It's probably worth remembering he used to be a teacher ( one of Chorley's finest as it happens). By all accounts the kids at the school thought he was ace.
...winning the English Schools Trophy managing Chorley U15s is an amazing achievement.
It's probably worth remembering he used to be a teacher ( one of Chorley's finest as it happens). By all accounts the kids at the school thought he was ace.
...winning the English Schools Trophy managing Chorley U15s is an amazing achievement.
It is bizarre how many people think you can throw kids straight into the first team, it doesn't happen like that. Koeman has so far handled the progression of the youngsters excellently. He has integrated them into the squad which allows them to be drilled in regard the positions they should take alongside the senior players, what they should be doing at given moments and he has monitored them. They have been on the bench to get the feel of first team football and when he has judged the time to be right, given them game time. Now ,6 months on , he has started a number of them.
Anyone trying to find reason to still criticise him on this subject , is simply allowing their prejudice get in the way of their judgement.
Dowell is a hard one for me - does things that noone else can do but as has already been alluded to he can go missing for large periods of games. Hasnt been close to the same player as he looked at the end of last year either so really can have no complaints of not being picked for a squad. He was the one that I hoped would kick on in pre season and early this year and get regular game time but it just hasnt happened. He has looked better in the last few games I have seen him but do you really think he is going to throw someone like Dowell in when Koeman wont trust Deulofeu?
When I say Dowell is a hard one im not sure how much a loan is going to develop him going to a lower league side. Dowell excels with a bit of time on the ball which you dont get in the lower leagues here and it would be terrible if he got injured by a danny mills orc-like grock!! A loan move abroad I think would be great for him but who is going to be interested? Would be made up if we developed a relationship with a foreign team like Chelsea and Vitesse where we can allow players to go and play at a decent standard better than the u23 league.
Three teenagers on the pitch at the end of today's game and two of them score ( unless Rom nicked Davies' ).
In fairness to the OP I never thought I'd see that under any manager, never mind Koeman.
Three teenagers on the pitch at the end of today's game and two of them score ( unless Rom nicked Davies' ).
In fairness to the OP I never thought I'd see that under any manager, never mind Koeman.
This is going to get brought up time and time again
Three teenagers on the pitch at the end of today's game and two of them score ( unless Rom nicked Davies' ).
In fairness to the OP I never thought I'd see that under any manager, never mind Koeman.
i thought it was 3, but holgate turned 20 in october.
"It's not all about young players," he said. "I like to bring in young players but of course you cannot play 11 20-year-old boys this afternoon. They are for the future.
"But if like Tom Davies, like Holgate, if they bring the performance and the level then I will be the first to put them on the list. That’s what I like.
He also gave debuts to a 17 year old Van Der Vaart, a 19 year old Wesley Sneijder and a 17 year old Nigel De Jong. He had a 20 year old Ibrahimovic leading the line and a 20 year old Pienaar played regularly for him.
Looking at that, he obviously hasn't got any problems with a players age, it all depends on the quality of them.