shurlock

Great post Misguided Missile.

Didnt Morgan say in an interview that Rowe's the academy player with the most promise?

The late Charles Amer also did it his way.

Wonder how Jaidhi is getting long with his ambassadorial role? Seems to be at SMS for every game.

Motty is a CoC

Having a dig at the Chapel

Lambert and Lallana's interviews on Saints Player.

Love lallana and lambert's relief/reaction to not having to train with MP during the international break - frightening stuff supposedly.

The Swiss connection has to help.

Did you do the hands as well?

I was making a GENERAL POINT - hence why you had a pop at me about Shaw/Stevenage and how I was claiming (though I never said anything of the sort) that the only way to blood youth was through cups. Suggests that you knew my point wasn't limited to the Sunderland game.

Would have been the first post had you grasped a very simple point. But hey it wouldnt be a mongboard if you didn't need to be patient and tolerant.

Been my point throughout - the purpose of cup competitions. glad you've finally woken up and grasped it. Took a while mind you.

I said you wanted your cake because you said we should be going out to win cups - I simply said that for a club that prides itself on developing youth, the cup, among other things, is a great learning experience. And that there's a tension between wanting to win things and bringing through youth that is raw and not quite ready. It applies not just to the league cup and Wednesday night but every competition we play in -after all, it's a discussion we've been having for years.

No I didn't - I said I am for using (league) cup games to blood youngsters. It's a general principle - hence why I mentioned other examples- rather than being specifically about the Sunderland game.

Playing two or three youngsters is not trivial. Starting clyne (chambers), wanyama (reed) or bringing on lambert instead of gallagher would have given us a much better chance of winning the game given how dire Sunderland were. Would have liked to see Isgrove but that's about it.

And? It's called a spectrum -some players are further developed than others. There's no point in starting a youngster if the game is going to fly by him and he's going to have a mare. Others are further down the road, though still far off from starting week in, week out in which case, cups are perfect inductions. Perhaps Reed is the only current youngster at this stage. Don't know enough about our youth players to be able place them along this spectrum. But certainly don't think every single youngster we produce is destined for greatness.

It obviously depends on how far developed youngsters are - perhaps the conveyor belt isn't as chockablock as is made out. At the same time, the manager has a squad to balance -players to keep match fit who could be starting in the league or the cup if there are injuries or suspensions. In the real world, they're called trade-offs.

JWP was much more developed than Reed when he started at City. Remember it took him 10 months from making his full debut to starting in the league. IIRC JWP looked like a rabbit in the headlights when he made his debut in the league cup against Palace, though was much better in the FA Cup against Coventry. Reed needs the rest of the season and a preseason minimum before he's knocking on the door. But playing on Wednesday would have helped.

Agree with that -and would have preferred that we started more youngsters, though playing Reed in the middle of the park against an Italian international was something.

Nor can you. But am happy to claim that experience of competitive football matters as it's impossible to reproduce anywhere else. Reserve football in front of one man and his dog might have been a poor, though workable substitute in the past; but even that's gone now. Perhaps we should be starting the likes of Reed tmrw than on Wednesday?

Reread my original post sunshine - I said it was part of the explanation not all of it. Read slowly in case you miss it the second time or even the first time. Why do you think other teams that also have a reputation for developing youngsters -Arsenal etc- use the cup to blood players in? Not rocket science. Every bit helps.

So developing and blooding youngsters doesn't matter then? When do you suggest we do that? Or are you claiming that they magically grow on trees and can walk into the first team without any experience or exposure to competitive football? Perhaps we should start them in the league instead of the cup?

Don't see your point? Was there on Wednesday. Am happy the club used it as an opportunity to give a few youngsters a run out and get them one step closer to the first team. As I say, you want to have your cake and eat it. To have a conveyor belt of youth players but not pay the price for it, namely not have to give them proper competitive experience.