Can’t think of many better ways to spend a Friday than basking in the triumph of winning against your local rivals, and that’s exactly how Bloomsbury’s U15s spent their evening as they delivered in the derby delightfully, a man-down, to prevail and earn an especially sweet-tasting victory as a brace from the league’s top goal scorer Dylan Summerhayes added to by a strike from Tom Haering helped Bloomsbury beat Camden Elite 3-1 at home in the CIFYL.
With a red card being shown so prematurely, the team were forced to demonstrate their mentality and fight, no way was they going to let that define their game.
The performance from the team was truly exceptional. It shouldn’t be understated the insane amount of confidence and ability that’s required from a team to be able to score two-goals in a derby, following a sending off. To be able to remain on the front-foot, remaining calm, composed and most importantly in control, not dropping the heads but instead, concentrating and focusing even harder to effectively execute the learnings of the week to retain and recycle, in a situation and circumstance where those two aspects just became even more important because of the sending off, is exactly why Bloomsbury thoroughly deserved the victory.
They gave their absolute everything on the pitch and followed each and every instruction to a tee. A performance of heart, desire, and discipline, and one that left the parents and bench rejoicing.
A tough loss for the U9s in the CIYFL as they were beaten away from home by Sport London e Benfica, but an important day of learning that will serve them well in their progression.
It was a positive display full of brave decision making that allowed the team to create a plethora of chances that should have been better reflected on the score-line, but, whilst the potency in front of goal is unfortunate, the fact we were able to create so many chances is indicative of how well the team have taken on the learnings from this week in recycling and retaining the ball to create opportunities.
An all-round seriously strong performance from the U9s as they rolled over Katanga FC Young Blues.
After playing a tough game just beforehand, the players were extremely strong in this game, showing no sign of fatigue. It was thoroughly impressive how calm the players were under pressure, more than happy to play passes back to the defence keeper, then to pick up greater positions in space to receive once again. In the first game of the double-header, the players created a number of high-quality chances but were unable to finish. However, in this game, it was a different story as the players managed to find their shooting boots, finishing effectively. Not only was their striking on point but also the intensity of their press. The players caused a number of turnovers, which they then proceeded to create a number of chances from them. It was really was a performance that was superb in all areas including how well set up they were from goal kicks, with minimal communication, all players picked up the correct positions to receive the ball, to then create our attack. The players were patient today when creating and didn’t rush, which was a massive factor behind the quality performance.
Shoutouts go to Amir Boudebane who was the players’ well-deserved man of the match after bagging four goals, but also Fernando who kept a clean sheet and also managed to get an assist as he played a delightful through ball across the halfway line to the man of the match, who went on to finish. Fernando’s distribution from our defensive third helped the rest of the team adopt a strong possession game throughout the match.
An important, well fought and well-deserved three points for the U9s as a brace from George Thompson coming either side of Okpe Sagay-Obel’s strike closed out a 3-2 victory at home in the Camden and Islington Youth Football League (CIYFL) for Bloomsbury Football against Westway.
Despite the physicality of the opposition, the players refused to drop the high standards they’ve been performing to all season, remaining composed, level-headed and calm and continued to play as positively as possible, whilst even competing much better in the second half in the physical battle. It’s this level of maturity that’s so impressive for the coach as it’s just so far beyond their young years. The focus of training this was week was being as calm as possible while in possession with the aim of using as few touches to play from the midfield third; it was key the players understood at which moments we were able to push the ball and team forward or recognise when to go back to restart our attack. And they did this with a plomb, impressing by how often they are creating opportunities for their teammates and were actually extremely unfortunate to not score more in this game. This fixture is a great signifier for the immense progress of this team and how most importantly, they are willing to push themselves and each other to continue to improve, with the physical performance emphasising just that also. With a team of technically strong players, it’s normal we will face opposition more dominant in physicality, however despite such circumstances, the players handles themselves really well and continued to play football in a positive and exciting manner, with some intricate link up play and dribbling through the midfield third, which deserved more goals.
Despite what was a really great performance, the consensus amongst the players was that they should have done better, and that tells you everything you need to know about this team, it’s this mentality that’s taken them so far. Credit to Deniro Elleson also who was selected as the Man of the Match by his teammates, after another strong performance supported by terrific efforts in all training sessions.
An U10 win and performance against TGFC White’s U11s in the Camden Youth Football League (CYFL) that flaunted their ability to take on information, and execute. In fact, the score-line could have been more reflective of their performance for the probably deserved to score more and one of the goals they did concede was a particular lapse in concentration, but it says everything about the performance that those are the slights, for it was a masterclass in recycling the ball in possession, our theme and topic of training this week. The first two goals scored by team within four minutes of the first half showed how switched on the boys were and demonstrated their ability to effectively recycle possession and retain the ball comfortably regardless of situation whether it’s to make a pass, dribble, cross or shot, this team is relaxed in any scenario.
Even better than the evidence of their application of the learnings during the week was the feedback from the team regarding the performance after the game. They were in universal agreement that standards and quality dropped towards the ends of each half as a result of selfishness just starting to creep in as they pursued their goals, it’s this level of honest, reflection and awareness that’s why their so motivated and talented as a group.
Special mention goes to Vanya. A hat-trick in any game almost certainly cements the man of the match award, but it would be a disservice to describe Vanya’s performance as just that as he demonstrated so much more than his goalscoring prowess. One word that’s been key throughout this week as well as the week’s before is ‘recycle’: recycling the ball to keep alive and sustain the attack but create the right goalscoring opportunity at the killer time that at first was not as clear. Vanya was excellent at this, ensuring we retained possession so that we could build again, it helped hugely that he finished off those attacks cool, calm and collectively too.
A narrow defeat for our U11s against MGA in the CYFL dwarfed what was a super display in every aspect.
The only blight being that we couldn’t finish more of the chances we created, as we did indeed create a number of opportunities against a strong MGA side who provided a stern test for the boys and showed that the players are capable of taking the learnings from retaining and recycling possession and are able to use this to create opportunities against top sides. Especially Linus who was superb in being a creative force going forward and excelled in 1v1 situations. He was a constant outlet to attack and the source of many promising attacks, showing intelligence to retain when needed and therefore carried out this week’s learnings impeccably.
The worry when taking part in friendlies is the seemingly inevitable drop off in quality and effort and application that somehow always seems to linger and latch onto the players.
But that wasn’t the case with our U13s, as they stormed their way to a 12-2 win versus 360 Talent Academy.
The starting formation 1-3-5-2, really suits the group. It facilitates each player’s best attributes but is also easily adaptable to a 1-3-6-1. In fact, the tactics changed at the halfway mark to create a higher press out of possession, switching from a 1-3-5-2 to a 1-2-4-4; reverting to a 1-4-4-2 when the opposition had comfortable possession playing through. This change meant that we created more problems in the opponents build up phase, something that as we found repeated success with also saw us become complacent and more relaxed around our defensive duties, conceding two goals from moments where a lapse in focus led to the ball being in the back of our net. We could have used our tools from training more to keep possession and recycle in order to switch play, this would have helped us to have not been caught offside so much as we seemed desperate to play forward, but it was nonetheless a fantastic performance from the boys.
Some of the standouts including Ebinezer, who displayed calmness and maturity playing as part of the front and back lines throughout the game, Aymen who showcased his wicked technique and mastery of the ball with his left and right foot, conducting in the pivot role breaking the lines and pulling the strings in possession with his passing range. Orhan collected every shot with supreme ease, playing high off his line and communicating and organising effectively, and Francesco who’s selfless relentlessness assisted the team massively for he played in numerous roles throughout the game but was consistently comfortable in possession and helped to create a 2 v 1 with his neighbouring players.
In fact, if anything was indicative of the level of performance during this game, Jake’s celebration after scoring his first Bloomsbury goal said enough: he was eager to score and it was obvious how much it meant to him, for the team as a whole it felt like there was new, positive energy amongst the squad and they all left the pitch with sweaty smiles, back to work today with positive vibes ready to work hard to carry on this momentum.
The U13s barrage in the Super League against Juventus Football Academy London was a delightful one, to say the least.
The positivity in this game was engulfing and smiles illuminated every face. The Football Association’s ‘we only do positive’ campaign highlighted that nine in ten children play better with positive encouragement, and that comes from a variety of channels: the coach, spectators, parents and guardians. The spirit binding the team was more than evident, and reflected in their performance as they were expressive and creative; players scoring with their weak foot, the shorter players beating their opponent to win a header and the hard-work hard to keep the clean sheet.
The score-line embodies the high level of performance and exemplifies just how many special individual displays were on the pitch. Che was dynamite, receiving the ball and turning quickly then accelerating forward to break lines and create chances. Jake Cameron playing in both wide areas crossing with accuracy and beating players 1 v 1. Francesco displayed such comfort in possession of the ball, combining and as he progressed further forward into different midfield roles throughout the game he controlled the game more and more. With a lot of possession we became susceptible to counter attacks, Dante showed his intelligence by recognising this and was explosive to be able to recover, his positioning was key to stopping this. Archie pressed from the front and allowed us more time to get setup to defend any forward passes from the opposition, then try and regain possession, a perfect example, from a player who was playing as a striker at moments in the game, of the rule that we all attack, and we all defend.
Though we lost convincingly, we created a lot of goal scoring opportunities, some of which were smartly crafted through our patience in possession and recycling quickly to change the point of attack. Carrying the topic of the week into match day is a big positive despite the result obviously not being what we wanted, but it’s great to see how comfortable the boys are in possession and how they’re able to translate their workings.
There was an obvious lack of potency in comparison to the amount of chances that were mustered, and we’re well aware that if we’re not clinical we’ll struggle to win games and that’s why we’re eagerly anticipating next week’s ‘finishing in the final third topic’.
It was also great to the motivation from the players after the restart, they could easily have sat there and drowned but instead acknowledged their lacklustre start and made a conscious effort to make the second half better, deciding as team to be more proactive and press higher to try and change the tide of the game and make up for the hole they’d dug themselves, with Josh the goal scorer central to this, impressing with his pressing from the front, executing it very well angling his pressures to give the defenders in possession less time and more often than not being successful.
Despite Aman, Freddie and Eliot all on the scoresheet, it wasn’t enough in the Watford Friendly League Fixture as Bloomsbury U16s lost 5-3 to Omonia Youth.
Our first half performance was excellent, translating all of the learnings from the week, effectively recycling and retaining the ball with confidence creating chances with ease, all that lacked unfortunately was the finishing touch. The opposition picked up the pace and score the equaliser in the beginning of second half. We made it 2-1 but was disallowed as an offside goal, and then the opposition went on to score two similar goals. We reacted but by then, it was too late.
Special mention to Dylan Summerhayes who played a year up and was able to dictate the pace in the midfield as a defensive and attacking midfielder, caused multiple turnovers and was able to begin attacks.
U16s Gold showed great spirit to split the points between the two sides as they faced off against Stoke Newington. Reacted well and quickly to the opposition’s equaliser and was no doubt aided by the long awaited return of Eliott Hyseni, as if he never left, covering the ground to ensure the support of his teammates in defensive situations with pace in a week where the onus was on retaining the ball to create opportunities.
Elsewhere, the U16 Blacks came out on top in a 2-0 win against Fonthill in another game that saw our Academy boys in our oldest age group emerge without a loss, in contrast to last week. A great way to bounce back as they contained their opposition, with Freddie’s brace once again showing his ability as a goal scorer, bringing his account to nine goals in the league.
Unfortunately in the Camden and Islington Youth Football League the girls suffered a heavy defeat, but the score-line shouldn’t overshadow the learning that has been attained, there are definitely improvements to make but the players’ confidence on the ball showed this week and more challenges were won and opportunities to score were created.
Shout-outs go to Millie who’s decision making remained positive and quick, and constantly drove up the pitch, retained the ball through from the back to the final third and created opportunities. Marwa fought for the ball, winning her 1v1s on the wing before playing through to the strikers in the middle and Phoebe had an outstanding game in goal, making save after save. Her distribution of the ball on the ground and volleyed has improved tremendously since the start of the season as she looks to play positive passes, breaking the opposition’s lines of attack.
A smashing victory in the Girls Super League to hand the U12s their first victory of the season.
Credit to the girls for their incredible resilience and hunger, you wouldn’t have blamed them if they had performed shyly in this match, but that’s something that was never on the cards for we champion strength of passion and mentality at Bloomsbury, and the girls brought that in abundance. After Friday’s loss, you could really see that the girls reflected on their learnings this week, and so the first win of the season was very well deserved. The girls worked as one unit and remained positive throughout. The learning was evident through their combination play, and even last week’s counter-attacking learning made an appearance and resulted in goals. A quintuple from Jet, and goals from Kitty and Maddy made all the difference. The girls should be proud of their performance and keep working hard to achieve these sorts of results.
Special mention goes to Bloomsbury debutant Nea as she seriously impressed with her adaptability in a new position, she held the backline, moving with the team in possession, delaying and denying play and supported attacking play. She really laid down a marker for the centre-back shirt. As always, skipper Millie commanded the team and was constantly and positively helped to motivate the players, with her powerful strides up the pitch and support of the wing players, resulting in assist after assist. The same can be said about Marwa, who exploited the space, retained the ball and created scoring opportunities for our strikers. And last but not least, LacaJet as she’s known in the squad, Jet who scored five goals and read the game, was in the right space at the right time, and used her learning of ball mastery skills from this week excellently in the game.
A disappointing loss for the girls in their friendly against Tufnell Park Girls U14. Despite the result it was pleasing to see the team’s resilience against adversity and a very physical outfit, their bounce back attitude meant they created multiple chances and shows their ability in retaining and recycling to muster opportunities. Special mentions for Malaika Davis who showed great tenacity in winning the ball and being positive as well as brave on the ball, and Emilia Kattein who always received the ball with the intention of playing forward with confidence, typing the team’s listening and application of the theme and topic for the week.
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