Manchester City have stormed their way to another youth trophy with a 6-0 victory over Tottenham in the Under-17 Premier League Cup, and now their academy chief wants the success to inspire older age groups to win silverware of their own.
City won the Under-23 and Under-18 Premier League divisions last season, and were 2020 winners of the FA Youth Cup and 2019 champions in the U18 Premier League Cup. Now, their success at youth level has continued with the U17 Premier League Cup, sealed in style on Wednesday in Loughborough.
Jason Wilcox, City's head of academy, said that the U17's win is shared by the entire academy set-up, and said he now hopes for more success for the under-18's and under-23's before the end of the season.
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“Everyone at the academy is incredibly proud of the team, bringing another national trophy back to the CFA,” Wilcox said.
“They have maintained the highest level and overcome difficult challenges against some excellent opposition throughout the competition. This achievement is testament not only to the players and coaches but to every member of staff who works hard at the club each day to help deliver this type of success.
“We now look forward to seeing how the rest of the season progresses for our teams, with the Under 18s and Elite Development Squad looking to retain their respective leagues.”
City could have fallen behind against Tottenham, but instead took the lead through Dan Ogwuru's left foot, before provider Carlos Borges doubled the lead shortly afterwards as he converted from Luca Barrington's cross at the back post.
In the second half, City pushed on and made their dominance count and were three ahead on 46 minutes — Barrington again impressing to set up Josh Adam.
A fourth followed through Will Dickson, before his shot came back off the woodwork to be converted by Adam for a fifth. Dickson did get a second with a lovely chip over the goalkeeper late on to add some class to a brilliant evening as City lifted the trophy in style.
"The result completely rewarded the performance," said under-17's coach Ben Wilkinson.
"We played really well, as the game went on we dominated, showed real belief in our principles and the concept we want to get out. We showed a real good style. The players ticked everything we wanted, a real good night.
"You don't get too many opportunities to play finals, so it's a great development opportunity. It's good for us to see how the players stand up in those moments. They're a credit to everyone really, they played really well. I thought they were brave, showed courage to play in tight areas, create space further up the pitch. Really pleasing in terms of how they handled the moment."
Wilkinson echoed his boss Wilcox by saying this win could act as a springboard for the older age groups to bring home more silverware this season — both the U18's and U23's are top of their divisions and looking to retain the titles they won last season.
"It's great for the players, this team looks very similar to the under-18s team due to the age of the U18s, we carry an under-17 side so they have a continuity of playing together and a lot of them have been here a long time," he said.
"They know exactly what we're after. Given where we are at this stage of the season, it's nice to play in a final and win it, and it sets us up nicely for the last 6-7 weeks in the league campaign to win our league and hopefully the national league too."
"The beauty of the way we work in terms of how close the u18 and Elite Development Squad groups are together, we know players will switch between the groups and are more than capable of playing EDS football, 18's football depending on the circumstances or the moment that particular week. We've got massive confidence in all of the boys we carry at this level and the EDS too. It shows on nights like tonight that they're capable and we just need to give them as many of these experiences as we can.
"When we look at the games programme at the start of the season, you want to give them these moments because they are a bit different to the league games. Ultimately we're trying to replicate what they get at first team level as much as we possibly can. To get in the finals, we haven't got in every final this year so there's room for improvement, but it's pleasing to get there and more than anything the manner of the season is pleasing.
"Hopefully it will act as a springboard to go and compete and be as successful as we can in the league. It should give them a bit more belief when they go on the pitch that they know they can handle these moments and they'll have to because we play Saturday morning against Middlesbrough which will be completely different to tonight."
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