There's no one with the precocious skills and self-confidence of a Gerrard or Owen, but we've got some promising talents. Ryan Kent and Harry Wilson are very fast, tricky and positive attacking wide players who deserve plenty of encouragement. Brannagan and Ejaria are also very interesting and impressive young players. And of course Woodburn is a striker who looks the most natural and promising forward we've had on the books for about a decade or more. The fact that all of them look, at present, as though they could be included in the first team squad without any hint of over-indulgence is a great testimony to the Academy set-up. And there are other young lads who could also kick on, like Yan Dhanda, Toni Gomes and Allan.
The problem is to get them playing much more competitive games against a more varied opposition. Gerrard and others played with and against some experienced pros in the ressies. He felt the hard tackles, tried some himself, experienced all the trickery, wind-ups and sheer physical power of the older players. These young players today are in an 'After you, Percy' league of limp politeness. The pace isn't right, the competitiveness isn't right and the age group is so rigid that no one experiences any fear or passion or taste for the battle. That means it's a HUGE step up when they do get a run-out for the first team. We need to bypass the formal league set-up as much as possible, organise our own unofficial games against experienced teams, and seek to strengthen these kids psychologically as well as physically. The potential is there but in this climate it needs more than a helping hand.
