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Just wanted to give my thoughts about the progress of the U21 team after my first season in charge...

Last season we had a pretty tough schedule. It was clear that Scotland, at its current state, had no chance to compete against most of the other teams and I'm quite happy that we managed to grab a win against Norway. The wins against Guatemala, Lebanon and Sweden in friendly games were also a positive thing because they showed that we're not completely hopeless :)

The most important task was not to win games but to start building for the future and I think that progress has been made in this area. While we only had six 19 year-olds that were candidates for the U21 squad last year, this year the number of 19 year-olds that we are monitoring has increased to 17. I hope that our work this year will lead to an even bigger number next year.

Mainly thanks to Templar74, we have saved quite a few players that are now being trained and will shape Scotland's future. I'd also like to thank all the other managers that are helping us by training players, suggesting players that could be included in the squad, giving general advice and all other sorts of things.

I'm also really happy that Calum became the manager of the Senior team as his positive presence can already be felt :)

You're doing a great job mate!

18 year-old Center for sale now:

Stephen Buck (21390083)

Could be developed as a Power Forward as well.

Other young players for sale:

Ben Deuchar (21542065)
Robert Forster (21698126)

Last edited by Calvin Harris at 8/22/2011 9:40:42 PM

Hey calvin congrats on last nights win! i never watched the game but seems you done well with your tactics ;)
Good effort nice to see the team thriving :)

Yeah nice win again Calvin.

One thing though why did you go with 3-2 rather than 2-3? we knew they would focus on the inside with the team they had.

I'm not sure why he did it, but I can tell you - 2-3 Zone is quite broken, does not work the way it shouldand should only be used in exceptional circumstances.

I'm not sure why he did it, but I can tell you - 2-3 Zone is quite broken, does not work the way it shouldand should only be used in exceptional circumstances.

I concur, although ironically, this might have been one of the circumstances when it would be effective (they literally have no guards of any value). It doesn't matter though, still a great win!

I was planning to use 2-3 zone but just before the game the only player who could have successfully played as a Small Forward in such a system got injured.

Then I decided that there is no use forcing an outside-based Small Forward to play close to the basket so I decided to weaken their already fragile guards even more by placing the Small Forward outside - forcing more turnovers, poor passes and so on from their guards.

I also had faith in our big guys Mayes and Kennedy and believed that they could handle South Korea's front line in such a system and I'm satisfied with their performance - the most important thing is that they didn't foul out too soon.

Last edited by Calvin Harris at 8/24/2011 7:20:54 AM

Goodluck to the coming U21 games. ;)

Thank you, same goes to you as well. Although I have to say I'm suprised Philippines used Normal against us :))

we always use normal in our U21 because of the fact that our coach is not always active.. we are right now regretting that we pick our GM to be our U21 coach.. Good coaching you got there in your U21 team and i gained some interest in coaching your U21 team but only 50%. I can teach you a better system of guiding and training the youths. If you would let me run in your U21 election next season i would take you as assistant and build a coaching staff. ;)