The He Who Shall Not Be Named Thread | Page 175 | Vital Football

The He Who Shall Not Be Named Thread

I would always want to build for now if I was a manager because it's the now that fans want . Deano probably did have an eye on the future as he's a Villan but most managers are not going to be around in 3 or 4 years when the current 18/19-year-olds breakthrough.
That goes for any manager at any club they are judged on the last 10 games, not the previous season or what they might do in a year's time.
Hence not many kids coming through at the top level, we are producing kids for the lower leagues who will eventually rise back up at 25 years old if they are good enough
 
I think we can focus on the immediate 1 to 2 years because of what Dean and co. did with the youth setup and by purposely bringing in younger players. A couple of players like Watkins, Mings and McGinn are all hitting 27 or 28 too so if we do plan to sell them we need the team to be in a position of strength.

I will say the lads on that video sometimes get a bit one-dimensional with things and they don't know we've a lot of players under 25. We probably still won't have any starters over 30 next season. DC looks like a lad who'll play well into his 30s and assuming Digne doesn't lose much pace we'll get 2 to 3 of his best seasons.

The one thing they acknowledged was you can't always be building with a young team because the sides in the top 6 will just keep poaching your players and you go back to square one. Its unlikely anyone is going to touch Phil, Digne or DC because they're unlikely to get much improvement out of them.
 
we only won 6 games at home all season - relegation form. 2 of those 6 were under Smith aswell !
Gerrard needs to get his act together for me, a bad start and he could be gone by October
 
Villan57 said:
Some interesting thoughts here that probably match mine
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport...ven-gerrard-diego-carlos-kamara-b2092531.html
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Probably the best strategic decision we've seen the club make in decades was getting this business done early. Almost negates finishing 14th, takes us from the worst finishers of that bunch of teams to now one who seems to have the most ambition and best placed for success simply due to our recruitment. Hopefully, that snowball effect continues.
 
Silhillvilla said:
we only won 6 games at home all season - relegation form. 2 of those 6 were under Smith aswell !
Gerrard needs to get his act together for me, a bad start and he could be gone by October
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Yep when you only go to home games it's a big issue, might be ok for the TV fans but it really pisses me off when we aren't good at home after shelling out all that money.
 
Even the preseason looks a proper planned event this year with some testing games. Australia together will be a big bonding exercise for the new arrivals. Gerrard has stuck everything in there to achieve his club’s aims. And I say “his club” advisedly!
Mind you every year I await the friendly results with excitement only to be left somewhat underwhelmed. After the first PL game I’m usually more concerned than underwhelmed. I have a feeling it will be different this year.
 
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I think of the managers we've had who've harped on about experience. Mcleish anyone? We need managers who are bold enough to give youth a chance.
 
I disagree, we need more experienced quality to push up the table. It's not like we have a crop of 'class of 92' quality players coming through. Our supposedly best talent in Chukwuemeka looks no where near ready to start regularly.
 
Wicked Messenger said:
Even the preseason looks a proper planned event this year with some testing games. Australia together will be a big bonding exercise for the new arrivals. Gerrard has stuck everything in there to achieve his club’s aims. And I say “his club” advisedly!
Mind you every year I await the friendly results with excitement only to be left somewhat underwhelmed. After the first PL game I’m usually more concerned than underwhelmed. I have a feeling it will be different this year.
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No it wont be different this year mate, it's traditional, enjoy it.
 
I think we have one of the youngest squads in the Premier league. I think only Young and Olsen are the only over 30s.

If you look at it Gerrard has given Chukwuemeka a good amount of game time, given Iroegbunam his debut plus we've had several others such as Feeney and O'Reily on the bench. A lot more than many other managers have done.

I do believe that part of his remit would have been to integrate academy players. Irs clearly been one of the owners aims since they came in with the money we've spent improving facilities, revamping the coaching staff and bringing in youngsters from other clubs. We've finally got more serious about loaning out youngsters earlier as well which is something that we've not really done before but needed to.
 
McParlandTheGreat said:
I think of the managers we've had who've harped on about experience. Mcleish anyone? We need managers who are bold enough to give youth a chance.
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Little, Shaw, Gabby, Jack, Green, JJ . Bottom line is if the youth are good enough they will play regardless of the manager and tbh always have done with us . There will never be an endless stream of youth to play, might be fits and starts but will only be one or two at a time because it’s so so hard to make it at this level. I certainly don’t buy that our past managers haven’t given youth a chance and SG is doing or will do anything different.
 
JW1985 said:
I think we have one of the youngest squads in the Premier league. I think only Young and Olsen are the only over 30s.

If you look at it Gerrard has given Chukwuemeka a good amount of game time, given Iroegbunam his debut plus we've had several others such as Feeney and O'Reily on the bench. A lot more than many other managers have done.

I do believe that part of his remit would have been to integrate academy players. Irs clearly been one of the owners aims since they came in with the money we've spent improving facilities, revamping the coaching staff and bringing in youngsters from other clubs. We've finally got more serious about loaning out youngsters earlier as well which is something that we've not really done before but needed to.
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We're 4th or 5th lowest in average age, last season we were consistently putting out one of the lowest average age starting 11s. As you say Martinez was our oldest regular starter until we signed Coutinho and Digne. Thats one of the reasons why signing the likes of DC and the other two older players doesnt alarm me. We still have a lot of younger players who just hitting their mid-careers as well as a decent crop of players who may or may not make it. The squad in terms of potential and future sales is in a really great spot IMO.

And thats one of the reasons why we won't do an Everton, we've clearly had the basis of some sort of strategy and plan. Everton just rolled from one manager to the next buying whatever they wanted and not moving anybody on. We've built out a young squad for a reasonable outlay, balanced the books with a massive sale and are now buying quality which from my view is part of a recruitment drive for players to fit a way of playing. To me there is a clear strategy, we've pivoted from what we were doing but there is still the foundation of something tangible. 3 forward players and 2 aggressive full backs making a front 5, 3 in midfield and 2 defenders.

Just like Liverpool, Rangers and Blackpool. That style is throughout Liverpools set up and they're exporting it out with each new coach that comes through. There are some variations but overall its similar. Blackpool played a 4-4-2 but still ended up with the 2-3-5 in attack. Defend with 5 attack with 5.
 
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sirdennis said:
You don't win anything with kids.
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Yep our under 21s would struggle in League two and even the top teams under 21s can't win that trophy thing they get put in for with the lower leagues.
We can all go and watch the u23s if we think they are so good .

Teams tend to average 26-28 not 21 don't they and there is a reason for that
 
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