Serie A

[ACMILAN1983]

Thanks for the replies. Reza, I agree that in Italy there's a clear lack of structure for youth development. I'd use Spain and Germany as examples of how a well organised youth development process should work. That's not just dependent on their successes internationally, but also the successes their club football has seen in recent years.

I think Italy needs to focus on youth development at all levels, it's in the interest of the clubs to do so because it help make them more competitive on sound business principles.

Mystik, the results are indicative of a lack of competitiveness on youth national levels, but I'm more worried about your point about the number of talents who came through and have been lost. There has been talent that's come through, yet there's too many examples of these players never coming close to fulfilling their potential.

I think you're right that a lot of youth coaches are too focused on the wrong things (i.e. the result). I'm sure you know this is a big issue in South America, I doubt Italy's much different.

The other aspect is what and how the players are taught. You mentioned allowing players to have more fun and express creative freedom and I totally agree with that. On the flip side, I came across a couple of interesting comments recently, I think the first being from Nesta where he said players aren't taught how to defend properly (to the level he was) these days and Rivera where he commented how players don't know how to defend one on one anymore.

Xu, we can only make comments as fans so honestly your opinion and view on things is as valid as anyone. My thought about Mihajlovic is that he's shown instances, particularly at his time from Sampdoria, to have successfully brought through some players, one of which is Romagnoli. Today Capello again has put forward an opinion that he rates Miha highly. I think what you say about Milan's environment as an institution is totally valid, this isn't just internally in the club either, but I think is something that's compounded by the media and fans. Look at Ely as an example. He came in with literally no expectations when he was resigned in the summer. His summer performances have lead people to say he and Romagnoli are our future CB pairing and now he's under constant criticism following the start to the season. The extreme reaction to a 20 year old is never going to benefit him, there's got to be a little balance. In my view, Ely shouldn't have been a starter this year, Miha trusted him and it's backfired, but really those in charge have put this situation in place where these young players are under too much pressure with no safety net should they fail.

It's the same for Miha. We all spoke well of him for having courage to trust the young players, but as soon as difficulties start, everyone starts talking about him getting sacked.

However, there's one thing I will say about a coach like Sarri which I think is important to the growth of talented players. Sacchi the other day said that one thing Sarri's really good at is teaching his players about the game he wants to play, something I don't think anywhere near enough coaches do. It's one thing to tell a player to take a specific position and run from point a to point b, but for that player to make a step up and really be a success at the top level, they need support in understanding the reasons for them to move from point a to point b and the impact that has elsewhere. I think Guardiola's shown himself as another who's actually really good at this.