What a fantastic 3 days!

As we have done for the last 2 seasons, our U8 - U12 Centre of Excellence squads to the North West of England, to play in fixtures against Tranmere Rovers, Wrexham & Crewe Alexandra.

Marc Tracy, our new Centre of Excellence manager, had his first real chance to have a good look at all of the boys and our individual age group coaches were able to see how the lads could cope with the demands of high quality games in quick succession.

The Tuesday saw us travel up to Tranmere Rovers to play a mixture of small sided and 11v11 games. This fixture always brings a very good test for our players and they have to show good character to find different solutions in order to stamp their authority onto the game.

Similar to when our scholars are up against physically strong opponents in the Ridgeons league on surfaces that are difficult to play football, you have show characteristics as a player to be successful throughout the game.

The U8's were fantastic in their first fixture and showed a good balance of showing individual pieces of brilliance with a mixture of keeping the ball well as a team and then changing the tempo higher up the pitch to create numerous chances.

The U12's were on a par with the U8's and having started very brightly continued to work the ball quickly on good angles and were clinical in both penalty boxes, which has been missing over recent weeks, so the score reflected their general dominance. Their understanding of how, when and where to play was the most pleasing aspect of the performance and showed great maturity.

One of the main reasons for going on tours is to take the boys out of their comfort zones a little and see how they can cope outside of their normal environment like a young scholar. The message from the Tranmere games was an overall very pleasing well done BUT... we now have to start preparing for the fixture the following day. Players were asked and questioned about diet, rest, professionalism after the game in order to give themselves the best chance of achieving a good performance the following day. It is strange to think that some of our 9 year old lads have already been away on tour with us over 5 or 6 times in England and abroad and this is apparent with the way they conduct themselves on and off the pitch.

When back our Youth Hostel next to the Liverpool Docks the lads had chance to eat correctly for the game the next day with some wonderful food, followed by team meetings and plenty of rest.

On the Wednesday the lads had a leisurely morning walk by the docks get to get some fresh air and relaxation before the afternoon game at Wrexham. Some of the lads recognised that this is what the Inter Milan players did only a day or so previous when they visited Chelsea and the aim was to try and reach the same level on the pitch.

As lots of people are now aware Wrexham face the same problems as us in terms of the funding and player protection issues and have now become a partner with us in the 'Protect Football's Future' Campaign.

The facilities at Wrexham are first class and with the sun shining it made for a great afternoon of football.

Our U9 squad performed at a level they have achieved week in, week out and the level of consistency within the group is ever improving. The high scoring game saw some fantastic individual goals from both sides as well as the moment of brilliance by certain individuals. This group are still in their first season with us and trying to improve the fundamentals of their game whilst we give them the freedom to have no fear of failure. Using their imagination during games is the key to their development and with a 'never satisfied' mentality we are sure this group will continue to progress.

The U10's showed great game understanding for such a young side and with this level of performance gives our staff the chance to pay real attention to detail in order for them to step up a level. The pace of play and angles of support saw the lads keep the ball well and being ruthless in front of goal was a key match target for the boys of which they achieved. Angus' work with the boys has been fantastic and the high intensity we are trying to get them to play at is a real credit to how hard they are working with the 3 games in 3 days.

The football produced by both sets of players during the afternoon was superb and frightening to realise that our clubs are achieving this level of development but struggling to survive because of the parameters that have been set by the relevant governing bodies. If funding and protection was decided on the quality and output of the youth scheme, we could both rest easy.

Again the focus for our boys after these games was to make sure after a quick pat on the back they started to focus and prepare for their next game on Day 3 against Crewe.

The importance of preparing properly, cooling down, eating correctly, drinking the right amounts, resting for the right amount of time, conducting themselves professionally was now even more crucial as games against Crewe are always a fantastic test for the boys as their Academy speaks for itself.

Thursday was a great day for the lads. Again with an afternoon kick off, we could give the boys some free time as well as taking them to two football grounds with two of the most passionate supporters in the country, Anfield and Goodison Park, to have a look at where lots of their hero's play.

What great motivation to want to do well in their games during the afternoon!

I know that Jez and all of our coaching staff and players have great respect for Crewe Alexandra and the way they go about producing players. It is a model that we are trying to emulate.

The facilities are absolutely ideal for any young player to feel as though he can be the next Messi, Ronaldo, Rooney…

Before the lads had even kicked a ball it's great to see who feels they belong in this type of environment and see who takes a step back. The boys showed the type of willingness to work hard, pay attention to detail and take on information that we look for in all of our young players.

The U8's played in the Dome and were superb in the way they played intelligently with a mixture of pace and control to their play. It was a great little football arena for the boys to produce some great passages of play. So much so, that the hosts were extremely complementary about our players and compared us favourably to teams that they have played this season. Not one of them is from outside the Premiership!

The U9's had a high scoring game with attacking play being very dominant from both sides and that individuality that sometimes gets questioned at the higher level in this country was there for everyone to see. The end to end game was also match by some very good goalkeeping from both sides. For the third game is as many days, the level of the boys was very pleasing and left the staff with lots of questions being answered positively.

U10's on the 3G Astro were again able to cope with the pace of the game and showed good tactical knowledge of where and when to play quickly and when to be more patient. Again they were ruthless in front of goal, which was pleasing, and their application allows the coaching staff to throw more and more challenges at the boys, which we hope they continue to overcome.

The U11's saved their best performance of the tour until the last day and on a slightly smaller pitch than the previous couple of days were able to keep the ball well and add more penetration to their play. The high scoring draw was a credit to both teams trying to play the right way and pleasing that our boys showed that when put under pressure some responded and took the game by the scruff of the neck.

The U12's were under the tutelage of Marc for the first time on the tour and this gave him chance to see the potential of the group. The boys had a good test against a good side but lacked a little bit of cutting edge that they had shown in the previous couple of games, although some experimenting from Marc enabled him to see the boys in a different positions so it was a really good exercise overall.

The tour was another opportunity to evaluate the Youth System and it is rewarding to see how much we are improving each year. The boys deserve great credit for the way they conducted themselves on and off the field. Did they enjoy it? What did they learn? What was different to a usual Sunday game? These were the things that we want them to question themselves in order to keep on developing.

Tom Pell
Football Development Officer

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