U18 second leg tonight on ITV4

1-1 from the first leg...so all to play for with no away goals.

Dear oh dear.... what a mistake to make it 1-0 to Chelsea with 20 secs to go of the first half.

Keeper's been great, but what a mistake. Long ball over the top, he hesitates, should have cleared it, but somehow thinks he may be able to take it in the box...but the Chelsea player skips it around him.

Shame, we've looked in control. Diaz has been very quiet though, need him to step up here in the 2nd half.

2-0 down. no coming back.

3-0. getting battered.

Shame...2 errors from the keeper, who also made 2 fantastic saves - sort of killed the game off for us. We kept at it, had a goal disallowed for offside and Diaz pulled one back towards the end. Very spirited performance, but over the two legs, Chelsea were just that bit stronger and technically gifted. 

Still, it bodes well for our academies as we are at least 2-3 years behind theirs, but catching up quick....and I'm sure the England Manager in 5 years time will be rubbing his hands with the talent on show tonight from both teams.

Thought Davenport was immense tonight for us.

Well done boys.

we've got to remember these kids are U18s and some, like Diaz, are only 16. Only good times ahead.

why was Manny Garcia only a sub? I would have thought with his experience of being around the 1st team he would have been a shoe in to start.

He was really poor last week Oz. They tried to play Diaz as a 10...apart from his goal, he was equally as poor last night. It's just a shame we conceded a very poor goal with 20secs of HT...otherwise, the team talk would have been different.

Chelsea came out flying in the 2nd half and we then gave away another cheap goal...Grimshaw got caught on his toes for the header and thought it was going wide.

After that - we came back in it when we brought on a couple of quick subs - had a goal disallowed for offside and a few more shots, but the 3rd goal was a cracking header - gave over.

Topdawg wrote:we've got to remember these kids are U18s and some, like Diaz, are only 16. Only good times ahead.

Agree - but Chelsea had plenty of 16 yr olds...Dujon Sterling ran the show and he's only 16.

Chelsea and city look like they've got enough talent there but will they come through? the problems Chelsea have had bringing kids through and they've had the best for several seasons now.

Ray Wilkins said last during the game "If you look at both teams, there are 12-15 top class kids on show tonight who are all eligible for England in the next year or so. In 5 years time, what a team that could be....but, how many will we see at PL level, never mind International level?

You have to ask why, when ourselves and Chelsea seem to have the best academies in England, and Chelsea, the double-reigning UEFA champions, so very few may make it in the PL in the coming 5 years? That's just unthinkable or is tantamount to complete incompetence in my book.

and there you have it. England could have a really great team but the kids won't make it through and many will be lost to the game. Look at MoJo at city. got a bar in didsbury when he was actually a wonderful talent.