By Tom Bason
July 23 2015

Last night Wolves Under 21s won 4-1 at Nuneaton Town. Bradley Reid gave Wolves the lead, doubled by a Zeli Ismail just before halftime. Rob Duffy pulled one back for Nuneaton, before Trialist and Eusébio Bancessi wrapped up the game.

Wolves lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation (more on the individual players below), looking to keep possession across the back-6, before releasing the two wingers down the flanks. Most of the attacks came down the flanks, with very little through the middle, which is interesting given out current lack of first-team wingers. We also looked to release Bradley Reid quickly, who was always looking to make runs in behind the Nuneaton defence.

Wolves took the lead through Reid, a nice goal. Jim Kellerman played a nice pass to Declan Weeks, who drive forward from midfield, slipping the ball to Connor Ronan in the right hand channel. He worked his way into the penalty area, before driving a low cross into the near post, which was swept home by Bradley Reid.

Reid was heavily involved in the second goal as well; Jordan Graham had the ball on the left wing, and ran at the Nuneaton defence. I thought he held on to the ball for too long, and it looked like the attack had broken down. But he did well to slide a pass into Reid in the penalty area, who, backing into and turning the defender, let the ball roll across him, before going down. The ref gave the penalty for a shirt tug, and it was taken by Ismail, right-footed to the keeper’s left. The keeper went the right way, but couldn’t quite reach it.

Nuneaton pulled one back late on. Anthony Breslin conceded a free kick in the left back area, which was whipped in left footed. Joe Maguire won the header that crashed off the underside of the bar and down onto the line, and was poked in by Duffy. At that stage, it looked like Nuneaton were the more likely to get the next goal and equalise.

But, a quick counter attack pretty much wrapped up the game. A ball was played forward into Trialist on the halfway line who laid it back to Connor Hunte, before spinning and running towards goal. Hunte played a first time ball back to Trialist, who was now through on goal. A defender tried to get back, but Trialist did well to hold him off and slide the ball past the onrushing goalkeeper.

The game was put to bed straight after the third goal, to the extent that I didn’t really see the incident for the penalty as I was making my notes for the third. I think Mehki Leacock-Mcleod (at least I think it was him, he wasn’t on the team-sheet) was fouled running at goal from the left wing. Bancessi stepped up to take it, tucking the ball just inside the post to the keeper’s right. Again, the goalkeeper dived the right way, but the penalty was too well struck.

First team

1: Aaron McCarey (gk) | Didn’t have a huge amount to do. Looked confident in coming for the ball and his ball distribution. Seemed to rile up some Nuneaton fans in the second half, who booed him as he was substituted.

2: Tendai Matinyadze (rb) | Was not overly involved in the game, but did well when he was. His distribution was good, playing a good cross field ball to Jordan Graham, before making a good run down the right wing, beating his defender and having the presence of mind to pick out Ismail in the penalty area

3: Sylvain Deslandes (lb) | A tall left-footed fullback, who made runs inside the winger, direct to the Nuneaton goal. Had a tendency to dive in somewhat, with mixed results. On a couple of times he won the ball well, but on others was turned too easily and gave away a free kick in a dangerous area. Appeared to be the target for attacking corners with his height.

4: Declan Weeks (cm) | Diminutive right footed midfielder. Was tidy on the ball, but was also happy to drive forward and take players on. When McCarey had the ball, he was the one who dropped deep to collect it, but could equally be found around the Nuneaton penalty area. His long passes were not as effective as his short play 

5: Regan Upton (cb) | Right footed centre back, who looks tall and thin but was strong enough to hold off Marlon Harewood when he tried to turn him in the penalty area. Comfortable in possession.

6. Ashley Carter (cb) | Left-footed centre back, who is more solidly built than Upton. Did well in the air, beating Harewood on quite a few occasssions.

7. Zeli Ismail (rw) | The senior player in the team really, he caused problems for the Nuneaton left-back. Was equally happy going outside to cross on his right foot, or cut inside and shoot on his left. Dribbles with the ball on this left foot, but took the penalty with, what I presume is his stronger, right foot.

8. Jim Kellerman (cm) | Taller than Weeks, his partner in midfield, but probably not as involved. He lost the ball loosely on a couple of occasions, giving away a free kick on the edge of the area trying to win the ball back after a poor piece of control had given the ball away.

9. Bradley Reid (cf) | Has grown his hair, so I didn’t recognise him at first. Always looking to make the run in behind the Nuneaton defence, and I don’t think he stopped running until he was taken off. Could perhaps develop his game with his back towards goal, as he never really looked to hold the ball up. Took his goal well, but had two very good chances early in the second half, firstly blasting wide of the near post when he should have gone across goal, and then not being confident to use his left foot when through on goal, and allowing the defender to get back as he tried to work the ball onto his right foot.

10. Connor Ronan (amc) | Probably the player I wanted to see the most, but he struggled to get into the game early on as most of our attacks went down the flanks. I’d have liked to see us play through Ronan more, rather than focusing everything out wide. Very right footed, will use the outside of his right foot rather than his left. Did well to create Reid’s goal, and had a nice run at the start of the second half, and through ball to Reid which he blasted wide.

11. Jordan Graham (lw) | Right footed left winger, but looked to go outside down the left rather than cutting inside. I don’t think he actually ever beat his fullback when going outside, and when he did cut inside had a tendency to hold onto the ball slightly too long. Very quick.

Subs

16. Callum Harris (cm) | Not overly involved in the game, but kept the ball well

17. Ryan Rainey (cm) | Used the ball well – released Reid in the second half with an excellent lofted through ball, and found the onrushing Anthony Breslin well in the second half. Seemed to have a good awareness of where his teammates were.

20. Connor Hunte? (amc) | I think this was Hunte anyway, he wasn’t on the team sheet. Started the second half on the right wing, but played anywhere but. Bags of ability but holds onto the ball for far too long. Created the third goal.

21. Trialist (cf) | Not the quickest, but finished well. Happier than Reid with his back towards goal

12. Aaron Simpson (rb) | Had plenty of space to run into and looked to get forward down the left well

19. Mehki Leacock-McLeod? (lw) | Extremely fast, and troubled the right back. Also showed good aptitude to defence, with an excellent crunching slide tackle.

15. Anthony Breslin (lb) | Struggled against pace of Nuneaton’s right winger, but looked to get forward at every opportunity. He conceded free kick for Nuneaton goal and his first touch after that was to pass the ball back to the goalkeeper with his right foot which went straight out for corner

18. Eusébio Bancessi (rw) | Not sure how comfortable out wide he was, and didn’t really have the pace to get in behind the defence. He had one chance to go one on one with the goalkeeper, but a mixture of the defender getting back and a poor first touch meant the chance went. Confident penalty for the fourth goal

14. Connor Johnson (cb) | Looked nervous and slightly awkward on the ball. Lost a header soon after coming on

13. Harry Burgoyne (gk) | Good kicking, but struggled with crosses. Didn’t come for the cross for the Nuneaton goal (rightly I think), but decided to come for a corner straight after it, and got nowhere the ball. The next cross should have been a simple catch, but let the ball slip through his hands and was lucky to escape.

Nuneaton Town 1-4 Wolves

Discussion started by Wolves , 23/07/2015 08:53

Wolves
23/07/2015 08:53

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015:08:01:18:10:04 by Badge32.

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hammerstein
23/07/2015 22:54

So the question is?
Are any of them ready to play week in , week out as replacements in a tough championship division?

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toomb
24/07/2015 08:13

Week in week out? I wouldn't have thought so yet, especially not in the positions where the first team are struggling for numbers.


I wouldn't rule out the likes of Graham and Ronan being used as impact players though



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Golden Place
27/07/2015 13:39

Quote:

hammerstein
So the question is?
Are any of them ready to play week in , week out as replacements in a tough championship division?

If they aint, then we are in big trouble as no one coming into the club and the current 1st team aint good enough

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Cheshire wolf
27/07/2015 14:23

Interesting write up Tom. I don't know how you can make so many notes about players you rarely see!!

I was interested to see your notes re: Bancessi, as I've been wondering what's happening with him. He seemed to be a real prospect for our future first team when he landed at the club - much like Ismail - so it's disappointing to see he isn't closer to being ready to step up.

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Golden Place
27/07/2015 14:30

Quote:

Cheshire wolf
Interesting write up Tom. I don't know how you can make so many notes about players you rarely see!!
I was interested to see your notes re: Bancessi, as I've been wondering what's happening with him. He seemed to be a real prospect for our future first team when he landed at the club - much like Ismail - so it's disappointing to see he isn't closer to being ready to step up.

Its simple, they aint good enough !!!!!!!!

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toomb
27/07/2015 16:59

Bare in mind these are what I saw in one game, where there were lots of subs, so these opinions could be completely wrong.

Golden Palace - remember, these are playing for the U21s, I'm not sure that anyone's claiming that they're good enough. And we could easily have had Iorfa and Hause playing (and to a slightly lesser extent Ebanks-Landell), in which case I might have come back and said that our U21 team has got a couple of players who are first team ready



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an angry wolf
27/07/2015 18:10

The sad thing is some of these lads who aren't good enough will end up playing for the first team simply to fill shirts with lack of incoming transfers. Then we will hear it's evidence that the academy is bearing fruit when we all realise its nothing more than a reeled out line of rhetoric to hide spending money on the first team which is where it really matters.

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toomb
27/07/2015 19:55

There aren't many youth players who've been promoted to the first team on a regular basis who aren't good enough. I'd say that Iorfa and Price have both established themselves as first team regulars. Cassidy had a spell and clearly wasn't up to it, and was bombed out pretty quick, and we've kept McAlinden and Ismail at the club, but neither have played a huge amount



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an angry wolf
28/07/2015 21:11

Quote:

toomb
There aren't many youth players who've been promoted to the first team on a regular basis who aren't good enough. I'd say that Iorfa and Price have both established themselves as first team regulars. Cassidy had a spell and clearly wasn't up to it, and was bombed out pretty quick, and we've kept McAlinden and Ismail at the club, but neither have played a huge amount

You say we have kept McAlinden and Ismail which we wouldn't be what a club would be doing if its squad had more sufficient depth and I'd imagine when the parachute payments run out the academy will suddenly start producing miraculous results ie draft anything with a heart beat in to further vindicate the madness of buying into this youth plan. I support a so called professional football club that should be recruiting men for a mens game not little boys ..if I wanted to watch a bunch of kids kicking a football around I'd go down to my local primary school cheering Tommy Tiddles on.

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toomb
29/07/2015 21:32

McAlinden and Ismail have both gone out on loan. Doubt you'll be seeing much of either this season.

I expect to see EEl, Hause, Iorfa and Price around the first team this season, I doubt many have issues with any of these playing.



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an angry wolf
29/07/2015 22:15

I'll trust your judgement on some of these players Tom but Hause isn't a product of the academy as we bought him. There's no evidence that our academy is better than any other club other than blind hope and I have no issue with reports on under 21s but the focus/obsession on the kids from the club is unhealthy. It's a bit like a homeowner raving about how grand his garden shed is with its plush carpets and crystal chandeliers whilst the main house is falling down with woodworm and rats scuttling around the floors. The under 21s is there to serve the first team along with the academy and there is no evidence of it doing anything different to what goes on at every other club.. filling in gaps due to lack of investment.

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toomb
30/07/2015 22:09

Fair point on Hause. I included Evans in that list as well before removing him, but forgot we signed Hause.

I wasn't saying that our academy is excellent, just that it has produced some players who don't currently look out of place as Championship players. I personally doubt any of those will go on to become regular Premier League players, but hope I'm wrong.



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