Hello All, Chelsea fan.
The academy system breaks down at this level. In theory, these sides are the modern equivalent of reserve teams, but in truth they are the reserve reserves at best. At all the leading clubs, the better players of development age are syphoned off into the loan system while the odd gems, like Diaz and Foden, move to the fringes of the first team. The result is that these games are often of lower quality, and therefore of lower value to the players involved, than they might be.
None of us here sit in on recruitment planning meetings at Chelsea's academy, so none of us can know what the MO is. The idea that Chelsea prioritise size over technical ability is popular in these forums but, personally, I don't think it is so. Most of the lads in Chelsea's development sides joined the club aged 8 or younger. Hard to sift for size at that age.
Clubs cast their nets wide and hoover up as many young players of potential as they can. If it were the case that Chelsea select the big lads to progress through the levels, then there would be a number of technically capable, but small, kids being picked up by other clubs after being rejected by Chelsea. I'm not aware of any such player, never mind the whole host of them there would have to be if that was indeed Chelsea's method. There are many attributes which allow footballers to make a contribution at professional level, but suitable technical ability is by far the most reliable of these. Everybody knows this, including Chelsea's academy staff.
I believe that, just like City or any other club, Chelsea retain the best players they can as lads move through the age groups. Just because a player is big (and I don't buy the notion that our young players are all huge, while yours are all tiny) does not mean that he is not also talented. Chelsea's latest FA Youth Cup winners don't include talents at the level of Foden or Diaz, but how many academies in Europe do? Across the whole eleven however, I thought we had the edge on ability. I suppose it is possible that I am seeing things through royal blue tinted glasses but it must be equally likely that a City fan dons light blue shades when assessing City/Chelsea development games.
As for the age of last night's line ups, Chelsea started with two sixteen year olds, four 17 year olds, and the rest were all teenagers too. This was a younger side than would normally be the case but, although there are sometimes exceptions, Premier League 2 football features very young sides right around the clubs.
