Rarmani Edmonds-Green on Town’s Under-19 games in Italy
- Rarmani Edmonds-Green developing from playing against different opposition
- Town defender on the differences between English and Italian sides
- Young Terrier discusses adapting to new styles of play
Huddersfield Town Under-19 defender Rarmani Edmonds-Green believes the Young Terriers are reaping the benefits of playing against high level opposition in Mainland Europe.
Mark Hudson’s Under-19s have already had successful games against sides from Germany, the Czech Republic and Portugal and have since travelled to Italy for two games against top quality opposition.
The first of those took place on Monday 29 October 2018 against Atalanta, just outside of Milan, and Rarmani explained how the Italian side differed to ones he’s faced in England.
“The game was a good challenge for me. You don’t get to play teams like that in England.
“The Italian sides are different types of opposition from the ones you play in England because their philosophies are very different, so it’s been a difficult challenge.
“The Italian teams have been more organised, completely follow their philosophies and the players are good technically on the ball.
“It was a different test for me, against Atalanta, to play against strikers like theirs because I’m used to playing against stronger, more physical players.
“The Italian strikers were tidier on the ball, so getting used to that was a good challenge for me. I like to be tested and had to adapt in the game.”
The Young Terriers’ first game in Italy, however, had to be abandoned due to severe weather conditions.
Despite only getting 40 minutes against Atalanta, the 19-year-old explained how playing in those conditions could help the youngsters later in their careers.
“The rain was so bad some of the time you couldn’t see the ball, the wind so was awful too, but I think it was good to play in those conditions because if it does happen in a game in England, we’ve experienced it before.
“We still tried to follow our game plan, but sometimes we had to adapt to the weather conditions on the pitch.
“If they kicked it long, the ball held up in the wind, so we had to stay higher as a defensive line. We adapted to our surroundings.”
The young defender has been a mainstay in Mark Hudson’s side since the start of the season and he explained how playing against a variety of sides in the bespoke games programme will help the youngsters develop further.
“You never know what kind of teams you will play against in your career, so the bespoke games programme helps us prepare for that.
“For example, non-league teams have a very different philosophy to the likes of Bayern Munich, so having to adapt to the styles benefits us.
“Not many clubs do what we do, going to different countries, so this experience is fantastic for us.”
By playing those different sides the Young Terriers also use Town’s different styles of play, something that Rarmani now has a good understanding of.
“We look to full press most the time, but sometimes we have to drop into the mid-fight zone for example.
“As one of the older players in the group, if I can see that a team is good on the ball I’ll tell us to drop into a mid-fight zone.
“Knowing how and when to use these different styles will help us when we do move up into the First Team.”
Mark Hudson’s young side will now travel to Udine to face Udinese Under-19s at A.S.D. Manzano Football (Via A. Olivo, 8, 33044 Manzano UD, Italy) on Wednesday 31 October 2018; 2pm UK.
You can keep up-to-date with the youngsters’ progress by following @htafcAcademy on Twitter!
