badgerboy
member
Reged: 26/03/2007
Posts: 727
Loc: Bucks, England
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Newcastle United
Final position 12th (43 pts)
------------------Harper/Given--------------
---Beye---Taylor---Faye---Jose Enrique---
-------Geremi-------Butt----------N'Zogbia---
-------Viduka-------Owen---------Martins------
Other key players: Barton, Cacapa, Duff, Milner, Smith, Rozenhal (to Jan).
Keegan showed he hasn't lost his attacking instincts by opting for 4-3-3 as his preferred formation in a world where anything with a 1 as the final number is an increasingly popular option.
The above formation is roughly the one which played the latter part of the season but Smith, Barton, Milner & Duff were all good midfield options - & especially in the first three cases used pretty frequently through the season (Duff had injury problems). Cacapa was a regular centre back under Big Sam but virtually vanished under Keegan (and given some of his early season performances you could see why).
When you look at Newcastle on paper you can actually see why King Kev says he doesn't need that many players - especially if he can channel the efforts of some of his more aggressive core positively. Lots of options in attack & midfield - and promising youth (Milner, Taylor, N'Zogbia). Money definitely needs to be spent defensively (but then doesn't it always at Newcastle?).
For the future:
Andy Carroll - Keegan obviously likes him - giving him first team chances after a loan spell at Preston. Only 19 & a forward (& Newcastle have plenty of those). But he might be in an ideal environment to get his chances if he's good enough.
Kazenga LuaLua - younger brother of Lomana. Has already made a couple of substitute appearances for the first team despite being only 17. Plays right wing.
Newcastle may have been totally inactive in the January transfer window in terms of first team signings but I was pretty amazed to discover how much this wasn't the case in terms of the youth team - especially as they were previously very "local" looking.
Wesley Ngo Baheng - an 18-y-o French striker - came from Le Havre. Tamas Kadar - an 18-y-o central or left sided defender came from Zalagerszegi in Hungary. Fabio Zamblera - an 18-y-o Italian forward came from Atalanta. Ole Soderberg - an 18-y-o Swedish goalkeeper came from Hacken. And Ben Tozer - another 18-y-o central/left-sided defender came from Swindon Town.
Ngo Baheng, Kadar & Tozer are already reserve team regulars - indeed Tozer made it to the first team bench on the final day of the season. Zamblera has scored twice in two games for the U18s and Soderberg is now first choice keeper for that team.
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badgerboy
member
Reged: 26/03/2007
Posts: 727
Loc: Bucks, England
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Portsmouth
Final position 8th (57 pts)
--------------------James--------------------------
---Johnson---Distin---Campbell---Hreidarsson---
---------------Diarra------Muntari--------------------
-----Utaka----------Diop------------Kranjcar-----
--------------------Defoe-----------------------------
Other key players: Lauren (RB), Pamarot (CB/LB), Kanu (FW), Pedro Mendes (CM), Davis (CM), Benjani (FW) - to Jan.
Portsmouth actually used 4-4-2 most of the time but the above line-up is the one that best utilises their best (or at least "most used") players after the addition of Diarra in January.
Kanu was the most popular option up front in a 4-4-2 with Baros & Nugent (who I suspect will be sold on) other options.
A very successful season for Portsmouth - especially taking their FA Cup triumph into account. They will play in Europe for the first time next season. They look like a very stable Premier League outfit at the moment but I can't help thinking this is directly related to the presence of Harry Redknapp. How stable they will be if & when he eventually moves on (see Charlton after Curbishley & Bolton after Allardyce for reference) is difficult to judge. It's also hard to see them improve on 2007-08 - which to me could be a demotivating factor next year. Perhaps "European adventure" can be a good antidote for this...
For the future:
2007-08 was actually Portsmouth's first season as an Academy side (meaning the first year they have to have a full youth set up for kids from age 9 upwards and to meet more stringent standards for the amount of football - & support activities - provided to their "students" of all ages). Their kids finished a creditable 4th in their section in their first season.
Franck Songo'o - French midfielder who began his career at Barcelona. Made one substitute appearance for the first team inbetween loan spells at Crystal Palace and Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship.
Danijel Subotic - 19-y-o Swiss striker who came from Basel in January. Scored twice for the reserves - which doesn't sound a lot but then the entire team (who didn't do as well as the U18s) only scored 12 in 18 games.
Matty Ritchie and Paris Cowan-Hall - Ritchie plays midfield or wide left and top-scored for the U18s (12 goals) while Cowan-Hall
- signed from Rushden & Diamonds - got 9 as a striker. Neither made a scoring impact at reserve level though.
Tom Kilbey - Highly-rated at Millwall - he made one substitute appearance in the Johnstone's Paints Trophy - before Portsmouth bought him in September. Midfielder who spent most of the season in the U18s.
Tero Mantyla - Yet another recent foreign signing who shows the reach & depth of the Premier League's scouting network. A 17-y-o Finnish defender signed from a club called TP Seinakoji.
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badgerboy
member
Reged: 26/03/2007
Posts: 727
Loc: Bucks, England
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Reading
Final position 18th (36 pts)
-----------------------Hahnemann----------------------------
---Murty---Ingimarsson---Duberry/Sonko/Bikey---Shorey---
---Oster--------Harper-------Matejovsky/Gunnarsson---Hunt---------------Kitson--------------------Doyle-----------------
Other key players: Cisse (CB/CM), Lita (FW), Rosenior (RB/M), Convey (M).
On a personal level I was pretty gutted that Reading - who in Steve Coppell have just about my favourite English manager - ended up being relegated. But to be honest they had a couple of critical spells during the season (including towards the end) when they just weren't playing well enough to stay in the division.
The crucial difference to 2006-07 appeared to be the lack of a stable centre: the loss of Sidwell to Chelsea (where he was only ever a fringe player at best) was perhaps the biggest loss but although Ingimarsson didn't miss many games the central defensive pairing also changed a lot.
In addition the swap deal bringing in Rosenior for Seol Ki-Hyeon doesn't seem like it's been a resounding success for anyone involved and I was surprised (& disappointed) that Leroy Lita played far less of a part in proceedings this year than last after a good showing (after a nightmare start) at the U21s last summer.
For the future:
Reading's reserves did pretty well - finishing 2nd in the Southern section. But then they did use the most over-21 players of any side. 112 out of the 198 available starting spots in the 18 games were over 21. Compare that to Arsenal - where the equivalent number was just 9 (and no less than 158 spots went to U18s).
James Henry - top scorer for the reserves (excluding Lita) - made a substitute appearance in a League Cup tie with Liverpool and had two loan spells (the latter at Norwich in the Championship). Will be interesting to see if he's rated highly enough to get his chance in the first team now Reading find themselves back in the Championship.
Gary Frewen - 17-y-o wide player from the Republic of Ireland given a chance in the reserves (which not many youngsters were) towards the end of the season.
Radoslav Vasilev - 17-y-o Bulgarian striker who came from Slavia Sofia in January.
Kelvin Bossman - English born striker of Ghanaian descent.
Abdulai Baggie - very highly-rated English schoolboy international striker already involved with the U18s.
Won Sik Kim, Tae Hee Nam & Dong Won Ji - three young Korean players signed last summer as part of a partnership with the Korean Football Association. All became U18 regulars towards the end of the season.
I'm not sure how these players go on in terms of working visa regulations but I found a piece on the British Council website interviewing a Korean coach on a training programme at Reading so I guess it's all part of that.
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badgerboy
member
Reged: 26/03/2007
Posts: 727
Loc: Bucks, England
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Sunderland
Final position 15th (39 pts)
------------------------Gordon---------------------------
--Bardsley/McShane--Nosworthy--Higginbotham/Evans--Collins--
---Whitehead/Edwards---Richardson---Reid-------Leadbitter-----------Yorke/Chopra-----------------Jones------------------
Other key players:
Etuhu (M), Miller (M), Murphy (M), Wallace (M).
Actually as far as the midfield is concerned it was all pretty interchangeable - with only Dean Whitehead (who also played at left back) making more than 20 starts. Andy Reid was a January signing though & I seem to recall Richardson having a lengthy spell out injured.
For the future:
Sunderland won their Academy League section for the second year in a row and also reached the FA Youth Cup semi-finals - hence making them the Premier League team with the good youth team that I was least aware of.
Martyn Waghorn - 18-y-o striker who made his first team debut in a season when he scored 14 goals for the Under-18s.
Nathan Luscombe - Left winger who actually outscored Waghorn - with 18 goals - but then he did start more games.
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badgerboy
member
Reged: 26/03/2007
Posts: 727
Loc: Bucks, England
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Tottenham Hotspur
Final position 11th (46 pts)
--------------------Robinson-------------------
---Hutton---Dawson---Woodgate---Chimbonda/Lee---
---Lennon---Jenas-----Zokora---Malbranque---
------------Berbatov----------Keane-------------------
Other key players: Huddlestone (CM), Bent (FW), Kaboul (CB), Cerny (GK).
Ledley King and Jonathan Woodgate would probably be the preferred central defensive partnership (injuries permitting) but King only made four starts all season. Chimbonda started on the right side of defence but switched over after the purchase of Alan Hutton from Rangers.
Jamie O'Hara didn't quite make the "key player" list (he made 9 starts but also 8 as a substitute) but was a very popular midfield option while Gareth Bale would have played a lot more games on the left hand side but for injury.
Given that at the start of the season Spurs were tipped by many (including me) as the team most likely to challenge the "big four" their final position & points tally was incredibly disappointing. That said it's pretty hard to judge their true "worth" under Juande Ramos. For the final months of the season (especially after their League Cup victory) they've had absolutely nothing to play for - safe in mid-table & already in Europe. I know that their "attitude" - or lack of it - in many games over this period has angered many of their fans but - (again on paper) they still look to me to have one of the most exciting squads (with an array of young talent) outside that infamous "big four".
Their biggest worry is the potential departure of Berbatov. Defoe went in January and Bent hasn't convinced - so a new quality strike partner for Keane would be vital for them if he did move on.
For the future:
Spurs already have an array of young talent in their first team. Of the players already mentioned: Alan Hutton is only 23, Younes Kaboul is 22, Tom Huddlestone, Aaron Lennon & Jamie O'Hara are all just 21 and Gareth Bale is 19.
In addition - German midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng, 21 also made 7 league starts while 19-y-o Welsh right back Chris Gunter - bought from Cardiff in January and versatile 19-y-o French midfielder Adel Taarabt -who came from Lens last summer - were both involved with the first team.
Promising young goalkeeper Ben Alnwick had loan spells at Luton & Leicester.
Czech striker Tomas Pekhart was top scorer for the reserves.
18-y-o wide player Danny Rose - signed from Leeds last summer - is a reserve team regular who has already made the first team squad.
18-y-o Irish winger David Hutton scored 9 goals for the U18s and played 9 games for the reserves.
17-y-o attacking midfielder Jonathan Obika was the first team scholar with most appearances in the reserve team to his name in 07-08 - probably because he scored 14 goals for the U18s.
Another 17-y-o midfielder - Ryan Mason was second top scorer for the U18s (with 11 goals) and was also involved with the reserves.
Dean Parrett is a 16-y-o midfielder snapped up from Queens Park Rangers in January. Despite still only being a schoolboy he's already played for the reserves.
Spurs Academy side mostly consists of English (& Irish) players. Exceptions are: Yuri Berchiche - an 18-y-o Spanish full back signed from Athletic Bilbao last summer; Alex Olsen - an 18-y-o Norwegian striker from Gorvik Lynn and Oscar Jansson - a 17-y-o Swedish goalkeeper who came from Karlsrund in January.
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badgerboy
member
Reged: 26/03/2007
Posts: 727
Loc: Bucks, England
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West Ham United
Final position 10th (49 pts)
-------------------------Green---------------------------
----Neill----------Upson-----------Ferdinand---McCartney---
-Solano/Ljungbg-Mullins-Noble/Parker-Etherington/Ljungberg
-----------Zamora/Cole-------------Ashton/Boa Morte---------
Other key players: Spector (CB/RB), Bowyer (M).
Pretty hard both to evaluate West Ham's season and figure out their most regular line up given their injury problems during the season.
Aside from the players named above (some of whom barely made enough appearances to qualify as "key players") - Craig Bellamy, Julien Faubert and Kieron Dyer all had lengthy injury spells - Dyer missing the entire season after breaking his leg in a League Cup tie against Bristol Rovers.
The Hammers end of season was actually remarkably similar to Tottenham's - but without the European place at the end of it. 10th seemingly for the entire season and never (despite my own foolish optimism) looking like either rising or falling far from that position.
The future might not be as rosy as it looked after their relegation escape last season though. Their Icelandic owners are apparently suffering due to the international "credit crunch" and the "big spending" has to stop.
For the future:
21-y-o midfielder Mark Noble is already a key member of the Hammers first team - and must be a promising prospect for the English national team in future too.
West Ham's position of "mid-table safety" from at least Christmas, combined with their injury problems, did allow them the luxury of blooding some young talent during the latter part of the season.
18-y-o striker Freddie Sears perhaps generated the most excitement. He's a local boy who has been with the club since age 11.
19-y-o central midfielder Jack Collison started his career at Cambridge United.
19-y-o centre back James Tomkins made a couple of "rookie" errors but can surely only benefit from the experience he's gained this year.
Outside those given first team opportunities: 18-y-o Jordan Spence was Krystian Pearce's central defensive partner in England's U17 team last year; 18-y-o Junior Stanislas, another who has been at the club since age 11, scored 11 times for the U18s (second only to Sears - who got 22) and 3 times for the reserves and Marek Stech is an 18-y-o goalkeeper signed from Sparta Prague in summer 2006.
Schoolboys Conor Okus - a midfielder and Saudi Arabian striker Ahmed Abdulla - at Arsenal earlier in the season - both did well in the U18s late in the season.
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badgerboy
member
Reged: 26/03/2007
Posts: 727
Loc: Bucks, England
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Wigan Athletic
Final position 14th (40 pts)
--------------------Kirkland---------------------------
---Melchiot---Boyce---Scharner---Kilbane---
---Valencia---Palacios---Brown---Koumas---
---------------Heskey---------Bent---------------------
Other key players: Taylor (LM), Granqvist (CB), Sibierski (FW), Landzaat (CM) - to Jan, Bramble (CB).
Scharner started the season in midfield and Bramble was a regular starter in the centre of defence - but after the arrival of Palacios in January - Scharner dropped back & Bramble - for the most part - dropped out.
Steve Bruce's achievements at Wigan - a team in deep relegation trouble when he joined - probably should make him a contender for manager of the year. Wilson Palacios - the Honduran midfielder who followed him from Birmingham and Luis Antonio Valencia - the Ecuadorian whose loan move from Villarreal became permanent - get most "creative credit".
Otherwise a team with a lot of experienced players - one for which the term "greater than the sum of it's parts" could probably have been invented.
For the future:
Rumours suggest that Wilson Palacios could be destined for "big things" at a bigger club. To me this might be classic "over-hyping". I can't see him being better than anything any of the really big clubs already have. Then again Wigan are one of the "least fashionable" Premier League clubs so it might be that another one of similar (or only slightly higher) standing is a more attractive location for him to ply his trade. Personally I hope he stays at Wigan & helps them cement their Premier League future.
Outside the first team it's pretty tricky to identify Wigan's future prospects. They are currently the only Premier Leafue club that don't operate their own academy (so their U18s play only in a league with other non-academy clubs).
20-y-o Welsh right-winger David Cotterill did make a couple of first team appearances before heading off on loan to Sheffield United.
18-y-o Polish midfielder Tomasz Kupisz was a reserve team regular together with his older compatriot Tomasz Cywka.
19-y-o Irish striker Craig Mahon, 18-y-o centre back Luke Ashworth and 18-y-o midfielder Jonathan Routledge all impressed enough to be offered short-term professional contracts at the club and Routledge (originally with Liverpool) won the young player of the year award at the club.
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badgerboy
member
Reged: 26/03/2007
Posts: 727
Loc: Bucks, England
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Some info. on how I compiled most of my info. - with links where appropriate.
The site I trust most for my first team appearance data is soccerbase.com. I already mentioned that I use football-lineups.com to help me out when I'm not sure of a player's most regular position during the season.
And I also use footballsquads.co.uk quite a lot. A great site for a basic list of first team players (& those close to it).
Info. for reserve and youth team players plus their appearance & goalscoring info. come from official sites (+ the odd fan blog). That took quite a bit of work to put together (in the case of the U18s it's incomplete as not all clubs provide info) but I quite enjoyed it because it's info that (as far as I know) isn't readily available anywhere else.
That info. - which I've been compiling gradually over the season - I have mostly on paper but I do now have a spreadsheet of all (or I should say most) players born after 01/09/1981 with a Premier League or Championship club during the past season which shows the highest level they played at during the season. I didn't bother doing reserve & youth stats for non-Premier League teams though & my list of these players is probably pretty incomplete.
Some of the non-official fan blogs etc. I've used.
Arsenal. Arsenal again. And again.
The first two both have some excellent profiles of younger players while the third was good for older info & stats.
Bolton - although most of the reserve info. I found was pretty old (& I got to via google search results).
Chelsea and probably more often this one
I just found this one for Liverpool that looks like it might be useful for future reference.
Manchester City - one I should definitely give a mention as it's one of the only ones I actually used to help me with my stats because the official site was lacking.
Newcastle United
Tottenham - another one that was helpful with some match reports/line-ups that weren't available on the official site.
Edited by badgerboy (24/05/2008 19:39)
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badgerboy
member
Reged: 26/03/2007
Posts: 727
Loc: Bucks, England
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And the promoted teams:
West Bromwich Albion
West Brom's youngest first team regular is Ishmael Miller, 21 - who they signed from Manchester City in January (I think he was on loan previously). He's certainly a "presence" and can be a threat up front - but from what I've seen (which isn't much admittedly) he's got a bit to learn yet to be a "hit" at the top level.
In the "slightly older" category they've got James Morrison - who used to be at Middlesbrough and Luke Moore - who is on loan from Aston Villa - but I believe this was "with a view to a permanent signing".
It would actually be pretty interesting to know which of their players West Brom fans think will "make it" in the Premier League next season.
Ignoring the age factor now - in terms of appearances their most important players were Jonathan Greening - another ex-Middlesbrough (& Manchester United) man - who plays the holding midfield role; goalkeeper Dean Kiely; left-back Paul Robinson - a product of Watford's youth academy who has been at West Brom for the last five seasons and Belgian right-back Carl Hoefkens
Possibly the player most likely to make a real impact on the Premier League though is Slovenian playmaker Robert Koren - while it will also be interesting to see how Czech striker Roman Bednar does - assuming his loan from Hearts becomes permanent.
Edit: Forgetting perhaps my "non-English" audience I perhaps should mention that West Brom's top scorer this season was 34-y-o Kevin Phillips with 24 goals - second in the entire division behind Sylvan Ebanks- Blake of Wolves. But with James Beattie in 3rd place this might just be a good indicator of the massive gulf in class between the two leagues.
Regarding the reserve & U18 players I really haven't got a clue although they do have one English schoolboy striker in Lateef Elford-Alliyu. He was also deemed good enough to be called up to the "travelling squad" (he didn't make the bench) for an FA Cup tie earlier in the season.
Stoke City
Their youngest first team regular is Ryan Shawcross a centre back signed from Manchester United in January.
Most of their goals were shared between: Ricardo Fuller - a Jamaican striker who came to prominence at Prestion before spells at Portsmouth & Southampton; English born Irish midfielder Liam Lawrence - formerly of Sunderland and 30-y-o Richard Cresswell.
These three & Shawcross were among Stoke's "most featured" players -along with Irish midfielder Rory Delap - once of Derby. Southampton & Sunderland.
It's not easy to highlight other useful promise though - or players of obvious "premier League class" - though that might well be pure ignorance on my part. A couple of tentative mentions:
Ritchie De Laet is a 19yo Belgian defender who can apparently play anywhere across the back line. He signed a 3 year deal from Royal Antwerp last summer but didn't make any first team starts yet.
Nathaniel Wedderburn is a 17-y-o midfielder who had a similar involvement with the first team earlier in the season as Elford-Alliyu.
And to show the sheer depth of my research  according to Pav from Cannock writing on the Daily Mail message board in October: "I remember playing against Nathaniel in a school cup final match.. and my God was he good. I know players who play for bigger clubs than Stoke..and were no where near his level".
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badgerboy
member
Reged: 26/03/2007
Posts: 727
Loc: Bucks, England
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And finally...
Hull City
I would suggest that by far their most important youngster must be Fraizer Campbell. I already mentioned him in the Manchester United section - as he's on loan from there. It would be great for Hull if they could bring him in on a permanent basis or alternatively perhaps - take him on loan for the entire season to give United the chance to see if he can cut it at Premier League level.
The older players that have been used most regularly:
Centre back Michael Turner - signed from Brentford in 2006 - made a "match winning" clearance in the play-off final yesterday -and has apparently been pretty solid all season (missing just 2 of their 46 regular league games).
Captain Ian Ashbee has been with the club since 2002 - when they were still in League Two.
Defender Wayne Brown failed to make a serious breakthrough at Ipswich (where he spent 7 years) or Watford - but finally did at Colchester.
I didn't know this before today but right-back Sam Ricketts was born in a village only about five miles from the one I lived in as a child. His Dad was showjumper Derek Ricketts - who I remember being a "local celebrity" - as in whenever he was on the TV someone would say - "That's Derek Ricketts from Quainton" - when I was a kid!
US born Welsh International goalkeeper Boaz Myhill started his career at Aston Villa.
Australian born right-winger Richard Garcia is another product of West Ham's youth academy and another player who came to Hull via Colchester.
And midfielder Dean Marney started out at Tottenham.
Phil Brown did say on TV yesterday that: "the players that won us promotion will get their chance in the Premier League" so it will be interesting to see which of these players - not forgetting 39-y-o Dean Windass - who was their second top scorer (behind Campbell) and got the winner yesterday (and what a good one it was too) - make the most of their chance.
Of the youngsters 19-y-o Brewster Frizzell has been involved with Northern Ireland's U19 squad (and on a purely frivolous level - has a brilliant name!), 17-y-o centre back Liam Cooper has U17 experience with Scotland and 18-y-o Irish winger Jamie Devitt has been involved in the Irish set up and won the club's "Young player of the Year" award.
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stephen_woodside
member
Reged: 02/05/2007
Posts: 1880
Loc: Huyton, Merseyside
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Excellent piece badger.
--------------------
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
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Rogorn
member
Reged: 24/03/2007
Posts: 314
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"46 were from the rest of the UK or the Republic of Ireland and 170 from overseas"
I've always thought curious these statistics referring to Ireland. Of course, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are part of the UK but they have their own FIFA-recognised FA, so it makes sense to mention them. But Ireland? They're a different country and a different FA. They're as foreign in political and sport administration terms as Australia.
This is not a criticism. I have always just found it curious.
---
"Overall I suppose this is a bit of a chicken & egg question though. What comes first - the bad results that lead to lots of squad tinkering - or too much squad tinkering leading to bad results?"
In bottom teams at least (or teams not achieving what they think they should), it seems quite clear that when something's not working you just try something else, whether you are a perceived tinkerer or not. And when all the permutations with your squad are still not good enough, you try yet something else with youngsters, loan signings, mid-season window transfers, whatever. So it's obvious that the number of players used goes up.
Very good analysis, really enjoyable. Thanks.
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badgerboy
member
Reged: 26/03/2007
Posts: 727
Loc: Bucks, England
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Rogorn
Your point about Ireland is a good one.
I only mentioned the "UK" stats at all - & included Ireland - because historically "we" - the "we" meaning I suppose English soccer fans - tended to think of all such players as "home" players.
I'm thinking now of teams like Liverpool & Manchester United in the 70s & 80s. I might be wrong but I don't really remember any distinction being made between players from the UK & from the Republic of Ireland at that time. None of them were thought of as "foreign" players.
And - although I didn't include any "historic" stats on this thread I have been doing some comparisons with earlier years when these distinctions were more relevant.
I suppose these days that it's only really worth talking about "EU" and "non-EU" and should Blatter's quota system ever come to pass (which I doubt very much indeed) Scottish & Welsh would be as "foreign" as Irish anyway. Although I suppose a number of those players (as well as those born in England but opting to play for one of the other "home nations" because if parents or grandparents) would still have some means of "qualifying" as English.
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henryfan1
member
Reged: 22/06/2006
Posts: 786
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I enjoyed reading this well done Badgerboy.
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