Our Academy/Youth?

[desertscouser]

No idea.

[nebbers]

Just said the same in another thread. Our reserves and youth set ups are way behind. We need to be paying just as much attention to these as we do in buying one or two world class players for £50m.

Arsenal have quite simply shown us what we should already have done.

[Guest]

Where did you read that ?

As for the Academy, it's years and years of hard work, pruning and nurturing talent which makes a great youth set up. Arsenal have done that since Wenger came.

Rafa is trying to change that now, but he'll need another 5 to 6 years to develop these youngsters (12-13 years old now) into playing the way he likes the game to be played.

Ajax have done that for decades.

[kurtangle01]

It's true that Rafa has no control over our youth set up. I read a while back that he only has control over first team / reserve team affairs.

[Guest]

It's true that Rafa has no control over our youth set up. I read a while back that he only has control over first team / reserve team affairs.

If that's the case I think that it needs rectification urgently. Youth teams must be nurtured based on the playing pattern of the first team, that's what Wenger does. All his teams play short, quick passing football with real penetration and speed upfront.

[Fowler_God]

Just read that Rafa has no control over the Academy.

Is this true?

It is the case. He can buy young players but thats it. Its a clause in his contract.

Chris Bascombe has mentioned it a few times in the saturday pink echo (so KT members will not know it exsists)

[Resu]

it was so clear yesterday that we need to use the same gameplan for the entire club.
Every Arsenal player knew his position, especially when they attacked.
Some of our player looked like they didn`t have clue what to do.

[burntyoungster]

team selection and youth systems

quick points,

the team selection was totally spot on last night. if you take gerrard out of the side, our football club pays the the players selected last night somewhere in the region of £200,000 to £300,000 a week. so they have to play, if not then why are they there. if i was a board member and rafa came to me for more dough for the next walcott/bale i'd be well within my rights to ask when paletta/guthrie/peltier were going to be given their chance first.

arsenal went with the same type of selection as us, only they were superior and got very very lucky. i've never seen aliadiere play anywhere near as good as that, or baptista(for arsenal). and also, lets face it, we made woeful individual errors.

we already knew dudek wasn't up to it but the problem is that so does everyone else which is why we couldn't sell him. if he had have had a stormer last night we might even have got a million for him, which would have sorted the the wages for daniele pardelli who has his medical this afternoon in view to a 6 month loan deal.

i work at a top club in ireland in the senior coaching department and youth teams/youth development only matter when it impacts the first team, or when the first team aren't performing well. it doesn't mean jack **** to have an academy unless it produces players good enough for the first team set up. just because we are liverpool doesn't mean that the best players should be with us at a young age at all levels. the maxim should be that the best u16s should play for the 18s, the best u18s should play for the reserves, and so when else are the best young reserves going to get a crack at the first team other than to play arsenals reserves in the carling cup?

it is beyond belief that people should call for the manager to be sacked. he shouldn't be beyond critisism but that doesn't mean sack him. without him we'd be below spurs and we'd also be without our captain who would now have been at chelsea. when you look at what hes doing with the first 11 instead of the squad as a whole, he still gets us to punch above our weight until we can get the money together to buy players who will really make a difference. ask more questions of who is developing the talent below that, and the scouting department.

the best post i read on this subject this morning was by kopdan in another thread when he said basically that we didn't play that bad and arsenal weren't as good as the scoreline suggests.

lastly, don't listen to the ******s in the sky sports studio last night(and on this occaison i include redknapp) who after the game took apart every decision made and even laughed at our chances of beating barca. as usual they go back to their corners and a ****** like merson should know better than to have a go at our commitment and openly laugh at us when you see what hes ultimately famous for in the sport.

[JRG]

Good post mate

[Parm]

I thought the teams and the match was fairly even, just that Arsenal converted most of their shots. We put 3 past them and still lost, how often does that happen?

[ronan]

it was a good post but the one thing i would say is i thought arseanls kids did play very well last night.
i thought we were very very poor defensively, the back 4 and dudek never looked comfortable all night.
the scoreline was ridiculous. 3- 6 at home? never would have believed that was ever possible

[JRG]

it was so clear yesterday that we need to use the same gameplan for the entire club.
Every Arsenal player knew his position, especially when they attacked.
Some of our player looked like they didn`t have clue what to do.

Couldn't agree more, we needa uniform culture throughout the club as Arasenal do

[burntyoungster]

I thought the teams and the match was fairly even, just that Arsenal converted most of their shots. We put 3 past them and still lost, how often does that happen?

your right, but the postives to be taken out of it is that we know the manager has been selecting the best players for the first team so far, so when some of the players not starting come knocking on the managers door he should hand them a video of last night and ask tell them the standard required is higher and they must improve their level. which is why it is nuts to suggest, as some have, of sacking the manager.

[Redspin]

it was so clear yesterday that we need to use the same gameplan for the entire club.
Every Arsenal player knew his position, especially when they attacked.
Some of our player looked like they didn`t have clue what to do.

I suppose playing two central midfielders - Peltier and Guthrie - out of position on the right side didn't help much

[burntyoungster]

it was a good post but the one thing i would say is i thought arseanls kids did play very well last night.
i thought we were very very poor defensively, the back 4 and dudek never looked comfortable all night.
the scoreline was ridiculous. 3- 6 at home? never would have believed that was ever possible

they did, i agree, and it is worrying if we get injuries. but as long as we only get one of the back four that played last night having to fill in every now and again, the first eleven will cover it. as long as they don't have to all play together. i cant even bring myself to mention dudek again cos i don't want to be derogitory about him.

dont forget we had a similar result to this in pre season, i cant remember who against but it was in germany. some of the players last night may have only played 3 or 4 times for the first team since then.