Exeter City vs West Brom U21 - EFL Trophy - Match day thread

[Nigel E]

The main point I was making is that most of their best under 21’s are out on loan. Their 19 year old ‘keeper for example is an ever present for Cheltenham and Morton who did so well for Northampton last season is at Lincoln. I still enjoyed the game, still think it’s a useful exercise for our youngsters, but it’s not something to get over excited about.

A bit off-topic but it was interesting to see that when the 25-man squads were announced for the Premier League, all the clubs had to list their U21 players (presumably to make them eligible for appearance in Premier League matches, if needed).

Some of these lists are enormous - West Brom have about fifty u21 players and they are by no means unusual.

2020/21 Premier League squads confirmed

See all the players registered by the 20 top-flight clubs for this season

www.premierleague.com

I can't see how this is healthy, when only a fraction will make it even as professionals, never mind in the Prem. I hope when some of our players get offers from these clubs they understand the reality of what they are getting themselves into.

 

[Grecian 1901]

Has this already been posted? here it is goals from last night

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1328977912721268736

 

[Grecian 1901]

IT'S U16 MATCHDAY:
And it's a big one.
Against Crewe Alexandra U16
Corinium Stadium
EFL Floodlit Cup National Final 6:30pm

Watch LIVE on City's YouTube

 

[Red Bill]

A bit off-topic but it was interesting to see that when the 25-man squads were announced for the Premier League, all the clubs had to list their U21 players (presumably to make them eligible for appearance in Premier League matches, if needed).

Some of these lists are enormous - West Brom have about fifty u21 players and they are by no means unusual.

2020/21 Premier League squads confirmed

See all the players registered by the 20 top-flight clubs for this season

www.premierleague.com

I can't see how this is healthy, when only a fraction will make it even as professionals, never mind in the Prem. I hope when some of our players get offers from these clubs they understand the reality of what they are getting themselves into.

So at 50 or 60 U21s each, that's 1000-1200 Under 21s at Premiership teams!!! And they wonder why these players don't develop. They have an interesting take on what constitutes a "Homegrown" player too!

Someone should print this list out and stick it on the wall out at the Academy, might be a reality check for some of our youngsters!!!

 

[tonykellowfan]

I wonder though with the big clubs is whether they have so many youngsters simply because they know that at best 1 in 10 will make it therefore the more you have the better.

At 16/17/18 with a lot of youngsters you simply cannot tell who will make it so if you have a huge U21 squad you are simply playing percentages and increasing the chances of finding a decent player.

 

[Nigel E]

I wonder though with the big clubs is whether they have so many youngsters simply because they know that at best 1 in 10 will make it therefore the more you have the better.

At 16/17/18 with a lot of youngsters you simply cannot tell who will make it so if you have a huge U21 squad you are simply playing percentages and increasing the chances of finding a decent player.

Yes, it feels like a numbers game. I accept that it's a bit like that at all levels - only a percentage of ours will play in the first team, and fewer still will have a long-term professional career.

But it just feels a bit of a cynical racket to have soooo many young players at the highest level. When we know that the price of relegation means they will always prefer to lash out millions on proven professionals (often from overseas) rather than give a chance to their own.

 

[Antony Moxey]

There’s probably also the argument that if we’ve got them it means that they haven’t. Look at how many players Chelsea and MC have out on loan throughout the world - it always makes me laugh when on transfer deadline day you see players that you’ve never heard of leaving the Premier League for a couple of million after being at the club for four years racking up a whopping six appearances during that time.

I genuinely wonder whether squad sizes should be limited right through the age ranges including the first team so you can’t have, say, more than 40 in each and if you reach that number in order to get someone new in you’d have to let someone else go.

 

[Trapdoor]

Yes, it feels like a numbers game. I accept that it's a bit like that at all levels - only a percentage of ours will play in the first team, and fewer still will have a long-term professional career.

But it just feels a bit of a cynical racket to have soooo many young players at the highest level. When we know that the price of relegation means they will always prefer to lash out millions on proven professionals (often from overseas) rather than give a chance to their own.

Big businesses when they dont have a good deterministic model for success always just revert to playing the numbers game. The more darts you chuck at the dartboard the more you build up a normal distribution of points. They just have a lot of money, so can afford a lot of "darts" to throw at the "board", eventually one or two will hit the bullseye and the ones which miss the board completely are just "the cost of doing business". It's sad for most of the individuals involved and horribly inefficient as a business strategy but it's the way many companies work.

If you can find a reliable methodology to produce world class footballers which doesn't just rely on random sampling then I think you would become very very rich.

 

[budegrecian]

I agree with the previous posts about it being a numbers game, as far as Premiership clubs are concerned; get in a 100 kids, invest (throw) some money at them & maybe 1 or 2 out of that 100 will make it.
At City, we can't afford to take on 100 kids, so the one we do take on already have a head start. We also can't afford to invest the money in them that the Premiership clubs do. However, what City's Academy coaches seem to do is invest the necessary time to develop them both as players & individuals. Listening to our Academy coaches being interviewed, there is a clearly a massive emotional investment in our youngsters. The end result of which is far more of them make it into the professional game, than would have happened if they were at Academies elsewhere. Well, that's what I choose to believe anyway & I would urge parents of promising youngsters to consider this before looking at the short term riches on offer elsewhere.

 

[Nigel E]

Big businesses when they dont have a good deterministic model for success always just revert to playing the numbers game. The more darts you chuck at the dartboard the more you build up a normal distribution of points. They just have a lot of money, so can afford a lot of "darts" to throw at the "board", eventually one or two will hit the bullseye and the ones which miss the board completely are just "the cost of doing business". It's sad for most of the individuals involved and horribly inefficient as a business strategy but it's the way many companies work.

If you can find a reliable methodology to produce world class footballers which doesn't just rely on random sampling then I think you would become very very rich.

I accept all of this, but it makes you wonder about the wider impact of football on the individuals themselves, and sport generally. These young players will all be natural athletes who could find success in other sports, but at their key developmental age spend years being trained to play something they may never earn a living from. Or they could direct their talent to be at the top of other sports, rather than be a middling pro in football. There are a few examples of players switching sports at a relatively late age - Darren Campbell? - but I can't think of many in the modern era.