With SSN reporting this morning that Scott Sinclair is close to signing for Man City and Borini already signed for Liverpool, are we going to live to regret letting these boys go?? I think at a time when pacey wingers were essential to our style of play (Robben, Duff etc..) Sinclair should have been given a fair crack. Would he have done a worse job than Malouda?? As excited as I am for next season to start, I'm still a little concerned that we are still not giving our youngsters a go (Bertrand not included). What do you guys think?
Never thought Sinclair looked good enough to me and nothing in the last couple of years has changed that. Solid winger but not in the class of Robben and Duff by a long way. Borini remains to be seen but to be fair, we didn't let him go. We wanted him to stay but he wouldn't sign a new deal. Agree generally youth needs more of a go especially the likes of Hutchinson, Josh and Piazon.
I've been on about this like a broken record. It is a tough call, because they all mature and come good ( or not ) at different times. However, we do seem to let way too many kids languish in the reserves when they need to be looked at in better company. Apart from deciding to play all the kids in all the FA and other lesser cup comps, I don't know how we do it. Maybe we have to write off 2 Cups for a year and look at the kids with a few top players involved to really separate the really good ones?? No easy answer.
I agree, why not in fa cup, league cup and even cl group (if we've already qualified) games, try and include 5 or 6 young lads (u21s) as they don't actually count toward the 25 man squad. This would allow these guys some first team experience, see how they get on with regular/fringe first team players. I wouldn't be too disapointed if we didn't win the fa/league cups this season if it meant that youth was given more of a chance. With the extra fixtures this season it would give some of our older players a well deserved break and keep them fresh for the PL and CL.
They were good players all but not classy enough for Chelsea. Its good to see our rivals weakening their teams with them.
Getting players out on the correct loans seems to be important. We make mistakes with loans too but when it goes right like it did for us with Walker and Caulker you end up with players ready to jump straight into first team action and with Premier League experience. The same with you guys and Sturridge, although he didn't need to be loaned into the football league as he already had a bit of Premier League experience but the last Bolton loan was really the making of him. Letting De Bruyne go to Werder Bremen might improve your relationship with the club but when he gets back he's still going to have a lot to learn about playing in the PL. Much like us letting Dos Santos go on loan in Spain when we already knew he was a decent player in La Liga from when he was at Barca and he cameback without anyone the wiser about whether he can play in England. That said, Sinclair's career seemed to stall on loan and with you guys and I'm not convinced persevering with him would've been a good idea. Are City actually trying to sign him, by the way? First I've heard of it.
Our problem is that we have such a good youth development programme, that we always have to let these boys go if they cant become 1st team regulars! Roman must have the ready made article whatever it costs! We might never have had a Greaves , Osgood or Tambling if he'd been around in those days!
I suppose if we have to have a problem, it's not a bad one to have, but would love to see a couple of youngsters in all our less important games. Maybe we SHOULD sacrifice the FA and League Cups this year and play the kids. Would help our PL position and CL run as well !!
The problem is when the players we let go become Internationals. It shows they were good enough for us and we made a bad judgement. The rule that U21 do not need to be registered in the squad helps a lot. Also you have to have 8 home grown in the 25 man squad. Borini is a HG as he trained for three years under age 21 in the UK. This all helps young players get into 1st team squads. Also the new U21 league will get them something to play for as the reserve league was often merely used for fitness of injured senior players. Borini did want to leave and Chelsea did offer him a contract. He left though because that contract was one which kept him as a back up player when he was obviously ready to lead the attack of any top team. Borini was allowed to leave to accommodate already established players, as was Sinclair. You can point to poor performances by these two since they left, but I can point to quite a few by Chelsea 'stars' and regulars over the same period of time. Both JT and Lamps played like pub team players for several matches last season and we all know about Torres and his fragile state of mind. Even Cech had matches where he seemed to be in a time warp five seconds behind reality and Mata had games where he'd was like a fan on the pitch watching the game go passed him. How many fans said Malouda and Kalou weren't good enough for Chelsea? I'm allowed to criticize. I've followed Chelsea all my life and that means having a really good moan and enjoying it. Having said all that, what is done is done and Chelsea are what they are at this moment and I have the choice to follow them or go and learn Origami. Being critical of the mistakes is half the fun. I really don't get these fans who's club can do no wrong. I've never been the greatest team the world has ever seen type. If such a team existed there'd be no fun or joy left in football, so best to avoid being that team.
Sorry but that is just rubbish.He left a year ago anf you're suggesting he should have been ahead of Drogs Torres and Sturridge and that just is not where he was. He didn't do that much in the Championship that year and we haven't even seen what he can do in the Prem for a midtable side like Lafferpool.
Matter of opinion isn't it, which is the heart of the problem. Time will tell obviously, but he did brilliantly in the championship. If you don't think so maybe you want a superhero or a X-man instead. Fans seem to judge strikers as stand alone players, never as within a team. Career total appearances including as substitute as Chelsea, Swansea, Roma and Liverpool 48, Goals 17. Roma 24 appearances and 9 goals. C'mon be honest, that is impressive.
The lack of youth players making it through to the 1st team is down to one thing - chopping and changing the manager. As long as we have a short term approach to team building, then we won't see any of our academy players breaking through (unless they are truly exceptional Messi-like talents). Every time a new manager comes in, players like Borini, Sinclair, and now Josh & Hutchinson have to start from scratch, and any credit they built up under the last guy is lost. After a while, it's bound to become dispiriting and that's why so many of our promising players end up moving on to find first team football. The intolerable pressure placed on every manager to deliver and maintain instant success means that they will pick "name" players that they know about - even if they aren't necessarily performing to their very best - rather than take a punt on a youngster that may look decent in training but is untried at 1st team level. It's the safety first approach - Malouda, Kalou etc may not be in the best form of their lives, but the manager knew that he could basically trust their experience and get a 6/10 performance more often than not. The only reason Bertrand made his breakthrough last season was that we didn't really have another alternative when Ash was injured. Also, Robbie was under less pressure as he didn't expect to get the job on a permanent basis when he took over. I wonder if he'll be so keen to chance his arm on youth this season?
The key is to get these players in the team early in the season when the pressure isn't as high and those that perform stay in. A little like Sturridge last year (ironically until RDM took over). I think we should be playing at least one kid every game bar say the top top fixtures, especially at home. Hutchinson, Bertrand, Josh, Piazon have to get more game time this year.
