Last nights game against Chelsea was a much needed workout after our game against Leyton Orient was postponed. It provided Darrell with an opportunity to field some players who needed minutes in the tank, and hopefully give him a selection headache going forward. One thing it also did, was show the depth of squad that we have.
Darrell made several changes to the line-up, with 6 changes. Rose, Sadler, Guthrie, Nolan, Nurse and Osadebe all were brought into the team, and when you look at it, that doesn’t exactly weaken our team. Rose has shown that he is good enough to be pushing for more starts, and this trophy is an excellent opportunity for him to prove his worth. Sadler continues to defy his age, and displays calmness in defence, along with a good level of fitness, especially for someone of his age. Guthrie needed some game time, and this was a good chance for that. We all know about his fitness concerns, but getting game time in the trophy allows him to get match-fit, with less pressure than the league.
Nolan, Nurse and Osadebe is where I think it gets interesting. Nolan feels like a new signing. Although he signed in January, it is easy to forget that he only made 4 substitute appearances last season. I am glad to see that Darrell has used this competition to give Nolan a couple of starts. He looks a talented player, still quite raw, but at 19 that is to be expected. For me, he certainly looks worthy of League game-time. George Nurse suffered a bit of an injury during pre-season, and missed a bit of playing time. He is yet to feature in the league, but games like the trophy allows him to bed into the team. He looks a good left-back, and I think it will be interesting to see who becomes the first choice at Left-back as the season progresses. Osadebe needs game time, but he has to be slowly introduced. He has been without a club since January, and was not a part of our pre-season, so he will need to build up before being thrown into the league. He is an exciting prospect, and given a little bit of time, will really start to grow into his own, something we are all excited to see.
The squad is much stronger than last season. The starting XI was made up of good players, who will all have roles to play outside of the EFL Trophy. I then look at the bench from last night, and it is a talented bench. I hope that in the third game, Clarke continues to give players who are on the fringes a chance to start.
