[theo_luddite]

But supposedly all our squads are playing the "same way", - make of that what you will - and the U21's/U18's watch the first team games if they don't have one, so they should know what should be expected of them.

Look, hardly anyone has a second string squad as good as their first, it's unrealistic to expect it, but you can't keep letting prospects whither on the vine either. At some point you give them a go (and not just for 2,5 or 10 minutes a game which used to happen to Scanz and is now happening to Lolley and also not all at the same time) or you keep hoping someone else will let you have a seasoned pro for a couple of million or so, or if you are really lucky on-loan or as a freebie.

At the moment, I say, win, lose or draw, we should keep a settled side as much as possible. If someone keeps having stinkers or is injured, then they lose the shirt and have to work to get it back. It is also obvious in most games that someone is having a hard time against another player. So you either shuffle the player(s) around the pitch or shuffle him off it and give someone else a go, which should be done around the hour mark or sooner if all else is still equal, not in the last 5 minutes.

You make your own luck in this game - you (we) can't keep buying it. Well, not unless you are Chelski, Man Arab City or one of their affluent neighbours.