Hansen was right, up to a point, when he said that you don't win anything with kids. Its easy to forget that that Man United team that he was referring to had some great youth players coming through but also that the team had a very experienced spine. From Schmeichel in goal, Bruce and Pallister at the back, Keane and McClair in midfield, and Cantona and the experienced Cole up front. Their brilliant youngsters were allowed then to go and play knowing that the experienced players would and could carry them through the odd poor day at teh office.
For us its different. The spine itself is fine, but you wouldn't want to give Clark, Bannan, and Albrighton too many starts at the moment in the same team, without someone like Petrov next to them. The problem is that the balance of the team is effected then. Reo-Coker has been made captain and yet Houllier will probably find out over the next few months that he isn't what we need in the midfield. (Arguably) He is right now as we are short of numbers but when he went off on Saturday the midfield came alive and started to pass the ball around beautifully.
The main difference is that our kids aren't fringe players but team fillers at the moment. It may be that in a few years they will be the ones that are expected to win games for us, but until we can get experience next to them to guide them through difficult spells, then we run the risk over over-exposure at too early an age.
