Back to youth?

[Hibs90]

Does anyone else think we should go back to playing youth? Our team has been nearly stripped of all it's talent, its full of rubbish football players. This season should be written off anyway. Let's give it to the youth. Keep 3 or 4 first-teamers in the first 11 and let the youth shine. I'm not just saying this because when Mowbray did it, it seemed to work. But I'd much rather watch 7 or 8 youngsters fighting and getting better every week than losers like John Rankin. Give Booth, Stephens, Moyes, Hanlon, Wotherspoon, Galbraith etc a chance. Line-up could be;

M. Brown

Hart (Can't think of anyone else)
Stephens
Bamba
Booth

Wotherspoon
Murray
Horner
Galbraith

Riordan
Byrne

For example...

[ahibby]

Does anyone else think we should go back to playing youth? Our team has been nearly stripped of all it's talent, its full of rubbish football players. This season should be written off anyway. Let's give it to the youth. Keep 3 or 4 first-teamers in the first 11 and let the youth shine. I'm not just saying this because when Mowbray did it, it seemed to work. But I'd much rather watch 7 or 8 youngsters fighting and getting better every week than losers like John Rankin. Give Booth, Stephens, Moyes, Hanlon, Wotherspoon, Galbraith etc a chance. Line-up could be;

M. Brown

Hart (Can't think of anyone else)
Stephens
Bamba
Booth

Wotherspoon
Murray
Horner
Galbraith

Riordan
Byrne

For example...

I don't, because to survive in the SPL you need a good bit of experience. Youth teams have a few good games but are well known to be inconsistent. The current Hibs team although experienced in most positions isn't inconsistent it is just poor, but I feel it can pick up when we get a few players back fit.

[Wotherspiniesta]

Does anyone else think we should go back to playing youth? Our team has been nearly stripped of all it's talent, its full of rubbish football players. This season should be written off anyway. Let's give it to the youth. Keep 3 or 4 first-teamers in the first 11 and let the youth shine. I'm not just saying this because when Mowbray did it, it seemed to work. But I'd much rather watch 7 or 8 youngsters fighting and getting better every week than losers like John Rankin. Give Booth, Stephens, Moyes, Hanlon, Wotherspoon, Galbraith etc a chance. Line-up could be;

M. Brown

Hart (Can't think of anyone else)
Stephens
Bamba
Booth

Wotherspoon
Murray
Horner
Galbraith

Riordan
Byrne

For example...

:agree: A mix of the experienced reliable players and the youth players. The way things are going I'd settle for 8th/9th in the table if it means gaining some youngsters more experience. The majority of the current crop are totally devoid of confidence.

http://sport.scotsman.com/hibernianfc/Hibs-ready-to-call-on.6672510.jp

Good to see Welsh on his way back to fitness.

I know that pinning our hopes on the youngsters is probably a risky idea, as they are untested at this level, but what else is there to be excited about just now?

[BEEJ]

:agree: A mix of the experienced reliable players and the youth players. The way things are going I'd settle for 8th/9th in the table if it means gaining some youngsters more experience. The majority of the current crop are totally devoid of confidence.

http://sport.scotsman.com/hibernianfc/Hibs-ready-to-call-on.6672510.jp

Good to see Welsh on his way back to fitness.

I know that pinning our hopes on the youngsters is probably a risky idea, as they are untested at this level, but what else is there to be excited about just now?
No mention of McCann in that article.

We're surely not leaving him at ICT for the rest of the season?

[deek68]

No mention of McCann in that article.

We're surely not leaving him at ICT for the rest of the season?

Could be wrong but i think he's injured. Again.

[fife hfc]

I don't, because to survive in the SPL you need a good bit of experience. Youth teams have a few good games but are well known to be inconsistent. The current Hibs team although experienced in most positions isn't inconsistent it is just poor, but I feel it can pick up when we get a few players back fit.

It is these so called experienced players that are letting us down so badly. I would bring in a few youth players, but not a whole team full. I would also play with 3 centre halfs and have Wotherspoon and Booth as wing backs. zemmama and Duffy would be in once they are ready as nobody could complain about being replaced.

........................Brown..................... ....
.....Stephens......Murray.......Hanlon.........
Wotherspoon...............................Booth
.......................Bamba...................... ....
.............Zemmama......De Graaf..............
...............Duffy........riordan............... .


Far from a perfect team and hopefully a few could be replaced by new signings in Jan but it would make us more solid.

[Golden Bear]

There seems to be a school of thought that a young player is not mature enough for the SPL under they're in their early twenties.!

I'd ditch the under 19 league, restore the SPL Reserve league and if the *uggers are good enough then that should make the transition to first team football a bit easier.

If you're good enough then you're old enough. It works in other countries but not necessarily in the SPL it seems.

[.Sean.]

Time to give the young ones a chance, they can't be any worse than the current imposters. I'm sure they'd at least show some enthusiasm and commitment, things which are evidently lacking at present.

[deek68]

There seems to be a school of thought that a young player is not mature enough for the SPL under they're in their early twenties.!

I'd ditch the under 19 league, restore the SPL Reserve league and if the *uggers are good enough then that should make the transition to first team football a bit easier.

If you're good enough then you're old enough. It works in other countries but not necessarily in the SPL it seems.

If you look at a typical hibs team 2004-05 there were only two or three players in their late 20's or above - Smith, Glass, Beuzilin - there may be a couple of others but most of our team were aged 19 - 22 say? And we were the best team in the league (you know what i mean).

Were we just really lucky to have that crop of young players all come good at once? Did we develop them better then? Is it a staff/coaching issue?

[PaulSmith]

Hibs should invest in 8 players with exceptional experience and ability, right through the spine of the team. Use the wages of the 16 out of contract players to reduce the squad and pay more.

The rest of the squad I'd be quite happy to be made up of young academy players who know that week in and week out they have a genuine chance of making it into the top team.

We should also be cherry picking the very best U20s from the bottom 3 divisions, if it costs £20k for one with add-ons then so what.

The way income is falling though next season the manager will have no choice but to go with the younger players at the club a la Williamson

[sahib]

Hibs should invest in 8 players with exceptional experience and ability, right through the spine of the team. Use the wages of the 16 out of contract players to reduce the squad and pay more.

The rest of the squad I'd be quite happy to be made up of young academy players who know that week in and week out they have a genuine chance of making it into the top team.

We should also be cherry picking the very best U20s from the bottom 3 divisions, if it costs £20k for one with add-ons then so what.

The way income is falling though next season the manager will have no choice but to go with the younger players at the club a la Williamson

Get them in now!

[Sir David Gray]

If you look at a typical hibs team 2004-05 there were only two or three players in their late 20's or above - Smith, Glass, Beuzilin - there may be a couple of others but most of our team were aged 19 - 22 say? And we were the best team in the league (you know what i mean).

Were we just really lucky to have that crop of young players all come good at once? Did we develop them better then? Is it a staff/coaching issue?

I just picked a game from 04-05 at random (vs Rangers in November '04) and out of the 14 players who played that day, only 5 of them were aged 25 or older.

Yesterday, 13 players made an appearance and four of them were 24 years old or younger.