City under 18s

Still up Edins arse ey

 

Hopefully they’ll be able to get us promoted from L2 in 5 or 6 seasons

 

Looks like our production line is to continue with our production of senior players

 

Maybe we had a good crop last year but had a crap coach? Luckily we got him out of the club imagine promoting someone like that

 

Went down to watch them the other week, as my mates son is the captain. Quite a few there. Including David Wetherall. They beat Rotherham. They totally outplayed them and always play out from the back. Didn’t see our keeper hit one long ball. Will be interesting to see if any of them become 1st teamers.

 

The standard of u18's football is shocking. It's all irrelevant unless any of them make the step up and we're not exactly known for producing quality youth players for our first 11.

 

The contrast in these posts is interesting

 

At City or in general?

 

I agree @Tolly856 about making the step up as it is a fine line. But we were playing a Rotherham side who’s only tactic was to lump long balls up to there big lads up front. Where as City played it out from the back. And as you said, only time will tell to see if any of them become 1st teamers.

 

What a ridiculous statement.

Foden, Sancho and Hudson-Odoi could still be playing under 18s football.

 

A lot (but not all) young academy players playing under 18s football generally aren't good enough and most of those who do end up having decent pro careers were certainly nowhere near ready at 16/17 years old, hence why the overall standard is very low.

The men's game is generally a massive step up and given our track record, i wouldn't expect us to develop these players and eventually start them in our first team squad anytime soon, 1st in the league or not.

Hope that clarifies.

 

When it came to youth development Rahic adopted a misguided scatter gun approach in the hope that we'll stumble across the next big star and not surprisingly, it didn't work. Unfortunately for us though it's the only approach we can use as we don't have the money to implement a more sophisticated youth strategy.

I like the sentiments behind youth development but for a club like us it's extremely difficult to put into practice hence why It's now failed miserably under 2 separate regimes. Picking up rejects and trying to develop them using 3rd rate facilities doesn't work.

 

You need resources to develop them, its why Man City and Chelsea churn out dozens of U18s at varying levels. If you haven’t got the finances to help develop these kids then don’t bother.