CRAIG BELLAMY'S CITY TEAM HAMMERED BY A LOWER

" CRAIG BELLAMY'S CITY TEAM HAMMERED BY A LOWER DIVISION CLUB BY SEVEN GOALS "

Coventry City a club in turmoil hammer City's Under 18's team

Craig Bellamy and Scott Young Watch Young Bluebirds Hit For Seven By lower league Coventry City

City conceede Seven goals

By Terry Phillips

Saturday 4th Feb 2017

Craig Bellamy and Scott Young watched Cardiff City’s under-18 youth team dismantled by Coventry City at Cardiff International Spots Campus.

The Sky Blues swept to a seven-goal win with teenage goals ace Jordan Ponticelli, a product of Gordon Strachan’s Football Foundation, netting five times.

Bellamy and Young were in charge of the Bluebirds, standing close together in and around the dug-out, and fielded a young team comprising players from under-15 and under-16 levels plus a couple of first year scholars.

For 20 minutes Cardiff matched their visitors and it looked likely yo be a close game, but the opening goal changed things dramatically.

Coventry’s older and more experienced team took control. Their movement, pace and sheer hard work had the home team struggling and there were plenty of lessons to be learned.

Bellamy and Young are certain to analysis the performance and help their young charges progress after what was a one-sided 70 minutes.

Cwmdare teenager Isaak Davies worked hard for Cardiff, while goalkeeper George Ratcliffe did little wrong. He was let down by the defensive unit and midfield players in front of him.

Ponticelli’s goals came after 22, 28, 50, 82 and 85 minutes, finishing clinically with feet and head before completing his personal tally from the penalty spot.

Jordan Thompson, from a 45th minute far post header following a corner, and Chris Camwell, with a fierce strike from a free-kick just after the hour, were Coventry’s other scorers.

Cardiff included Ben Margetson, the son of former Bluebirds goalkeeper Martyn, in defence, while Jason Bowen’s son, Sam, was injured and watched from the stand.

Cardiff City: Ratcliffe, Margetson, J Davies, Patten, Shariff, Madden, C Davies, Wootton (Jones 71), I Davies, Spence (King 46), Evans (C Williams 72).

At under-16 level Cardiff, again fielding an under-age team, fought out a 2-2 draw against Coventry.

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It's going to take a while for Bellamy to sort out this team, this hammering might be good, bellers can see who's cutting the mustard and can cut the cloth accordingly.

This further highlights the fact we have no good youngsters coming through and it's a massive concern. To be fair to Sam Hammam, he massively pushed for investment in our youth setup and it was paying dividends with Collins, Ledley, Blake and Ramsey coming through.

It seems the youth setup has been left to rot since Sam Hammam left, Swansea are poaching all the good youngsters in our area and other youngsters are critical of our amateurish setup and are going elsewhere. Bellamy has a huge task getting us back on track.

kind of expected really, when our best youth players where shipped out after being deemed not good enough, what ever has been left is now just there to make up the numbers. am expecting our youth results to be very poor over the next few years until they can sort out some good prospects

This further highlights the fact we have no good youngsters coming through and it's a massive concern. To be fair to Sam Hammam, he massively pushed for investment in our youth setup and it was paying dividends with Collins, Ledley, Blake and Ramsey coming through.

It seems the youth setup has been left to rot since Sam Hammam left, Swansea are poaching all the good youngsters in our area and other youngsters are critical of our amateurish setup and are going elsewhere. Bellamy has a huge task getting us back on track.

Can't recall the Jacks having many through their system recently either. Not good for Welsh football

Early days for CB37 as he works to re-shape the City youth set up

I'm sure he'll make sure they learn from the experience and they'll be better players for it!

This further highlights the fact we have no good youngsters coming through and it's a massive concern. To be fair to Sam Hammam, he massively pushed for investment in our youth setup and it was paying dividends with Collins, Ledley, Blake and Ramsey coming through.

It seems the youth setup has been left to rot since Sam Hammam left, Swansea are poaching all the good youngsters in our area and other youngsters are critical of our amateurish setup and are going elsewhere. Bellamy has a huge task getting us back on track.

Can't recall the Jacks having many through their system recently either. Not good for Welsh football

apart from that golden era { you could add a couple to tontegs list } the area has never produced talent in numbers. in fact Wales doesnt. a look at our teams both {Wales and Cardiff} from years gone bye tells you that.

If you had bothered to read the report properly it clearly states thatvthere were 15 and 16 year olds playing against im assuming 17 and 18 year olds.
those two years of age difference count for a hell of a lot physically.
why has everything got to be so gloomy ?

If you had bothered to read the report properly it clearly states thatvthere were 15 and 16 year olds playing against im assuming 17 and 18 year olds.
those two years of age difference count for a hell of a lot physically.
why has everything got to be so gloomy ?

The prob is Mozz, we have got rid of 10 DVP players,another 5 going this coming week to cut the wage bill.
Even Corky said our DVP is now 17/18 year olds and to young,so now the Under 18's are now 15/16yr olds, I hope we know what we are doing?

Gloomy? they lost by 7 goals to Coventry City a club in total turmoil, is that something to be happy about?

This is what Warnock wanted. The development team should be the stepping stone from youth to first team and if you are not capable of stepping up then

Did any of our released players sign for any higher the L1 ?

The development squad should be 7 potential first teamers and 7 potential U23's from the U18 squad.

lot moan on here about not giving youth a chance but want a star packed U23 team

16 to 18yr olds playing 21+ yr old not surprising they lost heavily guess it will be like this for a season or two but we will profit from it hopefully in future!

This is what Warnock wanted. The development team should be the stepping stone from youth to first team and if you are not capable of stepping up then

Did any of our released players sign for any higher the L1 ?

The development squad should be 7 potential first teamers and 7 potential U23's from the U18 squad.

lot moan on here about not giving youth a chance but want a star packed U23 team

I will stand by this, I don't believe this was all Warnocks idea as he is mostly interested in the first team squad, this was mainly cost cutting, but I do agree some if these players should of made it by now and after 7 years we should of been producing a lot better

If you had bothered to read the report properly it clearly states thatvthere were 15 and 16 year olds playing against im assuming 17 and 18 year olds.
those two years of age difference count for a hell of a lot physically.
why has everything got to be so gloomy ?

I agree that this isn't necessarily a bad thing and certainly no need for the doom and gloom.

You get those kids playing two years above their age grade now then they are going to learn and improve far more dramatically and a lot quicker.

They will have learnt a lot more from losing heavily to a side of older players than they would have from coasting to a win against lads of the same age.

For me the youth teams should be all about player development and that doesn't necessarily come from results.

If you had bothered to read the report properly it clearly states thatvthere were 15 and 16 year olds playing against im assuming 17 and 18 year olds.
those two years of age difference count for a hell of a lot physically.
why has everything got to be so gloomy ?

The prob is Mozz, we have got rid of 10 DVP players,another 5 going this coming week to cut the wage bill.
Even Corky said our DVP is now 17/18 year olds and to young,so now the Under 18's are now 15/16yr olds, I hope we know what we are doing?

Gloomy? they lost by 7 goals to Coventry City a club in total turmoil, is that something to be happy about?

Annis - look at this way 15 dev players who are probably on somewhere between £1.5 and £5K a week that aren't anywhere near the first team and never will be. So that's going to be something like £50K a week on wages being spent with no hope ever seeing any return for the first team.

That same money could cover two or maybe even three decent first team additions at championship level and the wages saved from here to the end of the season alone will be close to a million which could be diverted to player funds.

At the same time those players further down the chain all gain from the experience of playing to a higher standard which whilst it may be painful at times (like getting thumped by Coventry) will also be very good for the players development.


P.S We need a glass half full smilie!

This is what Warnock wanted. The development team should be the stepping stone from youth to first team and if you are not capable of stepping up then

Did any of our released players sign for any higher the L1 ?

The development squad should be 7 potential first teamers and 7 potential U23's from the U18 squad.

lot moan on here about not giving youth a chance but want a star packed U23 team

Agree the stripping needed to be done.

At that level it's not about winning, it's about developing players.
We've made the decision to ship out 22/23 year olds who were stagnating in the development side and needed 1st team football, which they weren't getting here due to the size of our squad.

So most of our under 18s are playing under 23 and our under 16 playing at u18 level.

Results like this will happen and it matters not one bit that Cov have problems. 2 of the best young sides are Charlton andColchester. Hardly big clubs.

In fact Coventrys problems have probably meant that their young players have gained more experience quicker as they get their heist into action to cover injuries due to a wafer thin squad.

Thinning down ours is now meaning Harris gets 1st team opportunities and also Declan John. Sion Spence, the best young prospect we've had for years is getting stretched now instead of coasting through games and will learn and develop quicker.

It's fast tracking and we'll be able to tell in a year or 2 who's worth persevering with instead of developing players and hanging on to them for years and years before finally releasing them after getting no improvement on millions of pounds of investment

They were kids against young men, they were going to get beaten well. Not sure why such a focus on this, equally I wouldn't be excited if they beat a younger team 7-0. They will learn from this and part of growing up, you learn more from defeat. Ultimately it's not about how many games they win but delivering players to first team. He will get it right.