Scolari Leaves The Kids Alone, For Now at Least

Traditionally, Chelsea have taken the Carling Cup rather seriously.

It was the first major trophy of the Jose Mourinho era, and set up a period of sustained success. The trophy was hoisted into the air once more before Mourinho departed for shores anew.

Avram Grant failed where Mourinho had succeeded, and that dreadful afternoon against Tottenham can be seen as the beginning of the end for the Israeli.

Although both had varying fortunes in the competition, one similarity can be noticed.

Both Mourinho and Grant put out near enough full strength sides for every game. Sure, a few squad players were given some playing time, but there would always be a few big guns on the pitch, or on the bench just in case things got a bit too close for comfort.

Contrast this to the approach of Arsenal, and to a lesser extent, Manchester United.

Messrs Wenger and Ferguson have used the competition to nurture young talent and give them a taste of first team action. Not many have gone on to stake first team places, but at least they were given a chance.

The story is rather different at Chelsea. A few youngsters have seen some playing time in the competition, such as Scott Sinclair and Ben Sahar, but Chelsea’s youngsters haven’t been given chances on quite the number of occasions Wenger has.

Earlier this year, I wrote an article examining whether Scolari would buck the trend.

The answer, based on the Portsmouth game is that slowly but surely there is a change happening.

Scott Sinclair and Franco Di Santo both made appearances off the bench, plus Michael Mancienne and Miroslav Stoch, starts of the Reserve and youth teams, took up places on the bench.

4 youth team players in a squad of 18 isn’t bad. Scolari has promised to give youth a chance, but in turn we must give Scolari time to assess the best prospects and ease them into the first team set up.

Arsene Wenger has been at Arsenal for over a decade—he’s known his current crop of youngsters for years. Scolari only took up his position in July.

Throwing youngsters in just for the sake of it doesn’t benefit anybody. They must be judged ready and trusted by their manager before they can be thrust into the spotlight. Wenger clearly feels this way about the likes of Wilshere, Vela, Hoyte et al.

Scolari needs time to do the same.