Lewis Baker

[Stats 7,054]

Exactly that, our youth cup winning team of a few years back went to play to Wycombe seniors few months after and got trounced 5-1.

If we played 6 or more of the team teenager's we would have lost, this was Shrewsburys biggest game for years,.it would have been a disaster.

I thought we stroke the balance perfect like you said.

The thing is with Baker is he has been excelling in our youth teams for a while now. Was named our young player of the year last season and was simply fantastic, recording around 18 goals. Early next year he will be 20 with probably only one appearance for the first team. Baker has done tremendously well and deserves a chance more than most imo. When will he be trusted to play? At the age of 23+? I was just reading the chelsea youth twitter page and the writer seems to definitely be annoyed about the situation. Baker has met every objective asked of him but for him to hardly have a look in disappointing. Have a look at the comments. Not just you but members in general.

This is what he also said in another forum. Same write of chelsea youth:

"I know it was pre-season and therefore much harder to read into these things but this squad beat Wycombe 5-0; Wycombe were much closer in their preparations to their start of season readiness and have since looked like promotion contenders of a similar standard to Shrewsbury.

Schwarzer (Beeney), Kane (Zouma), Ake (Ivanovic), Chalobah (Terry), Christensen (Dasilva), Romeu (Houghton), Swift (Matic), Baker (Boga), Van Ginkel (Salah), Bamford (Brown), Piazon (Solanke)

Nobody's expecting a complete U21 team but if Baker can't get a look after passing every test asked of him to date, when can he? Boga was told an hour before the first team left that he wouldn't be travelling as initially planned, that sort of **** sucks the life out of a player. Chalobah's another who's completely fed up with the way things have gone, don't be surprised if he pushes for a permanent departure next summer."

[killer1257 3,282]

Nobody's expecting a complete U21 team but if Baker can't get a look after passing every test asked of him to date, when can he? Boga was told an hour before the first team left that he wouldn't be travelling as initially planned, that sort of **** sucks the life out of a player. Chalobah's another who's completely fed up with the way things have gone, don't be surprised if he pushes for a permanent departure next summer."

Where did you get that information about Boga?

[Stats 7,054]

Where did you get that information about Boga?

Posted that in one football forum. Can't remember the exact place but I copied and pasted that and he is one of the most reliable youth sources for us.

[Tomo 21,733]

The thing is with Baker is he has been excelling in our youth teams for a while now. Was named our young player of the year last season and was simply fantastic, recording around 18 goals. Early next year he will be 20 with probably only one appearance for the first team. Baker has done tremendously well and deserves a chance more than most imo. When will he be trusted to play? At the age of 23+? I was just reading the chelsea youth twitter page and the writer seems to definitely be annoyed about the situation. Baker has met every objective asked of him but for him to hardly have a look in disappointing. Have a look at the comments. Not just you but members in general.

This is what he also said in another forum. Same write of chelsea youth:

"I know it was pre-season and therefore much harder to read into these things but this squad beat Wycombe 5-0; Wycombe were much closer in their preparations to their start of season readiness and have since looked like promotion contenders of a similar standard to Shrewsbury.

Schwarzer (Beeney), Kane (Zouma), Ake (Ivanovic), Chalobah (Terry), Christensen (Dasilva), Romeu (Houghton), Swift (Matic), Baker (Boga), Van Ginkel (Salah), Bamford (Brown), Piazon (Solanke)

Nobody's expecting a complete U21 team but if Baker can't get a look after passing every test asked of him to date, when can he? Boga was told an hour before the first team left that he wouldn't be travelling as initially planned, that sort of **** sucks the life out of a player. Chalobah's another who's completely fed up with the way things have gone, don't be surprised if he pushes for a permanent departure next summer."

You mention Chalobah, he is struggling to get a look in at a dreadful Burnley team, if he can't break past some of the dross in that squad, how on earth can we justify including him in our squad next season?

If players are good enough they get there, when Terry was young we accepted a bid from Huddersfield for him did he give up? no he carried on fighting, did he sulk and demand a move when we signed Gallas? no he kept on fighting. Youth players have to be extremely patient, show fight and be good enough of course.

Despite our underwhelming record of getting youth in the first team we still attract the best home grown talent and young players from abroad keep putting pen on paper, they know what they are signing up for.

[Amblève. 4,995]

You mention Chalobah, he is struggling to get a look in at a dreadful Burnley team, if he can't break past some of the dross in that squad, how on earth can we justify including him in our squad next season?

If players are good enough they get there, when Terry was young we accepted a bid from Huddersfield for him did he give up? no he carried on fighting, did he sulk and demand a move when we signed Gallas? no he kept on fighting. Youth players have to be extremely patient, show fight and be good enough of course.

Despite our underwhelming record of getting youth in the first team we still attract the best home grown talent and young players from abroad keep putting pen on paper, they know what they are signing up for.

You're being unfair in putting all the blame on the players by saying "if they're good enough...". It's the clubs' job to put their youth players in the best possible situation to succeed.

As we've seen with McEachran, things go south if your club doesn't know how to handle you. Or would you claim that not being used by AVB and being sent to a Swansea side that already had their midfield set was McEachran's fault?

What about Kalas doing everything possible to make himself known during his loan spells, and then never being used in the whole season (I get that he had an injury at the start of the season but come on)? Or Chalobah playing a great season for Watford and then against his wish being sent to Boro instead of Watford?

Obviously, hard work and patience are as important as talent but so are the club's decisions.

[Tomo 21,733]

You're being unfair in putting all the blame on the players by saying "if they're good enough...". It's the clubs' job to put their youth players in the best possible situation to succeed.

As we've seen with McEachran, things go south if your club doesn't know how to handle you. Or would you claim that not being used by AVB and being sent to a Swansea side that already had their midfield set was McEachran's fault?

What about Kalas doing everything possible to make himself known during his loan spells, and then never being used in the whole season (I get that he had an injury at the start of the season but come on)? Or Chalobah playing a great season for Watford and then against his wish being sent to Boro instead of Watford?

Obviously, hard work and patience are as important as talent but so are the club's decisions.

In some aspects the club can do more but ultimately when it comes down to it, the players are mainly in control of there own destiny.

Out off all the academy players we have let go, the closest to one coming back to haunt us is Jack Cork. Look at Pogba, if we do let a genuine world class player from our academy slip through our fingers, some club in Europe at a similar level to us will quickly show us what were missing out on.

Let's put it this way, Conor Clifford isn't a Southend squad player as opposed to Chelsea and Ireland captain because we failed to give him that extra bit of care and attention.

[Amblève. 4,995]

In some aspects the club can do more but ultimately when it comes down to it, the players are mainly in control of there own destiny.

Out off all the academy players we have let go, the closest to one coming back to haunt us is Jack Cork. Look at Pogba, if we do let a genuine world class player from our academy slip through our fingers, some club in Europe at a similar level to us will quickly show us what were missing out on.

Let's put it this way, Conor Clifford isn't a Southend squad player as opposed to Chelsea and Ireland captain because we failed to give him that extra bit of care and attention.

Pogba is the perfect example for what I was saying. Despite playing brilliantly for all United youth teams not only did SAF refuse to use him in the the first team, United also didn't let Pogba go out on loan. Talk about putting a player in a situation to succeed...

The thing is, why would a top club go after someone like, for example, Chalobah next season if he's shit at Burnley all season long after being not good at Boro previously? Don't you think that the situation would be a different one if he had been a free agent after his loan spell at Watford? Again, it hugely comes down to what the club does to your development.

As some already pointed out, Baker has done everything asked from him, he was pulled up to the big club instead of letting him go out on loan. And yet, he can't be trusted to play vs a lower-tier club.

[Gilvorak 3,734]

The way people on here calmly dismiss youth players before they've even gotten a chance never fails to amuse me. He's scored 32 goals in his last 2 seasons but apparently that's not good enough to start against a 4th division team.

Chalobah was always overrated so I don't get the comparisons.

[Madmax 9,219]

And if this is the treatment being meted out to Izzy Brown, someone who Mourinho himself has earmarked (but by common consensus wouldn't get in the list of the top 3 talents from the academy of the posters here), what fate awaits someone truly good like Boga or Loftus Cheek?

[Madmax 9,219]

And if this is the treatment being meted out to Izzy Brown, someone who Mourinho himself has earmarked (but by common consensus wouldn't get in the list of the top 3 talents from the academy of the posters here), what fate awaits someone truly good like Boga or Loftus Cheek?

[Tomo 21,733]

Pogba is the perfect example for what I was saying. Despite playing brilliantly for all United youth teams not only did SAF refuse to use him in the the first team, United also didn't let Pogba go out on loan. Talk about putting a player in a situation to succeed...

The thing is, why would a top club go after someone like, for example, Chalobah next season if he's shit at Burnley all season long after being not good at Boro previously? Don't you think that the situation would be a different one if he had been a free agent after his loan spell at Watford? Again, it hugely comes down to what the club does to your development.

As some already pointed out, Baker has done everything asked from him, he was pulled up to the big club instead of letting him go out on loan. And yet, he can't be trusted to play vs a lower-tier club.

Pogba was a player who was actually good enough and didn't get a chance, Juve were more than happy to wade in and show United just that.

If we ignore a player who is ready and top class, someone on a similar scale to Juve/Chelsea will happily intervene and demonstrate that to us like Juve did to Fergie.

[Tomo 21,733]

The way people on here calmly dismiss youth players before they've even gotten a chance never fails to amuse me. He's scored 32 goals in his last 2 seasons but apparently that's not good enough to start against a 4th division team.

Chalobah was always overrated so I don't get the comparisons.

Part of me wants to see Jose do a Pellegrini at Derby then you will all have something to actually get worked up about.

[Tomo 21,733]

And if this is the treatment being meted out to Izzy Brown, someone who Mourinho himself has earmarked (but by common consensus wouldn't get in the list of the top 3 talents from the academy of the posters here), what fate awaits someone truly good like Boga or Loftus Cheek?

17 years old and playing for one of the best academys in Europe and having his progress monitored by the world's best manager.

I wish I was treated that badly at 17..

[Stats 7,054]

And if this is the treatment being meted out to Izzy Brown, someone who Mourinho himself has earmarked (but by common consensus wouldn't get in the list of the top 3 talents from the academy of the posters here), what fate awaits someone truly good like Boga or Loftus Cheek?

Brown is different tbh. He is only 17 and you can't realistically expect him to play in our first team for now. Brown is a top talent but he is not any where near ready for our first team yet and unlike Baker, this is is a totally different issue tbh. Baker is a couple years older and has been playing U21/reserve level for around 3 seasons now. Brown on the other hand has only been playing with our U18 team but this season is a full member of the U21. It will be a while till we see him play for the first team in a competitive fixture I assume unless there is an injury crisis.

[Thendo 1,088]

Apparently loaned to Sheffield Wednesday. Might be good for him, since he's struggling to get games here.

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2015/01/baker-loan-to-owls.html?WT.mc_id=social_20150108_38447697&adbid=553147136661942274&adbpl=tw&adbpr=22910295

[Reddish-Blue 2,347]

I'm glad we loaned him out...hopefully he impresses in the Championship

[lionsden 4,689]

I'm glad we loaned him out...hopefully he impresses in the Championship

Like that makes a difference in regards to his chances of making it here which is extremely slim unfortunately as he's a player I really rate. even if he impresses we will just loan him out straight away next season and again and again until he gets caught up in a bad loan move and soon forgotten.

[DH1988 1,273]

Cracks me up that people use Pogba as The example for youth players not being given a chance or xyz can be the new Pogba etc.

Just because he is part of a 0.0001% minority that leave a top club, goto a sub par division and shine.

It's more the attachment to the name Juventus than anything. Do I think he's a good player? Yes. Class? Flashes. Is his name more in the spot light because he plays for the name Juventus in what is considered a subpar league? Imo, yes.

It's impossible to denote what coaches see day in day out sitting behind a keyboard, unfortunately. Sometimes coaches get it wrong, wrong time/place for the player, players attitude, all sorts of factors.

If we had a super super super talent then there would be more of an outcry than a few forum posts.

That's not me saying we do not have talented youngsters, we do, however we do not see day to day. If we had good enough youngsters, now, they'd be apart of things especially winger wise but the team and way we play requires such discipline and tactical awareness that international players are having trouble keeping up.

But how will we know unless we give them a chance!? If they are good enough they will get their chance in training, in a match or on loan which requires a very astute head on a young mans shoulders but also the right coach, do I feel sorry for Nathan? No, if you cannot get into the burnley team under Sean who values workrate and spirit then there is something wrong.