Reserves 6-0

[Stranded]

Maybe so but ages of our side

Andersen (18 )

Kelly (17)
Golbourne (19)
P Cox (17)
Pearce (c) (18 )

Karacan (18 )
Sigurdsson (17)
Henry (18 )
Bozanic (17)

Church (18 )
S Cox (20)

Could be wrong with Kelly, P Cox and Sigurdsson but all are in our U18 so assumed they are 17.

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

True but Coppell's never gonna think look how well these guys do against other 18 yr olds, lets get them in the 1st team. Reserve team football is a joke.

[Stranded]

Agreed but it shoes the comparative strength we have. We really need to play one or two of them in the next LC game IMHO.

Would like to see Pearce, Henry and S Cox get a game.

[Hoop Blah]

Agreed but it shoes the comparative strength we have. We really need to play one or two of them in the next LC game IMHO.

Would like to see Pearce, Henry and S Cox get a game.

Agreed.

But I do think we'd see a positive from another short loan spell for the likes of Henry and Pearce.

RR is right about being patient with them as well. It's worth remembering that Beckham didn't really get into the Utd team until he was 20 and Paul Scholes was even older.

Obviously these two were breaking into a much stronger side than ours, but it just shows that the likes of Owen, Rooney and Giggs, who pretty much established themselves at 17, are the exception not the rule.

[The whole year inn]

Stunning result..........Pearce and Cox should surely be playing in the Cup competitions

You're right, Pearcey

[rg6royal]

from what i have seen of cox he is a very good player with the write attitude towards the game. Just waiting to see now when James Henry is given his chance in the first team........

[mini _dariusz]

When will Steve Coppell have the bollocks to play one of the likes of Henry or Pearce instead of the effortless crap I've saw at Swansea the other night.

If James Henry was thrown into the right side position for Saturday he would absolutely relish it. As I see it the way we've performed in the last two games there is absolutely nothing to lose. But no, Coppell would rather play a centre midfielder there. Ridiculous.

[Behindu]

I suspect henry's performance at Forest may have raised a few question marks and delayed his elevation a little while...


Don't know what went wrong there, but it should have been an opportunity for him.

Would love to see him on the bench soon with the chance of a couple of sub appearances to see if he has the mental strength to go with his undoubted ability.

[mini _dariusz]

I suspect henry's performance at Forest may have raised a few question marks and delayed his elevation a little while...

No doubt, I'm not sure if we'll ever know what sort of feedback Reading got back from that move.

However I think that Henry needs his break in the Reading side as I'm not really sure a loan move would benefit him greatly.

[zac naloen]

I suspect henry's performance at Forest may have raised a few question marks and delayed his elevation a little while...


Don't know what went wrong there, but it should have been an opportunity for him.

Would love to see him on the bench soon with the chance of a couple of sub appearances to see if he has the mental strength to go with his undoubted ability.

Did he even get a game a Forest?

[mini _dariusz]

I suspect henry's performance at Forest may have raised a few question marks and delayed his elevation a little while...


Don't know what went wrong there, but it should have been an opportunity for him.

Would love to see him on the bench soon with the chance of a couple of sub appearances to see if he has the mental strength to go with his undoubted ability.

Did he even get a game a Forest?

A 3 minute sub appearance.

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

I still think he was sent to Forest to prove a point. You see reserve team football means nothing. But then what else can Pearce and Cox, who did well on loan actually do?

[Behindu]

And the loan terminated early despite Forest waxing lyrical about signing him !

[mini _dariusz]

Henry also had a niggling injury towards the end of last season that may have contributed to his failure at Forest.

[TBM]

Henry is looking good

Yeah.

A friend of mine works with his father, he is proud as punch, can't wait to pack up work and be supported by his Premier League playing son.

Lucky B*****d

His father used to play in the same team as me at Woodley Saints, a few years back and its also where James played

[BR2]

I think everyone else on here feels the same way about this Premier Reserves football.
When we first became part of it the official line from the club was all about the great experience our reserve players would get playing against Premier reserves sides.
The fact is that it is glorified youth team football and these 18 and 19 year-olds have had years of age-group football and don't get contested and learn by playing against seasoned pros.

I don't know what the answer is other than something along the lines of what Mourinho suggested that Premier reserves should perhaps play in Div 2 and then have rules similar to local amateur football whereby towards the end of the season you can't bring in the big guns to try to win trophies unless they have played a number of games already.
There are problems if a reserve team gets promoted and presumably there would have to be a limit of no promotion beyond The Championship.
I am sure there is a way that it could work especially with the huge gap now between Reserves and first teams where haphazard loaning of players is very hit and miss.
Also clubs could sting us for even more Revenue as the players would probably be paid more.

As things stand I'm not sure that players learn a lot by beating (or losing to)another side of kids particularly as there was only one 6-0 in The Premiership last year but I can't remember by what team and against what opposition but by Saturday I might just remember.

[Andy]

along similar lines to what's been posted, any reserve results have to be kept in an even greater sense of perspective, following our promotion to the Prem.

Reason - many clubs, such as arsenal, categorically have a policy of not playing any squad players in their reserve teams, unless they are coming back from long term injury. hence the reserve sides are usually, academy younsters that are not even registered to play competive, 1st team football at any level.

not sure why this is. maybe risk of injury to a highly paid squad player is just too great at prem league level.

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

along similar lines to what's been posted, any reserve results have to be kept in an even greater sense of perspective, following our promotion to the Prem.

Reason - many clubs, such as arsenal, categorically have a policy of not playing any squad players in their reserve teams, unless they are coming back from long term injury. hence the reserve sides are usually, academy younsters that are not even registered to play competive, 1st team football at any level.

not sure why this is. maybe risk of injury to a highly paid squad player is just too great at prem league level.

Yet all the top 4's managers complain loudest about the quality yet it's their fault. Reserve team football wasn't like this before the influx of foreign managers.

[Hoop Blah]

Yet all the top 4's managers complain loudest about the quality yet it's their fault.

Exactly. The best way to solve the problem BR rasied is for clubs to actually use the reserve team in the way Coppell did last year.

That way more reserve teams would involve a regular splattering of first team squad players as well as the best in the clubs youth ranks. The standard would improve and there'd be no need for B teams to be thrown into the lower leagues.

Reserve games will always lack the intensity of proper competitive games though, thats always been the case and always will be. Seeing the likes of Henry, Cox and Pearce competing against good experienced pro's in reserve games will be much more useful than them pitching up against the same old faces they've played coming through the academy though.