6-1 at Grimsby!
This is getting beyond a joke.
Grimsby ( non-league lets not forget), had a mixture of experienced pros and youngsters. We had mainly first year pros.
It’s embarassing, and totally unacceptable.
I was massively in favour of re-joining the reserve leagues, but there’s no value if fringe players can’t ( or won’t) get involved.
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Exactly why are the likes of Bates , perry , rose , mills etc not getting abit of game whilst also making these games more competitive. Must be soul destroying for these young lads getting well beaten every time they play .
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Agreed…the only possible reason I can think of is that we are “protecting” our fringe players as much as we can in case of a COVID outbreak at the club. The young lads lose heavily in the Youth League and to put them without some more experienced players in these games must be soul destroying.
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You may well be right . Hadn’t thought about the bubbles they may have to stay in.
Reserves are 3-0 down after half an hour against Preston…
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5-0 now, this is not doing the kids any favours.
It’s criminal to keep putting them through this.
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Exactly what I was going to say. We’re seriously ruining our young players here. And also where are Leak, Bates, Shade Perry, Rose? Isn’t that the point of “reserves”? Literally to keep your reserve players match fit. Maybe Mills wouldn’t have been quite as God awful if he’d played any football in the build up to being thrown in. Shay Willock isn’t even in the squad!
I’d even throw Osedebe in there if he’s properly been dropped.
As said previously because they are in a different ‘bubble’ which is why they are not being played.
We should either forfeit the games or forfeit our place in the league (if there is one), and let the kids continue to play against other kids
The disparities between the first team and sides that are being put out for supposedly reserve matches is massive. We’re just playing our scholars aren’t we?
Massive changes are needed especially if we’re looking to structure a pathway from youth to first team then how it’s going at the moment we seem to be seriously in trouble.
Surely the fringe players should be involved? Bates, Perry, Willock, Rose, Leak etc or is it because of the small squad these are not risked?
The bubble reasoning must be why it’s this way isn’t it?
I’ve never heard that you need to bubble individual squads within your squad.
They were definitely doing bubbles last season. I don’t know whether they continued from the start of this season, or whether bubbling has been re-introduced as a result of omicron.
Surely all other clubs would have to do that too? If that’s the case, and it’s youngsters pasting us every week, that is even more concerning.
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It’s a case of doing everything on the cheap again, fielding a team of Scholars on £45 a week against seasoned pros… clubs rotten
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It was Huddersfield youth team aswell
This has got to be addressed NOW.
The club is getting away with murder, and if they’re using Covid bubbles as an excuse, it’s not acceptable.
I’m of the opinion that fringe players may be refusing to play for the reserves for whatever reason, but the fact that no-one at the club has addressed this issue publically, leads me to think they don’t want fans to know the truth.
I say things as they are, and I’m not afraid of upsetting the heirarcy at the club.So, if I’m mistaken in my view, I’ll hold my hands up and apologise, but Leigh, Matt, Jamie & Co need to convince us all that we’re not all being taken for mugs here.
What a disgrace this club has become!
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Watched them last summer away at Rushall and they were bullied for 90 minutes. All of them apart from Ronan Maher and the keeper, Jackson? were years away from playing first team football, it’s not good that they’re getting battered 5-0 every week.
The days of producing the likes of Deeney, Paterson, Henry etc are long gone.
Why would they need to explain anything?? Its obvious that it’s covid related that no 1st team squad is in the reserves… Think the problem here is we lost to Preston youth team and continue to lose to other teams youth… where are we picking these players up from
May as well scrap the academy system and youth system at Walsall. It’s delivering nothing.
I’m for adopting the Crawley system. Pick up non league gems and cast offs from the other local academy’s like Villa etc. Polish a few up. Yes there will be loads that don’t work but some will and surely that’s a better idea than throwing around all this money to achieve nothing
As I mentioned when they lost to Grimsby reserves, the opposition was not solely made up of youth players. Some experienced first team back-up players were also involved. If first teamers and youth team players can’t mix, how do you explain that?
Because it’s a club decision to bubble, not a league directive.