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Pellegrini’s push to work with U23’s paying dividends at West Ham

By Scott Johnson

LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 26: Manuel Pellegrini, Manager of West Ham United looks on ahead of the Carabao Cup Third Round match between West Ham United and Macclesfield Town at The London Stadium on September 26, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 26: Manuel Pellegrini, Manager of West Ham United looks on ahead of the Carabao Cup Third Round match between West Ham United and Macclesfield Town at The London Stadium on September 26, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images) /
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3 of West Ham’s academy made their debut’s last night. Is the new manager Pellegrini to thank for their integration into the first team?

West Ham have long been known as the academy of football, but the nickname has been loose of late. Not since James Tomkins has an academy player really made the grade, until Declan Rice of course. So with 3 debutants appearing to make the jump up last night, could we be seeing the rebirth of talent progression?

Over the past few years different managers have had different attitudes to youth. Slaven Bilic, despite trying to bring Oxford up originally, didn’t dip into the talent pool all that often, and famously didn’t pay attention to the results of the U23’s. Moyes turned up to some of the games, but apart from Rice he couldn’t really bring people up because of the situation we were in. Pellegrini has made it a mission to keep them integrated.

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When he started at the club he was not happy with the training facilities and he got that sorted. Then he made it important that the U23’s had sessions up with the first team, and that’s a great move. If you’re after proof it seems that every photo of the club posts seems to have youngsters involved. Holland, Powell and Diangana have all been seen with the first team over the past month or so.

What that does is makes the quality level apparent for the youngsters. When they’re looking at the first team but not training it can be a bit of an unknown gap. How much do I have to improve to get there? But by training together it not only makes that jump seem real, it also improves them as players. And gets them involved with top professionals so it’s not weird when they are involved.

And what it does for the top professionals is light a fire under their backsides. When you train in a small group you can relax, look around and think “Yeah I’m ok. I’ll be picked next match.” When you have a few young players in your position giving it their all you suddenly have to push again. Not just on matchday, but every day in training.

Next. Profiles on the 3 youngsters who debuted vs Macclesfield. dark

Whilst these players have been making inroads up towards the first team for a while, Pellegrini has to be praised for getting them around the first team. Talent is one thing but recognising and giving it a chance is another. I can only hope we see more youngsters making the step up in the near future.