Preparation and standards around the academy was something McPike was keen to drum into the players, who have started 2023 in impressive form. The 18s recorded two wins and a draw from their three fixtures in all competitions, before the weather brought a halt to that momentum last weekend. However, McPike has again stressed the importance of following the process and the players have knuckled down on the training pitch this week ahead of Saturday’s under-18 Premier League encounter with Manchester United at Compton Park.
On postponement at Everton last week
“It’s always frustrating when the games are called off because of the weather. We were fortunate enough to be able to train at Everton, so we managed to not waste the week in terms of Saturday’s work which was good.
“We then got back to working hard and have been focusing on different aspects of the game this week, so the boys have been doing well.”
On seeing changes within his group
“They’re definitely improving and working a lot harder. As I said before, we’re focused on the process of things and making sure that the programme and process is right.
“That’ll give us a much better footing in the games on the Saturdays – not necessarily working day-to-day towards the game, but making sure they get what they need for their development and that will, in turn, help them in the games anyway.
“That’s the process we’ve been following and we’ve seen improvements in how they’re playing and how they’re training by doing that.”
On maintaining standards
“I’ve been really happy with them. Their behaviour around the academy building and their standards have been really good since we’ve come back.
“They’re working a lot harder in training and the data suggests that. We’re able to get some detail into them about what we want from them in this second half of the year.
“It’s great for me because I worked with some of these boys in my first group at under-13s and 14s. To see them again on their journeys is really good for me.
“The environment they’re going into is ultimately about how they perform, but it’s also how they prepare away from the pitch and their standards around the academy.
“Maintaining those professional standards is the environment they’re going into and they’ve got to be really good at that.”
On facing Manchester United
“It will be a really challenging game as it usually is against Man Utd. They work really hard with and without the ball and they have high-quality players on the ball.
“We’ll try and focus on the things that we’ve worked on this week and hopefully we get to see a bit of it in the game on Saturday.
“We want to be as competitive as we can possibly be and give it a really good go.”
