals he scored I'd imagine any manager would want to reunite with someone that puts out those figures.