Tangy wrote:

Boys v men is a difficult game to win. We might think Spennymoor 'aren't very good' however - they are a team full of seasoned professionals who are physically on a different scale to our young lads - which of us was fully grown at 16, 17. Secondly, you can have all the skill in the world but if you don't have the experience of playing games at that level, you won't have the knowledge of how to deal with that side of the game.

I'd guess the team learned as much in 1 game as they did in 10 games of development league football - its just a pity we couldn't put out a team which could get through and get another 90 against a Proper mens team.

If we want to gauge how our youth system is doing, perhaps a better guide would be to compare how many youths we have representing the country at all age ranges. For instance, we may only have 1 at u21 level but if we have 2 at u19, 3 at u16 and 4 at u14, you could surmise that the youth system is starting to see results. Whether we see that in the first team or not in the next few years may be a different argument.

There would be further arguments to compare number of representatives at each level against other similar levelled academies too. For instance if Aberdeen have 3 representatives at u14 and we have 6 then it could surmised that our academy is working better than there's. Especially if this is representative across the age ranges...who's bored this afternoon and fancies doing some counting? 🤣

That's fair comment, but go back several years and we had far more kids in representative squads despite the lack of investment.  The key will remain attracting the right kids and we will always be stuck with the really good ones heading south when they hit 16 - for very little return.

I would agree very few have came in and laid down a marker making them hard to drop when you think back to previous players like Goodwillie, Russell, Armstrong, Gauld etc. they made themselves hard to leave out not many of our current crop quite at that level yet but some may need time and opportunity.

I think the biggest challenge is if you have more than 1 or 2 youngsters ready to step up how can you give them all a chance for 1st team appearances.

lifesanocean wrote:

I watched the game last night. Putting the horrendous stream quality to one side, I thought the laddies had a lot of the ball but did little with it. No penetration whatsoever. However, the sending off killed us. You could put together an amazing YouTube reel from boys like Neilson, Mochrie and Fotheringham go past boys like they are not there, play wee one twos and balls around the corner as long as you edited out them running up blind alleys pinging crossfield passes 40 yards from goal rather than trying to play a killer pass. To be fair, they were not helped by the fact the laddie playing up front didn't really offer anything at all which meant there was no focal point. The laddie Watson played wide right and worked hard but again didn't really have a trick. Think he'd be better playing through the middle.

Ultimately what done us was two bread and butter cross balls which Neilson and Cooney lost out in ariel duels. This for me continues to be Neilson's big weakness. For his size he isn't commanding in the air and appears reluctant to put his head in where it hurts. Just because we want to play on the deck doesn't mean our opponents are going to do the same so our players need to be able to attack the ball in the air and show some bravery.

The third goal was a great strike from outside the box when we were chasing the game. Considering we were playing with two wide players they never really once went at the full back and put a cross in. Fotheringham just cuts inside all the time. This meant we were relying on Duffy and Freeman to put balls in and they both struggled on the night although both were decent defensively. Freeman ended up at sweeper in a back 3. I was impressed by the keeper, Jack Newman and would be comfortable with him as back up if Benji leaves.

Think we would have benefited from Meekison and Robson in midfield both of whom are better than the two lads who played. Meekison is a bit more direct which I think would have helped us since too much of what we were doing was akin to a possession based training drill rather than an actual match.

Final thing: no Kerr Smith anywhere. He's not been in the first team squad, he wasn't in the squad last night. Heard a rumour that Utd are trying to sell him (now with the prospect of a good fee, given that he signed a new contract) and he has told them he doesn't want to go so he's basically been dropped altogether to force him out.

Shocking if true
 

Tek wrote:

Broonie31 wrote:

Tek wrote:

Eh, the club. Been making a big song and dance about it all Summer. We sacked Mellon partly because he woulsn't get on board with the big plan.

And that came from the Horses mouth i.e. Asghar at the Fed Q+A.

Courts has also mentioned playing youth in several interviews.


 

This a nonsense point in my opinion.  There is no way we would play a full team of youngsters in the Premiership, we would be playing a mix of youth with experience so to write them all off when they played as a B team with every player being a young player is just ridiculous!!
 

I never said a full team. And i'm hardly writing them off for christ sakes.

The fact is though, that key figures at the club have made a big song and dance about young players getting their chance in the first team moving forward NOW.

And none of them seem ready for regular first team football.

Or if i'm wrong, tell me who? That is to any of you.
 

Tek, it isn't about young players and chances in the first team.  They are assets to be developed and they're all on a pathway.  If they happen to play for United that's great, but the more important thing is to develop and then at the appropriate time realise that asset.  Get your priorities right.

I don't think that any of the young ones are ready from the limited games that I have seen but young players can come on tons in a short space of time.

Goodwillie and Appere are two good examples of guys who over a space of months developed massively.

Unfortunately though it's all all about timing and dropping the kids in to a winning team is the key and that's something I don't think we will have the luxury of too many times this season.

Out of them all I think that if Glass can come back the same player and kick on then he could make the break through as he's the type of player we have been crying out for, for about 18 month.

Or what about the forgotten man, Louis Appere?
Where is he with his injury (whatever it is) and when is he due back?
Could he be our 15 goals striker?