The biggest problem with Chelsea

[Swoopz 183]

There is one category that Chelsea fails in miserably, that is youth. Our squad is filled with extremely talented superstars, players that are so talented, that it becomes inefficient to give young players a chance (financially and rationally) due to what is at stake (cups, league, titles). I suggest bring back Mancienni, Stoch and have them play 1st team along with Kakuta, Bruma and Van A. and the rest, for an entire Carling Cup! Lets give our youth a chance. Let them shine Carlo!! It is very likely that with our current youth potential that we have a diamond in the rough that will shine and stand out like the great names of soccer in our current generation!

Edited June 3, 2010 by SevenXI

[Badboy 1,526]

They will get a chance when the dead would are sold like deco ballack paoulo and all that.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

There is one category that Chelsea fails in miserably, that is youth. Our squad is filled with extremely talented superstars, players that are so talented, that it becomes inefficient to give young players a chance (financially and rationally) due to what is at stake (cups, league, titles). I suggest bring back Mancienni, Stoch and have them play 1st team along with Kakuta, Bruma and Van A. and the rest, for an entire Carling Cup! Lets give our youth a chance. Let them shine Carlo!! It is very likely that with our current youth potential that we have a diamond in the rough that will shine and stand out like the great names of soccer in our current generation!

You're quite right. Last year in the Carling Cup we did play some of our youth, with Kakuta unfortunately missing the penalty that had us knocked out so early. What did annoy me though was when we played FA Cup games vs lower league teams who did we play in goal? Not Turnbull or Walker, but Hilario. Why we extended his contract is a mystery to me, we should sell him get in whatever we can and promote Walker or Turnbull as the secondary keeper.

I hope CA delievers on his promise to give the youth more chance, I think this last season was our best for debuting young talent into the senior squad with Kakuta, Borini, Van Aanholt, Bruma, Stoch, Hutchinson & I believe even Walker had some time. It's a good start but much much more is needed. We need to give these guys starts now and 90minutes. I hope we promote Josh McEachran and Connor Clifford to some first team action after they impressed in the past season

Josh especially after his big contribution to England u-17's winning the European Championships this year.

[Luke 60]

I do agree with playing more youth in the Carling Cup.

[kakuta44 16]

all the teams like man utd an d arsenal let the youngsters play in the carling cup and fa cup ................ and they dont have the same talents that we have in our youth ..........

i would say let them play in the cups ..... sell the dead wood .... players who will shine in cups get their places as subs and start getting 15 to 20 minutes in league games .....

KAKUTA MUST BE USED ... !! CANT BELEIVE WE HAVE A LAD LIKE HIM AND WE HAVE STOCH AS WELL .... BUT STILL WE ARE CHASING BENAYOUN AND DARJIO SRNA .........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Term-X 7,891]

Kakuta needs to be molded into a first team player in all competitions never mind the carling cup, although yes the others such as bruma, borini and co need to be playing in next seasons carling cup and fa cup fixtures. If joe cole does leave i hope carlo resists the temptation to buy anyone because kakuta and stoch are more than capable of asserting themselves.

[True_Blue 469]

Totally agree mate,we have some really good players that every team would like to have.We had so much trouble after we signed Kakuta and if we don't play him it is madness.And the young Stoch had a brilliant loan season with Twente were he won the national championship,and had a good very good scoring record.Good youth but not using it,get rid of the old bags first in line Ballack.He can manage to play a year or two more in the Bundes Liga stop giving him a huge wage since he is useless.

[Rubber bullets 1,183]

In my opinion Sturridge, Stoch and Matic should be prioritized into being molded in the first team, next season they will be 21, 21 and 22 respectively, the age where they can easily be ripe for molding in a team's system.

Edited June 3, 2010 by sam81292

[Kostas 1,468]

Having almost 10 different managers in the last decade certainly hasn't helped our youth.It will be interesting to see how will Ancelotti handle this situation.

If we let Stoch leave though it would mean that other kids won't make it.

[ZanSnake 1,211]

I think the lack of harmony and stability in the last couple of seasons has kind of stopped the development of some players, or at least stumbled them. I think under Carlo we will have a coach who would be here for a long length of time and will bring the players that are ready to step up during the that period of time.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

The biggest hindrance to the success of our youth players is the demand for instant success by Abramovich. This means that the manager must always play his strongest eleven because he always has to win! If we had the patience that Arsenal had towards the progression of their youth then we'd have no problem; but we actually want to win trophies! We're just going to be very patient and our youngsters are going to have to do the same.

[Cameron 30]

The youth team up to 18 or so have done very well in recent years. It's that gap between 18-first team squad that's not being filled at the moment.

Edited June 4, 2010 by Cameron

[zolayes 14,489]

The youth team up to 18 or so has done very well in recent years. It's that gap between 18-first team squad that's not being filled at the moment.

major problem is lack of enough reserve team fixtures ...I would like to see many more ..even friendlies against championship or league 1 sides

[We Hate Scouse 10,326]

major problem is lack of enough reserve team fixtures ...I would like to see many more ..even friendlies against championship or league 1 sides

Agreed. The reserves played 16 games this season which is no where near enough. I'd like to see something similar to the Spanish set up implemented, where the reserves teams play in the senior leagues, but cannot play in the same league as the there team.

[Badboy 1,526]

Agreed. The reserves played 16 games this season which is no where near enough. I'd like to see something similar to the Spanish set up implemented, where the reserves teams play in the senior leagues, but cannot play in the same league as the there team.

Chelsea reserves would come top of the championship with man utd and arsenal 2 and 3rd, that would means no premiership teams would be relegated and no championship teams would get promoted.

[We Hate Scouse 10,326]

Chelsea reserves would come top of the championship with man utd and arsenal 2 and 3rd, that would means no premiership teams would be relegated and no championship teams would get promoted.

Surely you would just promote the 2 below those that cannot be promoted and then have a play off with the others. I don't believe this would be the case anyway, the Championship is very competitive.

[Swoopz 183]

So much for youth. Someone needs to tell our club that the key to success for a promising youth is to not sell them off. I cant believe this.

[zolayes 14,489]

Agreed. The reserves played 16 games this season which is no where near enough. I'd like to see something similar to the Spanish set up implemented, where the reserves teams play in the senior leagues, but cannot play in the same league as the there team.

that was suggested by Wenger a couple of years ago and got no support ..would be good for the top yeams tho

[Swoopz 183]

that was suggested by Wenger a couple of years ago and got no support ..would be good for the top yeams tho

That would be a great idea, but obviously, only supported by teams with strong reserve squads.

[Bazza 12 1]

I suspect that we may be forced to promote more youth players due to financial presures.

A couple of points, though:-

1. We can't just assume that the players are good enough - many players look good at 16 and then don't make it. Youth players have to be very sensitively managed - they are just boys after all. A bad experience or two can wreck their confidence. I remember both Jody Morris and Mark Nicholls being hailed as great prospects in their time......and they did get some first team action too.

2. If we continue the line of thinking that says "use the cups as training projects" we further devalue those competitions. In my opinion, Arsenal should already be banned from them, as they clearly don't think they matter - and as this goes further, we'll soon find that nobody bothers to attend - admission prices are already reduced massively. The Carling Cup will become the Youth Cup, and the FA Cup - the reserves cup - lacks some appeal, doesn't it?

Although I want the best outcome for Chelsea, I really think the whole system around youth football is bad - for the players and for the game. Clubs should not "own" boys at all. What hapens to all the rejects each year - do we ever hear about them - do we care, even? I would if it were my son.