When to put the faith in the kids and let them play.

I am managing Leeds and am in the start of the 5th season. I have invested a lot in youth and now quite a few of these kids are now 19/20 years old and have good stats. The big question is how to throw them in the deep end, i think at some stage you have to make the call.

I have about 40m in the transfer kitty and could easily buy some established class players but if i did these kids would not get the oppurtunity at the top level they would just stay in the reserves or get loans out. So this year i have saved my transfer kitty aside from 1 or 2 signings and am putting my faith in the kids.

For example i need a better left back and could get one easily but a have a kid with CA 120 PA 184 so i am going to play him to see if he has got what it takes.

I think its a risk but i think at some point you have to play the kids.

Has anyone out there been faced with the same dilema?

I am always facing this dilemma since I manage in the lower leagues of Europe and at the moment I have my 35 year old defender retiring at the end of the season which is going to hurt us a lot. Not to mention we have a transfer budget of 2K and I have some major bargaining to do if I am to buy someone at all. I have picked up an 18 year old Comoros defender who has promising stats so I will have to sub him on every other game and give him full game time soon in order to ease him into the first-team squad and hopefully he can fill the gap that will be made after my veteran retires. Although I love it when you find a gem player and after putting all your effort and time in him, he turns out to be one of your star players and all the hard work and nerve wrecking decisions have paid off.

Apart from the transfer kitty differences, I'm in a similar situation as you.

always rotate the kids into your competitive games. i like giving them a 5-10 minutes every game

when you actually know his PA is 184 I wouldn't say its that much of a risk

He wont reach that PA if you dont play him though. Give him a start, then a rest, then game after have him come off the bench so on. So hopefully he can get 10 starts in the season if he cant hold down a place.

Blood them in slowly during this comming season.

When you know a game is won bring them on to get some game experience. I also do what Wenger does, I use the carling cup as a reserve team competition to allow my youngsters to gain some valuable first team experience. The ones that shine will start to appear more towards the end of the season against opposition that pose little or no real threat to a victory.

trouble is mate, soon as you play them and they start to do well. all the big teams will come sniffing. half of them will probebly want to leave you.

give them chanse against weak opponents home games and non important games at end of seson

and use as subs when u are up 2-3 goals end of games

this way your left back will be worldclass in 2-3 seson

remember to tutor him all the time. make sure he gets very high detarmination and runs with ball down the left and a few other good ppm+s from your veterans. ifu dont have acces to those consider buying in an veteran left back age 30-31 with those to tutor your future star LB

a player under tutoring increase ca about 3 times as fast according to my games.atm i have an ca 149/pa199 left back age 17 in my squad. drenthe,taiwo and urby have all been tutoring him hehe

trouble is mate' date=' soon as you play them and they start to do well. all the big teams will come sniffing. half of them will probebly want to leave you.[/quote']

I guess that's just the reality that real managers have to deal with.

I would normally sub the youngster at around 60 min, or start him while against some lower league team.

As Wayne\'o said, there will be a risk of attracting interest from bigger team, but in my experience with Colchester, as long as you play him regularly, using the right team talk and media comment, he will be happy to stay. Even more he might have you as his favour person ;-)

If you throw a youngster into the deep end, asking them to start too many high-profile games too young, you'll get them "Feeling the Pressure of Public Expectation".

I recommend a path something like this:

Year 0: loaned out to the Championship

Year 1: plenty of action off the bench, esp. late in games you are winning. Also starts Cup ties against lower-division competition, and gets frequent Reserve starts.

Year 2: "In rotation", as a clear #2, starting about 33%-40% of your games while a veteran starts the remainder. Tends to start low-pressure games, e.g., at home, vs a relegation battler, etc.

Year 3: Still "In rotation", but now taking perhaps 50%-60% of your games, depending how well he's doing. Start giving him more critical matches, esp. tough, late-round Cup games.

Year 4: Starter, perhaps 67%-90% of your games, including all crucial matches.