Like so many sports, football is about movement and making space.
The better the team, the easier it is for young players to integrate.
We, however, are asking too much of so many younger players. The pressure gets to them and mistakes inevitably occur.
Some of the crowd then go all mardy and unreasonably get on their backs – confidence ebbs away. Vicious circles and all that.
How many times in recent seasons have we played a side fielding as many youngsters and inexperienced players as we are currently doing? – I do not know the answer but would wager a hefty sum that there would be fingers spare on a single hand.
The only upside to all of this is that in, hopefully a majority of cases, these horrific last two seasons will have left a a hefty handful of young uns battle-hardened.
I go out of my way to support youngsters. Over many seasons – the only young player I had no time for was Hakeeb – and that for not regularly using his abundant talents to best effect.
