Audrius Laucys believes the Youth Team group are driving each other on as contract decision time looms for the second year scholars.
Adi is one of a number of second year scholars waiting on a decision to be made on their Brentford future which will come in the summer.
Last year only two players from the Youth Team were offered professional contracts but this year Adi believes that number will be much higher, driven by the competition within the group.
Speaking to Bees Player Adi said there was a real team spirit and unity within the group and that was helping to drive the players on to achieve more.
“We have got really good team spirit this year,” said Adi.
“Everybody is friendly and helping each other on and off the pitch in training and in games.
“Everybody wants to win games and we are challenging each to make the Development Squad and the First-Team.
“The biggest difference is the way we are challenging each other.
“We weren’t challenging each other as much last year as we are this year and there’s a real desire to get better.
“Everyone wants to challenge each other but it is a friendly challenge.
“Everybody talks to each other and gets to know each other better.
“In training we going in on each other hard to push us on.
“Even though the second-years are going for contacts the first-years are helping us a lot too.
“Everybody wants to get a Development Squad contract but not everyone can.
“A few of the players are starting to get a bit worried now and we may start to get a bit worried in the games.
“We know that if we do well we will go up but if we do badly we will go down.
“There will be ups and downs for a few months but the strongest players will go and get a contract.”
It would be fair to say that Adi’s time in the Youth Team has been a frustrating one over the last 18 months as injury restricted him to just 19 games for both the Development Squad and Youth Team last season.
After picking up another slight injury in the summer Adi returned to full fitness in September and has since established himself in The Bees back four making 12 appearances in league and cup.
Having overcome his injury issues Adi wants to play as much football as possible in the next few months and feels he is improving with each game he plays.
“The season has been good so far because last season I was struggling with injuries but this season it has been better,” said Adi.
“The Milk Cup in pre-season was good even though results wise it didn’t go too well.
“I felt I was getting fitter and better and that was good.
“I struggled for a while to start games but now I am starting and getting better and better.
“I am starting every game and I need to make sure I keep doing that.
“As a team it is really good to be first in the league and we need to make sure we keep that place to the end of the season.
“I want to play as much as I can as a Youth Team player but I also want to push up and play in the Development Squad to get a contract and stay in the Under-21s team.”
Adi was speaking to Bees Player after the Youth Team returned from the IMG Cup in Florida which took place in December.
The Bees endured a frustrating tournament on the pitch as they finished fifth, despite only losing once in the tournament.
Despite that frustration Adi said the tournament was a great experience and the lessons learned both on and off the pitch will stand the Youth Team players in good stead as their careers progress.
“It was the first time I had been to another big country and played against difficult teams and different level teams,” said Adi.
“It was a good experience and challenged us.
“The tournament didn’t go as well as we expected but the challenge was really good.
“The first game was disappointing but as the tournament went on things got better and better.
“Football is a game and sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.
“The ball didn’t go our way and the tournament didn’t go as well as we expected but it was a good challenge.
“Sometimes in football you need to lose to learn something and sometimes in football you need to win to learn something.
“As it was we learned a lot of things from losing in the FA Youth Cup and we learned a lot of things from going to America too.
“We needed to win our last game to qualify and we could only draw so we got experience from that and it was a challenge we needed to learn from.
“Whether we lose or win we need to take something from everything we do.
“We need to get used to needing to win if we want to play in the first-team or at another team at a high level.
“We need to get used to winning games.
“We know we need to perform well but as we grow up we need to look at the scores as well.
“The Youth Cup and Florida are the types of games and tournaments that we need to go and win.”
While at the tournament the players and staff stayed on the IMG Academy Campus in Bradenton Florida where the first-team stayed for their pre-season trip ahead of the current season.
Adi said that staying and playing in Florida opened his eyes to the possibility of playing in the USA should nothing materialise at Griffin Park or in the UK.
“The hardest thing about the trip was the long journey,” said Adi.
“The campus was really nice and we enjoyed that.
“The weather was really nice but it was kind of hard to play in the hot having played in the cold so much but we got used to it.
“It was a really good experience and I would love to go back there again.
“It opened my eyes to the fact that if I don’t make it in England I can go to Florida or to America and try to make it there.
“We saw that they play good football even though America is not a footballing country.
“There are good teams there so you can try and make it if nothing happens here.”
The Youth Team are next in action this Saturday when they travel to Colchester United in the U18 Professional Development League Two South.
The Bees currently lead the league by two points with Saturday’s opponents Colchester United propping up the table.
Having finished bottom the last two seasons Adi said it would be a great achievement if the Youth Team could win the league and the defender sees no reason why that can’t happen.
“It would be great for the second-years because last year we finished bottom and there weren’t many contracts given out,” said Adi.
“This season if we could finish first or second it would be a great achievement and then, if we are good enough, we need to win the playoffs as well.
“I think we are the best team in the league but we haven’t played well in a couple of the games like away at Huddersfield.
“I think Huddersfield are a good side and Charlton Athletic are a good side but overall we are the best team and I am confident we can win the league if we play like we can every week.
“We have been working hard since we got back from Florida.
“I think the first game on Saturday against Colchester United is going to be important.
“Colchester are bottom of the league but it is going to be another hard game.
“Sometimes it is harder to play the teams at the bottom rather than the teams at the top but I think it is going to be a good challenge.
“The three points will be important and if we want to win the league then we need to win this game.”
Bees Player subscribers can listen to the full interview here