Will Alves

[urban.spaceman]

I mean we already ****ing are.

[Noahfence]

44 minutes ago, urban.spaceman said:

We're going to squander his potential aren't we?

Oh absolutely. I know some people (including me) can go overboard on youth players but I truly believe he has something special.
 

How are we ever going to find out if he never plays? Last night was the sort of game you give him a start. 

[Mon.is.a.god]

5 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

I tell you what's galling. Aston Villa.

 

From 2014-2022 we were head and shoulders ahead of them and the rest of the midlands. Behind the scenes this will have given us an advantage in regard to our academy too but I know Villa spent a lot of time, effort and resources to improve their academy a few years back.

 

Anyway, fast forward to now and look at the respective teams and squads put out last night. Theirs is littered with academy players being given a chance, ours on the face of it might not look too shabby with Thomas and Choudhury starting and Iversen, Alves, McAteer and Golding on the bench but delve in to it and it feels a drop off under this regime compared to what we'd have seen under Rodgers or Enzo.

 

I won't even mention how they've replaced us as the best of the rest whilst we're eating out of bins inside 3 seasons but here we are.

Tbf in my mind Villa have always had the best academy in the midlands in terms of pulling power and have also been blessed with picking the cream from a massive catchment area.

 

Any decent youth prospect in Englands second city choose Villa over the others as well as most of the surrounding East and West Midlands.

 

I knew 3 lads from Oadby and Wigston who ended up in their academy over City’s. These were all die hard Leicester fans but chose Villa over us.

 

This is going back 20 years ago mind!

[iancognito]

6 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

I tell you what's galling. Aston Villa.

 

From 2014-2022 we were head and shoulders ahead of them and the rest of the midlands. Behind the scenes this will have given us an advantage in regard to our academy too but I know Villa spent a lot of time, effort and resources to improve their academy a few years back.

 

Anyway, fast forward to now and look at the respective teams and squads put out last night. Theirs is littered with academy players being given a chance, ours on the face of it might not look too shabby with Thomas and Choudhury starting and Iversen, Alves, McAteer and Golding on the bench but delve in to it and it feels a drop off under this regime compared to what we'd have seen under Rodgers or Enzo.

 

I won't even mention how they've replaced us as the best of the rest whilst we're eating out of bins inside 3 seasons but here we are.

We all know how Man City are already picking outside their catchment and how Liverpool are proudly boasting about the kid they stole from us last season. It will always be this way. Seagrave could have Messi as coach and be based in Mauritius and they'd always still get lured away to the bigger clubs because we're just Leicester.

[AjcW]

16 year old played the full 90 in goal for Arsenal tonight. What a moment for him. 
 

Still… we couldn’t give our best prospect 10 minutes against a league 2 side…

[Guest Dirkster the Fox]

We are on a slippery slope....

 

One of our own would love to come on and change a game. Don't scoff..... Cooper is now a sacked man walking. No ambition, no curve balls.

 

Alves (I keep saying this) is way too important a development player in our history not to play NOW!

[dmayne7]

2 hours ago, Dirkster the Fox said:

We are on a slippery slope....

 

One of our own would love to come on and change a game. Don't scoff..... Cooper is now a sacked man walking. No ambition, no curve balls.

 

Alves (I keep saying this) is way too important a development player in our history not to play NOW!

Not really a Cooper thing though (as crap as he's been with the kids so far). We're historically crap at managing youth team players, let alone those of Alves' ability. Been countless managers where they sit on the bench in cup games or come on 20 mins too late. We never see young lads getting 5/10 appearances. It's all or nothing.

[inckley fox]

2 hours ago, Dirkster the Fox said:

We are on a slippery slope....

 

One of our own would love to come on and change a game. Don't scoff..... Cooper is now a sacked man walking. No ambition, no curve balls.

 

Alves (I keep saying this) is way too important a development player in our history not to play NOW!

If we're truly about to appoint Reid to the coaching staff, then he most definitely is not a sacked man walking. That means the club are looking at 15 to 25 matches before they re-evaluate.

[AjcW]

7 minutes ago, inckley fox said:

If we're truly about to appoint Reid to the coaching staff, then he most definitely is not a sacked man walking. That means the club are looking at 15 to 25 matches before they re-evaluate.

Sorry what? 

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

"15-25 matches" is far too broad a period  

[inckley fox]

2 hours ago, AjcW said:

Sorry what? 

It was said that Cooper is a sacked man walking. It's been said on about thirty different threads, including this. I was responding to that comment.

 

I was pointing out that, if we're about to appoint another member of his inner circle, then that's evidently wrong.

 

I'm not sure what you're struggling to make sense of.

 

As for Alves, well, if Cooper is culpable for denying him opportunities at PL level, then what would that say about Maresca completely ignoring him at FLC level?

[Ric Flair]

5 hours ago, inckley fox said:

It was said that Cooper is a sacked man walking. It's been said on about thirty different threads, including this. I was responding to that comment.

 

I was pointing out that, if we're about to appoint another member of his inner circle, then that's evidently wrong.

 

I'm not sure what you're struggling to make sense of.

 

As for Alves, well, if Cooper is culpable for denying him opportunities at PL level, then what would that say about Maresca completely ignoring him at FLC level?

In Maresca's defence every time Alves worked his way back to full fitness and he was in the reckoning, he then got another injury. Not giving him any minutes vs Blackburn though was shocking.

[AjcW]

5 hours ago, inckley fox said:

It was said that Cooper is a sacked man walking. It's been said on about thirty different threads, including this. I was responding to that comment.

 

I was pointing out that, if we're about to appoint another member of his inner circle, then that's evidently wrong.

 

I'm not sure what you're struggling to make sense of.

 

As for Alves, well, if Cooper is culpable for denying him opportunities at PL level, then what would that say about Maresca completely ignoring him at FLC level?

It was late, I’d had a bottle of wine, and I thought you meant he was giving Bobby ****ing Reid a coaching job  

[inckley fox]

6 hours ago, AjcW said:

It was late, I’d had a bottle of wine, and I thought you meant he was giving Bobby ****ing Reid a coaching job  

Christ, I'd have got upset about that too.

 

I wouldn't rule it out, mind!

[cropstonfox]

12 hours ago, inckley fox said:

It was said that Cooper is a sacked man walking. It's been said on about thirty different threads, including this. I was responding to that comment.

 

I was pointing out that, if we're about to appoint another member of his inner circle, then that's evidently wrong.

 

I'm not sure what you're struggling to make sense of.

 

As for Alves, well, if Cooper is culpable for denying him opportunities at PL level, then what would that say about Maresca completely ignoring him at FLC level?

If Enzo and Steve cooper both don't play him then hes not ready yet,or not has good as the hype.Hes playing against lower premier league players in training and obviously not impressing.

[Ian Nacho]

Don't understand what's happening with this lad. Can't even get on the bench when you have the likes of BDR stinking up the place and seemingly isn't playing for the U21s either. 

[Wymsey]

Could be tapped up by a bigger club, and may move in January?..

[Sunbury Fox]

1 hour ago, Ian Nacho said:

Don't understand what's happening with this lad. Can't even get on the bench when you have the likes of BDR stinking up the place and seemingly isn't playing for the U21s either. 

Yeah but what PL experience has Alves got? 

[lee7]

I guarantee the same will happen with Jake Evans in our academy. He is another great talent that will somehow struggle to get into the first team. 

 

 

[Webbo]

Does anyone remember Leyton Ndukwu or Sidnei Tavares?

Edited 1 October 2024 by Webbo

[LeePhilpottsBaldSpot]

On 28/09/2024 at 22:23, dmayne7 said:

Not really a Cooper thing though (as crap as he's been with the kids so far). We're historically crap at managing youth team players, let alone those of Alves' ability.

I'm biased as a friend's dad is a youth scout for the club, but I don't think this is fair.

 

In recent years we've given plenty of opportunities to develop genuine talents (Barnes, Chilwell and KDH) and chances to those who really aren't that good (Thomas, Choudhury, McAteer).

 

Historically our academy seems to have produced a disproportionate amount of good players. Plenty have gone on to have strong top flight careers (eg Heskey, Schlupp, King).

I think we have just broken a record of something like 175 successive games featuring a home-grown player. Hopefully Alves gets a chance to start creating a new streak soon!

[AS78UK]

Clearly should have gone in loan in the summer.   If he isn't getting any mins soon, then he needs an early January loan.   

[ALC Fox]

Sometimes I think there are self-fulfilling prophecies in football.

 

For example, I don't think Puel was that bad until the mass pile-on. The football was boring but he cleaned out the squad, made some good signings, reduced the average age of the team and had us finishing respectably in the league.

 

Granted, the Rodgers appointment worked out better in terms of league position and a trophy in the cabinet, but he also inflated the squad, refused to sell assets at their peak value and contributed to the problems we're still experiencing today.

 

While the example of Puel is a negative one, I think self-fulfilling prophecies can go the other way too.

 

By now, Will Alves is surely pretty well known by most of the fanbase. He's been talked about for years as a massive talent, and his injury was big news on this forum and beyond.

 

If he starts a Premier League game and makes just one successful take-on early in the match, the crowd is going to go nuts. The feel-good factor is there right away, and that can influence the trajectory of an entire game.

 

From there, he gets more appearances and the team is living off the goodwill that creates in the fans for several games. Fan atmosphere can influence games, and a run of games can influence a season.

 

This is what I mean by a self-fulfilling prophecy. We don't know what Alves is like at PL level, but we won't know unless we play him. The crowd will be on his side from the absolute very beginning and we can essentially will (sorry) good performances from a player and the team.

 

I know the Premier League is a technical beast and mavericks are fewer and further between now. But these things can be coached into players. The excitement of having one of our own - who is also an attacking player, a flair player, the kind of player that fans love and who all fans secretly wish they could be - is enough to give this squad, this team and even Steve ****ing Cooper a boost so big, it could snowball and affect the rest of our season.

[st albans fox]

Young kids find it difficult to get playing time in a struggling team 

 

coaches will go with what they know to save their job.  We have space for one creative player in cooper’s system and facundo +BEK are in front of will 

[dmayne7]

3 hours ago, LeePhilpottsBaldSpot said:

I'm biased as a friend's dad is a youth scout for the club, but I don't think this is fair.

 

In recent years we've given plenty of opportunities to develop genuine talents (Barnes, Chilwell and KDH) and chances to those who really aren't that good (Thomas, Choudhury, McAteer).

 

Historically our academy seems to have produced a disproportionate amount of good players. Plenty have gone on to have strong top flight careers (eg Heskey, Schlupp, King).

 

I think we have just broken a record of something like 175 successive games featuring a home-grown player. Hopefully Alves gets a chance to start creating a new streak soon!

Well yes, we have produced players; not saying that we haven't. My point was more that it's all or nothing as an academy player. You either get a run of games and stay at the club or they never even feature. Every cup game against LL teams and there's people like Alves, Braybrooke sitting and wasting away on the bench, lucky if they get 20 mins (when a game is already won). But there have been so many players who have done well in the youth team/U21's who we never play, nor do we get out on loan. We wait until we've stalled their development to do anything.

 

So much of making it in football is based on luck. Yes, there are Messi's who are that much better but then the majority of others aren't that different in ability and it's all about getting that chance. Very, very few of ours actually get a chance to play 3/4/5 games. Chances are that we're probably not missing out on most of them but we will be some of them. And we're definitely losing the chance to make a steady stream of income from selling 2/3 a year.