Not sure you got the point, but hey ho
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It's Quiet 18 - Wanna ring the bell?
- Thread starter tolmie's hairdoo
- Start date
As long as we have Pep, we're playing with 12 men.
No major concerns from me if we stick with what we have. We lost Gundo and Mahrez last season and won the league. Our first team is a lot more stable this season (unless Ederson leaves but even then, Ortega isn't a stranger) plus the addition of Savio will improve the team.
Players like Kovacic, Nunes, Gvardiol, Bobb and Doku will only improve more on what they showed last season after 12 months of Pep under their belts which is saying something.
Foden improving with every passing game yet being years off his prime too. Grealish to come back into form. Haaland to hopefully stay fit for longer periods. Same with Kev. Lewis to improve even more than he already has done.
Along with the inclusion (hopefully) of a few youngsters like McAtee, JWE, O'Reilly etc. and we've got another season of challenging ahead of us.
And pray to God that Pep is happy enough to sign that extension!
No major concerns from me if we stick with what we have. We lost Gundo and Mahrez last season and won the league. Our first team is a lot more stable this season (unless Ederson leaves but even then, Ortega isn't a stranger) plus the addition of Savio will improve the team.
Players like Kovacic, Nunes, Gvardiol, Bobb and Doku will only improve more on what they showed last season after 12 months of Pep under their belts which is saying something.
Foden improving with every passing game yet being years off his prime too. Grealish to come back into form. Haaland to hopefully stay fit for longer periods. Same with Kev. Lewis to improve even more than he already has done.
Along with the inclusion (hopefully) of a few youngsters like McAtee, JWE, O'Reilly etc. and we've got another season of challenging ahead of us.
And pray to God that Pep is happy enough to sign that extension!
Agree completely with first and last sentence. Too many what ifs in the rest for a pessimist like me but I got it way wrong last year so ……..As long as we have Pep, we're playing with 12 men.
No major concerns from me if we stick with what we have. We lost Gundo and Mahrez last season and won the league. Our first team is a lot more stable this season (unless Ederson leaves but even then, Ortega isn't a stranger) plus the addition of Savio will improve the team.
Players like Kovacic, Nunes, Gvardiol, Bobb and Doku will only improve more on what they showed last season after 12 months of Pep under their belts which is saying something.
Foden improving with every passing game yet being years off his prime too. Grealish to come back into form. Haaland to hopefully stay fit for longer periods. Same with Kev. Lewis to improve even more than he already has done.
Along with the inclusion (hopefully) of a few youngsters like McAtee, JWE, O'Reilly etc. and we've got another season of challenging ahead of us.
And pray to God that Pep is happy enough to sign that extension!
I read once that one academy player in 1000 becomes a professional footballer.One of my personal observations is the 'failure rate' of academies, not just ours. By failure I mean in the specific context of an academy player emerging as a nailed on starter in the first team, so eg Foden. If we bag £15M for an academy player, eg Delap, then commercially of course that is a success; I don't mean that is a failure.
However the fact is, every year the academy intakes approx 20 players, so in the last 6 years that's 120. Apart from Phil not one would be in our strongest 11, that's a 'failure' rate of >99%. It really is incredibly hard to become a PL player.
I see your point, but I think we can bed in some of these boys while still remaining top of the league simply because of the top end talent throughout the squad. If there were a guarantee that in finishing third 3 or 4 of the youngsters would become first rate, first team players that might change the narrative, but as is, I'd say objectively our squad across the board is still the best in Europe including Real Madrid and capable of giving time to a select few of the youngsters without compromising our overall goals...Mate my point was tolerating a dip in PL position if it meant stepping up the select few academy boys to genuine first teamers. Obviously I would like to achieve both, just setting reasonable expectations. CL however …..
Penworthamblue
Well-Known Member
I read once that one academy player in 1000 becomes a professional footballer.
I didn't realise it was as low as that, that's really surprisingI read once that one academy player in 1000 becomes a professional footballer.
I suppose if you think about the ages that players can join academies from, it makes some sense. You may have been in an academy at age eleven but released six months on, for example. And every year sees new intake, and some players released.I didn't realise it was as low as that, that's really surprising
Penworthamblue
Well-Known Member
That's a fair point you make. My lad plays in the top division in the league in Preston for the under 11s, kids are constantly being pulled from teams into academies, that's why I didn't think the stats would be as high as you said.I suppose if you think about the ages that players can join academies from, it makes some sense. You may have been in an academy at age eleven but released six months on, for example. And every year sees new intake, and some players released.
Agree with everything you've said. One thing I would say is our season probably hangs on the fitness of Rodri which is slightly risky but I'd back Pep to change the system to work around any injury.As long as we have Pep, we're playing with 12 men.
No major concerns from me if we stick with what we have. We lost Gundo and Mahrez last season and won the league. Our first team is a lot more stable this season (unless Ederson leaves but even then, Ortega isn't a stranger) plus the addition of Savio will improve the team.
Players like Kovacic, Nunes, Gvardiol, Bobb and Doku will only improve more on what they showed last season after 12 months of Pep under their belts which is saying something.
Foden improving with every passing game yet being years off his prime too. Grealish to come back into form. Haaland to hopefully stay fit for longer periods. Same with Kev. Lewis to improve even more than he already has done.
Along with the inclusion (hopefully) of a few youngsters like McAtee, JWE, O'Reilly etc. and we've got another season of challenging ahead of us.
And pray to God that Pep is happy enough to sign that extension!
If Rodri gets injured if us out for a period time then we have a problem but we should be ok in every other position and I’m looking forward to seeing mcatee playAs a of now we have not even downgraded, we have the best team in the league still.
Nothing wrong with being happy with top 3 finish but you should realise the squad we have.