Burnley Game

comment by LIW Radchancer (U8453)
posted 10 hours, 21 minutes ago
Clarke got loads of time under bielsa.

Struijk Plays loads, shacks if not injured would have played a lot more.

The reason he’s not using the kids is because at the moment, they aren’t good enough, and might never be.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

That’s true but then if he knows they aren’t good enough why has Poveda gone out on loan?

There’s a middle ground here. It’s a big step up and they probably won’t set the world on fire when they come on. But giving a couple of them 15 minutes here and there at the end of last season could only have helped them.

He had plenty of occasions to just bring Gotts on for 5 minutes instead of taking him to 20 odd games and leaving him on the bench. Bielsa admitted he felt guilty for this.

As for Clarke having watched a fair bit of the Spurs v Leeds u23 game, he’s now no where near the standard of our players. He’s blown it completely.

Clarke has just come back from an achilles injury which put him out for months.

Of course he isint going to be up to speed...

comment by LIW Radchancer (U8453)
posted 11 hours ago
Clarke got loads of time under bielsa.

Struijk Plays loads, shacks if not injured would have played a lot more.

The reason he’s not using the kids is because at the moment, they aren’t good enough, and might never be.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Have you seen much of the U23's Wakey? My guess is probably not.
At this point, Summerville is certainly playing better than Costa.
I am not talking about him starting, but he is more than overdue minutes.

comment by Mattyp (U8926)
posted 24 minutes ago
Clarke has just come back from an achilles injury which put him out for months.

Of course he isint going to be up to speed...
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Didn’t take that into consideration, fair enough.

comment by Elsbels - The Specials' One (U21658)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by LIW Radchancer (U8453)
posted 11 hours ago
Clarke got loads of time under bielsa.

Struijk Plays loads, shacks if not injured would have played a lot more.

The reason he’s not using the kids is because at the moment, they aren’t good enough, and might never be.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Have you seen much of the U23's Wakey? My guess is probably not.
At this point, Summerville is certainly playing better than Costa.
I am not talking about him starting, but he is more than overdue minutes.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

You don’t know that. Honestly the step up his huge and you’re underestimating Costa.

I’m not saying Summerville shouldn’t come on ahead of Costa, but no way do you know that Summerville is playing better than him. We could do with giving him a go at some point and finding out. But until then we as fans don’t know

comment by HaveFaithInLeeds (U8688)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Mattyp (U8926)
posted 24 minutes ago
Clarke has just come back from an achilles injury which put him out for months.

Of course he isint going to be up to speed...
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Didn’t take that into consideration, fair enough.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
That said, he was hardly noticeable for their U23's on Monday.

Bielsa must think Summerville is close or we would have surely signed another winger and not loaned out Poveda?

My point stands

Bielsa hasn’t been afraid of playing youngsters.

That’s my point

I agree Wakey he has brought through Struijk and Meslier and Clarke as well, I doubt Shackleton would have got much more game time, injured or not, as he is another utility player who can fill a variety of roles but isn't quite good enough to hold down a position of his own.
I seriously think that Bielsa has become blinkered in his thinking regarding substitutions, he cannot see past his inner circle, I flag up Costa because he is the obvious weak link.
I think at the moment, Bielsa often makes the safe decision in relation to substitutions.
Before passing judgement on the U23's, watch Summerville, Drameh, Gelhardt and Greenwood in action. They are more than good enough. Watch them and I think you will agree.
If you don't have time to watch a full game watch some highlights, Greenwood's goal against Derby on Friday for example was a thing of beauty.
I think part of the problem for the best U23's isn't that they aren't good enough but who they need to replace Summerville's issue, for example, isn't that he is not good enough but that he plays out on the wing and a choice between him and Rapha is no brainer.

Bielsa doesn’t change from his preferred 11 often but which manager would if there best 11 stayed fit, agree though if a player is good enough they will force there way into the group and these kids need to this season, Smith, Kewell, Woodgate, Mcphail, Ferdinand etc were all playing at 19,