I also think it's a little over-simplistic to assume that Koeman saw nothing in the Academy last season, especially when he was interviewed several times as saying he believed in young players and bringing them along. When you consider the quality that Koeman had at his disposal it's hard to see where the youngsters could have got a proper sustained chance. The kids are now one year older, hopefully better and more mature. Plus, I suspect Puel will continue to play the youngsters from the Academy in the League Cup. Koeman took the LC very seriously indeed, I think.
Yep, agreed. When I saw tonight's team sheet, it was stronger than I expected, what with Austin and Long starting, but it had a good balance to it. Very cohesive.
Do remember that they are England U21 teammates, so he probably knew he wasn't going to get much change out of Matty.
Most definitely, handled the 3 home games in a week superbly as you say. Going to have to keep doing it though, 3 away games in a week this time! All will be a lot tougher as well. I think I'd be delighted with 4 points in the league and a point in Israel.
Force Zaha onto his left foot and he is a bang average player, think Matt knew this from their time together with any u21
Just watching some of the ridiculously short highlights again and had it confirmed that Charlie Austin is a bit of a cheeky bleeder. I've noticed other things, but for example, at QPR he obviously had a banter thing going with CP opposition fans because after he scored his penalty, he ran over to the CP fans wagging his finger. Then, like a mischievous child, he looked across to the bench to see if they were taking notice before he banged the badge on his chest several times, as if to say and now I've scored against you for my new team.
Hardly that. It's not as if he didn't play Targett, JWP, Gazzaniga, or Reed, just last season, or didn't put them all on the bench at various points, including Seager. Or would you rather we played with inferior players, Beef, when it really matters.? In the World of Football Manager, we can do those things. In a world where millions bear on results, one has to be a little more cautious. I think Koeman was reasonable in his use of the Academy during his time at Saints. Much as I don't want to give him an ounce more credit than he deserves.
I think if there is a valid criticism to be made of Koeman, it's in how he allegdly treated the youth players off the pitch. If some of the rumors are true, what he did is flat unacceptable and not sad to see him go. But I really have no idea about off the pitch happenings. All I can say is I cannot really fault his player selection or subs. We crashed out of Euros too early, we had that awfully bleak period in January where bleeding in youth was not first priority. I would have started playing them a lot more in the latter stages of the season. But then, that's because I would have given up on placing high enough for Euros. Koeman's tactics allowed us to make a ridiculous comeback and finish with our highest points total. And we qualified for Europe, which was awesome on its own, but also improved our visibility to attract future young players and added six games to the schedule creating more opportunities. I am glad Hesketh and Reed played well. But they have not played in PL, so not mich difference so far. Even with Pelle, Mane, and Wanyama leaving. Though this is to take nothing away from Puel. He mixed some young players into the team tonight and we looked good and won easily. So I can say my faith in him has risen quite a bit after tonight.
He didn't want anything to do with the younger players. He didn't want them to train with the first team, he didn't even want to go watch them play. Targett: has been back up to Bertrand for a while now. So I don't really count him as youth. Reed: did he have more then one game? JWP: he has been around the first team squad before Koeman was here. Gazza: was forced on him by injuries. So sorry TSS I can't agree. I am not saying he was a bad manager, infact he is a very good manager.
Yeah, this is what I'm talking about. I think this is a major issue. I don't have the insider info you do, so I hesitate to comment too much about it. But I'm not doubting you, either. He's still youth, IMO. But I don't have a problem with how Koeman used him. He got some starts early in the year when Bertrand was injured and did not look that impressive. He got some more starts when we went 5 at the back. Puel is using him in similar fashion. Since Bertrand has been healthy, he's the starter. This is the one guy I think Koeman should have played more, especially with Wanyama suspended so much. Still, Reed is not playing under Puel, either. He has played one JPT game (which he was not eligible for last year), and one League Cup game. And has had problems breaking into the first team, and has not really stamped his spot when given the chance. Puel so far isn't using him any different than Koeman. IMO, McCarthy is a much better prospect than Gazza, and McCarthy is just playing Cup matches. I believe it would be the same under Koeman. Or virtually any other manager. If you are going to dismiss backup players as "youth" then the reality so far is that not one of them has played a single minute in either a PL or Europa match under Puel, including Reed. We'll have to see how things change going forward. But based on what we've seen so far, it's way too early to call Koeman a "liar" for claiming the academy players weren't good enough, because so far Puel doesn't think so either.
