Reserves Change

[Saint Charlie]

SAINTS reserves have been given a Dutch-style overhaul this season by coach Mark Wotte.
(Full story available on www.dailyecho.co.uk )
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Seems very sensible.

[Delmary]

A very positive move.

[derry]

Presumably all the teams will play the same way.

[Saint Charlie]

Presumably all the teams will play the same way.


Yeah so players can slot into the first team in the same style.

[Wildgoose]

Very sensible and forward-thinking move. What are we coming to? :-)

[derry]

I would have thought that was fundamental, but it never seemed to happen.

[dubai_phil]

Ah ha...

The "solve the missing link between the academy and the first team tactic"
The revolutionary new blueprint for English soccer
Been spouting that this was a prime driver when SCW came here and low(e) and behold the management have decided that the reserves need to be prepared to step up to the first team.
Wotte a surprise....

:-)

[Minty]

I've advocated this approach for a long time... mainly because I've seen some very good young players hailed as being ready for the first team, (including by myself) but who've been hampered by the fact that the style and tempo of play and even formation, is different between first and reserve teams. It does make a difference, especially for a young player learning his trade... developing your skills is one thing, but to have to cope with a new system or formation just adds to the pressure.

Football is stuck in it's ways in many areas... 'we've always done it like that' etc, etc... i welcome this and hope it has the impact I think it is capable of having.

[trousers]

It's only taken this forward thinking country of ours 150 years to work that one out. Good grief. Makes you proud to be British.

[positivepete]

Its the system Liverpool used to use in their hey day, buy promising players such as Ian Rush, and stick them in the reserves for a season to learn the Liverpool way of playing.

[bungle]

I wonder what alpine will find wrong with this...

[Saint Martini]

I wonder what alpine will find wrong with this...

I think attendances for the reserve team will go down. ;)

Anyway, seems like a sensible move although I'm wondering how many PL reserve teams will come down for friendlies. Afterall, they are playing more fixtures then we are, the main reason we wanted those friendlies in the first place. Good to see as well that U18 players will get a chance in the reserves more often as well, players like Racine who JP rates should not only be playing in the youth team.

[paris]

Sounds good to me ,anyone notice how many younger players Man Utd and Arsenal played over the weekend...

[Navyred]

Saints have not yet stated tonights squad. But this should be an interesting night with Skacel, Euell, BWP, Dyer, Lancashire, Wootton, Paterson, Hatch, Mills, Thomson, White, Racine, Gobern and few more all available. Reading are always a good strong side, so am looking forward to an entertaining game.

COYR

[Scoobysaint]

Saints losing one nil. Only senior pro who seems to care is JE. Rudi is truly shocking. Simply doesn't want to know! At the moment i'm struggling for positives other than its only one goal.

[Scoobysaint]

Rudi off ten mins before half time. Possibly slightly injured. Definately totally cr@p.

[Dalek2003]

Because we are planning for the long term instead of the quick fix we can introduce sensible ideas like this.

i reckon we are talking about a 5 year plan.

[Runaway]

A Dutch style makeover that has us hammered by Reading Reserves 0-3. Great...

[offix]

Because we are planning for the long term instead of the quick fix we can introduce sensible ideas like this.

i reckon we are talking about a 5 year plan.

"Wotte" load of BS.

[Minty]

A Dutch style makeover that has us hammered by Reading Reserves 0-3. Great...

I wondered how long it would take for someone to come out with that kind of shortsighted comment.