In Pep we trust.

[Mase]

"Recruitment has been poor."

That just isn't true.

On the whole recent recruitment before Pep came in hasn't been poor?

Can you name the players please that have come in and are better than the ones from when Mancini left?

KdB. Who else? We're still relying on Kolarov, Zaba, Clichy, Yaya, Sergio, Silva.

[iwasthere2012]

"Recruitment has been poor."

That just isn't true.

On the whole recent recruitment before Pep came in hasn't been poor?

Can you name the players please that have come in and are better than the ones from when Mancini left?

KdB. Who else? We're still relying on Kolarov, Zaba, Clichy, Yaya, Sergio, Silva.

.
I get your point Mase and agree with it. I argue that it is the inability of the first team to play the style that consecutive managers aspire to that has also inhibited the integration of youth into the team.

However I think our recent policy change in recruitment is a positive one.
We are targeting younger players.
The jury is still out for a lot of them, but Sane, Sterling, Jesus even Stones are all upgrades on ageing journeymen which seems to have been our past transfer policy.

I would hope that once Pep has a team that are comfortable playing his style of football, then he will find it easier to slot in the odd academy player from time to time.

Easier for him, the team to absorb and crucially for the youth player to integrate without undue pressure on him to sort out a dysfunctional team.

To this end I think for our next purchases, it is going to be crucial that we get it right.
Pep has to get the defensive side of our game sorted in whatever manner he sees fit. I believe he will be ruthless again this summer.

I believe getting the transfers wrong again will hamper the whole philosophy of the academy also. Or what we were told the philosophy of the academy was.

[aaron bond]

"Recruitment has been poor."

That just isn't true.

On the whole recent recruitment before Pep came in hasn't been poor?

Can you name the players please that have come in and are better than the ones from when Mancini left?

KdB. Who else? We're still relying on Kolarov, Zaba, Clichy, Yaya, Sergio, Silva.

.
I get your point Mase and agree with it. I argue that it is the inability of the first team to play the style that consecutive managers aspire to that has also inhibited the integration of youth into the team.

However I think our recent policy change in recruitment is a positive one.
We are targeting younger players.
The jury is still out for a lot of them, but Sane, Sterling, Jesus even Stones are all upgrades on ageing journeymen which seems to have been our past transfer policy.

I would hope that once Pep has a team that are comfortable playing his style of football, then he will find it easier to slot in the odd academy player from time to time.

Easier for him, the team to absorb and crucially for the youth player to integrate without undue pressure on him to sort out a dysfunctional team.

To this end I think for our next purchases, it is going to be crucial that we get it right.
Pep has to get the defensive side of our game sorted in whatever manner he sees fit. I believe he will be ruthless again this summer.

I believe getting the transfers wrong again will hamper the whole philosophy of the academy also. Or what we were told the philosophy of the academy was.

Sadly, as much as we like to talk about our academy, I think it's pretty much irrelevant.

When you're prepared to spend £50m on a defender who has largely been poor in his Premier League career but are unwilling to give an academy defender a run of matches in the first team. When you're happy to persist with old full backs who are clearly past it, but send your academy full backs out on loan. The academy doesn't mean shit. Apart from claiming back loan fees and the occasional selling fee.

I wish that wasn't true, but that's pretty much the line the club is taking.