...the right blend of youth and experience

[david in sweden]

...that much-vaunted phrase I can recall Ted Bates reciting over-and-over again..... MANY years ago, and his way of creating a " balanced side ".

Back in the late 1950's, Ted had his own " youth system " which started with young talents like Paine, Sydenham and Chadwick....and with the stability of " seniors " like Page, Traynor and Reeves.

 

In the 60's, blossoming talents like; David Webb and Martin Chivers came into sides that were steadied by older heads like; Stuart Williams, Peter Rodrigues and Tony Knapp.

 

the 70's saw the emergence of Channon, Steve Williams, Malcolm Waldron and Nick Holmes, coupled with the experience of Alan Ball, Chris Nicholl and the Boyer / MacDougall combo.

 

The 80's were McMenemey's " finest hour " ....and his particular brand of " old heads and young legs " and building from the back with legends like Shilton, Watson, Keegan and the evergreen Channon, new names like Wallace, Wright, Stokes and Moran also became " household names ", before the advent of MLT, Shearer, Kenna, etc, etc, ..well we've heard all those names before..

 

..and yet after all those struggling years in the 1990's Prem.days.. ...it almost seems that we forgot about that " balance " that Ted always talked about.

 

NOW..we have what is surely the youngest first team squad most of us can remember.....but suddenly we see one or two " senior figures " suddenly emerging as the new-look " old guard ".

 

Rickie Lambert is more than just a talisman to the team, and Artur Boruc showing a new lease of life at 32 .....and with Fonte and Hooiveld knocking on 30 ..suddenly we have a steadying influence to the side that is still mainly composed of players in their very early 20's.

 

It will be interesting to see in Pochettino brings in some "older heads" when he gets around to buying in his own choices at the end of the season.

[Saint Garrett]

Don't need any old heads, we have the perfect balance IMO. You could argue that despite a few of our players being quite young, they're not inexperienced.

 

Players like Cork, Maya, Rodriguez, Gaston, Morgan & Clyne all have over 100 apps each.

Edited 12 February, 2013 by Saint Garrett

[david in sweden]

Don't need any old heads, we have the perfect balance IMO. You could argue that despite a few of our players being quite young, they're not inexperienced.

 

Players like Cork, Maya, Rodriguez, Gaston, Morgan & Clyne all have over 100 apps each.

 

 

if you're counting apps. YES....but until last August those were in lower divisions than the Prem. and whilst recent performances have been very encouraging it'll take bit more to make an impression on the top half of this division without some depth of real experience.

Aside from Boruc, Steve Davis and Yoshida, the rest of the team has barely a handful of international caps between them. Compare that with the top six sides who have several hundred caps in their squads.

[Saint Garrett]

Our players will only get better. I'm not sure what you're worried about. We have some sensational players here and I'd be more worried about us keeping them than bringing in aging players. Fact is, the majority of the players who are experienced in the premiership, but would also sign for us, probably aren't good enough.

[Olallana]

Well it all depends how fast we want to move forward, and also how the rest of this season turn out.

If we continue a good run this season and end up 11-13th in the table I can see really interesting things happen in the summer. If this happens we will be an interesting club to move to for good players.

In this scenario I can see us get in 3 players aged 25-28 and perhaps 2-3 aged 20-24.

 

My dream would be a first choice CB, preferrably one like Astori. A CM like Biglia. A winger like Lens.

Then covers at LB, RB and striker (my dream Ricky can Wolfswinkle, and not just because of the name).

[Badger]

Never mind the youth and experience, "old heads, and young legs" whatever you wish to call it, I think we need to determine who are the "violinists" and who are "the dustbin men" as Lawrie once categorised the perfect squad.

[Saint Charlie]

Good post Davie.

 

I think we have a great mix now. Best thing is the young players mostly have a lot of experience. Players like Clyne, Cork, Morgan, AL have played over 600 league games between them.

[david in sweden]

Never mind the youth and experience, "old heads, and young legs" whatever you wish to call it,

 

I think we need to determine who are the "violinists" and who are "the dustbin men" as Lawrie once categorised the perfect squad.

 

 

actually Badger, I recall he used to call them " road-sweepers " .....but never mind.

 

Certainly Rickie is " first violin " ....but I think the other place is up for grabs....Rodriguez?...or Puncheon, maybe Lallana when he gets his old form back.?