Pathway for youth

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William Henry Foulkes said:
Most revealing statement in this area recently was when he said Whiteman should've been training with the first team earlier in the season but there were too many pros at the club.

train with first team regularly
subs bench
game time
a start in a Cup match maybe
a start in a League game
encouragement - play without fear if failure
all the time looking closely at attitude and application
and development
watch and listen to Uncle Dean
(but don't watch too closely when he has the ball)
another start in a League game
rest - to relieve the physical and mental pressure
consistent starts
good performances
wins at home
draws away
promotion

:)
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Whiteman had a shirt number last season, work that one out, bet he feels everything's going so fast he can't keep up!!

Reed played way more games last season when he was one year younger and much smaller, not to worry.
 
Woodwardfan said:
Whiteman had a shirt number last season, work that one out, bet he feels everything's going so fast he can't keep up!!

Reed played way more games last season when he was one year younger and much smaller, not to worry.
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Reed played 19 last season and 16 so far this season. So about the same

Whiteman has clearly made a step forward as have Adams and DCL.

K Wallace was also progressing well till the injury.

DCL is very raw but starting g to show the right movement. I like the look of him at this level next season
 
Alfreton14Blade said:
Exactly. Matt Done brought off with a minute or two to play. Does he give young Kelly a tokenistic (but highly meaningful for him) debut? No, he gives Martyn Woolford an appearance bonus.

Don't really want to be negative after a very good win. But certain problems do seem entrenched, despite what was an enjoyable afternoon.
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Top post
 
blade67 said:
Reed played 19 last season and 16 so far this season. So about the same

Whiteman has clearly made a step forward as have Adams and DCL.

K Wallace was also progressing well till the injury.

DCL is very raw but starting g to show the right movement. I like the look of him at this level next season
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Wiki stats say Reed 32 appearances last season, 22 this. Are your stats actual starts?

Whiteman has only just broken into the first team this season despite having a shirt number last season.

Lewin was introduced last season albeit fleetingly and has eventually had bits of game time once our season was over.

K.Wallace was left out before his injury but I agree he would maybe have played more had he not got injured.

Adams has had every chance and so has Long.

Yesterday the lads were dropped as soon as injured senior players were back available.

Personally I don't think Adkins has cleared any paths to first team football apart from Long (who's 22 now) and Adams who's a no-brainer by most opinions.
 
Woodwardfan said:
Wiki stats say Reed 32 appearances last season, 22 this. Are your stats actual starts?

Whiteman has only just broken into the first team this season despite having a shirt number last season.

Lewin was introduced last season albeit fleetingly and has eventually had bits of game time once our season was over.

K.Wallace was left out before his injury but I agree he would maybe have played more had he not got injured.

Adams has had every chance and so has Long.

Yesterday the lads were dropped as soon as injured senior players were back available.

Personally I don't think Adkins has cleared any paths to first team football apart from Long (who's 22 now) and Adams who's a no-brainer by most opinions.
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He just played his strongest team. That's what managers are supposed to do. If ever Adkins needed a win it was yesterday. Do you think he should play young players for the sake of it?
I know you like Reed but his performances have been mixed this season; nothing wrong with that, he's a kid and he's learning but you can't expect a manager to keep picking a young player who isn't doing well.

The pathway to the first team involves clearing out numerous squad players and having a core of first teamers who are then supplemented by the promising youth team players. At the moment we have two or three senior players for most positions (or did at the start of the season) which meant there would be very few opportunities for young players to ever get a game.

By getting rid of the extra bodies we will provide more opportunities for the kids to come in as cover when the seniors are injured, suspended, on international duty, on drugs or in prison.
And, massively reduce our wage bill, as the board have told him to do.

This is a long term plan to take us into next season, not just another quick fix to buy a bit more time. Just because Adkins has talked about a pathway for youth it doesn't mean he going to finish the season playing the u-21s.
 
BushBlade said:
He just played his strongest team. That's what managers are supposed to do. If ever Adkins needed a win it was yesterday. Do you think he should play young players for the sake of it?
I know you like Reed but his performances have been mixed this season; nothing wrong with that, he's a kid and he's learning but you can't expect a manager to keep picking a young player who isn't doing well.

The pathway to the first team involves clearing out numerous squad players and having a core of first teamers who are then supplemented by the promising youth team players. At the moment we have two or three senior players for most positions (or did at the start of the season) which meant there would be very few opportunities for young players to ever get a game.

By getting rid of the extra bodies we will provide more opportunities for the kids to come in as cover when the seniors are injured, suspended, on international duty, on drugs or in prison.
And, massively reduce our wage bill, as the board have told him to do.

This is a long term plan to take us into next season, not just another quick fix to buy a bit more time. Just because Adkins has talked about a pathway for youth it doesn't mean he going to finish the season playing the u-21s.
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Spot on. He's noticeably given youngsters starts against weaker teams (Crewe/Oldham) but then played more experienced players against better teams (Millwall/Walsall).

You don't want to throw a load of youngsters into a team which is struggling and then keep losing. You need to bring them in gradually and keep giving them chances until they make the positions their own.
 
When a team is see to be struggling, fans will always go over the top to criticise every single aspect of management, no matter how ridiculous.

From people getting their knickers in a twist about his interviews, to a young player not being brought on in injury time and the average squad age.

I constantly mention how upset people got at Wilson folding his arms on the touch line or the made up tattoo story, or Clough not favouring the black players, they are all similarly ridiculous.
 
robbiez666 said:
Spot on. He's noticeably given youngsters starts against weaker teams (Crewe/Oldham) but then played more experienced players against better teams (Millwall/Walsall).

You don't want to throw a load of youngsters into a team which is struggling and then keep losing. You need to bring them in gradually and keep giving them chances until they make the positions their own.
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I've heard several ex player pundits saying the same recently, mainly when discussing Rashford.

As with anything in football (and life in general) there's more than one way to do things but what Adkins is doing is a perfectly normal and proven way of bringing kids through.
 



BushBlade said:
I've heard several ex player pundits saying the same recently, mainly when discussing Rashford.

As with anything in football (and life in general) there's more than one way to do things but what Adkins is doing is a perfectly normal and proven way of bringing kids through.
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Exactly.

When I hear the pathway I think of Adkins' comment about how Whiteman was late getting to train with the first team because there were too many other players.

Now the squad has been slimmed there will be more opportunities for other young players.

Like others have said having the pathway there and opened up for you is different from walking down it and staking your claim in the magic fairytale land of the Blades' first team.
 
I can understand our youth players not playing often if we had players like McDonnald/ Cody in our midfield, players that actually impacted games for us, but Adkins is basically bullshitting about giving the youth a pathway, if they are behind players like Hammond/ Flynn and Coutts, players which are getting a free pass in to the side who are not impacting games enough.
He has no problem dropping McGahey and Whiteman even though they have not put a foot wrong, but keeps Hammond and co on.
Alfreton14Blade said:
Exactly. Matt Done brought off with a minute or two to play. Does he give young Kelly a tokenistic (but highly meaningful for him) debut? No, he gives Martyn Woolford an appearance bonus.
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Another good example, I don't think Adkins has much trust at all in our youth players.
 
YES Blade said:
No we didn't, we had 5!

Long, Adams, Flynn, Done and Coutts.
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An honest mistake (honest, guv!) - I was going by the year they were born (1988).

The basic point remains though - our first team is relatively old (only 2 under the age of 27 yesterday), compared with Walsall only having three playing over the age of 26. Hardly the first time we've come up against youthful sides in this division - it seems to be very much the norm these days.

A contributory factor in our case of course is not just the blocked pathway for youth but also the fact that each of Adkins' six signings have been 28 years old or above.

So, being positive, the 3-5-2 & the pattern of play seems to be getting better for longer periods in games - great; encouraging going forward. But, looking at negatives, what genuine signs do we have that next season's side won't be packed with ageing journeymen?
 
Alfreton14Blade said:
An honest mistake (honest, guv!) - I was going by the year they were born (1988).

The basic point remains though - our first team is relatively old (only 2 under the age of 27 yesterday), compared with Walsall only having three playing over the age of 26. Hardly the first time we've come up against youthful sides in this division - it seems to be very much the norm these days.

A contributory factor in our case of course is not just the blocked pathway for youth but also the fact that each of Adkins' six signings have been 28 years old or above.

So, being positive, the 3-5-2 & the pattern of play seems to be getting better for longer periods in games - great; encouraging going forward. But, looking at negatives, what genuine signs do we have that next season's side won't be packed with ageing journeymen?
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What does it matter? I don't care about the age of the team, I just want to see us get promoted.

One of the reasons we're still in contention (just) is the inconsistency of the sides above us and that's partly due to relying on young players. Walsall should have beaten us yesterday but they bottled it. Like kids do.
 
BushBlade said:
What does it matter? I don't care about the age of the team, I just want to see us get promoted.

One of the reasons we're still in contention (just) is the inconsistency of the sides above us and that's partly due to relying on young players. Walsall should have beaten us yesterday but they bottled it. Like kids do.
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Kids'll bring all sorts - including inconsistency.

It was interesting yesterday to see how our rickety seniors dealt with their tricky nippers.

We dominated a superior technical team for long periods.

This sort of thing used to happen to us last season when we were often bullied out of games, although I'm not totally sure about us ever being technically superior.

Let me see if there's a cliche: I think we need a blend of youth and experience.

Sounds about right.

:-)

UTMB
 
BushBlade said:
What does it matter? I don't care about the age of the team, I just want to see us get promoted.

One of the reasons we're still in contention (just) is the inconsistency of the sides above us and that's partly due to relying on young players. Walsall should have beaten us yesterday but they bottled it. Like kids do.
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So inconsistent that they're 10 points above us with 2 games in hand (despite all their managerial disruptions this season).

I suppose you could say that our ageing squad has been consistently abysmal this season, although there are admittedly signs that some sort of pattern of play is belatedly emerging. We're not going to get promoted next season though by adding yet more tiring legs to the squad & by being overly fearful about exposing youngsters to the terrors of the Bramall Lane crowd.
 
Alfreton14Blade said:
An honest mistake (honest, guv!) - I was going by the year they were born (1988).

The basic point remains though - our first team is relatively old (only 2 under the age of 27 yesterday), compared with Walsall only having three playing over the age of 26. Hardly the first time we've come up against youthful sides in this division - it seems to be very much the norm these days.

A contributory factor in our case of course is not just the blocked pathway for youth but also the fact that each of Adkins' six signings have been 28 years old or above.

So, being positive, the 3-5-2 & the pattern of play seems to be getting better for longer periods in games - great; encouraging going forward. But, looking at negatives, what genuine signs do we have that next season's side won't be packed with ageing journeymen?
Click to expand...

Have you seen the age of Leicester's starting line up? They had only 4 players under 28 today and the youngest was 25.

It's not as if all we need to do is sign a load of young players and all our problems will be solved.
 
Alfreton14Blade said:
So inconsistent that they're 10 points above us with 2 games in hand (despite all their managerial disruptions this season).

I suppose you could say that our ageing squad has been consistently abysmal this season, although there are admittedly signs that some sort of pattern of play is belatedly emerging. We're not going to get promoted next season though by adding yet more tiring legs to the squad & by being overly fearful about exposing youngsters to the terrors of the Bramall Lane crowd.
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They should be further ahead of us though given we've been 'abysmal'. An 'ageing' squad? It's not as if most of them are over 30.

I don't think Adkins is worried about exposing kids to the BL crowd, he just prefers to play them against the weaker sides and picks the regular first team players when they're available, as most managers do.

We're not going to get promoted by over relying on kids who've only played a handful of senior games either. You seem to be criticising Adkins' future signings based on what you expect him to do and the assumption it won't work. If this time next year we're eighth again after signing five over thirties, fair play and I'll be asking you for the lottery numbers.
 
Alfreton14Blade said:
He's young, he's developing,
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......and he's not good enough as yet to be a 'factor' next year, major or otherwise.

Unlike Whiteman, who I would keep in the squad, I'd retain both DCL and Reid but that said, they'd both be out on a season long loan to [a] get the the match time, and to learn what it's like to deal with the expectations / demands of fans on a week by week basis.

Like most, I want to be out of this league and we need players who can help us to do that.
 
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YES Blade said:
Have you seen the age of Leicester's starting line up? They had only 4 players under 28 today and the youngest was 25.

It's not as if all we need to do is sign a load of young players and all our problems will be solved.
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No, I'm not suggesting that we sign a bunch of random young players and, hey presto!, promotion's guaranteed. I'm saying the age profile of our squad is wrong, that the average age needs reducing, & that we need an injection of younger, more dynamic personnel. The reason for this, beyond personal preferences, is that that's the way the division's been headed - higher technical levels, younger squads, more exuberance.

I doubt you're saying that, because Leicester's first team is relatively old that that approach guarantees you premier league glory. The fact is that Leicester have done what they've done in a way that's right for them. Most importantly, we need to do the same, whatever the age of the squad.

I'm merely saying that a major reason for my lack of optimism for next season is a perception that Adkins has tended to "play it safe" by playing older players (who can "cope with the crowd") too often. Personally, I reckon our right approach next season will be in having a younger, more vibrant first team playing with less "weight of the world" on their shoulders. Adkins has talked the talk with his "pathway for youth", let's see now if he walks the walk, both in terms of opportunities for those rising up from the academy and, more importantly, his signings of new players. Let's just say that I've got reservations.
 
Alfreton14Blade said:
No, I'm not suggesting that we sign a bunch of random young players and, hey presto!, promotion's guaranteed. I'm saying the age profile of our squad is wrong, that the average age needs reducing, & that we need an injection of younger, more dynamic personnel. The reason for this, beyond personal preferences, is that that's the way the division's been headed - higher technical levels, younger squads, more exuberance.

I doubt you're saying that, because Leicester's first team is relatively old that that approach guarantees you premier league glory. The fact is that Leicester have done what they've done in a way that's right for them. Most importantly, we need to do the same, whatever the age of the squad.

I'm merely saying that a major reason for my lack of optimism for next season is a perception that Adkins has tended to "play it safe" by playing older players (who can "cope with the crowd") too often. Personally, I reckon our right approach next season will be in having a younger, more vibrant first team playing with less "weight of the world" on their shoulders. Adkins has talked the talk with his "pathway for youth", let's see now if he walks the walk, both in terms of opportunities for those rising up from the academy and, more importantly, his signings of new players. Let's just say that I've got reservations.
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You got reservations Alf? You should have said.

;)
 



PeteBlade said:
I pray we don't make managerial choices based on their interview techniques.
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Well apparently Wilson interviewed for the job better than RDM. 11 months later one was craning their neck to see where Simmo's penalty had gone whilst the other was lifting the Champions League trophy.
 
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