Academy Report: 100% record in Europe
It was back in the action this week and there was varied results across the levels in the academy this week. There was also some impre...
https://www.chelseadaft.org/2013/10/academy-report-100-record-in-europe.html
It was back in the action this week and there was varied results across the levels in the academy this week. There was also some impressive displays from players who are out on loan. So lots to catch up on and look forward to.
First up on Saturday was the U18's who were away to Tottenham. Due to various commitments the U18's started without this seasons prolific goalscorers Dom Solanke and Ambrose Gnahore, Reece Mitchell continued his return from injury starting in this game as did Jeremie Boga. The final change was in the goalkeeping department, with Jamal Blackman injured Mitchell Beeney was called up to the first team squad with Bradley Collins starting for the U21's it meant a first U18's start for Jordan Beeney, brother of Mitchell and another son of coach Mark. Chelsea found themselves 2 goals down and tried to make a comeback with goals from Tammy Abraham and Chike Kandi but Spurs managed to get a third and win the game 3 - 2. It is only their second defeat of the season with the other defeat coming away from home also. Highlights of that game can be seen here:
Also on Saturday the U21's were in action. They were also playing away from home but they were playing Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. The game was not shown live on Chelsea TV so there will only be short highlights of this game. Missing regulars from this team were Isaak Ssewankambo away on international duty, Mitchell Beeney already mentioned with the first team, Isaiah Brown who was also on international duty and Ruben Loftus-Cheek who started on the bench. In for them was Bradley Collins in goal, Fankaty Dabo at right back, Billy Clifford made another appearance in place of Loftus-Cheek and in form U18's player Ambrose Gnahore was in for Brown. In a tough game where Sunderland featured some big names such as Wes Brown and Connor Wickham the game eventually finished 2 - 2 with a goal each for Islam Feruz and Alex Kiwomya. Highlights for that game can be seen here:
Tuesday afternoon saw the return of the UEFA Youth League with Chelsea playing away to Schalke. Again there were changes to what has been a fairly settled side. Dabo coming in at right back again as with the U21's but with the lack of Andreas Christensen there was a start for Dion Conroy and Jeremie Boga replaced the absent Isaiah Brown. Before this game they had a 100% record with 2 wins out of 2 and so did Schalke. And Chelsea turned out to be the team that came away still with a 100% record. In a tough game that saw Schalke be the more impressive team in the first half and Chelsea much improved in the second it took 2 late goals from Lewis Baker and Nathan Ake to wrap up a 2 - 0 win. Baker's was from the penalty spot after seeing Fankaty Dabo fouled in the box and Ake scored from a corner very late on to grap the win. With 9 points from 3 games, 2 of those being away from home and 10 goals scored without reply Chelsea are looking very comfortable to be progressing from this group as winners. Highlights of this game are here:
As always with the number of players we have out on loan there is plenty to go over. Starting in England and the Premier League there was a start as always for Romelu Lukaku for Everton who were at home to Hull, Lukaku never got on the scoresheet and was substituted on 68 minutes but had a solid game and Victor Moses started and played the full game for Liverpool in their 2 - 2 away draw with Newcastle.
Dropping down a level to the Championship Todd Kane continues to be an ever present for Blackburn Rovers as they suffered a home defeat to Charlton and Josh McEachran got a full game for Watford but they also fell to defeat to Derby County. Nathaniel Chalobah did not feature for Nottingham Forest this week due to suspension.
There was more action however at the third tier of English some goals for Chelsea youngsters. George Saville had an impressive game for Brentford as he continues to enjoy his loan spell there and this weekend he able to cap it off with a very nice goal in the 80th minute. Unfortunately for another of our loan players that goal by George Saville was scored against Sam Walker. The game finished in a 3 - 1 victory for Saville's team. Sam Walker followed that game up by having a good game making a decent number of saves in the 1 - 1 away draw to Shrewsbury midweek. Saville meanwhile again played the full 90 minutes in their victory away to Bristol City. The goal scoring machine that is Patrick Bamford was once again on target for MK Dons scoring late on to secure victory for MK Dons against Scunthorpe, however he was unable to carry the goals over into the game against Carlise which MK lost 1 - 0. However it was a start from the bench for our last League 1 loanee Milan Lalkovic who did eventually come on to get a couple of minutes for Wallsall, Lalkovic also made a brief appearance in the midweek game against Swindon again in the last few minutes. Milan will not be too pleased that his game time is more limited now since the start of the season.
Moving over to Spain now and starting in La Liga there unusually negative news for Atletico Madrid and our young keeper Courtois. Atletico lost away to Espanyol by a single goal with that goal being credited as an own goal for Courtois. That result was made up for however with a clean sheet in the Champions League against Austria Vienna. Neither of our other La Liga loanees got game time this week however as Marko Marin is recovering from injury and Oriol Romeu did not make it off the bench for Valencia although he did play the full 90 minutes in their Europa league win over St Gallen. In the Spanish second division Ulises Davilla played 70 minutes for Cordoba against Sabadell.
Moving over to the Eredivisie and our small army of loanees at Vitesse. This week they had only the one game and that was against Heerenveen away from home. The game finished 3 - 2 to Vitesse and all goals were made in Chelsea with Lucas Piazon scoring 2 and Patrick Van Aanholt with the thrird. Both players played the full 90 minutes as did Christian Atsu, no involvement for Gael Kakuta and still no appearances for Cuevas or Hutchinson. Elsewhere in Holland and Stipe Perica who is slowly getting more minutes at NAC Breda, this week getting almost 30 minutes in their defeat to Utrecht although this time was unable to get himself on the scoresheet.
Finally and in Belgium Thorgan Hazard is continuing his development in impressive form with another goal for Waregem this time from the penalty spot in their draw with Bruges. He also started in Thursdays game against Maribor in the Europa league although had to come off at half time. Finally in Italy and Wallace whilst yet to start for Inter he did this week make it off the bench for the last 10 minutes against Torino.
Coming up this week the U18's play Stoke away today whilst the U21's are at home on Friday evening to West Ham. There will of course be plenty of loan action in the coming week also which will be rounded up as usual for you this time next week.
Carefree & KTBFFH!
