[情報] 15-16 賽季 U21 和 U19 回顧
https://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2016/06/
the-young-generation--u21s-and-u19s-season-reviewed.html
The Young Generation: U21s and U19s season reviewed
Thu 2 Jun 2016
At the end of a campaign that has seen our Under-19s retain the UEFA Youth
League title and our Under-21s claim a fifth-place league finish, the
official Chelsea website sat down to reflect on the year with manager Adi
Viveash, who takes charge of both age groups.
With the likes of Dominic Solanke, Andreas Christensen, Nathan Ake,
Jeremie Boga and Izzy Brown graduating from last year's Under-21 group to
senior football in the shape of summer loan moves, Viveash recognised
early on that 2015/16 would be a transitional year for his young group.
The average age of his side in the league was just under 19, the youngest
in Division One of the Under-21 Premier League.
'I always think where you finish is where you deserve to be,' Viveash told
the official Chelsea website. 'We may have been able to finish a little
higher if we didn't have to play our final four games in the space of 10
days but fifth-place is a fair reflection of where the group are currently
at.
'I felt with so many changes to the group that it would be a transitional
year and I still don't believe we will see the best of these players for
another 12 or 18 months but they have definitely matured and learned over
the course of the season.
'That is not just the younger players either but the older boys too. We
struggled at the start of the season because we needed the older ones to
be performing better than they were but sometimes it can be difficult to
adjust at that age when you're looking for opportunities in the senior
game and they don't come along.'
Goals proved hard to come by before Christmas, an unusual problem
following the free-scoring side of last campaign, though Viveash pinpoints
the victory and clean sheet against Middlesbrough in mid-December as a
turning point of the season. After just two wins in their previous eight
games, the three points provided the platform for the young Blues to piece
together an eight-game unbeaten run that stretched all the way into April.
'Up until the Middlesbrough game, we found it difficult to score goals and
we were conceding quite a few, but the biggest turnaround was the fact we
started keeping clean sheets. We didn't look like we were going to concede
many in that period.
'Our older players found their form after Christmas and our younger
players had the benefit of more games and experience. Players like Mukhtar
Ali, who had a fine season, started to emerge and really get to grips with
the level.'
The youngsters also had a strong run in the Premier League International
Cup, reaching the last four before being beaten by PSV Eindhoven. It was a
competition led by Andy Myers, Viveash's assistant, and one in which the
team faced some of their biggest tests of the year.
'We had a great run to the semi-finals in that competition and came up
against 'B' teams from Benfica and PSV,' Viveash continued. 'Along with
the UEFA Youth League final against Paris Saint Germain, they were
probably the toughest games we've had all season.'
Retaining their title as the champions of Europe at their age group will
undoubtedly be remembered as the highlight of the season, though Viveash
admitted the changes to the competition and to his group of players makes
the achievement particularly special.
'If I'm being honest, I didn't think it was possible to win it for a
second year in a row. I felt with the competition doubling the number of
teams involved, the level of the teams improving and our group of players
changing so much, we were going to find it difficult but we grew as a
group throughout the competition.
'Porto away in the group stage was a pivotal game because we lost our
self-control a little bit, picked up six yellow cards and drew 3-3 after
being 3-0 ahead. That alarmed me because I felt we would lose key players
through suspension later in the tournament. Having said that, the players
learned a lot from that game and I think they realised we were going to
have to be very tight defensively because teams were good enough to hurt
us.
'It was only after we beat Ajax in the quarter-finals that it started to
feel like we had a chance of winning it again because we knew what a good
side Ajax were. Our performance in that game was so mature for a young
group and we won the game in a different way.
'When you get to the semi-finals weekend in Nyon, you're into the last
four teams so you've got a great chance and we thoroughly deserved it in
the end. PSG were the team everybody was talking about in the group stage,
they destroyed Real Madrid 4-1 at home and had five players who had played
in the first team so I think it made it extra-special to beat them in the
final.
'We've played with a younger team against tougher opposition and I think
we deserved to win it. We're unbeaten in 18 months in European football at
this age group, which is an incredible achievement. It was another very
successful tournament for us and it's been great to be involved in over
the past three years.'
Reflecting on the attributes that set his side apart from their
challengers on the continent, the manager was quick to praise the ability
of his players to take on board pre-match instructions and effectively
implement a game plan throughout the 90 minutes. He also cited a defensive
solidity that saw his side concede just six goals in the competition,
three of them in the Porto draw.
'It comes down to the players taking on board the game plan and executing
it very well,' he said. 'This group have done that really well from the
Valencia game in the last-16; they have really bought into what it takes
to get through each round in the knockout games and they should take
enormous credit for that. As you move up the ladder, it becomes harder to
win and the finer details make a bigger difference but that is where we've
excelled.
'Keeping six clean sheets in 10 games and only conceding two in the last
four games was a big part of us achieving what we did. The opposition were
good enough to hurt us but everybody defending together and working in a
certain way helped us stop teams really creating many chances against us.
Once we went in front in games, we didn't really look like losing. I hope
that's the biggest thing the players take forward in their future
learning; that there are different ways to win and they have shown over
the last two years in this competition that they can win in both ways.'
The campaign has also garnered three first team debuts for Academy
graduates as Fikayo Tomori, Tammy Abraham and Jake Clarke-Salter were all
handed minutes by Guus Hiddink.
'To get three debuts and for Tammy to play an hour as a substitute across
two games is a big plus of our whole season. At the end of the day, it is
the biggest thing that the players are looking to achieve and it was a
nice way for the season to finish with Tammy and Fikayo on the field
against Leicester at the Bridge. All the players and staff were proud to
see that because it represents the work of our programme.'
Looking ahead to 2016/17, Viveash feels the league campaign will represent
another tough challenge for his youngsters as the opposition get older and
more competitive. Arsenal and Derby County will replace relegated
Middlesbrough and Norwich City in the top tier following their promotion
from Division Two.
'The programme is definitely getting harder, the league is getting
stronger and next year it will be even tougher with Derby and Arsenal
winning promotion. It has been a challenging year for us but a great year
for development.
'I have certainly enjoyed it because it has been a difficult year
coaching-wise and that means you have a lot of work to do. I've enjoyed
working with the group and the staff; it was a chance for me to work quite
closely with Andy and I enjoyed that a lot. We did a few things
differently this year and I think that was a benefit to everybody.'
Winning competitions will always stand out but the bigger picture of work
at this level remains the development and improvement of young individual
players. Viveash knows that despite the trophies continuing to build in
the cabinet, that is what their programme will continue to be judged upon.
'We had a little tournament in Holland at the end of the season and we
were sat in Amsterdam airport when Jeffrey Bruma and Patrick van Aanholt
came through with the Dutch national team. That was quite a nice moment
because those two were in the reserves group when I first came in and
worked with Neil Bath during pre-season all those years ago. To see them
both now as full internationals, you have to remember that is part of the
work that has gone on over the years at the Academy and that is part of
the bigger picture of our work to produce top-level players.'
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