“I see opportunities for talent” is a very nice euphemism for: “Uh, we probably have too few personnel in the squad for the season’s tasks.”
That’s a good thing. Sometimes you just have to be forced to be lucky and if that’s the only way to get the coach to use more talent again, then so be it.
I always have to think of the VFB under Magath, who back then were forced to rely on players from their own youth or cheap, young players and with whom they were later able to defeat teams like United in the CL.
Kuranyi, Hinkel, Gomez, Khedira, Cacau, Hildebrand, Hleb, Lahm and Tiffert were also born out of necessity back then.
Nobody can tell me that one of the largest and most expensive youth centers in European club football only produces pearl barley!
Our NLZ doesn’t just produce barley, but since Alaba (with the exception of Stani) we have been unable to intelligently integrate players from our youth, starting with Højbjerg, who Pep had already played in a DFB Cup final in 2014, but who was given up anyway, and then it dragged on to Zirkzee, who definitely wouldn’t have done worse than EMCM last season…
Krätzig, Pavlovic, Wanner, Ibrahimovic, Stanisic, Buchmann, for me they all have the talent to become at least average Bundesliga players, so that’s probably enough. not for the first team, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to have a good width on the bench who can also identify with the club. Stani will probably still get a fair chance, but probably none of them will get a fair chance…
And that’s the problem: why, for example, do you just let Pavlovic start instead of Kimmich or Goretzka against Heidenheim or Darmstadt? Or just a Krätzig instead of a Davies? Of course you shouldn’t rotate too much and you shouldn’t underestimate Heidenheim and Darmstadt either, but such young players are probably even more excited about the games against the “small” ones than a Goretzka who is almost in his late 20s and plays four times against a “small” one every season. Promoted Stories plays when Schalke and Bremen have not just been promoted. Because yes, you can’t play with 5 youth players against opponents who are weaker on paper, but Dortmund, for example, at least before Terzic, showed very well how to integrate young players and still win. You’ve managed to do this before with Schweini, Müller or Badstuber, and more recently with Stani, so why it’s suddenly so difficult now is a mystery to me…
And one more thing: Lahm had his breakthrough with you, yes, but it was only a two-year loan from us, which seems a bit misleading, as if he was from your youth 