It’s been a busy couple of weeks for George Champion and his Under 18 squad. A league cup match followed by an FA Youth Cup game. Thankfully George spared us some time for a catch up.
How has pre-season gone and have you managed to recruit and retain everyone you wanted to?
“Yeah, we’ve had a really good pre-season. We won five out of six pre-season games with some really good team and individual performances. Training has been really competitive, which, ultimately, will help the development of our players.
We’ve retained a few players; however, we’ve been able to recruit some real quality for the season ahead. There’s real potential for the team and certain individuals to push on and make their mark this season.”
The result of the ACY league cup match against Camberley was disappointing, but not disheartening?
“It was a game of moments to be completely honest. Three mistakes, three goals. It’s not an easy task to go to the champions without both top goalscorers, and three or four other players unavailable that game (due to school holidays)…but the performance (minus the mistakes) was really positive and has given a lot of confidence for the season ahead.”
You went into the FA Youth Cup match in good spirits?
“Absolutely. The FA Youth Cup is a special competition which we value highly. I don’t think we’ll be able to dethrone last year’s winners Aston Villa! But we want to go as far as possible and give these lads as much experience in that competition to aid their development and prepare them for men’s football.”
Did the boys execute your game plan, play as well as you had hoped?
“We started quite slow but grew into the game once we got used to the pitch and the opposition’s man to man press. Something clicked and we scored three goals in quick succession. What was a real positive for us to see was the fact that the boys can take a different approach to chance creation and make it difficult for an opponent to play through them and create our own chances from their errors and our stubbornness!
Of course, we have to be adaptable with each game and each opponent but that was the game plan for the first half. Be compact and work hard off the ball and with the quality in the team, the chances will come. I was really pleased to see some of our new first year players shine. Freddy Estonel with an absolutely unbelievable top bins from outside the box for the fourth goal, a solid reliable performance from Alex Wyatt and a promising second half display from Mekhi Burke.
Another massive positive is seeing our senior players stepping up and leading the team. Something I think we were missing last season. We also had goals coming from all areas of the team, having five different goalscorers.
One of new third year players Cobey Divers had a fantastic game, scoring the fifth goal and playing through some cramp for the last few minutes when we’d run out of substitutes! Callum Miles, our goalkeeper made some crucial saves in the dying minutes of the game. These hero moments are what got us over the line, and I can’t wait to see how much this group can develop further.”
Only two competitive games in, but who should we be looking out for in your squad?
“Wow that’s a really tough question. The quality and competitiveness within the group is high this season… so I’ll pick one from each year group:
I’d say James Field (third year) is definitely a player to watch. He had a positive season last year in a team that really struggled to get going but still managed to create for the team. James has scored and assisted a number of goals in pre-season and I can’t wait to see what he can do during this campaign.
Miguel Dinis (second year). Miggi was one of our youngest players last season and played in pretty much every position apart from in goal! He gives 100% for the team in everything he does, has come through the ranks of the youth section and has become a leader within the group.
Alex Wyatt (first year). Alex is a defender and has been sensational since joining us at the start of pre-season. He’s settled in well and doesn’t look out of place when playing in this physical league against some tricky players. He still has a lot to learn but he will go very far if he continues to want to develop and fight for the team.”
