Neville Kneville
Well-Known Member
What has happened with Celina imo, & may now happen with others, is that he only got on the pitch at all, because the cupboard is bare of first team players. It is unlikely Celina would have figured at all if DeBruyne was fit, as you say, but in a difficult situation like v Leicester, that would be perfectly understandable. But imo, most games in the past year or so have not been as difficult as that one & yet very few kids have been used at all. The idea that suddenly, we have kids fom nowhere who can perhaps play, but have had none previously, is of course nonsense.
The fact that Celina waa able to come on in that game & be perfectly ok, even create a goal for a team which had struggled to create anything, just shows how wrong Pellegrini has been, as well as those who think like him, that bringing on a young player means we harm our chances of winning trophies. We could have been doing this for a long time, & the point I'm making re Ntcham etc, is that it doesn't depend on the player being a guaranteed future world beater for him to do a job or even be fantastic in the first team (if I had to make a prediction, I'd guess Celina won't make it at City) all it needs, is a kid, in form, & to do it on the day.
We have had a very very large group to choose from & have chosen to use hardly any. I hope that now we are starting to see one or two, it starts to become the absolute normal thing to see, rather than a special event. Then injuries will not be such a terrifying, crippling prospect in the future.