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As Alan Hansen once said "You cannot win anything with kids", have you done it?


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Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone has won major competitions using a team mainly of kids ?

I am currently playing as Celtic and 8 of my first teamers are 21 or under. It's early in the season yet, but I'm top of the league and still in with a shout in all cup competitions.

Post any screenshots to show trophies won and ages and stats of players in the team.

Would be good to prove Alan wrong...

Cheers,

Kev

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Did league and champs double with Arsenal in second season with a team of average age of 21.

In the third season did an FA Cup, World Club Cup, Champs League and second in the Prem with an average age of 20!

I refuse to buy anyone over the age of 26 and blood the youngsters soon as possible. Aaron Ramsey has gone beastingly good!

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It's not so much bugged as it has to base it's calculation on something and basing it on who just happens to be listed in your first team squad at the time isn't very good either. It's a statistic - statistics can always be argued numerous ways.

If it was based only on who is in your first team squad at any given moment you'd have 13 year old kids coming on here bragging that they won the EPL with a team of 16 year olds because they put everyone apart from 16 year olds in the reserves at the last game of the season and selected their team from there....and lo and behold their squad average age suddenly says 16!

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I won the last 3 matches of the Portuguese League and all of the 2 cups matches (National and League Cup) with an U-17 squad (except for Di Maria (21) and Pedro Leon (21-22)). :D

My main team (average 23 or 24) only plays in league matches and the CL :p

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It's not so much bugged as it has to base it's calculation on something and basing it on who just happens to be listed in your first team squad at the time isn't very good either. It's a statistic - statistics can always be argued numerous ways.

If it was based only on who is in your first team squad at any given moment you'd have 13 year old kids coming on here bragging that they won the EPL with a team of 16 year olds because they put everyone apart from 16 year olds in the reserves at the last game of the season and selected their team from there....and lo and behold their squad average age suddenly says 16!

But it was like that on FM08

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I've done it in the past, but my gut tells me that too many youngsters in 09 would be detrimental. My League 1 Lincoln side just got promoted to the Championship in season 3 and my main striker (a 19-year old Argentine) seemed to feel the pressure when we made our big late season push. I usually use young players in a rotation, but he was one that had to start since my team struggled to score. As the season drew to a close, he seemed to buckle under the pressure and it wasn't something that was noted in his coach's report, so I'm chalking it up to his youth.

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I have won every minor trophy and league with an entire team of under 21's in the English Leagues in various editions of FM and CM before that. Not done the FA Cup, League Cup or Premier League or European trophies.

It's actually easier in the lower leagues using youngsters then established stars in my opinion, they want less money and cost less to buy and you can sell them on for a massive profit and sell on fee. Once you hit the top leagues it becomes harder as you actually need good technical stats as well as physical stats that let you dominate lesser leagues.

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Alan Hansen obviously has never heard of the Busby Babes, how peculiar.

LOL. Maybe he conveniently forgot about them due to his Liverpool links :-)

I am still doing well in the league with Celtic but am struggling with the kids in Europe, am bottom of the group of Milan, Valencia, Villa and ourselves with one game to go, best I can hope for is Euro Cup...so perhaps Alan was right after all.

I guess experience does have an advantage over young raw talent. Perhaps that should be the case...more experience, better decision making.

Should a team of kids struggle to win in FM also given that history in real life doesn't have too many examples of youthful teams winning major trophies ?

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I have some really good youngsters- I'll look to blood them in soon and win some titles. However, first I want to try and win the CL with my current squad as I love them- once we've done that, they'll play for the big European clubs and my youngsters will take over.

My current side:

GK- 19

DR- 21

DC- 27

DC- 19

DL-20

AMR- 20

MC- 25

MC- 27

AML- 19

ST- 24

ST- 24

Average age: 22.45

My strongest current side with all fit:

GK:19

DR: 26

DC: 27

DC: 24

DL: 28

AMR: 20

MC: 25

MC: 27

AML: 24

ST: 24

ST: 24

Average age: 24

So whilst I have a young side anyway, I want it to be closer to 20.

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providing your young stars have aged quickly and they have a high consistancy stat then you will win any thing with the right tactic.

I agree Wayne. My main first team ages are as follows:

GK 19

DR 18

DL 18

CD 18

CD 31

ML 24

MC 25

MC 19

MR 18

FC 24

FC 21

I am able to play the youngsters from the very beginning because they are still achieving average ratings of around 7 a game. So as a result I found myself dropping older players with higher CA that have reached their peak and playing the youngsters who have a higher PA.

I did keep one 31 year old in the team though to be captain and provide some experience.

Given that I'm 8 points clear in the league, albeit at the half way stage I'm going to continue that way. I'm playing as Celtic so winning the league is hardly ground-breaking, but playing as them in a less competitive league means I'm able to do this.

I spent almost all of my transfer funds this season and last on youngsters as I could only occassionally attract higher-profile players to the club, so this was easier....

Congrats to all those that have done well with youth by the way. Can't help feeling like Wenger must do..

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Off topic but Alan Hansen was actually right when he said that, Uniteds experienced players, especially Schmeichel & Cantona won United the league that season

That's exactly right !!

I also remember David O'Leary talking about his kids too. He did well, but they just didn't quite get there..

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I feel you absolutely need some experience in the side. Also if your all playing with sides with an average age of 23 or lower, surely your constantly playing with players who have not yet reached their peak!? Surely players at the peak of their ability would generally perform better than young players still developing. I feel a balance is needed, without the experienced 30+ players, who do you have to tutor the youngsters ? IMO you gain absolutely nothing by having a squad with a low average age, or packing it with wonderkids.

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I feel you absolutely need some experience in the side. Also if your all playing with sides with an average age of 23 or lower, surely your constantly playing with players who have not yet reached their peak!? Surely players at the peak of their ability would generally perform better than young players still developing. I feel a balance is needed, without the experienced 30+ players, who do you have to tutor the youngsters ? IMO you gain absolutely nothing by having a squad with a low average age, or packing it with wonderkids.

How much difference does tutoring make with regards to helping players reach their PA ?

Does anyone know if someone has done some research in to who peforms better....a team of high CA youngsters vs a team of older players with slightly lower CA ?

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My first 11 that won the league last 2 seasons:

Figueroa - 18

Malatesta - 20

Turdo - 21

Jose - 20

Gusarov - 17

Renato Augusto - 25

Tena - 19

Annunziata - 20

Charbonnel - 21

Bah - 20

Keirrison - 24

So the first season it was 20.45, can't be bothered to work out the second lot lol. Although my squad do tend to get beaten in european cup finals so the premiership is the only one I've won of major note.

Team's average age overall is 23.

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Francisco Couto - 16

Gregory Gorbunov - 15

Francesco Rossi - 17

Kyriakos Papadopoulos - 17

Miguel Vitor - 21

José Lopes - 17

Pedro Leon - 21

Jan Christensen - 16

Iñigo Franco - 16

Rafael Martin - 16

Francisco Martins - 16

This was my squad for the League Cup, Portuguese Cup and a couple of League matches :D (sometimes Id replace Miguel Vitor with a crap DC from the U-18 squad)

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