The youngsters

[Jram]

13 hours ago, G-Ram said:

We over rate them because they came through the academy. 

If we signed bird from another club he'd be getting well slagged off For sideways passing. 

For me Watson looks better on the ball than bird. In my opinion he's a better footballer. Bird is just a steady squad player at the moment, dont think he should be a starter.

Buchanan Is a class above the rest that came through & looks like he'd go on to play prem football.

Sibley got off to a flyer but again isnt as good as we think. 

Knight just an average championship player. Brings a lot of energy & i like him. Just think we rate them all too highly & put a lot of pressure on them. I hope they all play and get better as footballers & reach their potential with us.

Just some fans want everyone to be the next will hughes and in truth he isnt that good. Being bigged up as a future england prospects. 

In fairness, it’s not just the fact they’re “ours”. Most of those lads were national champions at U18s level two years ago, beating an arsenal team containing Bukayo Saka, Joe Willock etc in the North v South final. 

There’s every reason to think they’re some of the best young players in the country, they’re just unlucky our first team squad is so reliant on them 

[Ghost of Clough]

13 hours ago, G-Ram said:

We over rate them because they came through the academy. 

If we signed bird from another club he'd be getting well slagged off For sideways passing. 

For me Watson looks better on the ball than bird. In my opinion he's a better footballer. Bird is just a steady squad player at the moment, dont think he should be a starter.

Buchanan Is a class above the rest that came through & looks like he'd go on to play prem football.

Sibley got off to a flyer but again isnt as good as we think. 

Knight just an average championship player. Brings a lot of energy & i like him. Just think we rate them all too highly & put a lot of pressure on them. I hope they all play and get better as footballers & reach their potential with us.

Just some fans want everyone to be the next will hughes and in truth he isnt that good. Being bigged up as a future england prospects. 

I'd argue the opposite. Some fans don't feel they've earned their place and are in the team just becuase they're from the academy, give them abuse and call Bird a sideways passer as a result.

Take Huddersfield as an example. Bird was the only starting midfielder to have put in a 'key pass' (Sibley the only other during the game). He was one of just 3 midfielders to have had a shot during the game too (Sibley and Lawrence the others). However, talk after the game was of him being too negative, passing sideways and always hiding behind the opposition. Last season people said he wasn't contributing defensively, yet he was statistically almost identical to Shinnie.

[angieram]

This is spot on  @Jram and @Ghost of Cloughand I've said it several times before. 

We undervalue our own talent. 

The issue for me is two-fold: 

- finding the right balance between academy and experience

- giving them enough of a run in the side to prove their worth. (You could see how nervous some of them were on Tuesday night, takes a while to play your way out of that. )

 

[Dean (hick) Saunders]

The main problem is team overall has been playing poorly and not getting results. Then the easy option is (for fans) to jump to the Alan Hansen analogy and look only at what the kids are doing in matches, not all the players.

Conversely I think when the team is playing well it might be put all down to the “Wunder Kids”. (Too much credit)

Bottom line it is down to everyone to do their job well, young or not.

[Yani P]

I think one problem is people watch these young lads play and critique them as finished article mature professional players. They will make mistakes, for some just playing in front of these crowds is a new experience. We will have some ready, some close to it and a few potential late bloomers. 

 If we get behind them we might well be surprised at how many top players come out of the end process. These are unique times for these lads, like Rooney said midweek..the team he played would qualify for an U23 league game and they beat a league 2 team. Yet there were many comments of it was only Salford. 

I can't have this..championship player at best, league 2 standard etc etc. Let's wait and see the development first. In some ways this fast track to first team might be the making of some of these lads..for some it might be a step too far at this time.

Rooney knows this he constantly talks about protecting them, being careful with their development, all good signs. And don't forget it is a path that he has trodden himself as a teen superstar player.

Edited August 13, 2021 by Yani P

[Van der MoodHoover]

7 minutes ago, Yani P said:

 If we get behind them we might well be surprised at how many top players come out of the end process. These are unique times for these lads, like Rooney said midweek..the team he played would qualify for an U23 league game and they beat a league 2 team. Yet there were many comments of it was only Salford. 

Yet it is to teams just like Salford that a number of people say our U23s should be loaned to "man up" and get experience of "proper" football.....

[Leeds Ram]

It's a bit of an unknown as to how these lads will develop and whether they'll be good enough for us either this season or in the future. Even young players who look great and start well can quickly drop off in their development; one example that springs to mind is ac clough who used to play for Bolton. He looked like a serious prospect at a young age with lovely technique, great balance, and appeared to be very difficult for defenders to handle. He's now playing for Carlisle United in the 4th tier... 

I do think we've got some good young players coming through but we shouldn't be relying on them in the league for me. As others have said the club needs some help in the player department if we want to be competitive, that's not saying these lads aren't talented but realistically if we're using our academy talent too much that'll likely come back and bite us. Ideally, I'd say players like ebsoele, watson etc. need a bit more development before regularly starting games as some have suggested. It's hard to judge a performance against a league 2 team and how that translates to a championship fixture, I'm going off what I saw against Huddersfield really. 

[DarkFruitsRam7]

23 hours ago, IslandExile said:

There are those that criticise the club on occasion and with very good reason.

There are those that criticise the club at every possible turn, seizing any opportunity to have another dig.

Thank whatever higher deity you like that there are people like @Ghost of Clough and @angieram around who are the voices of reason, who are able to judge each issue on its relative merits and comment rationally, calmly and logically.

I think @Ghost of Clough and @angieram are both great, but I personally feel they could be stronger on the club and Mel sometimes. That's the nature of opinions though.

Agreed that constant and random digs are unnecessary.

Edited August 13, 2021 by DarkFruitsRam7

[Premier ram]

This is a big season for Max Bird , a chance to nail down a place in the first eleven and work towards becoming a future Derby County captain , he has all the tools in his locker to make a success of his career and hopefully the Premier League with the Rams , i for one think Max will grow in stature this season and some fans will realise what a good footballer Max is

[GangwayD]

One of the positives about this whole situation is the young talent which has recently come through our academy and it's status, which is one thing Mel could be praised for.   

Some have already been sold (Bogle, Lowe etc) and I think WR is very lucky to have so many at his disposal.  I'm old enough to remember when Alex Ferguson was about to be sacked by Man United had they not beaten Notts Forest in an FA Cup game.   He'd spent millions on dross in his early days but they won that match and went on to lift the Cup and the class of 92 matured shortly after, all at the same time from their academy and the rest is history. 

I'm not for a minute suggesting our lads are on a par with them, but can you imagine where we would be if we didn't have this young talent available.  

Of course they are all raw, make mistakes and are still learning and I think some fans forget just how young they are.  I'm not sure how much they will benefit from trying to carve a career in a struggling Championship side.  It could be a case of they will sink or swim.  It must also be a delight for the senior pro's having them around, although I accept we need a few more of those.

I do quite like the fact they are coming through together so will know each others game.  Physically they may struggle but the added joy it will bring us if they become successful together - the Derby babes !

Cheers for now

Gangway D from the terrace 

 

Edited August 13, 2021 by GangwayD