Youth Team manager Jeremy Steele believes that the Youth Team have no excuses for poor performances in the Under 18 Professional Development League Two South this season.
The Bees finished ninth last season picking up 28 points from their 26 games and begin their new campaign this morning with a home game against Millwall.
Ahead of the new season Jeremy Steele spoke to Bees Player and said that his more experienced group have no excuses for not putting in good performances this season.
“We have got an older group this year,” said Jeremy.
“There will be more players in the starting XI each week who are second years.
“There is a little bit of pressure on them to come through because we don’t have the excuse of being the younger side.
“There will be occasions this year when Under-16s will play up and First-Year scholars will be playing but there is less of an excuse for not putting on a good performance.
“The result can go either way but if the performance isn’t right then there isn’t that excuse of the physicality.
“Being outmuscled by older players goes out of the window.
“It will be interesting to see and the pressure is on the second years more than it was last year.”
Brentford begin their new campaign with a match against Millwall at Jersey Road this morning.
Last year The Lions did the double over Brentford with a 4-2 win in South London being followed up by a 5-1 victory at Jersey Road.
For Jeremy Millwall will be a good test and an early indication of where his team are at the start of the new season.
“Millwall are a very good measuring stick because they play in quite an adult fashion,” said Jeremy.
“It’s not a purists Academy game.
“It is not all technical, passing and keep-ball as there is a bit of rough and tumble as well.
“It should be a very good gauge for us.
“We want to keep the ball and play at a high intensity and keep the ball so to come up against another team that does the same means it should be a tasty game.”
After the home game against Millwall The Bees next game is a trip to Barnsley for the first of their nine games against sides form the North division of the Under 18 Professional Development League.
As last year, Brentford will treat those games against teams from the North divisions as First-Team fixtures with pre-match travelling and overnight stays.
Jeremy believes that those games will be a great learning experience for the players even if, given the Youth Team’s current injury troubles they could leave him short of numbers.
“We have got a trip to Barnsley coming up straight away so that should be good,” said Jeremy.
“It was a fun trip last year and we actually played well on the day even though we didn’t get the result.
“Those games will be an excellent learning curve for the younger players and good to carry them on with the older players so they get used to it.
“If they do get called up to the First-Team, like Montell Moore has done, they will be ready for it and know what to expect.
“With the intense pre-season meaning we have a few players out injured those extra games doesn’t exactly suit everyone.
“That is the way that the First-Team will be with games Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday.
“It is good for us to have an intense games programme with those extra fixtures and the first-years need to learn that quickly.
“They will find that full time training and games coming thick and fast all part of the programme.
“Overall in terms of a learning environment for us it is good but for us right now, with the injuries, it is not so good.
“There will be a few players who will be asked to do a big load in terms of matches whereas we would like to rotate it a bit more.
“That is the way of it and those players will learn that as well.”
On the eve of the new season Jeremy thinks it has been a very productive pre-season and that his players are raring to go.
Most of the Youth Team squad were involved in the Milk Cup while those that stayed behind trained with the Development Squad.
While results weren’t ideal at the Northern Irish youth football tournament Jeremy believes the intense work that was put in before and during the tournament will stand his players in good stead ahead of the new season.
“It has been busy to say the least,” said Jeremy.
“The majority of the squad have been to the Milk Cup which meant a tough pre-season.
“The intensity of the tournament with the game every day has been tough for them.
“It was good preparation in terms of fitness and the amount of work we could do with the players, especially in game based scenarios.
“In that sense we are very well prepared but, due to the intensity, we have picked up a few injuries along the way.
“We will have a few players out at the start of the season but pre-season has been very good otherwise.
“For the guys who were too old to go to the Milk Cup it was a hard pre-season as they were training with the Development Squad.
“They would have found that difficult with the step up in training and intensity.
“They dealt with it really well.
“The Development Squad’s pre-season fixtures were against men’s teams.
“They played against Welling and Staines Town which was a tough environment for them to be in but they have come through it well.”
Jeremy thinks that his players will be boosted massively by the success of Montell Moore who has made the step up from the Youth Team to the First Team this summer.
Montell is one of a number of players who have recently progressed from the Academy to the First-Team at Brentford but Jeremy thinks the speed with which he has made the step will give encouragement to his players.
While getting players into the First-Team remains Jeremy long-term aim he said that in the short-term he is looking to get some of the more experienced members of his squad established in Brentford’s Development Squad.
“We have players coming through and Charlie Adams and Josh Clarke have both gone up recently,” said Jeremy.
“There are always those players to look up to but in a sense it is even more encouraging that Montell has been involved because he has gone almost straight from the Under-18s to the First-Team squad and playing games.
“For them they can see that it’s not three years away but it could be now or next season.
“There is that little bit more incentive to push themselves in training because they could go straight in there.
“Gradi Milenge has done well when he stepped up.
“Herson Rodrigues Alves has scored for the Under-21s and Zain Westbrooke has played extremely well in the games that he has played.
“The players have all done really well when they stepped.
“The question for them isn’t whether they can do it on a game by game basis but whether they can do it consistently.
“First they have to perform consistently for the Youth Team and then they have to perform consistently for the Development Squad.”