fangsanalsatan wrote:I think it's unreasonable to lump all those Utd defenders together for the sake of an argument. Silvestre was a seasoned professional who had three seasons in France and Italy (at Inter!) under his belt before he went to Utd. Evans spent three seasons on loan (two in the Premier League) before getting a sniff at Utd, so I would compare him to Denayer rather than the pair that can't hack it in the Segunda División. I'll give you O'Shea and Brown though.
I understand that a lot of people are desperate for Academy players to get a chance, but maybe there is a reason that now three decorated managers have had their reservations about these alleged 'wonderkids'. It's not just our managers, but also the Spanish youth coaches who don't call them up. Maybe they simply failed to take the next step? The jump from under-17 to under-21 football is huge as it is, but the next jump to senior football is absolutely enormous.
They might make it eventually, but if you want to compare defenders, look at Jesús Vallejo's performances in the Bundesliga this season. This is a Madrid player who is Angelino's age, capped multiple times for the U19 and U21, but still collecting experience at a smaller club and performing well, before he can even be considered a squad member in a club on our level (give or take).
I agree that youngsters should get more minutes, but this downtalk of title winning internationals is absurd. If Maffeo and Angelino can't be worse than Zabaleta & Kolarov at this point, maybe we should buy the fullbacks that actually play for Girona. Shouldn't be too hard with Pep's connections.
And including Iheanacho is farcical. He's only 20 and been part of the first team for a while now. He got the chance everybody was crying for, and he took it, but it's up to him now to take it anew in every training session and every appearance from now on.
What's going on with Maffeo and Angelino I have no idea but I do know that when Maffeo played vs UNited some people (don't remember who, this is not a veiled dig) pointed out his every mistake. Mistakes taht all the senior players made regularly during Pellegrini's last 1,5 seasons and during the slump in form under Pep. So I do think there's some or even a lot of double standard going on about the eds-players. Don't get me wrong, if they're shit they don't deserve a chance but it's not like our defence has been more or less faultless. And sure, Kolarov's an international but there are plenty of internationals out there who are pretty bad because the nation theyäre playing for isn't that great or because their national team coach likes them,
I think Denis Suarez is a good example of progression. He was talked a lot about by those who go to EDS and Academy games but when he got his few chances he did not show much that hinted at a quality player. Now he's a squad player at Barca. That's good enough. It saves us a Delph, a Fernando or a Sinclar. You can't judge a player after one cup game or one 5 minute cameo, you have to give them experience and play. Of course we shouldn't just play academy plaers for the sake of it but it's just too simple to say that if they're good enough they'll get chances. Suarez didn't get any chances and he turned out very good. NOt a star but quality. That's good enough.
As for the U-level caps I think but I don't know, and if I'm wrong I'd be happy to be proven so, that they don't seem to be a good measure. Sweden had three players of good international quality in the 00s, Fredrik Ljungberg, Henrik Larsson and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Only one of these, Ljungberg, had been capped a lot at U-levels. Larson and Ibrahimovic thought about quitting football because they didn't seem to have what it took. Although it's a completely different discussion, I'd question the benefit of even having international teams before U-18 or U-19. Nonetheless, I don't think it's a good measure of a player's quality to see if he has caps at U-15 or U-17 level as it says very little. IMO.
I don't think most people expect that our academy should be sprouting with stars but I think most people are frustrated with the conservative approach to the academy players that has been taken, especially when the senior team has been underperforming and when there's been chances to play academy players. Most people don't expect our Academy to procude Messis but squad players and the odd regular player.
Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 1:20 pm