mr_nool wrote:After quite a few games with the EDS and U18 where we've beem bullied by a more physical side, have been tactically naive, or have failed to close the game down, some people on here have been (gently) questioning the philosophy of the academy of mainly playing to educate, not to win.[color=#40FF00] Parallels have been drawn to the rag sides who do everything to win and hence "breed winners".
[/color]
I always thought these reactions were somewhat exaggerated, but I just listened to the latest 93:20 podcast with graham Hunter, and something he said sort of made me change my mind. He said that Pep has expressed that he's really happy with the technical ability and the quality of the kids coming through our academy, but that he has a hard time promoting them because they lack winner's mentality and a desire to do whatever it takes to succeed.
So, have we tried to emulate Barca the last few years, but forgotten about the most important aspect: creating winners?
The Scum certainly do do everything to win and "breed winners".
In their repertoire for this purpose, they have the diving skills of Ashley Young and his ilk just for starters. It was also admitted a while ago that FergusScum created a culture of players surrounding the referee at every decision, to browbeat the official and ensure all decisions went their way.....and this is just a couple of examples.
To my mind, this kind of conduct is the 'Yooonited way' and, in trying to inculcate a winning mentality, I don't want City to go down that particular route. As a Club, we are far better than such grubby, nefarious and distasteful practices.