Subject: [ELEC] General Discussions

Get Cymru U21 to 48 or above in the National Rankings, therefore making for an easier group for the next candidate to participate in the qualifiers.

Have you seen our squad! Out of the 17 players we have, 13 of them are 21. We need to work on building our squad before even considering the WC. Gaining our rankings will mean playing mostly 21yr olds but what good does that do to the next manager? Build the squad while we can!
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Err... tell me what good playing a 20yo who is weaker than a 21yo is? The younger squad and better rankings aims are not mutually exclusive, if I wish to play younger players, I'll organise a U20 match. Playing younger players for the sake of it doesn't really make sense to me.

I agree with you LP.
I've always been a firm believer of playing the best team available/possible.

You're absolutely right there, it's not mutually exclusive. Playing u20 matches helps, but you may as well also play younger players in matches you'll easily win. I don't think there's much point in playing a 21 yr old in a friendly / competition against a much weaker side, especially if there's a near equivalent 19/20 yr old that can gain experience and training from playing.

but playing 21yr olds to get a good ranking ready the for U21 WC is just pointless. As then when it comes around those 21yr olds will be 22 and like i said in my thread we will be left in a crisis and all that work done to raise our ranking would of gone down the drain.

I'm a believer of giving chances, otherwise whats the point of having a "squad". Why risk top players against a weaker team? Put them on the bench incase they are needed for later on in the match and give a youngster a go.

That may work for the seniors but doubtful in the U21's

There just simply aint enough of a gap between our players and players from lower ranked countries to do that at U21 level.

Maybe so, I don't know enough about the u21s. However if we can afford to play some youngsters then we should. We do sometimes have some pretty decent young players coming through, for instance (and no I'm not expecting anyone to select him) I've got this guy :-

Walter Richard, age: 19
formidable stamina tragic keeper
excellent pace adequate defender
excellent technique excellent playmaker
very good passing average striker

He's not far off having the skills of another player from my team that has been selected for the u21s, and I bet there are better 20yr olds out there.

And why is that? That is because for the last few years we have been playing mostly 21yr olds in our games with very few U20 playing. If i am correct, players earn extra training from these matches? It is more valuable to younger players to get that little extra as then we should come better long term. Every season we are in a situation because all our 21yr olds have gone. We are never going to win the WC, so i dont see no harm in trying to make our youngsters better over the upcoming season. Otherwise the gap in skills between 21yr olds and U20's will just keep increasing.

ooo this Election is heating up

Every country has this problem and the extra training you will get from playing a 20yo player every match is equivalent to:
A whole extra ~1.5 regular trainings if the user plays him in friendlies only.
A stunning ~1 extra regular trainings if the user plays him in league/cup matches only.
And no benefit to training if he is played twice a week.

Selecting the strongest players possible is the best way to get your ranking up. If the manager this season would get the U21's to 48 or above in rankings, Cymru would get into the third pot of qualifying, meaning only two teams would theoretically be better in the group. This means Cymru can advance further to the actual U21WC Finals.

Tell me that an extra training a season is worth more than a better chance of qualification. I dare you ;)
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Oh and I plan not to face teams like Tunis U21 to give myself the satisfaction of winning, I plan to face teams of similar ability to increase ranking. If I enter some U21 Friendly competition and play against some 2 user country with marks of 35, of course I won't risk key players.
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but then theoretically there will be no point us having that easy group as all the good players would have gone. Thats the point i am trying to get across. We need to stop the cycle of using 21yr olds every game as that will not improve Cymru. We dont have a chance in the WC if your theory goes ahead as by the time the WC comes, we will be left with only a few good players and will be scrambling to find more talent. Then eash year if this "cycle" continues, our whole squad will just get worse and worse.

If i am correct, players earn extra training from these matches? It is more valuable to younger players to get that little extra as then we should come better long term.

Yes they do/can get extra training but it aint as much as you seem to think it is.
A player will get roughly 95% of training if they play in a league or cup game and 90% training if they play in a friendly. So if you were to play a 20yr old in the NT and the owner plays them in the friendlies, you've gained a whole week and a half of training over the season which aint even 1 skill level.

Is the extra training still good? yes it is
Is the extra training worth the cost of results for our NT? imo, no it aint

I also think the same way for our senior team, if we can get away with playing younger weaker players against weak teams and get extra training then fine but once again not at the cost of our NT results.

oh so now me and ddraig mentioned risking players you change your story? As i quoted before, you said you would play the best possible team every game, now you say different. At least one of us candidates is sticking to his story.

I dont plan to play teams down very far in the rankings, i plan to play teams ranked 50-70. Hopefully then i would be able to rotate the players i use, using the better players for ranked 50-60 teams and bring in some youngsters for ranked 60-70 teams.

The likelihood is that u21s will be played in friendlies only, and any extra training is worthwhile. There's also the extra experience gained, which is obviously useful for tactical discipline.

No one is saying play crap players when the game is important, at least to the best of my knowledge, but it's equally rubbish to play your best squad and waste any extra training/experience against a team you know you're going to thrash.

Personally, I think that the youth side is important, but these players do not decrease in fitness, therefore playing a full strength team is the best option in my opinion
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