Is LVG the best coach at developing youth players in recent times?

Santiago_Kin Bonkers said:
A) LVG trusted youth without injuries (mcnair,blackett among the ones bought for millions - for some reason you regard then as older players :smirk:

B) he trusted Keane before R Ashford, before Keane it was Martial

C) Mourinho would have 20 injuries & still play any adult he has left. For every Costa- he has remy, falcao, pato & I remember him even playing with no striker upfront and hazard as a striker :nono:

D) lotus cheek has to get games by injuries to - fabregas,matic,Mikel, traore whilst lotus cheek is not even an unknown quantity anymore.

Mourinho isn't bad but let's not put him in the same category as LVG. That's just idiotic.
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a) 'Trusting' Mcnair and Blackett are not positives. They were at the expense of results because they are not good enough. Blackett only played because he was left footed for the 3-5-2.
b) Wow, he 'trusted' a £56m signing. The Monaco manager also trusted him when he was even younger. He trusted Keane so much he let him go for the season until he realised his mistake of having no striker cover, add Wilson and Januzaj to the same list.
c) Make it 25 injuries then, it's exactly the same. Eventually there's a point every manager 'has to' play the youth. In defence we have hit this point which is the ONLY reason why they are playing.
d) Exactly. The same as CBJ, Riley etc. It's not an achievement by LVG.
 
Nucks said:
You're missing the point, and you are practically hitting it on the head.

LvG doesn't PLAN to play youth when his first teamers are available. He builds his squad so that WHEN the first team is NOT available, his reserves by necessity are youth players.

That isn't a fluke. It isn't bad planning. He has done it for 3 decades. That is what he does. Instead of having fringe senior players fill in for injuries, he builds his squad so that he dips into the youth when it is needed. It's actually from my perspective brilliant, risky, but also genius. Senior fringe players are peaked, and past it. Playing them is safe. If you play youth instead, you don't know if that kid is a game raising cnut who can't get it up to train at his top level. You don't know if something will click with a player who is an unknown. They are still growing, developing and finding themselves as athletes. You're not going to give a 32 year old journeyman game time and discover the next Messi. If you play your youth when injury crisis hits however, you're at least giving yourself a chance to discover a star.
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It isnt genius and it is a fluke, he is playing players with no knowledge if they are actually any good or not, that is bad planning. If he knew the players and had assessed them and their ability you might have a point but that is not what is happening. In fact players that LVG chose to include in his plans like McNair and blackett have been the players who have disappointed, lingard is the only exception, these are the type of players he has chosen in his two years here to rely on if first team players weren't available so he hasn't actually been that good at even identifying the talent.

The players who have stepped up recently our players he had no intention of using and knew little to nothing about, he isn't paid or expected to be throwing players in without any knowledge of if they are likely to be any good or not and if we had the next messi it would be apparent and we wouldn't need LVG to blindly throw someone in and unearth him.
 
Rozay said:
Likewise Tom Thorpe. All the caf experts demanded he be played, but the fact is, another young player in McNair was chosen instead. That's not a discrimination against young players, it's a discrimination against Thorpe - who he obviously didn't fancy. He's since left, and not to go to Hull City or Boro or a top Championship side either. The whole game must be so against Top Thorpe.
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Thorpe is a touchy subject for me. Having watched a lot of the 21's for the last three years he was at the club my own personal feelings on him as a player were maybe different from what the manager/Ed saw in getting rid of him. By way of completing his apprenticeship for the club I thought he at least deserved to get a shot. Here is an alternative angle on the whole debate, this rubs me the wrong way because by way of the fact that he had given loyal service to the youth team and had not been given a chance in the first team yet. He was the captain, if you're going to promote the anyone from the youth in my opinion before whether they are good enough you give it to your captain. Unless there is a major stockplie logjam of players in those positions. For me, if you're old enough and good enough you get a game or promotion, that is a logical step in player development. But the guy who is your captain of the youth team you don't get rid of without giving a proper chance, player loyalty and rewarding not just football ability is the signal of a good man manager.

Thorpe wrote: ‘’I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the United fans that have sent me messages of support over the last season. They have all asked the same question and all I can say is ‘’it’s not for the want of trying’’. My ambition has and will always be, to play for Manchester United. I believe I have displayed, on a regular basis, the qualities expected of its players by this great club and naturally I am disappointed that our association has come to an end.’’
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To leave the squad senior players short of the registered cap, have a defensive injury crisis and be loaning/turning away promoted academy players is... Something of a misnomer in my eyes. At the end of the day Van Gaal can rightly get credit for making sure there was room for youth to step through to the first team. His bollocks were well and truly on the line for that approach, but if it blows up in his face and he leaves the club at the end of the season without any silverware or without CL football then all you can do is call it a colossal failure. Even after your opinion is flip flopping on certain matters, the proof is right there to see in the league position, trophy cabinet.
 
Rozay said:
Off the top of my head, I can't think of many better at the top end of football at least.

Fergie sort of lived off the class of 92 for much of the rest of his career I reckon. You could argue the talent wasn't there, but he'd generally play senior players out of position than just give the next left-back a go. The infamous Blackburn game is an example of this.

Van Gaal is not just doing this now, in terms of playing 17, 18, 19 year olds. He's been playing 16 and 17 year olds in Champions League finals since his Ajax days if he felt they were up to it. Also, looking back at his young players at Ajax, Barcelona, Bayern and now United - I can't think of another coach who has not just taken a chance on as many young players, but gotten as high a reward from it in terms f the quality of player he has had a hand in.

Other than perhaps if Giggs was in charge (judging by his team selection in his 4 game spell), I can't thin of any other potential United managers who would have seen the likes of Blackett, McNair, CBJ, Varela, Pereira, Lingard, Riley, Love, Rashford all start first team games, with the likes of Poole, Weir, Axel, Henderson all involved on the bench too.

The great thing too, is the majority of that lot have not let him, or themselves down either. To think that the media (who some may know that I strongly despise) ran a whole 'LVG doesn't care about youth' theme because he loaned Adnan and Wilson out looks even more ridiculous. No other manager would have trusted them as much.
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Isn't Van Gaal doing the same though?

McNair was sitting on the bench the other night while two midfielders played at CB. Where were Love and Riley when Young, Valencia etc. were playing at fullback before their injuries. Not to mention Fellaini playing at Centre forward while Wilson didn't get a look in etc.

The large amount of youngsters playing this year is down to nothing more than having a woefully short squad to cope with the amount of injuries we get every year. Van Gaal was way too optimistic about the fitness of a fair amount of our squad. And has had to draft youngsters into fill holes in the team.
 
stevoc said:
Isn't Van Gaal doing the same though?

McNair was sitting on the bench the other night while two midfielders played at CB. Where were Love and Riley when Young, Valencia etc. were playing at fullback before their injuries. Not to mention Fellaini playing at Centre forward while Wilson didn't get a look in etc.

The large amount of youngsters playing this year is down to nothing more than having a woefully short squad to cope with the amount of injuries we get every year. Van Gaal was way too optimistic about the fitness of a fair amount of our squad. And has had to draft youngsters into fill holes in the team.
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It's partly due to the ludicrously small number of U21s games played in the first half of the year IMO. It was something unbelievable like six before Christmas. Not many of the reserves players had really had chance to prove form and fitness for the first team even if he'd wanted to play them. Not saying he would have mind - Love for example won't make it here and LVG knows that - but you can't throw in players who've not kicked a ball in anger in underage games straight into the first team. LVG also probably hadn't seen a few of these kids playing for some time and didn't know what level they were at until the U21 games started coming at a proper pace.
 
I doubt it was his intention to play so many youngsters, but it's great to see so many given a chance. The academy lads must be buzzing, most of them believe they can make it to the first team squad now.

Hopefully after LVG leaves at least a couple of these kids can stay in the team with the next manager.
 
ottosec said:
I doubt it was his intention to play so many youngsters, but it's great to see so many given a chance. The academy lads must be buzzing, most of them believe they can make it to the first team squad now.

Hopefully after LVG leaves at least a couple of these kids can stay in the team with the next manager.
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Oh Come on you can do better than that it is not negative enough.

You should be writing LVG is wank, deliberately created a small squad with no intention of giving any youth a chance, deliberately loaned out our most talented youth because he didn't want to give them a chance at United and has not thought any of this through. He has gambled on their ability, because in his 18 months here he won't have any knowledge of them or their abilities. He certainly won't have any relationship with the academy coaches, so will ignore all their recommendations and points of view. The arrogant, fraud of a manager.

I think that is how it goes, oh and get him out of our club. There, do I get in the club.
 
SalfordRed1960 said:
Oh Come on you can do better than that it is not negative enough.

You should be writing LVG is wank, deliberately created a small squad with no intention of giving any youth a chance, deliberately loaned out our most talented youth because he didn't want to give them a chance at United and has not thought any of this through. He has gambled on their ability, because in his 18 months here he won't have any knowledge of them or their abilities. He certainly won't have any relationship with the academy coaches, so will ignore all their recommendations and points of view. The arrogant, fraud of a manager.

I think that is how it goes, oh and get him out of our club. There, do I get in the club.
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Astounding to witness the last remaining LVG apologists in their natural habitat. I never knew they could be so loud and brave! It's adorable. Much like the footage of the last few Tasmanian Tigers before they became extinct.
 
Perrick Dubois said:
Thorpe is a touchy subject for me. Having watched a lot of the 21's for the last three years he was at the club my own personal feelings on him as a player were maybe different from what the manager/Ed saw in getting rid of him. By way of completing his apprenticeship for the club I thought he at least deserved to get a shot. Here is an alternative angle on the whole debate, this rubs me the wrong way because by way of the fact that he had given loyal service to the youth team and had not been given a chance in the first team yet. He was the captain, if you're going to promote the anyone from the youth in my opinion before whether they are good enough you give it to your captain. Unless there is a major stockplie logjam of players in those positions. For me, if you're old enough and good enough you get a game or promotion, that is a logical step in player development. But the guy who is your captain of the youth team you don't get rid of without giving a proper chance, player loyalty and rewarding not just football ability is the signal of a good man manager.


To leave the squad senior players short of the registered cap, have a defensive injury crisis and be loaning/turning away promoted academy players is... Something of a misnomer in my eyes. At the end of the day Van Gaal can rightly get credit for making sure there was room for youth to step through to the first team. His bollocks were well and truly on the line for that approach, but if it blows up in his face and he leaves the club at the end of the season without any silverware or without CL football then all you can do is call it a colossal failure. Even after your opinion is flip flopping on certain matters, the proof is right there to see in the league position, trophy cabinet.
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To be honest, I personally would have thought Tom Thorpe would be the next in line if we needed a centre half from the reserves. But I can't be mad at Van Gaal for not playing him, as he is the coach of Manchester United, and ultimately, regardless of what potential I think I saw on my television, if he doesn't fancy a player - he won't play him. When he promoted McNair over him, we were all surprised. but then McNair did not let himself down when given his chance, not until much later anyway. A manager will always have to make these kinds of decisions, and I have no problem with him making them.

If Thorpe wasn't played in order to play Rooney at centre half, I'd be a bit more curious - but the fact is, he wasn't the only centre-half in the reserves, and McNair was probably just as hopeful of being the one chosen. Thorpe wearing the armband is not a factor for me either. Van Gaal did not give him that armband, and it is his opinion that counts. He would also not be expected to come into the team and lead either. The main issue is that he clearly isn't afraid to play the youth he finds talented enough or ready. Beyond that, I'll let him choose who qualifies as he sees fit. I also don't think he had a particular debt to Thorpe either, it's the nature of the business. He let him get on the pitch for a couple of minutes, that was enough for me. I remember thinking Josh King was a certainty when he was in the reserves, he too was sold, after being given a sentimental 5 minute run-out in Istanbul. This is the business.
 
stevoc said:
Isn't Van Gaal doing the same though?

McNair was sitting on the bench the other night while two midfielders played at CB. Where were Love and Riley when Young, Valencia etc. were playing at fullback before their injuries. Not to mention Fellaini playing at Centre forward while Wilson didn't get a look in etc.

The large amount of youngsters playing this year is down to nothing more than having a woefully short squad to cope with the amount of injuries we get every year. Van Gaal was way too optimistic about the fitness of a fair amount of our squad. And has had to draft youngsters into fill holes in the team.
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I think there are several factors though, each decisions are individual. For example, McNair hasn't been that impressive of late, so therefore simply wasn't picked. He has been picked before though, quite a few times, so Van Gaal obviously knows what he can and can't do, and then now reserves the right to pick him or not. He's very much part of the first team squad, and started the first leg anyway.

Last season, Love and Riley were all a year younger, and probably not ready. Van Gaal came in and Young impressed at left-back from the tour, and had thus proven he can play there for Van Gaal. Blackett was given a chance to stake a claim at left-back, and proved himself rubbish, so Young naturally got to play. This season, logically, Young would get some games at left-back when needed, he had proven himself to be a good left-back from the beginning. Same as Valencia, who had played right-back for a while, way before Love would have been a consideration. These lads were likely not ready at first, and the senior players did well, so were ahead. McNair (who Van Gaal called our right-back for the next 10 years) was played ahead of Valencia often enough, until he then either got injured or simply showed himself to not be very good.

With Wilson, he can have no arguments about the amount of first-team football he's played under Van Gaal. He played plenty of football last season, including at centre-forward from the start against Liverpool at Old Trafford in the League - the exact same tie Fellaini was chosen to play ahead of him this season. What he should be more annoyed about is the fact he has been largely rubbish when played. This probably had a greater bearing in him not playing against Liverpool than his age.
 
Roboc7 said:
The players who have stepped up recently our players he had no intention of using and knew little to nothing about,
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How exactly do you know this?

Have you been watching training at Carrington and seen if these players have been involved at training at all? Do you know if LVG has watched them play? has watched them on video? has taken training sessions that include them?
 
People are going over the top with their hatred of LVG and everything else he does is rubbish.

It is abundantly clear he set the team up to increase the probability for Youth players to be played. That is the key point. Yes injuries have forced him to play more youths than he might have wanted, but he certainly set up the squad to open up more possibilities for young players.

If he had kept the likes of Nani, Welbeck, Evans, RVP, Hernandez and Rafael then should the same level of injuries hit us, then our backups would have not been youths but majority of the time we conceivably would have a lot of disgruntled seniors on the bench and also almost none of the youths would have gotten a sniff. I'd rather give the passionate youths who want to prove themselves then a disgruntled senior player.

If we had minimal injuries this season, I suspect the Youth players would have lesser game time but LVG's past record has shown he is usually willing to gamble by giving more responsibilities to youngsters.

Our injuries and bad performance in Nov and Dec meant that we could have gone out in the market to buy cover for Defenders, Strikers and Full backs but we didn't.

At the end of the day, it was a strategy that the club decided to pursue based on whatever assumptions and projections they had at the beginning of the year. That's what planning is all about. Luck and circumstances exert a lot of influence.

Everybody is a fecking genius with hindsight.
 
caisenma said:
Astounding to witness the last remaining LVG apologists in their natural habitat. I never knew they could be so loud and brave! It's adorable. Much like the footage of the last few Tasmanian Tigers before they became extinct.
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Who is apologizing for him, just reacting to the total fiction of the LVG bashers. They can twist a comment on a press conference, can recreate history just to try and justify their view.
All they need to say is they don't like the football, the guy, have no confidence in his ability to turn things round and so want him gone. But seems that is too simple, so they do their best to totally constantly create a vendetta against him. Don't even try and understand his reasoning for his decision.
 
RedPnutz said:
People are going over the top with their hatred of LVG and everything else he does is rubbish.

It is abundantly clear he set the team up to increase the probability for Youth players to be played. That is the key point. Yes injuries have forced him to play more youths than he might have wanted, but he certainly set up the squad to open up more possibilities for young players.

If he had kept the likes of Nani, Welbeck, Evans, RVP, Hernandez and Rafael then should the same level of injuries hit us, then our backups would have not been youths but majority of the time we conceivably would have a lot of disgruntled seniors on the bench and also almost none of the youths would have gotten a sniff. I'd rather give the passionate youths who want to prove themselves then a disgruntled senior player.

If we had minimal injuries this season, I suspect the Youth players would have lesser game time but LVG's past record has shown he is usually willing to gamble by giving more responsibilities to youngsters.

Our injuries and bad performance in Nov and Dec meant that we could have gone out in the market to buy cover for Defenders, Strikers and Full backs but we didn't.

At the end of the day, it was a strategy that the club decided to pursue based on whatever assumptions and projections they had at the beginning of the year. That's what planning is all about. Luck and circumstances exert a lot of influence.

Everybody is a fecking genius with hindsight.
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I believe I have heard this too. I have been impressed with some of our younger players coming through.

Lets hope the club imposes this on Jose.
 
SalfordRed1960 said:
Who is apologizing for him, just reacting to the total fiction of the LVG bashers. They can twist a comment on a press conference, can recreate history just to try and justify their view.
All they need to say is they don't like the football, the guy, have no confidence in his ability to turn things round and so want him gone. But seems that is too simple, so they do their best to totally constantly create a vendetta against him. Don't even try and understand his reasoning for his decision.
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Whatever the case may be, the absolute bottom line is that LVG should not be here anymore. A victory over a nothing club from Denmark in a competition none of us even wants to be in or a win over a team that will be playing Oxford United in Division 2 next season changes nothing.

LVG has lowered expectations and for a club like us we need to be challenging for titles every year, not making heroic comebacks against insignificant teams in unimportant competitions.
 
Rozay said:
To be honest, I personally would have thought Tom Thorpe would be the next in line if we needed a centre half from the reserves. But I can't be mad at Van Gaal for not playing him, as he is the coach of Manchester United, and ultimately, regardless of what potential I think I saw on my television, if he doesn't fancy a player - he won't play him. When he promoted McNair over him, we were all surprised. but then McNair did not let himself down when given his chance, not until much later anyway. A manager will always have to make these kinds of decisions, and I have no problem with him making them.
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Like I said, this is a touchy subject. I was absolutely livid the day he was moved on. Some players (like I said above, your captain) you just give faith in no matter what, your young and experience leaders you give a spot to and if you disagree then that is fine I believe it holds a massive significance in terms of development. Thorpe is also Manchester born and bred, had aspirations to play for the club, captain of the youth team and wanting to play first team football. He may or may not have been good enough, time will tell but to not be given a shot at even making the first team in my opinion is what I have a problem with and any thought and reasonable debate with me regarding that situation is probably unhealthy and will become salty and biased so I will just leave it.
Rozay said:
Last season, Love and Riley were all a year younger, and probably not ready. Van Gaal came in and Young impressed at left-back from the tour, and had thus proven he can play there for Van Gaal. Blackett was given a chance to stake a claim at left-back, and proved himself rubbish, so Young naturally got to play. This season, logically, Young would get some games at left-back when needed, he had proven himself to be a good left-back from the beginning. Same as Valencia, who had played right-back for a while, way before Love would have been a consideration. These lads were likely not ready at first, and the senior players did well, so were ahead. McNair (who Van Gaal called our right-back for the next 10 years) was played ahead of Valencia often enough, until he then either got injured or simply showed himself to not be very good.
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I think you may be incorrect here, as we started the season playing 3-5-2. Young and Lingard were the LWB and RWB who started the season, Tyler Blacket played LCB becasue he was a left footer, I do believe when we switched to a back four Tyler Blacket continued to play LCB and not LB.
 
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Stack said:
How exactly do you know this?

Have you been watching training at Carrington and seen if these players have been involved at training at all? Do you know if LVG has watched them play? has watched them on video? has taken training sessions that include them?
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He had to ask warren Joyce who to pick at left back, he didn't know and identify CBJ himself, he had to rely on someone else and had no knowledge of whether or not CBJ was good enough. He clearly doesn't have an extensive knowledge of the youngsters and as been forced into using them because of injuries.

I don't think there is anything wrong with relying on warren Joyce or others but he certainly isn't this genius or fantastic talent spotter some think he is.
 
I wonder if LVG has mutually agreed to leave this summer on good terms and is using his remaining time to give the most promising youngsters a chance to prove their worth. He seems to be on overdrive with bringing them up from the academy.

Would certainly tie in with the stories that Mourinho wont come until the summer.
 
caisenma said:
Whatever the case may be, the absolute bottom line is that LVG should not be here anymore. A victory over a nothing club from Denmark in a competition none of us even wants to be in or a win over a team that will be playing Oxford United in Division 2 next season changes nothing.

LVG has lowered expectations and for a club like us we need to be challenging for titles every year, not making heroic comebacks against insignificant teams in unimportant competitions.
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You have just confirmed my point. Why harp on about beating a Danish side as some sort of negative. The point is he hasn't met your expectations, which he probably didn't even last year. So what do you get out of making a negative statement even after a win.
 
Leftback99 said:
c) Make it 25 injuries then, it's exactly the same. Eventually there's a point every manager 'has to' play the youth. In defence we have hit this point which is the ONLY reason why they are playing.
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LVG actually says in press conferences months and months in advance that he likes to hve the squad thin so he can play young players. It is unfathomable that now when it suits someone they can say he has no interest in playing young and has been forced to. If you want to bash LVG there are loads of ways to bash him that have even an ounce of credibility so why not just go to those threads?
 
Not sure whats meant by 'developing' youth. He's given a few youngsters a chance, more so out of injury necessity than inspiration.
 
Raoul said:
Not sure whats meant by 'developing' youth. He's given a few youngsters a chance, more so out of injury necessity than inspiration.
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Think the point is that it's unfair to say he's only given debuts out of bad luck with injuries. Of course he's been absurdly unlucky with injuries as you said, but his record all other clubs and his intention thinning of the squad so that 'he can trust the youth players' says it's unlikely to all be by chance
 
Crashoutcassius said:
Think the point is that it's unfair to say he's only given debuts out of bad luck with injuries. Of course he's been absurdly unlucky with injuries as you said, but his record all other clubs and his intention thinning of the squad so that 'he can trust the youth players' says it's unlikely to all be by chance
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If he thinned the squad by getting rid of RvP, Nani, and Hernandez just to "give youth a chance", he should probably be sacked immediately.
 
Raoul said:
Not sure whats meant by 'developing' youth. He's given a few youngsters a chance, more so out of injury necessity than inspiration.
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Yes, but he's deliberately trimmed the squad right down, getting rid of a lot of "dead wood" (or whatever you want to call it). Without this, players like CBJ, Riley, Varela, McNair, Rashford would have got nowhere near the team. Even Martial may not have been a first team regular.
 
Sparky Rhiwabon said:
Yes, but he's deliberately trimmed the squad right down, getting rid of a lot of "dead wood" (or whatever you want to call it). Without this, players like CBJ, Riley, Varela, McNair, Rashford would have got nowhere near the team. Even Martial may not have been a first team regular.
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Not sure what the value of all that is to be honest. Look at our table position and next CL fixture, its all that matters.
 
There is another way to develop youth and its the way Fergie did it before 2007.

You first make sure you have team with a steel-like back-bone.

It is then much easier to introduce young promising players in such a framework.

People forget for example that the class of 92 were introduced into a squad that already included Schmeichel, Bruce, Pallister, Ince, Robson, Keane, Cantona, McClair and Hughes.

Eventually they went onto replace some of these players a few years later.

I remember many a game where we would be up by two or three goals by the 60th minute and Fergie would start substituting younger players to give them a taste of first team football.
 
Raoul said:
Not sure what the value of all that is to be honest. Look at our table position and next CL fixture, its all that matters.
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Well, it's a fine balance isn't it? Maybe he's gone too far that way but people seem pleased that some of these players have emerged - Rashford, CBJ, Varela and Riley especially. For example, if we had kept RVP and Hernandez, Rashford would not have got that chance. These players would be playing under 21 football, out on loan in the Championship or on the bench at best. You can't have it both ways.
 
Crashoutcassius said:
Think the point is that it's unfair to say he's only given debuts out of bad luck with injuries. Of course he's been absurdly unlucky with injuries as you said, but his record all other clubs and his intention thinning of the squad so that 'he can trust the youth players' says it's unlikely to all be by chance
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How is it unfair? It's a fact. The team barely changes when everyone is fit. Even Depay couldn't get any minutes a few weeks ago.
If we were incredibly lucky the other way and had no injuries whatsoever the youth would never play, so trimming the squad is irrelevant, intentional or not.
 
Leftback99 said:
How is it unfair? It's a fact. The team barely changes when everyone is fit. Even Depay couldn't get any minutes a few weeks ago.
If were incredibly lucky the other way and had no injuries whatsoever the youth would never play, so trimming the squad is irrelevant, intentional or not.
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so van gaal says in an interview 'i keep the squad small and trust the young players' and nobody says anything at the time and then 8 months later there's a bunch of heroes speaking up who 'knew it all along'
 
Sparky Rhiwabon said:
Well, it's a fine balance isn't it? Maybe he's gone too far that way but people seem pleased that some of these players have emerged - Rashford, CBJ, Varela and Riley especially. For example, if we had kept RVP and Hernandez, Rashford would not have got that chance. These players would be playing under 21 football, out on loan in the Championship or on the bench at best. You can't have it both ways.
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I don't want it both ways - I want the club to be successful, as in winning the league, FA Cup, and/or CL. If you youth players can help get us there then fantastic. If they are just being used to satisfy antiquated, romantically idealistic notions of the past, then I'm not interested. Its nice to see the young lads get a few games, but most of them will not be with the club in a couple of years.
 
Crashoutcassius said:
I don't recall anyone saying that at the time, but hindsight bias affects us all
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I wanted him to sell RvP and understand why Nani was moved on...Ed wanted to trim our wage structure and both were on inflated wages relative to what they were contributing. But that didn't excuse not adequately replacing them or attempting fill the gaps with inexperienced youth players.
 
Rozay said:
Yes but he did have enough players though. They were just young players. We didn't have 3 on the fecking bench on Thursday, we just didn't have Evans on the bench on Thursday, who had his chance and showed himself to be utterly useless last season, and younger players will get that chance instead.
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What?!

I don't get what you're saying at all. My point is that Man Utd, at a must-win, home, European tie, had only four of the alotted five substitution spaces filled. Despite the late need for Rashford to start, it's an embarrassment that we didn't have another player at hand to fill the fifth sub slot.
 
Crashoutcassius said:
so van gaal says in an interview 'i keep the squad small and trust the young players' and nobody says anything at the time and then 8 months later there's a bunch of heroes speaking up who 'knew it all along'
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The 'heroes' knew what all along?
 
Crashoutcassius said:
so van gaal says in an interview 'i keep the squad small and trust the young players' and nobody says anything at the time and then 8 months later there's a bunch of heroes speaking up who 'knew it all along'
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I said it at the time. I could find it if I could be bothered.
 
He's playing youth because he has no choice. How that makes him great at developing youngsters, I'm really not sure. Stupid OP.
 
All 3 United said:
He's playing youth because he has no choice. How that makes him great at developing youngsters, I'm really not sure. Stupid OP.
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So just playing them isn't developing them then no manager is good at developing youth. He gave chances to Xavi and Iniesta Muller Alaba etc so I guess he didn't develop them from the age of 8 but neither did Sir Alex with the class of 92, he just played them and coached them in the first team, like van gaal
 
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