da pinnacle： Nurturing young players is about balance. They need to be allowed to work hard and play hard. But the most important balance to strike, especially for particularly talented youngsters whose clubs rely on them, is between experience and rest.
da apostebet： If anyone knows this, it is Mauricio Pochettino. Just look at all of the young players he has brought through the ranks during his time at Southampton and Tottenham. And now Pochettino fears that Harry Kane will face fatigue and a loss of form if he is to go to the U21 European Championships with Gareth Southgate’s England squad this summer.
It is physically taxing for any player to play a full season of league games, cup competitions (both domestic and European), and international games, let alone having to do all of this in a World Cup or European Championships year.
Yet this must all be balanced with the experience that young players get from playing as many games as possible. Especially if they are crucial to their club team, as responsibility at such a young age, coupled with lots of playing time, generally makes young players better when they are in their prime.
This is why lots of the current crop of England youngsters, including Harry Kane, need to go and represent their country this summer in order to progress as far as possible. This isn’t about winning the Euros. Far from it. It is just a very important chance to gain good experience.
Winning it might be a good thing for the country and for English football, but if it is, the goodness doesn’t come from the glory of winning. It would come from the taste of blood in the mouths of the young lions who will represent England in the future. As we are told time after time, winning is a habit.
So how should England balance this?
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After Raheem Sterling told Roy Hodgson he was tired, the youngster was left out of the England squad for the qualifier against Estonia in Tallinn in October. Brendan Rodgers later gave him a rest from Liverpool duty in January too.
Sterling has been criticised for this in some quarters, with some saying he should front-up and play for his country when asked, while others have been sympathetic and said that he should be given a break if tired. This shows how much we’re torn, and how no one knows the right answer.
Everton manager Roberto Martinez has also tried to take the pressure of mounting appearances off the shoulders of one of his England starlets, Ross Barkley, as Martinez has stated his desire to see Barkley left off the plane to the Czech Republic this summer.
Both merseyside managers, like Pochettino, were worried about burnout. And on balance, it does look like Barkley (injuries aside) and Sterling have played enough football over the last year to merit a break this summer. Even to the detriment, perhaps, of the Under-21 team.
Kane, however, is in a different position, even if Pochettino is worried about tiredness. This is actually about more than just tiredness. This is also about his progress at international level.
England’s chances in major tournaments over the next few years depend on players like Kane. Barkley, Sterling and Kane will likely all be playing a big part in the national side in just over a year’s time in the build up to Euro 2016 in France.
These youngsters need to find out what it’s like to be cooped up with 22 other young lads in a hotel room for 3 weeks, unable to do anything ‘fun’ lest the media jump on it. As though living in fear of a media backlash wasn’t conducive in itself to poor preparation.
There is a difference in the developmental stages of Harry Kane and players like Sterling, Barkley and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, for example. These players have all played at a World Cup, and have all experienced the pressures and peculiarities of tournament football.
In this case, England can prioritise rest for these players. But for Harry Kane, Eric Dier, Jordon Ibe and many others, even though it’s only an Under-21 tournament, they still need to go in order to further their development.
A balance must be struck for the good of every party involved. But this doesn’t simply mean resting young players. It sometimes means giving them experience over and above club football.
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