27 Jan 2016 00:00:59
Lvg has insisted on playing two defensive midfield players with Fellaini starting every week much to my annoyance. Having watched this lad fosu - mensah play quite a bit I think he'd be far more use. Considering some of the young players that lvg has used I find it a little strange the kid hasn't been given a chance. I know he's young but he looks to have something special about him and couldn't do any worse than fellaini.
27 Jan 2016 08:04:58
I imagine it has something to do with his age, maybe he isn't ready for the step up yet? You should protect your players during these stages because a few bad games could ruin his confidence.
27 Jan 2016 08:34:16
Something to do with his age? How old was Bestie, Whiteside etc? As SMB said at the time about Best, If he's good enough, he's old enough. Could this lad be any worse than what's going on at present? Give him a try. unless he puts him in goal or something.
27 Jan 2016 10:08:22
That's a completely different time, the media and the global nature of football now means you have to carefully plot these young players paths into the first team. Talent only plays a part of when they get their chance. Other important aspects range from are their bodies ready for the physicality of professional football, putting too much strain on their bodies before they are fully developed can have damaging effects later in their careers maybe even leading to players becoming "injury prone". Or are they mentally ready to deal with the pressure that comes with top flight football. To having every detail of their performance put under the microscope and dissected by audits and fans alike.
Think about it on here a public forum we are discussing these lads performances before they have even kicked a ball for the first team. Remember we are talking about children here in some cases.
As we don't have a B team that plays in a lower division such as Barcelona or Real Madrid our young player need to take the step up from under 21 league to top flight premier league games. that is a massive step. The under 21 league is closer to league 2 level. Which means the step up is equivalent to moving up 3 leagues.
That's why I feel our youngsters need a couple of well placed loans in the lower leagues to get them ready and give them the best chance while also not putting them under the same media glare while they feel their way into professional football.
The attention can go to their head, Pogba thought he was ready and fell foul of the manager because of it. Maybe he was ready, but you can't have an 18yo kid dictating to a manager as experienced as Sir Alex about when he should play. Fryers did the same and look where he is now.
Thats why these young lads need to be managed carefully and not just thrown in willy nilly.
27 Jan 2016 10:18:58
Thats a very narrow way to think about it OT7. You have to take into account that these are still technically children who haven't finished developing.
All it takes is a few bad games, perhaps a red card or own goal and that player could be ruined. Or a long term injury (broken leg like Shaw) which could hold up their progress. You have to bed young players in if you have the benefit to do so.
Yes sometimes the occasional Best, Ronaldo, Rooney, Martial will come out but I bet I can list 10 times more players who ended up failing.
27 Jan 2016 11:05:47
good enough, old enough.
27 Jan 2016 14:57:29
I don't disagree with you completely Weggy but as for the the rigours etc of modern professional football on their bodies, did you ever see the pitches Best played on? As Sir Matt said, he was impossible to leave out for a rest! He would play every day and they didn't have diet and body building experts. Footballers didn't have weightlifters bodies then and they didn't fall over when a player got close to them. Divers were very rare (Franny Lee) . Costa versus Norman Hunter, Bremner, Harris, Yates, Crerand? Whos your money on?