U21s football is too easy for Cree Summerville, so how do we make it harder? - The Square Ball 20/9/22

FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY

Written by: Rob Conlon

Moments before Patrick Bamford completed his hat-trick in Leeds United Under-21s’ 6-2 win over Southampton, Crysencio Summerville got the ball in his own half and started sprinting towards the opponents’ goal. Summerville had Luke Ayling storming past his right on the overlap and Bamford and Willy Gnonto making runs into the penalty area. Rather than put one of his teammates in on goal, Summerville kept the ball to himself. Three covering Southampton defenders became four, then five, and the attack broke down.

It was hard to begrudge Summerville his moment of selfishness. Leeds were already winning 4-0, and he had won the ball himself with a sharp tackle in United’s half. Who could blame him for thinking he didn’t need any help? Making mistakes so you can learn from them is what developing in the U21s is all about for a young player. Having senior players getting back to fitness in the team helps; just ask Darko Gyabi, given a telling off on separate occasions by Ayling and Liam Cooper for overcomplicating passes when the simple ball was required. The next time Gyabi plays for the U21s, he might not have Ayling or Cooper there to tell him what to do, but he’ll still have their instructions ringing in his ears.

But Summerville no longer needs appearance upon appearance in Premier League 2 to rectify his mistakes. He doesn’t even need minute upon minute. Ninety seconds later, he won the ball even deeper in his own half, and set off sprinting between penalty areas once more. Bamford was struggling to keep up on his right, but this time Cree knew what to do, waiting just long enough for Pat to move into space, but not long enough for any Southampton players to get back in aid of their spooked centre-backs. A simple pass, a simple finish, and Hat-Trick Bamford was back, trying his best to play it cool with Summerville, momentarily flashing a grin at each other in their only acknowledgement that the Elland Road crowd was going giddy with glee.

🔥🔥🔥 Hat-trick Bamford! pic.twitter.com/gfml5UR16b

— Leeds United (@LUFC) September 16, 2022

In the absence of any meaningful football during a month-long wait for a first-team fixture — even the Papa Johns has been cancelled due to too many international call-ups in Leeds’ youth team — the U21s provided a welcome excuse for a bit of fun at Elland Road. Everyone at Leeds is desperate to pretend that the last week of the transfer window didn’t happen. Angus Kinnear should know by now that supporters have longer memories than he likes to give us credit for, but Bamford’s goals, plus more minutes for Cooper and Ayling that suggest they should be making up half of the back four come the next first-team fixture, have at least increased the mental distance from whatever the hell happened at the end of August. Even Junior Firpo was back, becoming the first actual left-back to play left-back for either the first team or U21s this season (even if I’m still to be convinced he’s a better left-back than not-a-left-back Pascal Struijk).

Gnonto might not be ready for the first team, according to Jesse Marsch, but he was more than capable for the U21s in his first appearance in a Leeds shirt. A first team call-up is getting closer for Sonny Perkins, playing behind Bamford rather than as an inside right and scoring for a sixth time in five U21 matches since joining from West Ham. Bamford was begging for Perkins to pass him the ball as a chance presented itself on the edge of the box, but Pat had already scored his hat-trick, so Perkins put it in the bottom corner himself, leaving Bamford to style out his pleas into a round of applause for the finish.

Despite the involvement of the grown-ups and shiny new signings, this match, as so many of Leeds U21s matches are, was all about Summerville. He has a knack of appearing all over a game at this level, winning tackles, winning penalties, setting up goals, and scoring them himself. He got Leeds’ second against Southampton, dribbling into the box and shooting into the bottom corner despite their back four standing in front of him when he first got possession. He was meant to be playing on the right wing, but was soon cutting in from the left and earning the penalty for Bamford’s second as Southampton’s defence decided if they can’t tackle him then they were just going to have to foul him. Around this time last year, there was a clamour among fans for Summerville to make his senior debut because he was playing so well for the reserves. The malaise of last season and a couple of injuries meant the hype subsided, but he’s only got better since then.

✨ @c_summerville7 pic.twitter.com/ZSlfCLVV0s

— Leeds United (@LUFC) September 16, 2022

He let Archie Gray take the corner that Cooper shouldered in for Leeds’ fourth — that would have been showing off — and left Ben Parker laughing in commentary. Parker was as grateful for some joy as the crowd, but whenever he talks about imagining having to defend against Summerville as a left-back, he sounds terrified by the thought, as if he daren’t say ‘Crysencio’ three times in the bathroom mirror for fear Cree will appear out of thin air and nutmeg him while he’s brushing his teeth.

“I try and help them as much as I can,” Bamford told LUTV about his role as a senior player among the kids. “Even if that means I had a go at Darko [Gyabi] on the pitch — I get on really well with him in the changing room so he took it well, but I just told him sometimes you’ve got to put your foot through it and put a tackle in. It’s part of the learning curve for all of them.”

But what is there for Pat to teach Summerville?

“Obviously Cree, sometimes it’s too easy for him. I know it sounds silly, but he’s a really good player. We see that in training all the time.”

Too easy! In that case, maybe it’s time to start making U21s football more difficult for Summerville. Perhaps we should make him play in combat boots and tell him he can only run backwards, like how Muhammad Ali trained so he could float like a butterfly come fight night. Or maybe the next time the U21s play at Elland Road, we should tell Summerville the fixture is at Thorp Arch and make him sprint from one side of the city to the other before he can torment his next full-back. Or maybe, just maybe, and I don’t want to sound like a renegade here, we let him play for the first team. Then we can find out how good the lad we’ve given the number 10 shirt really is.