Re: Despite 14 in, and 15 out...
Quote
Freud
Gleeson and Grounds are just not good enough.
Hopefully now will not be that close to the first team and only used in emergencies.
I don't disagree but I think those 'emergencies' will definitely occur between now and January and when they do, we want those players to be motivated and ready to come in and try and make the position their own by playing out of their skins. The ideal situation for the manager (and fans) is when the second choice players play so well when called upon that they give the manager a selection headache - this puts pressure on the first choice players and they then up their game and consequently everyone is playing really well.
If the fans don't get behind the back up players then that job is twice as difficult for them - do we want that? Imagine if they were booed and people shouted 'you're not good enough' as soon as they stood up to come on the pitch, before they'd even kicked the ball? That wouldn't help. So we shouldn't do that, we should support all of our team and accept that some players aren't as good as others, but appreciate the part that everybody plays in the squad system.
If your squad players are as good as your key players they won't accept being on the bench. But squad players are a vital part of the whole set up because without them you can't afford any injuries or loss of form because there's no back up. Just because they're squad players doesn't mean they can't be appreciated for what they offer the team and just because they're not as good as the others doesn't mean that they should be ridiculed or abused. If we find ourselves doing that, we're not helping anyone except our competition. The manager can't bomb them out because he chose to keep them beyond the window. Every player has a role to play, no matter how irregularly he gets a start.
As fans, the best thing we can do regarding second choice squad players is to encourage them to work on their weaknesses in training so that they challenge the first choice players for that first choice role. If that occurs thoughout the squad, we'll be unstoppable. I believe that the words we say can have an impact way beyond what we would usually assume. Whether we're making noise in the stands or writing stuff on here, let's be the best fans of any team in England who are the most passionate about our team being the best and doing well. Negativity isn't productive, particularly now the window has closed.