Youth team game

[DaveWoo]

Unfortunately a 6-1 loss despite taking an early lead.
Commentators did say it was harsh on Cewe.

[out0lunch]

Well the lads will be disappointed to have lost but they have done so well to get this far.

It will be interesting to see in a few years time how many of City and Alex lads play full time league football.
My money is on Crewe

[alexbarmy]

So the English FA insist all this money is spent on Academies in order for your club to be an Academy.

Then you see a Man City team full of foreign imports - some even from South America.

And we wonder why England never win anything.

[AlexLeicester]

In the latter stages we faced Fulham, Bolton, Arsenal and Man City and did extraordinarily well. Put a lot of Academies to shame and that's something to be really proud of.

It still feels good being an Alex fan, watching football played the right way.

[weymouthalex]

I agree AL. I have taken great pleasure from their cup results this season. I can’t remember ever beating Arsenal before in a proper competition; the lads did better than could possibly be expected. The future looks bright.

[VindePays2009]

It certainly did the heart good to see that a battery of foreign talent was required to subdue the Alex last night. Bersant Celina is evend on the Soccermad team list, but at least we were able to source Nick Powell locally.

To introduce a minor discordant note, 'subdued' is precisely what the Alex sounded like in the second half, to judge by the commentary. Beyond the six goals let in, it sounded as if the woodwork saved us on several occasions.

Crewe teams, particularly the seniors, have a tendency to run out of gas and be easy pickings in the second half. I fear this for the seniors, as the cumulative fatigue of a season spent in strain and apprehension rather than mid-table relaxation begins to kick in. We might be about to cop some demoralising results.

Hope I am wrong, of course. But I'm not looking forward to my trip to Preston quite as much now.

[Welsh_Cup_1937]

I was a little surprised at the gulf in class between the two sides last night, to be honest; not that I expect our youth players to be at quite the same level as City's cosmopolitan squad (3 or 4 of their players were skilful and physically developed enough to be competing for a place in our first team), but I was disappointed that none of our boys looked anywhere near ready for first team football - except for the one player who has already tasted it. I suppose that's no coincidence, and hopefully more confidence and composure will come to those offered senior contracts and given chances in the first team squad in future.

Of course, this is based on only one showing and the lads have done very well and beaten some very reputable sides on the way. Not wishing to be too negative!

[bigroof]

I was a little surprised at the gulf in class between the two sides last night, to be honest; not that I expect our youth players to be at quite the same level as City's cosmopolitan squad (3 or 4 of their players were skilful and physically developed enough to be competing for a place in our first team), but I was disappointed that none of our boys looked anywhere near ready for first team football - except for the one player who has already tasted it. I suppose that's no coincidence, and hopefully more confidence and composure will come to those offered senior contracts and given chances in the first team squad in future.

Of course, this is based on only one showing and the lads have done very well and beaten some very reputable sides on the way. Not wishing to be too negative!

It's a shame you've only been able to watch the one game, Welsh Cup. They won't all be offered contracts, that's for sure, but it's been notable in

[MikeSB]

As we have to sell a player each year for at least 500,000 pounds to just break even. Anyone any idea who the next one is in that catagory? It becomes more difficult if that becomes cumulative and a million pounds the following year etc etc.

I was going to suggest we look at all these academy players who fail to make the PL but would surely would be good enough for L1 and L2 but then knowing what wages are available in the PL and CC or even in L1, then don't think they would come here anyway. So we are a bit stuck with what we have, for better or worse. We do have a problem in competeting 'physically' and always have though.

Bit like a bad marriage or an expensive divorce!