James Collins has admitted he wasn’t surprised to see his young group endure a tough night in the Premier League Cup at Sheffield United on Tuesday.
Wolves under-21s were beaten 3-0 at the LNER Community Stadium against a strong Blades outfit, as the likes of Jamie Shackleton and Rhys Norrington-Davies dropped down from the first-team to face the youngsters in Old Gold. Collins believes his players, the majority of whom are either scholars or still first-year professionals, will require time to develop, while the head coach has also sent his best wishes to Sai Sachdev following an injury to the United man which saw the game prematurely ended.
On a tough night against strong opposition
“That's what you get with 21s football. One week you'll come up to Sheffield and we'll play against the young 18 to 19 year olds and win the game. Next week, you come up to Sheffield and three or four first-team players have dropped down - players who have played Championship football.
“We're a younger group because we've got the Brighton game on Wednesday with the first-team, and it's a really tough night.
“The boys stuck at it for long periods, but got worn down by energy and physicality. I can't fault our energy. I can fault our quality at times, but when you're under that sort of pressure, it can be very difficult.
“I've spoken this season already about how tough this year is going to be for the group we've got. We know that and we've got to find a way to become tougher and compete more in those situations.
“The boys have got to decide who they are and what they are. If they're going to be good technically, be the best technically. If they're going to be good physically, be the best physically. If they're going to be good tactically, be the brightest, pick the second balls up.
“I knew it was coming because they've had an 8-2, a 6-0, another 6-0 so they’re strong anyway. Once I saw the two or three first-team names, I knew it was going to be a tough night.”
On the injury to Sai Sachdev
“It ended horribly with the boy getting injured at the end. Hayden's (Carson) not a malicious player and he hasn't made a malicious tackle.
“He's made a competitive tackle and the boy’s got hurt, and we’re really upset and gutted for him. Nobody wants to see young players out for long periods of time and have their careers affected, so we're really apologetic about that and Hayden’s gutted about the injury.”
On the young group and development time
“In the end, first-team comes first. What they need comes first so if there’s a training session a player’s needed for, that’s always the best form of development for our players if they can get any sort of first-team work.
“From that, we pick our group and team. We lost Aaron (Keto-Diyawa) tonight with an injury and he’s another one of our senior members.
“We’ve got young players in the team – a second-year scholar in goal, Wes (Okoduwa) at right-back, Alfie (White) coming on at right-back.
“Tom Edozie needs time to mature in the 10 role, everyone can see Finn (Ashworth) is a bright player who will need time.
“We will need to use all of our group. We haven’t got an excessively big group, but the boys have to use that to their advantage.
“Instead of coming out the team after a game, they get to stay in the team, and they get to see if they can do better against the next opposition.”
On games coming up
“There'll be some tough games – Leeds, Monaco, Derby. They’re tough opponents for this young group we’ve got.
“Last year we got five points in the Premier League Cup from six games. This year we're on three from two already so all’s not lost but tonight was a really tough night.
“I felt for our boys at times because it was too much for one or two, but that's when you've got to find the character within yourself. That's what I'm challenging them to do.
“We will help them as much as we can tactically, but sometimes it's not about tactics. Sometimes it's about competing, contests, territory, and then coming out with the ball in those moments and reading where it's going to drop.
“It’s buying the defenders some time by doing some work on the ball and protecting it and keeping it, and then when we hit the longer passes, can we do a bit better?”
