Having talented players progress till they're good enough to play regular top level Premiership football is still an art that very few - if any - have perfected. The traditional route of letting them develop in the reserves no longer seems to apply given the dilution of quality in this league whilst the more recent solution of having the players go out on loan is a bit hit and miss.

As it always is whenever England take on an international tournament, there is bound to be a fair degree of hype over the Under 17 team taking part in the World Cup in Mexico. And with six Liverpool players in the English squad, expectations will inevitably rise especially if England do well.
Yet the reality of this tournament is that it doesn't really provide a gauge for future success.

It is being reported this morning that Arsenal have poached another youngster from the Barcelona academy. His name is Jon Miquel Toral Harper. He is a 16 year-old midfielder who is half-English and the Sun reports this morning that he is close to signing for Arsenal. It seems that the Barcelona president Sandro Rosell is [.

The seasonal poaching of Barcelona youngsters by Arsene Wenger seems to continue apace. The Gunners have just been ordered to pay £300,000 compensation to the Spanish giants for Jon Niquel Toral-Harper, who recently decide to join Arsenal instead of staying at the Nou Camp. Now today it seems that the Spanish Daily Sport is reporting [.

Manchester United: The 2010-2011 Academy Season - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Manchester United's Academy collect their 10th FA: Youth Cup Trophy, with fledglings that some are daring to suggest could be the next 'Class of 92′........

If I asked the majority of United fans ‘what's been the most disappointing moment of the season?

Charlton's Academy serving the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

As a Charlton fan, the recent news about Carl Jenkinson's move to Arsenal has led me to consider the impressive standard of the Charlton Athletic Academy. With the first team about to embark on their third attempt to get out of League One, the academy itself still seems to mix with the established Premiership outfits.

Much has been said about the excellent job that Pep Segura and Rodolfo Borrell have been doing at the Liverpool academy yet, at the same time, very little is known about the actual strategy behind their work. Everyone has been saying that they've brought over Barcelona's model without knowing what that model is about outside of vague concepts.

- Dwayne De Rosario is the best kind of All-star, the inactive kind. He'll be recognized as one of the league's top performers, get a nice little bonus, but won't have to miss any D.C. practices to go play an exhibition game. Which is certainly a good thing as he has only been with his current teammates for about a month now.

He might not appreciate it much as he starts looking for a new job but Sergio Batista's dismal failure as Argentina coach at the Copa America delivered a very important message.
In the run up to the competition, Batista had expressed his intention to impose Barcelona's tactical approach on his side.

It's that time of year again. The hype and hysteria of ongoing transfer saga's continue, the opening weekend has come and gone and pundits the length and breadth of Great Britain the World are having their say on the season's final outcomes already. Well, for others like me, the season is yet to begin.

Beating Leeds United 3-1 last week Manchester United Academy got their first three points of the season and were sixth in the Premier Academy League Group C, six points behind the leaders, Manchester City. The Academy travelled to Sheffield to play their fourth league game of the season against last season's Youth Cup runners-up Sheffield [.

Two weeks ago United took on Crewe and got themselves back to winning ways (4-1) before they travelled off on their annual team building and strength-testing trip to Slovakia. Goals from Januzaj, Barmby, van Velzen and Rudge were enough to cement what was a much improved performance by the Academy and also gave us a chance [.

Mats Daehli stole the show at Carrington yesterday as Manchester United's Academy boys saw off a somewhat spirited fight from West Bromich Albion. Mats was the difference scoring both goals in a 2-1 victory that saw United extend their current winning streak to five games and maintain the momentum that's building up nicely to begin [.

United's U18s are in action again tomorrow as they take on Liverpool in the Premier Academy League. It's been six weeks since the reverse fixture saw Adam Morgan and Matty Regan grab the goals in a 2-1 win for Liverpool. Ex-Liverpool academy goalkeeper Liam Jacob made a howler that gifted Regan a simple header that [.

This team is rapidly becoming one of the most technically gifted youth teams the club has ever seen. Under the spotlights at Moss Lane on a cold rainy night, United's young hopefuls made light work of a determined Torquay United side that set up, at times, with 7 men at the back. Goals from van [...]

TORONTO, Ont. Toronto FC's new head coach and technical director Aron Winter answers a question during Thursday's press conference. (Chris Young/Canadian Press) Thursday marked a new era in the history of the Toronto FC, with the Major League Soccer club undergoing a major managerial makeover. TFC named former Dutch national team star Aron Winter [.

This blog missed a lot of the FA Cup happenings at the weekend due to illness. But, fear not - the worst of it is over and we're back with a comeback that Lazurus himself would be proud of.
So anyway, it's all been kicking off. Beckham: Will he? Won't he? Will he again? It's all a bit too much hassle for one ageing star if you ask us.

Since the World Cup there has been one major debate amongst England fans. Youth. Every one of our 60 million football experts has the idea of how we should bring through swarms of talented players to annihilate competition. Who should the FA be looking at to find the blueprint to dispel a 50 year enigma.

It is said that true winners are seen not in victory but in how they react to defeat. By that truism, it will be interesting to see what happens next after Liverpool's defeat in the quarter final of the FA Youth Cup.
This was a disappointing game for Liverpool; disappointing not because of the nature of the defeat or the name of the opponents but because of the way that the team played.

The most startling stat surrounding the 1st leg of this FA Youth Cup final is that more than 29,977 expectant fans turned up to watch the match. The attendance is even more startling given that it's Sheffield United's highest gate of the season (yes, including all competitions at all levels) beating the previous highest by fully 6,000 (cue the chant "Come to see United, you've only come to see United.

It's here, and it's not going unnoticed despite being surrounded by other events and achievements gained by the club's more illustrious and decorated first team squad. There's a certain hype about this year's FA Youth Cup final, nothing emphasised this more than the 24,000 tickets that had already been sold by Wednesday last week, Bramall Lane holds just shy of 33,000.

LONDON, England Goals from Kim Little and Julie Fleeting saw Arsenal reclaim the FA Women's Cup with a 2-0 victory over Bristol Academy at the Ricoh Arena. The Gunners had lost out to Everton in extra-time in last year's final, but they put that heartache behind them to secure a comfortable win. Saturday's success [.

So? What did we learn at Bramall Lane last Tuesday night? Well, I think we learnt that after disposing of Aston Villa in the semi-final we were right not to underestimate Sheffield United's young Blades. Did United's players underestimate them? I don't think so. But, I do believe they were a tad shocked when they woke up from the dead after thirty five minutes!

When Martin Kelly joined Huddersfield for a couple of months towards the end of the 2008–09 season, it was the perfect move. This was a team that played football the way that it should be played – ball on the ground and with a thoughtful passing game – and a manger who had confidence in the player he'd just gotten.

Harry Edward Kane to be precise and whilst he won't be our new manager, he has a very good chance of being a super star for us in the very near future.

The 6ft, just turned 18 year old forward from Walthamstow has all the attributes of the first class striker that we are dying out for.

So, what did I learn today on the opening day of the Premier Academy League? I learnt what some of the first year scholars look like, I put faces to their names and had an opportunity to pick up a hint on who and how this Academy is going to play this season. Despite [...]

Highlights from the NextGen Series will more than likely be a little thin on the ground and will rely heavily on the participating clubs' own media departments. Fortunately, Ajax TV have done a good job of putting together this video from our 2-0 loss in Amsterdam in the opening game last week.

Of course, there might be a little bias in the edit, but this seems a fair reflection of the game from as much as I could gather.

After defeat at home to Portsmouth two weeks ago and an under-strength young team were beaten by Southampton on the South coast last week, I'm sure the Academy would be desperate for three points today to reward what's actually been a very promising start to the new season. 1st Half United got off to a [.

United's U18′s took on Middlesboro at Carrington today in a later than usual midday kickoff. After an impressive start to the season United's young guns took on what proved to be a very determined, well organised Middlesboro team who showed they were capable of matching United stride-for-stride. The game got off to a flying start [.

It's always part of the script when you visit Brockhall Village so be prepared for a battle. Blackburn didn't disappoint on that score yesterday and came away with a 3-2 victory after giving United's considerably smaller lads a roughing up early on in the game and stamping their authority with two well taken, but somewhat [.

Tomorrow sees the first Micro-Derby of the season between United and City with both clubs flying high in the Premier League and showing great potential in the Academy League. But while City currently occupy top spot, United lie 7th (out of 10) in Group C having won just two of their opening matches and suffering [.

Saturday's visit to Wolves is the first of 3 games in 11 days for United's boys before they take a well earned two-week break. Having suffered a painful defeat to local rivals City last week, the boys will come into this game fresh from the experience with a new found determination to improve, it's what a [.

The less said about today's result the better. I'm not suggesting we should be dismayed or in any way embarrassed far from it, Wolves looked a competent side with some talented lads. What I mean is, the 5-2 scoreline masks what was actually a closely contested game played at a high tempo and in [..

Four defeats on the spin, and beaten by two of our closest rivals along the way, might suggest it's time for the Academy to panic, but hold on, not so fast. There were many positives on Friday and the 2-1 defeat away to Liverpool in no way tells the whole story of this competitive, exciting [...]

On the weekend of Sir Alex Ferguson's 25th Anniversary, United's academy travelled to Bolton Wanderers and returned with a slender 2-1 victory. In Sir Alex's twenty five year career, he's given a first team debut to an incredible 79 teenagers. It's impossible to accurately predict which of the current crop of boys will go on [.

Kickoff from Anfield at 7:00PM BST/2:00PM EST

Ways to Watch:

Match shown live on LFC.tv for eSeason subscribers and TV 2 Sport in Norway.

MyP2P.bz
StopStream.tv
ATDHEnet.tv
FromSport.com
FirstRowSports.eu
KiwiSportz.com

Liverpool:

Team sheet when it's available

Bench:

Molde:

Team sheet when it's available

Bench:

*

With only two matches left in NextGen Series group play, Liverpool find themselves vying for the second qualifying spot with Molde and Wolfsburg in Group 2.

The Academy have won all four of their last four outings (including two friendlies in Slovakia) and they will no doubt be hoping to continue that run of results when they host West Bromich Albion's Academy at Carrington tomorrow morning. West Brom are one position below United in the Premier Academy League and were beaten 4-2 last [.

In a wind and rain affected 90 minutes at Carrington today, Liverpool stole the points in the first and last minutes to grab a second win in just six weeks over United's improving youngsters. The minutes in between saw United ride their luck and spurn opportunities in equal measure. Jack Dunn was Liverpool's match-winner with [.

It's difficult not to dwell on last years tremendous journey through the stages of the competition as this years FA Youth Cup gets under-way in earnest. It's tempting to compare this team with last years but as we know, every academy team, every year has varying levels of skill, experience and expectations; this seasons is [.

In my 2011 season preview, I predicted that Toronto would struggle for the first few months under its newest leadership structure (new general manager and head coach) but toward the end of the year start to look like a promising ...
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