Any Youngsters Ready for First Team Yet?

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I’d have Slater in the squad and then id loan out the rest.
Id like to see Tyler Smith in squad if we could manage to get rid of Burke or Moose
 

Forgot to ask earlier, I haven't seen Lopata. What about him makes you 100% sure he'd be a liability?
I thought although excellent in the air and not too bad on the deck, that he was relatively slow on the turn & chase and was susceptible to being played around if against a championship level of operator. However he won nearly everything thing thrown at him in both boxes, and along with Brunt played very well against opposition of that level, so i'm not writing the lad off as such.

I wouldn't fear him in the centre of a back 3, with bash & RND either side of him and would think that he'll feature for us sooner rather than later if Egan got injured/suspended. I'd be nervous if he partnered Egan in a 2 or was played wide in a 3 because of this.
 
If anybody need a example of the step up from U18/23s to even L2 level just look who the 2 UTD players were who were cramping up with 10 mins to go on Tuesday.
Cardio fitness is one essential, the intensity of the Pro game is another.
What gives me confidence is the fact our u23s (despite missing their main players due to then being with us in spain in pre season) were still beating teams like darlington and the full strength team was beating Brentfords B team who had just come of the back of wins against the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and man united u23s. Very talented bunch
 
It's all about opinions & arseholes i know, but i thought Lopata and Brunt were the stand outs, Gordon looked promising but young & lightweight, I didn't really see anything in Smith & RND disappointed.
 
I'd want to play Brunt centrally in the 3
It's the first time I've seen him playing in that role. He's skillful and composed on the ball and did well, but I would also like to see him in a more attacking role. His vision is very good and with a bit more freedom I think he could make telling contributions in the last third.

He didn't seem too keen on a loan in his interview, so hopefully he'll stay in the squad.
 
Tyler Smith had a good game so think he would be ok from the bench and integrate him slowly
RND has had a season on loan in the Championship and played International football with Wales so should be ready
Brunt did ok again maybe ok from the bench

The Academy lads all did ok but may play / look better with experienced pros playing alongside them its a big ask for a team containing five academy lads chucked into a first team together to make good impressions
Tyler Smith had a poor game, not sure what you were watching, I would love nothing more than he becomes the next Billy Sharp, but he is simply nowhere near the required standard.
Agree on RND, but Brunt wont be on the pitch for the first team again this season, cups apart.
 
Sometimes players don’t need four seasons out on loan to ‘become ready’.

Infact. I would argue it’s the other way round. How many players can you think of from our academy that went down the path of several loans climbing the leagues, into our first team, before becoming world beaters?

I think Kyle Walker went on loan to someone like St Mirren for about 3 months. You’re not telling me that’s where learned it. Also Matt Lowton went on loan to our affiliate club probably more due to the relationship rather than to beef him up. That’s about it really.

Then you think about Jags, Montgomery, Maguire, Brooks. All just came straight in from training with the first team into playing week in week out and not looking out of place.

It’s a myth that they aren’t ready unless they do what RND has done. Some players are wired up differently to others.
 
What gives me confidence is the fact our u23s (despite missing their main players due to then being with us in spain in pre season) were still beating teams like darlington and the full strength team was beating Brentfords B team who had just come of the back of wins against the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and man united u23s. Very talented bunch
It’s another strong crop coming up immediately behind the ones who’ve already broken through and the pressure will be on those that are in front to stay ahead of the rest. The academy’s strength in depth at centremid and upfront is exceptional at the moment.
 
Tyler Smith is absolute Pony. Brunt and Lopata are the only 2 I’ve seen enough of to make a decision, but those 2 would start Saturday night for me.
 
Tyler Smith had a poor game, not sure what you were watching, I would love nothing more than he becomes the next Billy Sharp, but he is simply nowhere near the required standard.
Agree on RND, but Brunt wont be on the pitch for the first team again this season, cups apart.

Disagree with you, Smith did a lot of good things from an unfamiliar position, showing pace and good energy.
 
I agree it was an unfamiliar position for him, that might have contributed to the performance.
Hope I get proved wrong over time, genuinely wish the lad well, I've been watching him from the 18s upwards.
 
He was probably the second best player on the park on Tuesday, but I cannot see how he gets any game time given how deep we are at his position
Its frightening you believe that, he was poor, our worst player with Gordon 10th.
He will be put on loan to League One or two again soon....at best.
 
Disagree with you, Smith did a lot of good things from an unfamiliar position, showing pace and good energy.
I felt he did well. Put in another thread that he offers a lot of qualities we don’t currently have in terms of pace, pressing and energy - also has a knack of being able to carry the ball at pace when on the half turn.

For anyone to say that he was poor is well wide of the mark. That’s not me saying he’s got what it takes to make it here by the way, just that he did well on Tuesday.
 
I don't pretend to know the idiosyncracies that separate the players who are ready and those that are not. However I'd imagine discipline and concentration are as favourable attributes if not more so than the ability to do a few step overs.

From what I've seen of the first team, some of them don't look ready to play in the Championship!
From what I saw on Tuesday, it's difficult to tell because they were apparently playing against Carlisle's 2nd string. Nevertheless, I was actually underwhelmed by RND, I was expecting to see him rampaging down the left all game. I thought Gordon and Brunt were neat and tidy, without being under any real pressure and Tyler Smith looked quite lively.

For me the biggest positives were Brewster obviously finally scoring and I thought Luke Freeman was decent and tried to drive the game forward when he was on the ball.
Agree out of all the youngsters against Carlisle. I think RND was the poorest of the lot. Yes he's been on loan last season but that doesn't mean he is more ready than the other kids especially if Slav is starting with a clean slate. RND needs to step it up if going to push his way into team.
 

To be fair to RND he was clearly quite unfit and blowing big time in the second half. Tuesday will have done him the world of good but a much better player than he showed in that outing. Fully expect he’ll play a big part this year and oust Stevens.
 
I hope none of the academy lads come on here. Some fans writing them off after one game against Carlisle.
 
Forgot to ask earlier, I haven't seen Lopata. What about him makes you 100% sure he'd be a liability?

Lopata has played alright in the two games I've seen him and he might have a bright future. However:
a) Slav clearly expects his CBs to play it out from the back and Lopata didn't look particularly comfortable doing so. He played two terrible hospital passes under no pressure first half v Carlisle, and second half I feel like he played more balls back to the keeper than he did forwards. I was also frustrated to see how often Bogle was totally free on the right and didn't get the ball, although to be fair multiple players were at fault for that and Lopata did play one nice ball out to him. This is not a major criticism as the lads who played against Brum didn't do particularly well with their distribution either, but I feel it's an area he can improve.
b) If you watch the short highlights you'll see that two of Carlisle's very few chances on goal came from players he was marking. I suppose you might say with the header at the end he 'did enough' to put the guy off, but for me it was far too close for comfort.
 
I hope none of the academy lads come on here. Some fans writing them off after one game against Carlisle.
Maybe they would suss out the ones writing them off as muppets.

It's not about being ready or not. It's about if you get a chance, take it.
 
Maybe they would suss out the ones writing them off as muppets.

It's not about being ready or not. It's about if you get a chance, take it.
Perhaps, but as an example, I'm sure Tyler Smith would still be a bit pissed off reading someone saying he's "pony" after just one match. It's helpful, or supportive.
 

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