mightymoyes
Player Valuation: £70m
personally think rashford is way over-rated.
@Azzurri when I say "fair shake of the stick" I think my definition may be slightly different to your own
By it I mean this, don't go calling for a young players head after one so-so performance. Now granted, no one in that thread really was and my initial post was somewhat in jest and the Fat Controller took it to heart, but again I do think we sometimes expect a young player to be great every time out and when they aren't people are too quick to cull IMO
Giving them a "fair shake" is acknowledging that they won't be great every time, recognising that there's work in whatever area it is required, but also not burying them six feet under for an average performance
If they have a couple of bad games, then fine I can understand, but some young players have good to average performances and still get slated sometimes, and I don't think that's fair
That's why I get defensive when knives come out after one or two games
Again, I was partly joking in the Lookman thread but then got dragged into silliness with those two tarts who took exception, but the sentiment is still valid to me. If you disagree then fair do's, I don't expect everyone to share my opinions or beliefs, but I am prepared to defend them
By it I mean this, don't go calling for a young players head after one so-so performance. Now granted, no one in that thread really was and my initial post was somewhat in jest and the Fat Controller took it to heart, but again I do think we sometimes expect a young player to be great every time out and when they aren't people are too quick to cull IMO
Giving them a "fair shake" is acknowledging that they won't be great every time, recognising that there's work in whatever area it is required, but also not burying them six feet under for an average performance
If they have a couple of bad games, then fine I can understand, but some young players have good to average performances and still get slated sometimes, and I don't think that's fair
That's why I get defensive when knives come out after one or two games
Again, I was partly joking in the Lookman thread but then got dragged into silliness with those two tarts who took exception, but the sentiment is still valid to me. If you disagree then fair do's, I don't expect everyone to share my opinions or beliefs, but I am prepared to defend them
Philw
Player Valuation: £50m
Yeah, I've seen him really high on a couple similar lists. I mean, he's good, but 4th best in Europe??! Typical Man U etc bum kissing I think...
I'm not though mate, this is a huge misconception which is often brought up as fact
My opinion is this, if a young player gets a chance in the first team and does well, they should get another chance, especially if the senior player in that position is in poor form/injured etc
Duffy played in the first team and did well, hence why I wanted him to get another go, especially when Alcaraz was playing badly and we had no other option with Duffy on loan at Yeovil. Ditto for Davies when Clev was ahead of him
Pennington got a chance last season and did well, so did Davies, so at the start of this season I wanted them to get another go
Galloway, Browning and Holgate have all got a game at some point and done well, so I'd like them to get a chance
The same goes if a lad goes on loan and plays well, there's actually some test data to suggest they can hang in senior football
That's all I say, if a lad does well then give him another chance if the incumbent senior player isn't doing well or is injured
This idea that I want all the young lads to play based off no prior evidence is a myth
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I already told you Mikey, Pennington wont make it here, hes simply not good enough.
Not only is he highly regarded by Unsworth but he's also played in the senior set up and held his own there
Unsworth highly regards them all.
Hes a decent player and will no doubt go on to have a very successful career, but it wont be here or in this league.
I think he can make it here
Whether he will is down to us
I honestly think out of the young lads who haven't managed to nail down semi-regular spots in the team, he's the most ready of them all
Azzurri
Player Valuation: £70m
Who do Pennington, Galloway and Browning get a game over now, though?
And who's done well on loan in your opinion?
Well I'd hope all three would get games next season if we are balancing Europa League and domestic football, as having good players you can slot in for squad rotation would be valuable. And I make no bones that I'd rather have Penno or Holgate in over Funes Mori at this stage
As for loan spells, Duffy was excellent on loan for Yeovil. People point to them going down that season as disproof of this, but how was one young CB supposed to keep them up all by himself? They were a poor team, I watched them quite a bit to keep tabs on him, and he did as much as one man could to keep them afloat. It was a very good loan spell in a competitive league, and when he came back he still couldn't dislodge Alcaraz to fill the role as back up, because he didn't pass enough for Martinez's liking
Martinez wanted a ball playing CB, which Duffy wasn't, so he chose to move for his careers sake. It says it all that a side like Brighton with genuine promotion goals took him onboard
Fair enough Mikey (although you do leave yourself wide open to have the pee extracted sometimes).
Just to go on your post above:
We keep Duffy and give him a run in the team. What knock-on effect does that have at that time on Browning and Pennington, bearing in mind that no professional PL manager is likely to play half his defence lacking experience without being forced by injuries. And, even if we slot, say, Browning into the defence as well, what effect would that have had on Galloway and Holgate (let alone Feeney, Foulds, Connolly, Kenny, Jones, etc.).
We do not live in a Magical Mikey Wonderland where PL points are irrelevant and teams can rise to 16 players to give the youth a chance with 6 at the back. At some point you are going to be forced to make decisions on who is likely to make the grade, whether a Holgate in a couple of years might be better than a Duffy now, whether the talent of a Davies or a Walsh outweighs the industry of a Jones or a Ledson or a Lundstram, whether a Calvert-Lewin or a Duffus might be more effective than a McAleny.
Pretty much all of the young lads have talent, they wouldn't have got to the stage of the U23s if they didn't. Even so, some will be completely out of professional football pretty rapidly through not quite making the grade, bad luck with injuries or just not being the right fit.
And when people like myself, who do take an interest in the youth, express any reservations about players, it does rub the wrong way when we get painted with the broad Mikey brush of being too quick to throw the youngsters under the bus.
onlyme
Player Valuation: £10m
I've seen Pennington in a number of u23's as well as the 1st team and believe me he's good enough, i wouldn't hesitate to play him ahead of Funes Mori. I rate him higher than Holgate as a CH and would give him an opportunity before we spent big on Keane.
