Under the heading Youngsters Delight Andre, the OS reports as follows - Andre Villas Boas was delighted with the contribution of our younger players in Wednesday nights 2-0 friendly win at Stevenage. He described the youngsters as "immense" as we registered a comfortable victory against the League One side at the Lamex Stadium. One of these younger players, Yago Falque, completed the victory with the second goal two minutes from time. Striker Souleymane Coulibaly looked lively on his first team debut as a substitute for the final half-hour, while the likes of Tom Carroll and Andros Townsend, who was a threat throughout the second half and set up the opener for Gylfi Sigurdsson, caught the eye. "The young boys were immense" said Head Coach Andre. "The development squad deserve credit, that is the continuous process that allows us to count on these players and put them on the pitch without lowering the level. They handle it well. It's very pleasant to see the way they communicate and they want to play football. This is all down to the work that has been done with quality from the first team down" I know we have been down this road before in setting up our young talent as the "next best thing", but on this occasion, these words of praise and encouragement are justified. These playersAVB has mentioned, were like a breath of fresh air on Wednesday, and although the standard of the opposition on the night was not great, nevertheless, they took the game by the scruff of the neck and got us the victory. I believe these players have a future at the club, but more importantly, it sounds as if AVB might be prepared to give them the opportunity to test themselves with the first team. This would be long overdue at the club, and at long last we might see our academy reap its rewards. The future looks very bright.
I agree and furthermore, for a guy who is supposedly weak at man-management, he seems to be saying the right things at the moment. It will be interesting to see if he takes any of these youngsters on the trip to America, and if so, who he takes.
I really feel AVB has spoken very well since joining the club. Getting the Chelsea talk out of the way with the media early on was a smart move and since then he has spoken all about our club and how he shares many of our philosophies and ambition. Great to hear him talking up the youth players too because we'll need to be able to rely on them in the future if we're going to compete at the top with the big spenders.
Hopefully our new training facilities and this apparent focus on youth will start to bring through some of these academy players soon. It feels like we're on the verge of having some success in this area, but in the long term it might be the best way for us to move forward as a club, as we can't compete financially with a lot of our opponents. If we can use the likes of Walker (not an academy player, I know), Livermore and Caulker as an example to our other youngsters, then it should show that you can make it if you put the effort in. Going out on loan and impressing is a way into the first team squad. We need to try and ensure that we pick the right side for each player that goes out, though. Towsend's shown how tricky that can be, with multiple loans and varying degrees of success with each. Millwall has been a very useful club for us recently, with O'Hara starting a trend of players picking up useful experience there, but Mason got nothing out of going there last season. Harry Kane thrived there in the same period, so it's a tricky balance. Looking good at the moment. Just need to push on from here.
I think this is one of Sherwood's new roles now PNP, this looking more closely at who we send out on loan and where to. The general feeling is that with Harry, sometimes players went to where they best helped out his mates rather than where they may best develop.
I think that Sherwood could be accused of that too, as he's mates with Kenny Jackett of Millwall, from their time together at Watford. As I mentioned previously though, that link has worked out very well for us so far, for the most part. Long may it continue. I'd expect similar clubs to be looked at in the future. Keeping players local can only be a positive, I think. Shame Palace hate us, really!
Exactly! I think the truth of the matter, regarding his time at Chelsea, is that Terry/Lampo/Drogba were so disruptive of his plans that it would have been impossible for anyone to have man-managed them, other than to roll over and let them run the show, which is what they did with their mate RDM in charge. He won't have that problem with us, so he'll get more of a chance to put his tactical and technical skills to the fore. The only question I have ever had regarding the bloke is his ability to adapt to the EPL, which he didn't do at Chelsea. I'm prepared to give him the chance to demonstrate that, without the obstructions put in his way at CFC, he can set the EPL alight. His win against Stevenage, as nice as it was, is a solid step forwards, particularly as he used that opportunity to test our youngsters. The friendly against 'Pool is going to be a far greater test, of course.
Seriously though, its good to hear that the clubs senior management is taking a keen interest in our youth. Its been too long since a player from our academy played a prominent role in our first team, perhaps AVB's appointment will change that. And I agree with Original Spurcat, for a man with 0 Man Management skills, AVB hasn't put a foot wrong yet. Lets just wait and see how it reflects on the pitch though.
Great post. I'd like to see more of this emerging talent utilised in a mixed team for Europa, League Cup and early Fa cup rounds. Too often with Harry it was A team and whoever else. Putting Kane in a team with Lennon and Bale for instance, gives a much better indication as to whether he can cut it. I must say though that I have enjoyed seeing O'Hara, Livermore, Walker (I know he's not academy) and Carrol come through in the past few years.
I'm not sure about the others, but I think Carrol is a star in the making, and I have hopes for Coulibaly and Falque as well. I hope we won't end up loaning out players we need, and that we get the mix right for the EL: enough of our best players to keep us in it for a while, and enough young players/ non-starters to keep them getting enough games, and avoid having to loan out the best of them.
Jordan Archer, Tom Carroll, Harry Kane and Andros Townsend are all on the senior tour. As said above, hopefully this may be one of the advantages of AVB in the future
"I know we have been down this road before in setting up our young talent as the "next best thing", but on this occasion, these words of praise and encouragement are justified." Anyone who has seen anything of the kids knows things are on the right track. They don't play hoofball. A Messi-esque attitude prevails (Carroll, Pritchard etc) , in spite of this going against the instincts of the entrenched instincts of the English grass-roots game. But 5'3" LB/RB is a bit too far.
"Who's the near-dwarf at full-back?!" Barthram and Stewart played LB/RB in the Nextgen game against Basel. It got very scary in the 2nd half when Basel brought on a 6ft + forward (though to his credit the boy was a ball player and Basel did not try hoofball) .
"However rich the club is, blooding youngsters is essential. SAF has always done it." When you're the Empire, you have that luxury being miles ahead of the rest. If Man Utd were around the position of Spurs in the PL, you'd see less of it in the PL.
