Could we go far with kids - Carling Cup

[ant london]

The more I think about our squad this season the more it makes my head spin the fact that we look very well set to have pool of players who could do the job in the PL and mount a decent UEFA campaign. But more exciting is that we also seem to have a sprinkling of very talented youngsters (again some bought and some grown/developed further) with possibly more to come.

So....rather than trying to select a wanktastically great first XI for the PL/UEFA I thought I'd have a think of a team that could play (at least the early rounds of) the Carling Cup for us. Not pure kids but a younger experienced core with real youngsters sprinkled in.

What would you play?

----------------------------------Hart------------------------------------
Trippier---------------Boateng------Boyata-------------Cunningham
-------------------------Ibrahim------Yaya-----------------------------
Weiss-----------------------M Johnson--------------------A Johnson
-------------------------------Guidetti----------------------------------

[Goaters 103]

As we haven't won anything for years I'd play the strongest possible team for every round, and treat the competition with respect. Until we have trophies in the cabinet we have no right to fanny around with team selection in a Cup comp most City fans would absolutely love to win.

[Kladze]

Oh dear ..........

We're getting ahead of ourselves already?

[john@staustell]

I hate clubs that do this and it would be the total height of arrogance for us to start doing it after winning fuck all since Noah was a lad.

The manager needs an expanded squad, both in quality and quantity, from which he can rest tired or injured players, change tactics etc, with the aim of competing for all the trophies, and winning one - ANY ONE!

[the_georgian_genius]

I'll say this for this last time

WE HAVEN'T WON A FUCKING THING FOR 34 YEARS AND PEOPLE WANT TO START PLAYING KIDS IN A COMPETITION WE CAN WIN!!

Use your noggin!

[Scatman]

I'll say this for this last time

WE HAVEN'T WON A FUCKING THING FOR 34 YEARS AND PEOPLE WANT TO START PLAYING KIDS IN A COMPETITION WE CAN WIN!!

Use your noggin!

why didn't anybody else point that out?

[dazby]

The point is we may need to do it out of necessity.

[ross.mcfc]

Not a chance. I’ve already started reading that we have to many midfielders and wingers. In the same press that were reporting we had 9 strikers last year and come September we had 1 fit one.

Up until xmas we will be playing two games a week most weeks. As second rate as they we have to get the monkey off our back and win the UEFA or Carling Cup next as a MINIMUM requirement. We should not be fielding kids in either of them. We have a big enough squad to put out two strong teams.

[dazby]

"Won't someone please think of the children!!"

[ant london]

I'll say this for this last time

WE HAVEN'T WON A FUCKING THING FOR 34 YEARS AND PEOPLE WANT TO START PLAYING KIDS IN A COMPETITION WE CAN WIN!!

Use your noggin!

Look you fucktards if you read the post rather than just answering your own questions.....you will see that it was a "hypothetical question" as to the quality of team we COULD put out

At no point did I say we should field a team of kids for the competition

Nor, if you look at the actual team...is it a team full of kids. I was musing as to the quality we had the capacity to put out.

However, if you look at the players deployed (say at Scunthorpe) during the last CC campaign you can see that Mancini is more than willing to throw some of the kids in. Sure Boyata was out of necessity in the games he played to some extent but I think it's obvious that Mancini will probably look to use the early rounds/weaker opposition to blood kids and give them proper game time with pressure.

I actually also fundamentally disagree that the approach taken by Arsene Wenger is the height of arrogance....they got to the final using kids....ie their kids are better than most teams first teams, or at least capable of outplaying them. That is exactly where we should be aiming. Sure loan deals are good for the development of youth prospects but ultimately we need to see if they can cut the mustard in a City shirt, deal with the inherent level of pressure of being a City player in the current circumstances and whether they actually can reproduce their talent in a proper competetive situation. The only way we can do this is by giving them the chance to do so, preferably whilst reducing the risk to them and us that they are not an instant success.

The early rounds of the cups are the place to do that. I agree that we want to win something but, used wisely, and within a suitably experienced team framework there is no reason why fielding the team I put up as an illustration would lead to us being knocked out. If a team like that (or other similar permutations.....with experienced back-up on the bench) can't dispose of a League 1 or 2 team then the players likely aren't the requisite quality to be at City.

[Colin the King]

I agree with Ant on this one.

Another factor is that for the experience and talent a young player might lack, he'll often make up for it in sheer determination to impress the manager/fans. And of course every player is inexperienced at some stage, they all need a platform and six months at Macclesfield isn't always the best way to being a player- actually, a lot of the guys who go out on loan in the lower leagues never come back.

My own approach would be to go all guns blazing, strongest XI in the other three competitions at all times, but just a little bit of tweaking for the League Cup. Maybe 8 first team squad members, with 3 young lads thrown in to give them that bit of first team experience. If they're at City and have designs on a future with us, they should be able to produce the goods against Crystal Palace and Bury. If they're not good enough, it'll become abundantly clear.

As a fan, I want to see young players coming through. There's no arrogance whatsoever in trying out a few of them in the League Cup, it's the perfect platform.