I purposefully didn't come on here after the Crawley game because I would not have had a positive word to say about any of them. Before I move on- Casilla, get rid, that was his chance and though it wasn't all his fault he contributed. Costa, just not good enough anymore I'd rather Pablo was in his position.
Now, our 'kids' , we are continually told they are brilliant, putting in great performances etc etc but are they really all that or is it just that they're coached well to beat other naff u23 sides?
Case in point- Casey and Cresswell, I've been hearing all season about these two 'rocks' at the back and I've honestly never seen two worse performances, yes they both were making debuts etc etc but you can usually see at least a glimmer of class and what I saw from Cresswell (I'll forgive as he is only 18 to be fair to him) was him getting mugged off by Malik Wilks who is bang average and Casey....well, I know he is a kid but honestly that 45 minutes was one of the worst I've seen from a centre back he wasn't near to winning anything and cost us two goals. It is probably a bad comparison but when I saw Woodgate debut, you could just see it from the moment he stepped out there that he would be quality, he made mistakes but the rest of his game looked good, it was just obvious he needed games.
Greenwood was an odd one, thought he was coming on as a striker and actually came on in what looked like attacking midfield, though I never noticed.
Jenkins, my god, no presence, passing abysmal. Again, I remember Lewis Cook coming on against Milwall in a game we were losing and you could just see his class
Then I move onto Shackleton and Davis. First Davis, I still don't get the hype, that first half even when we were on top really he was just giving the ball away endlessley? Am I missing something with him? Shackleton, it is high time he starts showing something, I will never doubt the kids effort and passion but for me I just don't see the quality, he isn't good defensively (good turned inside out by a league two winger) and in midfield he isn't particularly good in terms of passing or dribbling. As far as I can tell he is a hard worker, does what he is told and is generally ok passing and making runs.
I think a lot of it is down to them just playing other u23 sides, I think with some of them there comes a point where they've got to start playing proper football against senior pros, I think the bubble with them 'being really good' is masked by the rubbish they're playing against a lot of the time.
I don't want to attack the kids and believe me I hope they turn out good, I'm just left thinking if they're the best options.....is the future really that bright?