14 Apr 2016 07:22:13
Quick question to everyone. Being linked to a lot of young players and watching renato sanches yesterday brought up a question in my mind. Do you guys think it is a good idea to play youngsters out of position? Having seen its impact on Anderson, (who was a huge talent when we signed him- similar to renato), Phil jones, kagawa etc. Makes me think that we tend to buy players and then fit them into what we need. It needs to be the other way around.

{Ed001's Note - it really is nothing to do with that, it comes down to the mentality of the player, whether they make it or not. If they have the right mentality they will learn from the experience gained being played out of position. If they have the wrong mentality, they will just use it as an excuse to fail. Sadly they think in terms of success and failure, in a lot of instances.

Young players are far too mollycoddled and so have no idea how to handle reality when it hits them. They need a harsher environment to toughen them up mentally and to abandon this obsession with results being the be all and end all. They should see results as either they win or they learn, not they win or they lose.

A player with the right attitude will spend their time after a game thinking about what they could have done better, analysing their performance, to find things to work on and improve themselves. That is what separates greats like Ronaldo or even Michael Schumacher and Kobe Bryant from the rest of the field. Players like Beckham, who in reality were extremely limited in their play, turned themselves into top players by doing this. Harry Kane is a recent example, he struggled being played in a number of roles, but knuckled down and learnt from it and worked and worked on his game.

Sorry I got a bit carried away, but in essence, what I am saying is that the mentality of the player is what will decide how far they go, not what position they are played in.}

1.) 14 Apr 2016
14 Apr 2016 09:51:27
Spot on Ed the problem though for us at the moment is having enough top players who are mature and playing well so that they can help and even carry a few youngsters as they do learn.

{Ed001's Note - sometimes kids need to just be thrown in at the deep end to learn.}

2.) 14 Apr 2016
14 Apr 2016 10:37:14
I think you are correct Edd001 but having said that I'm not sure that George Best spent too much time reflecting upon how he could improve! Well, not his football anyway!

{Ed001's Note - but he did spend his entire childhood obsessing over it and working on it.}

3.) 14 Apr 2016
14 Apr 2016 11:29:42
Ed001 this is area as you know where our thinking is completely aligned. I spend a lot of time coaching elite young players and have brought teams to Carrington the ethihad campus and to Chelsea cobham wood training grounds on several occasions. At 15 you can't tell who will make it most often. But you can tell if they have the right mentality to make it.
The 3 players I hold up to any young player to replicate their commitment are Beckham carragher and Neville who all played at a much higher level than their god given talent would have allowed them to, and won everything and had very long careers at the highest level.
A kid with less ability but better attitude will out perform a kid with huge ability but poor attitude always in the long run.
If you have both them you come up with ronaldo or scholes.

{Ed001's Note - spot on mate. Have a look at Cardiff City, their U21 manager, Kevin Nicholls, is under orders to put development ahead of results. Which is now leading to results coming as well anyway.}

4.) 14 Apr 2016
14 Apr 2016 12:54:59
Ken - I don't remember JC winning the league?

5.) 14 Apr 2016
14 Apr 2016 16:04:48
Seven, I think a Champions League medal isn't a bad fall-back :)

6.) 14 Apr 2016
14 Apr 2016 17:02:49
I mean, it's OK sure? Just doesn't really fall under the definition of having won it all.