By Dave Langton
West Ham’s crop of young talent have become very much victims of the club’s own success.
The youngsters such as Sonny Perkins, Emmanuel Longelo and Armstrong Okoflex were all given time on the bench this season but made no impact on the first-team. 
And although there have been complaints from fans that can be mainly explained by just how well the Hammers were playing throughout the campaign.
Up until the final day of the season, we were in the mix to qualify for the Europa League, having previously been pushing for a top-four finish.
The squasd were brilliantly fighting until the latter stages of the Europa League, only losing to Eintracht Frankfurt in the semi-finals who went on to win the trophy.
At that stage of the season, it becomes all the harder to blood the kids, due to the immense pressure of each game.
You could throw a youngster in at the deep end and hope they swim but they could just as easily drown, and one has to think that factored into David Moyes’ thinking.
In fact, the only way that youngsters usually tend to be blooded is after a genuine crisis or a run of fixtures that see the club slide down the league. The manager has to decide, all of a sudden, that the senior pros just aren’t good enough.
At no point did Moyes have to make that call. And, as a result, the young players at the club were left sitting on the bench.
Couldn’t agree more with you, Dave. This article runs completely counter, of course, to the one you ran, and then quickly pulled, a couple of weeks ago, which featured a league table of the minutes each EPL club had given U23 players this season. Norwich were top. West Ham were fourth bottom. Leeds and Southamption were also near the top, after giving their U23s more minutes than most other EPL clubs this season.
It was pulled because it couldn’t be attributed ljd
Much better to bring on the out going Yarmolenko for 6 mins to do naff all except earn an appearance bonus and mess up the team shape.
How can you make an impression if you are not allow enough time, if any on the pitch ? Same was true of Kral amongst the older Players. If Mr Moyes doesn’t like you, you don’t play. Moyes doesn’t like young Players he would rather play Arthur and let a goal or two in.
Sorry Dave but I beg to differ mate. Not I or anyone sensible is advocating ‘throwing them in the deep end’ but they could easily have come on for a few minutes at the end of games instead of Yarmo Fredericks and Masuaku. The fact we did not blood the U23 players from the bench for two whole seasons is directly responsible for them not being ready or for the potential panic of throwing them in untried because of injury. That is not prudence but a lack of planning and preparation. We are now in grave danger of losing some very promising talent because they feel blocked and under developed . This is the club famous for bringing through young talent, not choking it off
Totally agree. This is an issue which clearly polarises West Ham fans but Moyes, with the exception of Rooney, has previous when it comes to not trusting young players. I agree with hammerpete6 in that it shows a woeful lack of planning and preparation. Also, what signal does it send out to youngsters we are hoping to sign for the long-term (Moyes’s fabled RB Leipzig model) when Academy players are given no breakthrough opportunities. I look at Palace’s Tyrick Mitchell as a good example of trusting a young player: when he first played he looked decidedly average and his role was purely to cover the gaps left by Zaha. However in a short space of time he has blossomed into a full England international. Moyes instead of bringing some youthful enthusiasm onto the pitch will always give the nod to the likes of Masuaku; so what hopes for the likes of Ashby, Longelo, Coventry and Okoflex? The success of our season was down to the good start: when the team was being run into the ground the form was little better than relegation level. Give youth a chance.
Hammerpete.
Totally agree.
DL is hugely wrong.
Our season was poor in 2022.
Almost totally down to Moyes. He had a great chance of CL football on 2 accounts.
Many managers would of been sacked for performances.
Moyes won’t change.
He’ll get Lingard and then one more. Still play the same 14.
No youngsters, they finished 2nd in PL 2.
Had a better season that the 1st team.
Poor subs.
Virtually any manager in PL has had a better 2022.
They hard work was done in 2021.
Furious
Moyes fault nobody else simply because his a stubborn attitude coach no plan b and would rather play masu and yarmo like hammerpete says than give a decent time to okoflex Chesters longelo Ashby or worst still a dreadful Moyes buy in vlasic from Russian league at 30mill and who looks like never going to be a premier player. For me gets it wrong in summer and it’s Moyes out . People forget this coach although seems nice guy has won nothing in a long career.
Totally agree with this article. People asking the manager to play youth team players in front of senior internationals just aren’t being realistic.
Agreed…..
To speak in “matter of fact” terms about throwing youngsters into the fray here and there over and above seasoned internationals, where a game can be LOST with one poor decision and a youngster’s footballing psyche can be destroyed permanently. it’s a bit like saying that the supporters making these comments have a better understanding of the game than the best manager to hold this position at this club in well over thirty years.
Understanding and a touch of realism are needed in large doses at times……and this is one of those occasions.
I have a prediction that I feel is nailed on, I predict that we’re all in for a bumpy ride with rumour, speculation and the pulling out of hair, before this transfer widow is brought to a close.
I understand the main point raised by this article and why people support this position. I do myself in the main part. But I offer a few points for consideration.
Some of the youngsters in question aren’t youth players anymore – they’re the age Rice and Johnson were when they started to get time on the pitch for the first team.
Secondly, we’ve seen some of them in action against Zagreb, for example, and they didn’t let their more experienced colleagues down. I accept that Zagreb in a ‘dead rubber’ isn’t the same as the Premiership but it whetted my appetite to see whether they can cut it in the Prem – Norwich away could have been an opportunity for example.
Thirdly, just because a player is a senior international doesn’t mean they can cut it in the Premiership – we didn’t see much of Vlasic or Kral and they’re internationals.
Finally, and most importantly, many of our first team players were just too tired towards the end of the season. The spirit was there but some of them needed a break. Plus we were suffering from injuries and lack of availability in certain areas. If the squad was all fit and fresh, most of us wouldn’t argue against playing our top team but when we have youngsters who play in those positions – left back or centre back, for example – then I think it’s reasonable that some fans got frustrated with Moyes’s selections and tactics.
All said, it was a great season and we have a fantastic squad of players – they just needed some back-up. Let’s hope we keep most of the squad together and build from here.
I could find a logical reason why I should manage West Ham and why I have more of an idea about players and team tactics than Moyes. Over and above his and his coaching staff’s knowledge and understanding of the game…
But, I’m not going to, because that would obviously be foolish, despite my right to an opinion.
This is the most sensible article I’ve read here for a while. There weren’t many games last season that we had a big enough lead to be able to risk youngsters. We all want to see the U23 players come through but our coaches and DM know more about developing players than any of these airchair Fergies. They knew with Rice, he knew with Johnson. I’m sure we’ll see more of Ashby and hopefully Perkins next season. Oh and anyone saying we had a poor season last year, reaching the semi of a European competition (first time in my lifetime) and a second Euro qualification (again I think that’s a first), need a swift reality check.
You could make an excuse for NEVER risking the youngsters. It’ll be either, we’re too close to the relegation places, it wouldn’t be fair to put them under that pressure. Or, we’re in a position to qualify for the Europa League, we wouldn’t want to risk them. Therefore the only time that we could realistically use them is when we’re in mid-table mediocrity at the “flip-flops on the beach” time of the season. Then I suppose the excuse of 2m quid per finishing position in the table would be trotted out.
I’m pretty sure (although can’t locate it) that DM is on the record as preferring to work with a small squad. Something about players not playing and becoming a problem.
I never expected him to play youth as he has a track record of sticking to a small but trusted group of senior players.
By the end of this window we will have likely replaced any outgoing but not added to the squad size. Bar one or two new faces, I expect next season line up to be much the same as this past season, and zero expectations of a youth breaking through.
Out only hope is that the replacements are indeed an improvement on the outgoing (surely that can’t be difficult to achieve) and that we don’t suffer any serious injuries to our senior 16 next season.
Overall though, I don’t think this is a sustainable model, and when it falls apart I’m not sure we’ll be any better off than before DM arrived.
I could find a logical reason why I should manage West Ham and why I have more of an idea about players and team tactics than Moyes. Over and above his and his coaching staff’s knowledge and understanding of the game…
But, I’m not going to, because that would obviously be foolish, despite my right to an opinion.
I agree Barry, always an excuse not to play them. It’s not a case of leaving out chunks of international players, it’s rotation when they are tired from too many games, it’s about injury prevention, and seeing games out last 10 minutes. It’s about building for the future; not always subbing on players who are being released at the end of the season, leaving us with young players with no experience. On that basis, Bobby would never have played for England as a teenager, nor Pele, Beckenbauer, Charlton et Al. Noble, Dec, Johnson and many many before played for WH as teenagers, never mind under 23’s. Stop referring to armchair Fergies for people who can think to the future by looking back.