Academy player ratings v Palace

[Wezleylowski]

i know i played with him for four years he is also very strong and has tremendous balance.

Lets all build him on a giant pedastal to fall from like every other player in the academy

[Thracian]

Lets all build him on a giant pedastal to fall from like every other player in the academy

Do you mean like the undeserved pedestals built for so many disappointing seniors during this most sorry of four year chapters in our history:

Lets see who has there been that I can remember?

Sylla, Gilbert, Johnson, Horsfield, Lombard, Newton, Low, Kaebi, Ferreira, Djiziri, Yeates, Nielsen, Kishishev, Cort, Joe Hamill, Douglas, Brevett, Cadamarteri.

That's 18 names. I could put a few more down.

Lets put them alongside: Logan, Stearman, Wesolowski, Mattock, Sheehan, Gradel, King, Porter, Ashley Chambers, Beswick, Odhiambo, McKay, Kee, Lee Cox, Louis Dodds, Robbie Burns and Lathanial Rowe-Turner.

The lads that won the Academy play-offs, the Westerby Cup, the Academy championship etc. The lads that have showered the club with international age group honours.

Eight of those lads have probably played as many times for our first team as those 20 seniors put together and, as a group over many years, they've put together thousands of games in the blue shirts of various Leicester teams.

I know which 18 I'd rather have. You can keep your travelling circus for me.

[Bryn]

Do you mean like the undeserved pedestals built for so many disappointing seniors during this most sorry of four year chapters in our history:

Lets see who has there been that I can remember?

Sylla, Gilbert, Johnson, Horsfield, Lombard, Newton, Low, Kaebi, Ferreira, Djiziri, Yeates, Nielsen, Kishishev, Cort, Joe Hamill, Douglas, Brevett, Cadamarteri.

That's 18 names. I could put a few more down.

Lets put them alongside: Logan, Stearman, Wesolowski, Mattock, Sheehan, Gradel, King, Porter, Ashley Chambers, Beswick, Odhiambo, McKay, Kee, Lee Cox, Louis Dodds, Joe Magunda and Lathanial Rowe-Turner.

The lads that won the Academy play-offs, the Westerby Cup, the Academy championship, that have showed the club with international age group honours. Eight of those lads have probably played as many times for our first team as those 20 seniors put together and, as a group over many years, they've put together thousands of games in the blue shirts of various Leicester teams.

I know which 18 I'd rather have. You can keep your travelling circus for me.

I really fail to see your point.

[Thracian]

I really fail to see your point.

My point is that so-called "pedestals" are made for all our players by various fans.

But while some Academy graduates have been at the club sometimes eight or 10 years bringing one bit or glory or another to the set up and, in many cases finally breaking through to the first team, a good many seniors who we've put on pedestals, actually achieve sod-all during their time here.

And it's been a bloody long list of late.

You read all the marvellous background and see those flattering videos but when some of our signings get here they are either not fit, not nearly as good as was said, decide they don't want to play for us if they're not in the team, forever getting injured or of no damn use to us anyway.

I for one take pride in what the long-term servants of this club achieve and if someone wants to make an enquiry about Elliot Chamberlain I don't think he should be accused of putting him on a pedestal anyway and even if he was doing that, so what. It's not every day we've got through to the Fifth Round of the FA Youth Cup.

No it's not a trip to the FA Cup Final at Wembley or a League Cup final nor is it promotion to the Premiership. But it's one of the few bits of on-the-pitch football news we can take some pride in and, just like last year and the year before, it was provided by young people who have grown up here rather than been imported with unjustified hopes that failed to materialise.

Roll on the day when we really can point to some "outside" signings and say "wow, what a player".

Perhaps Saturday will be it. But I've not seen anything yet, not going way back to Mickey Adams' time.

[Hugo Sanchez]

Still you gotta to look at the likes of Mattock, Stearman, Sheehan and Weso. They have been playing most games this season and we are 1 place off the bottom. Logan got off to a good start but faded really bad towards the end. When you put youth lads in. Your always running a huge risk. Take Jon Ashton at Ipswich for example ... That finished him off here.

[Calum McDermott]

Lets all build him on a giant pedastal to fall from like every other player in the academy

yes lets, there are not many players in the academy that have not impressed, it is more the new signings that tend to not impress.

[Thracian]

Still you gotta to look at the likes of Mattock, Stearman, Sheehan and Weso. They have been playing most games this season and we are 1 place off the bottom. Logan got off to a good start but faded really bad towards the end. When you put youth lads in. Your always running a huge risk. Take Jon Ashton at Ipswich for example ... That finished him off here.

Yes well let's look at that and see about the huge risk.

Full-back Sheehan's scored two goals and been involved in creating stacks of chances never mind his official assists.

Full-back Stearman has scored two goals and, until Holloway's arrival helped City keep the tightest defence in the League.

Mattock the same apart from the goals.

Weso's been injured and his absence from the team hardly helped.

Logan never faded. In fact his clean sheets at the end of the season against Preston and Barnsley would have done much to save us from relegation had it not been for the Leeds situation anyway.

But alongside that, name one senior outfield player this season who has done well?

Even Kisnorbo has not been the player of last year. Or McAuley.

Newton was played and abandoned. Cort has not scored a single League goal. DeVries scored once. Even occasional midfielder Andy King managed that.

Front line marksman Fryatt has scored just three times, that's one more that Sheehan and Stearman who themselves have scored the same as regular striker Collins John. Clemence has been a constant disappointment.

Little wonder we're bottom four.

The risk is not with the young players. It is marrying yourself to big wages and feeling that you've got to play seniors who underperform. And constantly changing managers, systems, team selections so that no-one knows whether they're coming or going.

Whenever a well-paid senior plays badly they're invariably given chance after chance to put it right. How many examples do you want me to name this season, last and the season before? When a youngster plays badly he's dropped.

[Hugo Sanchez]

Yea some good valid points you make but if a young player let say has 3 bad games on the trot. That can hurt him pretty bad and will find it hard to get his confidence back. Experience players can use there experience to get them through matches unlike youth players. If your playing lets say a 6 pointer who you gonna pick .. A bunch of young lads who haven't been performing or the experience players who haven't been performing ?

[Daggers]

Lets see who has there been that I can remember?

Sylla, Gilbert, Johnson, Horsfield, Lombard, Newton, Low, Kaebi, Ferreira, Djiziri, Yeates, Nielsen, Kishishev, Cort, Joe Hamill, Douglas, Brevett, Cadamarteri.

I am disgusted with this post Thracian.

Does '2,682 posts' mean nothing to you?

I'm convinced Bartonfox must have mentioned Hughes in all of them.

[Manager]

Are you allowed to agree with Thracian on here?

Apologies in advance if I am off the mark.

Younger players are supposed to be introduced to first team football with more experienced players who will take care of them and teach them good footballing habits.

We signed a squad of shallow players who cannot play themselves, never mind help the younger members of the team. These young guys are not confident enough to ball them out (unfortunately) and many play like 'rabbits caught in headlights'. Lets give them a chance to develop and to learn how to take responsibility - knowing that an experienced guy will cover their a** if they are caught out of position every now and then.

I don't think Ollie has the management skills and patience to let this happen but listening to his EXCELLENT Hungarian quote on TV I am more inclined to give him some more time.

[Hugo Sanchez]

Are you allowed to agree with Thracian on here?

Apologies in advance if I am off the mark.

Younger players are supposed to be introduced to first team football with more experienced players who will take care of them and teach them good footballing habits.

We signed a squad of shallow players who cannot play themselves, never mind help the younger members of the team. These young guys are not confident enough to ball them out (unfortunately) and many play like 'rabbits caught in headlights'. Lets give them a chance to develop and to learn how to take responsibility - knowing that an experienced guy will cover their a** if they are caught out of position every now and then.

I don't think Ollie has the management skills and patience to let this happen but listening to his EXCELLENT Hungarian quote on TV I am more inclined to give him some more time.

Agreed, you need the Experience in there or we would get tonked every week. Alright Thracian going on about how well they are playing for the under 19's in front of around 100 people but playing in front of 20,000 and playing one league down from the Premiership isn't ideal to have a team full of young guns.

[Thracian]

Yea some good valid points you make but if a young player let say has 3 bad games on the trot. That can hurt him pretty bad and will find it hard to get his confidence back. Experience players can use there experience to get them through matches unlike youth players. If your playing lets say a 6 pointer who you gonna pick .. A bunch of young lads who haven't been performing or the experience players who haven't been performing ?

These young players aren't newcomers to football, only to the first team, and they're well used to coping with the ups and downs of competitive life.

It would be unusual anyway if a young player got the chance to have three bad games in succession, unless pretty well everyone else in the team was playing the same, in which case he'd probably not feel any worse than he others.

It's well known that young players tend to be more inconsistent than seniors mainly because the experienced players simply pass the buck to others when they're playing badly and don't get noticed doing anything wrong.

Youngsters don't really have the same luxury because unless they keep impressing they're likely to be out anyway.

As for the six pointer I wouldn't pick any young player unless I had belief in him. I would never choose him anyway on the basis of who we were playing. To me, he'd either be good enough to face whoever was next on the fixture list or he wouldn't.

And the buck passers would be noticed too.

PS:

One of the best games I've seen our youngsters play as far as character was concerned was in front of near 5,000 Sunderland fans at the Stadium of Light in the Academy play-off finals and there's not been a single instance that I can recall of any of them getting stage fright when they get in the first team.

You, to me, are the sort of person who would never quite have the nerve to give youngsters the experience they need. You would always make some sort of excuse. You'd want to save em for end of season games when, hopefully, it might not matter so much. Well there's no certainly that any game wouldn't matter and what use is a potential good youngster if he can only play in first team games that don't matter?

If you have the strength of character to play em then, next thing you know, they do have the necessary experience. Look how it's benefitted the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger over the years.