- Dec 18, 2014
- 667
- 818
as i said before, it's not easy to tell who will do well and who won't, when a previously rated player gets stuck in the u23 rut you naturally start to move away from them and look towards the next batch but it doesn't mean they're now bad players. before we let jaden brown go did you think that he'd soon be starting in the championship? I watched some of the huddersfield game yesterday and he was looking strong and composed, yet if you'd have looked at him towards the end of his time in the u23s you'd probably have said he might do alright in league 2 if he's lucky. similar story for tanganga, he was stagnating badly and no one here hardly mentioned him anymore and just thought well he'll be gone soon to a lower league side but then he gets a few games with the first team(thanks to eyoma being injured) and he reminds people that there's still a player in there, just a shame he's now going to spend all year doing nothing.
there are a few simple changes i would make to the academy(as far as the u23s go anyway) -
1) promising talents allowed to go on loan much earlier. the previous generation of players produced were going out on loan at 17-18, now we hardly let anyone under the age of 20 go even when it's clear that the u23 is doing little for their development
2) those who clearly aren't good enough are let go earlier, i don't mind the odd one here and there for numbers sake but when they're blocking better/younger players from playing then it becomes a problem
3) fringe first teamers should be allowed to drop down to the u23s. first of all it gets those players some much needed match sharpness. secondly those players will bring the quality of the team up, therefore making those i've referred to in point 1 a more attractive loan proposition to other clubs. lastly it's good experience for the younger players to play alongside better and experienced players.
4) get rid of burnett
unfortunately though none of those are going to happen, not under pochettino anyway.
Not long till we can actually have viable conversations on here again.