Wolves Academy Thread

[Lord Knows]

U23's finished their season tonight. A fair few of the U18 team played I think and they had an outside chance of getting into the Play Offs (needed about 3 teams to lose). Shame that Brighton thumped them 5-0.

Going to be a lot of changes at that level next season

Wolves knew that Brighton would be very competitive because a win would give our opponents a play off position. Much work required on recruitment and coaching at junior Wolves levels.

 

[YoungWolf]

There will be a huge cull in the summer by the sounds of it to streamline the U18s and U23 squads. There's some good U16s coming through I believe too. We have so any on loan that are never going to make it here.

 

[Kenny]

Should the U18 and U23's follow the same main formation of the 1st team?

Having no actual wing backs at that level is pretty poor.

 

[YoungWolf]

I think this will be something they do next year, as long as Nuno is planning to stick with that formation...

 

[Lord Knows]

Should the U18 and U23's follow the same main formation of the 1st team?

Having no actual wing backs at that level is pretty poor.

You would hope over time Nuno could have a certain level of influence over such things, at the moment there isn't a clear Wolves blueprint to be adhered to by all coaches at all levels.

 

[From Distant Shores]

In one of the interviews with Scott Sellars on the Wolves YouTube channel, he mentioned that he asked Nuno if he would like the Under 23s to switch to three at the back and that Nuno didn't ask for him to change approach.

 

[Lord Knows]

In one of the interviews with Scott Sellars on the Wolves YouTube channel, he mentioned that he asked Nuno if he would like the Under 23s to switch to three at the back and that Nuno didn't ask for him to change approach.

You would have thought it would be easier for everyone to mirror the first team helping to define the required roles and development stages within the system of play.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

If we don't have any viable candidates in the U23s to play as a sweeper, or at wingback, or as an inside forward (and I would say we don't, in any of those areas) then it would be stupid to do it just for the sake of continuity.

So if we are sticking with this system at first team level then the recruitment going forward at Academy level needs to reflect that. Doesn't happen overnight though.

 

[Lord Knows]

If we don't have any viable candidates in the U23s to play as a sweeper, or at wingback, or as an inside forward (and I would say we don't, in any of those areas) then it would be stupid to do it just for the sake of continuity.

So if we are sticking with this system at first team level then the recruitment going forward at Academy level needs to reflect that. Doesn't happen overnight though.

Likewise we could have players who would blossom in a 3-4-3 but really struggle with a 4-2-3-1 and could be discarded because the system does not suit their talents.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

We don't though.

We have bog standard centre halves, orthodox full backs and a lot of out and out strikers. That's the problem.

 

[Tredman]

Kids don't start like that though, I'd imagine that our failing is in forcing them to play in a system which gets the ball forward as quickly as possible.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Before this season, we hadn't played regularly with a back three for well over 20 years. Why would we nurture players to do that? It was totally out of vogue as a whole until a couple of years ago.

 

[Johnny75]

Kids don't start like that though, I'd imagine that our failing in forcing them to play in a system which gets the ball forward as quickly as possible.

Yep, more the limits of the coaches than the kids. At that age they are pliable and learning their trade.

 

[GLASGOWOLF]

Kids don't start like that though, I'd imagine that our failing is in forcing them to play in a system which gets the ball forward as quickly as possible.

Having watched a lot of highlights etc with the youngsters it does not look like they do actually get it forward fast.
Not sure if anyone who have seen more than me at that level can confirm whether we gerit forward or play closer in style to the first team even if it's not the same formation

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Think it's a bit silly to try and force kids too far into one particular system, too early. You'd just end up with a bunch of one dimensional players who'd never experienced different ways of playing, they'd become completely reliant on that and have little or no problem solving ability, then when you find you need to change system for a particular game what do you do? None of the players have ever done any different. Then what happens if/when the manager changes and you end up with a new system for the first team, you'll have a bunch of 16/17 year olds who've spent years honing the old system and become redundant overnight.

Development football should be a lot more varied than first team football, results aren't important it's all about players learning, they need to play in different positions and different systems, encounter different situations where they can learn new solutions to the problems that they are faced with through this variation. Then as they get older and it starts to become more obvious where their strengths lie you can start to focus them toward a particular position, or perhaps still a spread of positions depending on the individual, it only needs to be right in the last stage of their step up to the first team that they really need to be indoctrinated with the first team tactics so they can make that final step up.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

In the last 20 years (which is a staggering length of time in footballing terms), in England pretty much EVERYONE has played a back four, across all the divisions, bar the odd lunatic dalliance here and there. It's only really become prevalent in the last 18 months as people have hit on the idea of making it work in a different way to the 90s standard 3-5-2 setup which was well and truly found out in shortish order.

So youngsters are not going to have been drilled in anything else, why would you? "Hey Connor, Conor and Connor, we want you three to line up together at centre half. Even though literally no-one ever plays that formation and our manager has zero plans to ever do that. Because you never know what will happen in 2017".

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Just because the first team, or even majority of other teams, don't currently have a need for centre halves playing a back three doesn't mean there aren't things that could be learnt from those players experiencing it at junior level.

Look at Batth for example, typical head it and kick it Championship centre half with plenty of limitations, would've almost certainly been 'educated' his whole footballing career in the virtues of a back four and very basic defending, perhaps if he'd been given a more rounded education some of his limitations wouldn't be so obvious. Playing in a back three would've given him a lot more experience defending in wider areas, something he really struggles with, it probably would've had him spending a lot more time with the ball at his feet too, so potentially could've had him being a lot more comfortable in possession than he usually does now.

There are a lot of transferable skills than can be picked up, honed or developed by experiencing different situations which might not be readily encountered if you just stuck to one particular path.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Maybe we should have them playing 2-3-5 as well? Just in case that comes back into fashion?

Back threes were totally dead five years ago and had been for absolutely ages. There was never any hint of them coming back.

 

[YoungWolf]

I get what Mark is saying though. If we develop players from 7 year olds (often actually younger) it should be to make them able to cope with different systems and ways of playing. These players should be flexible, good decision makers, creative! If we have developed a group that can't cope with a change to 1-3-4-3 then we aren't developing them as well as we can

however, I don't think that is the case. We have a very highly rated academy. Gibbs-White is a good example, he can play in multiple positions all too a good standard. He is a very modern footballer. It is going to be a high standard in the years to come for young players to break through but there are some in younger age groups currently below u16 I am hearing good things about.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I don't dispute the need for flexibility. I've long since championed the Dutch method of developing young players.

I'm simply pointing out that asking 16/17/18 year olds to train at becoming sweepers and wingbacks in say, 2014, would have been totally redundant. The equivalent of me learning Esperanto now. I mean it might make an unexpected revival, but I doubt it.