Too Much Too Young
News of 19-year old Micah Richards undergoing surgery to sort out an reoccurring knee problem sparks the latest debate from The New Football Pools - Are we once again guilty of too much too young on our future England superstars?
Micah Richards talent has only recently become public knowledge. Bursting onto the scene in the 2005/06 season at the tender age of 17, his mature status and strength rapidly asserted him within the Manchester City ranks where he’s formed one of the best defensive partnerships that is in the league today.
He’s also surpassed the England U21 squad, being called in to fill the first team’s vacant right back position. But he’s now set to be sidelined for up to six weeks after undergoing surgery this week, meaning he is likely to miss some vital games for City including Tottenham and potentially Chelsea and not to mention England’s friendly with France.
Concerns
What worries me, is a couple of things actually. One, the fact that Richards is already suffering from a reoccurring injury suggesting too much strain has been put on the young powerhouse before he has fully developed and two, the amount of praise then criticism the lad has already received. Forget the Adonis-like physique; remember Richards is yet to turn 20.
After having a pretty poor game against Everton on Monday, one that involved a couple of cases of handball and bad positioning that allowed the first goal, Richards was on the receiving end of several critic’s razor sharp tongues, already describing him as the ‘former powerhouse’. Yes, he failed to deal with the rapid attacking style of Everton; and yes he did play Yakubu on side for the first goal but surely everyone’s allowed a stinker once in a while and I’ll say it again, he is only 19.
For several years now, English fans have been guilty of shining the limelight on their young, upcoming hopefuls - Rooney and Owen are just two immediate examples. A couple of flashes of brilliance and players are labelled as world class. Then one bad game usually where their inexperience and immaturity takes a momentary hold and just as quickly, the acclaim is taken away. We really need to stop this ‘build them up and knock them down’ attitude.
Moyes’ Masterclass
There is one manager in particular who rightly shelters his young talent and that is David Moyes. Back in 2003, Moyes was presented with the almost impossible job of nurturing the obvious talents of one Wayne Rooney. Despite the Everton fans desperate to see more of their wonder boy, Moyes demonstrated sober restraint in his deliverance of the young star starting him in only a handful of games and bringing him on as a second half sub.
And the astute Scotsman has followed a similar practice regarding his latest two young strikers - James Vaughan and Victor Anichebe - giving them what he calls a ‘proper education’. Every time Vaughan in particular comes on, his infectious attitude and endless enthusiasm and energy generates a wave of excitement amongst the terraces at Goodison as well as complaints that these two don’t get more of a run out.
But Moyes is lucky; he has developed a well formed team with high quality depth to the squad. This means he does not have to force his young players into immediate first team action before they are physically and mentally up to it. Give it another season or two and Vaughan and Anichebe will both be 20-21, intellectually competent and physically ready. This was not previously the case at Everton with managers forced to put the youth of Jeffers and Ball into a struggling team sooner than they would have liked.
Arsene Wenger follows the same rule of thumb. Known as the nurturer of youth, the Frenchman is renowned for easing his young guns into the fast pace of Premiership life via the Carling Cup.
When Fabregas first arrived at the age of 16, he only played three club appearances all of which came in the League Cup. It was similar story for Clichy who only made 11 starts in his first season and is also the case this year with Nicklas Bendtner who’s only made one league start with 15 substitute’s appearances. Arsene Wenger knows what he’s doing so Sven take note.
The Swede has a couple of promising youngsters in his midst - Richards and Michael Johnson. Both are having troublesome seasons with quite serious injuries. All I can hope is Sven doesn’t push them back into action before they are actually ready.
Tags: David Moyes, Everton, James Vaughan, Manchester City, Micah Richards, Premiership Football
