severnside gull
Well-known member
Even as a kid in Brighton I used to love watching the stiffs (do they still call reserve teams that?) and I managed to see the DS a couple of times last season. They play nice football although the higher you move up the leagues the tougher it is for these kids to bridge the gap straight to the first team squad.
With the priority being to learn our way of playing and with meaningful loan opportunities further down the football pyramid not being easy to arrange (Agdestein to Bath last year was a bit of a disaster and Bergkamp to Rochdale didn't work out either) it means the attrition rate will always be high. The likes of Ben Sampayo and Yaser Kasim are now competing with Bruno, Calde, Bridcutt...................... it is a big ask for them to break through. A player in a role/position that has more visual impact like March or Dickinson may have a slightly better chance but even then the likes of Barker who has been pretty impressive through the youth ranks, seems further from breaking through now than he was a year ago. Tough for kids but great to watch and try to pick the ones who might make it.
With the priority being to learn our way of playing and with meaningful loan opportunities further down the football pyramid not being easy to arrange (Agdestein to Bath last year was a bit of a disaster and Bergkamp to Rochdale didn't work out either) it means the attrition rate will always be high. The likes of Ben Sampayo and Yaser Kasim are now competing with Bruno, Calde, Bridcutt...................... it is a big ask for them to break through. A player in a role/position that has more visual impact like March or Dickinson may have a slightly better chance but even then the likes of Barker who has been pretty impressive through the youth ranks, seems further from breaking through now than he was a year ago. Tough for kids but great to watch and try to pick the ones who might make it.
