After a 4th place finish in last season’s U18 Premier League, Chelsea are already looking a stronger group this time out.
They’re currently second in the southern section of the league, and that’s after having played just 9 games, while the teams around them have played 12.
Their coach Hassan Sulaiman is doing a great job, and he spoke to the club’s official website about the progress the team is making.
Under 18 coach on getting the best out of his boys
Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli steps up to play with Under 18s.
Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli steps up to play with Under 18s. (Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC)
“Beyond results, I focus on the progress the group has made from the first game to now. Our performances have steadily improved and we’re on an upward trajectory.”
It’s a thankless task being a youth coach in the younger groups at Chelsea in some ways – you’re judged on results, but if you do well your best players get picked off by the older groups and eventually the first team.
It’s all about developing players at that level, as Sulaiman knows:
“‘Many players are making fewer mistakes than at the start of the season, which highlights both their maturity and the effectiveness of our development programme. The boys have been busy, competing in different competitions almost every week, but they’ve handled it very well.”
We can’t wait to see what they produce in the second half of the season and see which names start to get some buzz around them.
In other news…
If you’re hoping that a nifty January transfer could solve Chelsea’s winter woes, think again. That’s not what their model is built for. There will be no Ollie Watkins or Antoine Semenyo for the fans to get excited about and help us win trophies.
Chelsea could easily have had a penalty in the second half when the ball hit Ian Maatsen’s arm, and on Sky Sports news today they were trying to explain away what was clearly just a bad decision.
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Chelsea team against Spurs. (Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC)