The Kids (2 Viewers)

Don't remind me. Mr. McAllister set a few kids back years and a few were lost to parks football too.

Putting kids in with expectation is not the way forwards. No-one is expecting play-offs or even a good season, but there will still be a degree of expectation. Blooding kids regularly in a struggling team I don't think is the way for the future.

But if we have no choice, its better to play with 11 men rather than say 7????

There was a terrible game as few seasons back on a cold boxing day under Coleman where we played just young kids.

Lord_Nampil said:

But if we have no choice, its better to play with 11 men rather than say 7????

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Don't you mean 7 men and 4 boys?

Hand on heart, anyone of the academy lads ready for first team football in the Championship and not just as a one off game, but game in game out? Let's face it had we had any other players the kids wouldn't even be on the fringes. Clarke and Cameron have come in but they have been eased into the side over a period of time and not just thrown in the deep end and be expected to play every week.

If they are good enough and ready then I'm all for it, but are we going to play them because they are ready or because they're all we've got? Bringing players too early can set them backwards and be detrimental to their development.

I guess we've just got to hope they are ready and they are good enough.

You don't win nuffin with kids

Personally I think some of the kids are
Not far off but need time, how
Much time how ever is another question!

What happens if we lose 5 or 6 games on the bounce with the kids in? Hardly going to boost their confidence and could be quite demoralising.

No-one would want to see the kids come in and do well more than my good self. I think we can only blood one or two at a time though, max. To put about 4 academy kids in the same team could be a recipe for disaster.

Unless a young kid is truly exceptional, they have to be slowly introduced to Championship football. Hopefully the couple of games Thomas played last season and the time at Liverpool means he's some way down the line, but someone like Christie could have their career damaged quite significantly if, as it appears, he is to be relied on as first choice right-back.

Nathan Cameron had a loan move to Nuneaton town, Then started the following season against Portsmouth and played pretty well in the games he played. So it can be done, However id rather we got a couple of loans in to ease the pressue on the young guys.

Alot of managers say if your good enough your old enough and that seemed to be the case for McSheffery,Clarke,Cameron!

Keep the faith peeps

Bigirimana is a very confident boy, could see him managing it but generally I agree, you don't want to rely too heavily but at the moment we have no other option.

ccfcdan said:

Nathan Cameron had a loan move to Nuneaton town, Then started the following season against Portsmouth and played pretty well in the games he played. So it can be done, However id rather we got a couple of loans in to ease the pressue on the young guys.

Alot of managers say if your good enough your old enough and that seemed to be the case for McSheffery,Clarke,Cameron!

Keep the faith peeps

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But in Cameron's case his form dipped and he was pulled out of the firing line somewhat. If he'd needed to play because we had no-one else available it could have become very detrimental to his career.

As for Clarke and McSheffrey, both were slowly introduced to first team football. McSheffrey had 2 or 3 loan spells before establishing himself as a first teamer for us, and Clarke took a couple of season as an occasional player before becoming a first choice.

If we're all honest, no one has great expectations for the season ahead. I think this put's us in a position where we can take a gamble on a few young players. Case example would be Watford last season, Marvin Sordell etc. What I would say is that if for example we play a 3 man centre midfield, my preferred formation, with bigi, thomas and clingan, we might struggle for the first few games, maybe even 10-15 games. But..young players can improve rapidly if given an opportunity. Very few young players come through at this level without the aid of injuries to the rest of the squad or general lack of quality in the squad (i.e. us). Using another example I would say Crystal Palace.
Though I would agree having to play untried, untested youth players is far from ideal, but Gunnarsson during his first season was nothing short of superb and he'd played 1 professional game. I saw bigiramana against leamington, granted it is only leamington, however judging him around his coventry peers, he was head and shoulders above. Every single player looked to him. From a totally different aspect for me he looks the part, sounds very shallow, but he has an air of arrogance, or confidence about him, his hairstyle is different and allows him to stand out (very reminiscent of another Brazilian high profile youngerster..).
He may not do the business for us and if he doesn't, then that's okay, we'll give him and the other's time, they're only 17...18. However gael alone has managed for another year to fill me full of 'false' optimism and actually excite me for the start of the season. So for that alone, thanks.
PUSB

would kids be playing at man u or arsenal i dont think so they are bringing young men in to play but aged 18 plus thats how it should be :thinking about::thinking about::thinking about:

A big factor would be whether or not the boo boys started to get on the kids' backs as soon as the (inevitable) mistakes are made.