Jesus fudgeing Christ do I have to preface any tiny criticism of Poch on here with "I actually like the guy, I want him here for the next years"?
Kane started the previous 6 league games scoring 3 times and getting two assists before Poch arrived and stuck him on the bench in the league for 3 months and give him 96 minutes over 10 games.
The issue with Veljkovic though is the type of players the academy was set up to produce. It produces players with technical ability who are very comfortable in possession.
Is this what Poch wants? Would he rather a physically strong player with lots of pace instead?
We are producing Carrolls and Veljkovics. Would Poch rather Alli's and N'Jie's instead?
I can see us continuing to produce good players not really suited to his system.
Jesus hasn't got anything to do with it!
. As for having to preface every criticism, I don't think you can blame people for thinking that you don't like the guy, but now that you have said it, I will not think any different. I assumed that you do not like him because you use phrases like "Even fudging Redknapp" gave youngsters more of a chance.
Kane did start the last games that Sherwood was in charge for, which coincided with us not having anything to play for. I think you would agree that Sherwood did not prefer to play Kane in his full XI. Regardless of whether Poch dropped him to the bench, Kane's run of form started with Poch and Kane, Mason, Winks and the other youngsters have praised Poch for the way he is helping them develop. He's brought on Onomah in important games.
I'm not sure that our academy is set up to produce a certain type of player either. We hardly have a lot else to compare Veljkovic with to really come to any conclusion, but it is a guess to think that Poch prefers stronger players with lots of pace. Perhaps Poch just doesn't rate him full stop. Perhaps Poch just doesn't want to play him because the kid thinks and acts better than he is. Perhaps Poch doesn't want to play anyone if they're not committed to the team. All conjecture. What we do know is that Winks, Onomah and Carrol have been getting in the squads, and actually the aforementioned 3 alongside Pritchard have been training with the first team squad rather than training with the U21s. That's quite a statement in itself do you not agree?
Does Poch prefer Alli or N'Jie compared to Carroll or Veljkovic. Well, they do play in different positions, but the evidence suggests that he does. However, is that not the right answer. Hasn't Alli proved himself a more capable midfielder than Carroll or Vejkovic? So what's wrong that he does? As I said in my post, Poch's role is to push through Academy players only if they are ready. He had no need to push through Alli, but did so because he obviously saw something.
I also don't agree that Redknapp gave youngsters more of a chance than Poch. Firstly the stats that you have produced is what 3+ years of Redknapp v 1 and a bit years of Poch. Secondly, Redknapp played them in games he didn't really give a crap about without it actually resulting in proper first team opportunities.
