Pete Lansley visited an Under-21 Premier League match to see how the Premier League is using former top-flight managers to help the development of young talent.
It is five nights before Christmas and while most people are putting the final touches to their festive preparations, former Premier League managers David Pleat and Alan Curbishley are at a windswept non-league stadium in North London.
The pair, who have 42 years of management experience between them, are watching an Under-21 Premier League match, high in intensity and quality, between Arsenal and Manchester United.
They are not at Borehamwood’s Meadow Park scouting for clubs but for the Premier League. Pleat and Curbishley are working as Technical Match Observers (TMO), analysing some of the finest young talent in the country as part of the League's Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP).
Their observations on tactics and players are noted and compiled to form the TMO Report, a detailed document that goes to the coaching staff of both clubs and also the Premier League.
The U21 Premier League is where the EPPP, which was introduced in 2012 to unify improving standards of youth development across the country, is at its most high profile.
The competition is seen as a finishing school for homegrown talent preparing to step into the most competitive league in the world.
It is important to track the progress of all involved and this is where the TMOs come in. As well as using ProZone to provide quantitative analysis of how the Under-21 matches are played for the League and the clubs, the TMOs provide a qualitative insight at this crucial stage of development.
Taking in the match between Arsenal, renowned for producing technically gifted players, and reigning U21 Premier League champions United provides the opportunity to glimpse into an exciting future. The quality on display during the 1-1 draw reflects well on the importance that these two clubs continue to place in youth development.
Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Pleat and Curbishley, who managed in the PL with Charlton Athletic and West Ham United, offer independent verdicts on what Arsenal and Man Utd are developing.
They sit in the Borehamwood directors' box, alongside Arsenal's Terry Burton, Derby County's Chris Evans, Tony Adams and Liam Brady. Curbishley is focused on Arsenal, Pleat on United.
"The tempo in this game was good, as you'd expect from these two teams with their traditions," Curbishley said. "In difficult, windy conditions, they all looked comfortable technically, and I was impressed with the way they were trying to deal with it. Some of the football was fantastic.
"They're all trying to play, and it's only a last resort when they don't look to feet, or when something [through on goal] is definitely on. The referee [Richard Hulme] has played a big part in that. In the conditions, the ball can pop up and invite a tackle, but he's done very well."
Among the observations in Curbishley's report is how impressed he was by Arsenal's willingness to play out from the back. Arsenal split their central defenders on goal-kicks and ask goalkeeper Matt Macey to pass wide and deep.
Isaac Hayden and Semi Ajayi receive near their own corner flags, enticing United to commit men forward to press in a bid to force mistakes.
It makes for a fascinating tactical contrast based on United's relentless pursuit of the ball and Arsenal's commitment to keeping it.
Kristoffer Olsson, the Arsenal captain, or midfield partner Gedion Zelalem drop deep to offer an option, but United manager Warren Joyce never stops urging the impressive hustler Joe Rothwell to press tight, with Larnell Cole, United's skilful No 10, on hand to pick up any pieces.
Arsenal then play wide to their full-backs, Tafari Moore and Brandon Ormonde-Rothwell, who always look comfortable taking the ball and building the play. The style is typical Arsenal, even after Cole gave United an early lead against the run of play, and the home side come back to deserve their equaliser through Thomas Eisfeld early in the second half.
Pleat's report is also positive, notwithstanding United's "more typically British approach".
"In difficult, windy conditions, they all looked comfortable technically, and I was impressed with the way they were trying to deal with it. Some of the football was fantastic."
"I was impressed with the midfield triangle," he said. "[Ben] Pearson sat and moved the ball quickly, Rothwell was very strong in his challenging runs to pressure the ball and also with the ball, while Cole ran very well on and off the ball. They pressured very well for 65 minutes until they tired.
"They used the right wing very well, getting the ball out to [Saido] Janko when possible. They didn't play the ball out from the back so much and got it forward quickly. The movement in isolation of the centre-forward was very good, [James] Wilson making good runs down the left channel, and as he gets stronger, he looks set to be a good and technical player."
"It was an excellent game," Pleat says after finishing writing his report, while also highlighting that the TMOs are not solely focused on the players but also how the people guiding them are performing. He notes Joyce's technical urgings from the touchline and also his players' willingness to take his prompts on board and put them into practice.
Going through the thirds, Pleat observes that United's blocking at the near post from corners was very effective and that they looked in charge in the air; that United passed the ball well within the midfield third, with the left-back Reece James joining in, although Donald Love, on the right, tended to leave the attacking to the exciting Sanko.
"A key factor worth mentioning generally is we are looking for coaches who can respond well and quickly to changing situations in a game, if he needs to change formation for instance, and how well his players are prepared to take on these instructions," Pleat said. "This is a technical aspect we want to improve in this country."
Curbishley, in his brief time in the role before joining Fulham, also sees some trends emerging, and one observation builds on Pleat's feedback last season that for all the quality of possession in this league, there is a lack of creative cutting edge from players "in the hole".
"The tactics being used are very similar," Curbishley says. "Most of the teams are lining up the same way - 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3, 4-5-1 or when it is two front men, one tends to be floating. Everyone wants the No 10 to come into play.”
Pleat has been a TMO since the Under-21 Premier League kicked off in August 2012. He believes this United team is better than last year's championship-winning side, and that the standard of the game at Meadow Park is better than League Two. With clubs frequently shunning the chance to play three over-age outfield players, the competition is equitable.
"Before, you could have Tottenham Hotspur with five senior pros playing Millwall with triallists and schoolboys and it would finish 8-0," Pleat says. "There's no point in that.
"This is a much more competitive league, a more equal league and players are more of an equal standard. It is better than the old reserve set-up. The boys have to play."
The TMOs' reports go back to both clubs. Some clubs are using them to build up a picture of their team and see it as a training-ground aid. Each club gets at least four reports over the season at both Under-21 and Under-18 level.
The Premier League's Youth Development department also receives the reports and, according to Terry Westley, the PL's Head of Professional Development, it helps them to develop a clear understanding of what is happening in the sport across all age groups.
"We want to be able to feed back to the clubs an independent report of how their team played," Westley said. "Being able to have David and Alan here, we get a real in-depth evaluation of the game.
“If we can do that right across the board, with the Under-18s, the Under-16s, and in the foundation phase, we're starting to build up a real picture of what our game is like across all age groups. Instead of just hearing of someone saying, we have a full dossier of exactly what it looked like.
"If we don't ask these experienced people to come here, we don't get that knowledge, we don't get that informed overview of the game. People can make generalisations, but when you hear about how we're not trying to play out from the back in English football, well, here's the evidence."
"If we can do that right across the board, with the Under-18s, the Under-16s, and in the foundation phase, we're starting to build up a real picture of what our game is like across all age groups."
Westley is not so blinkered as to claim that the Under-21 Premier League is the only preparation for the Premier League itself, but he does believe that increased standards and competitiveness can only aid the best young players' bid to bridge the gap.
"This isn't the whole answer," Westley said. "But it is part of the answer. There are three likely routes through to the first team. Some simply are ready. The likes of Ross Barkley, Saido Berahino and James Ward-Prowse are fine examples of the young starlets who have progressed straight from the Under-21 Premier League into the elite division itself.
"Most players aren't ready and for some a spell on loan can be important for their development, such as Jack Wilshere at Bolton Wanderers, or Andros Townsend at Queens Park Rangers especially.
"But we firmly believe in the values of the U21 Premier League as the principle key to their development. For a boy to play in this league and be challenged accelerates his development."
The aim of the EPPP is to prepare players for the biggest of stages. ProZone analysis reveals that the style of play in the U21 Premier League is more akin to the PL than the Football League.
The U21 League comprises 22 teams this season, which will split into two divisions for 2014/15, with promotion and relegation thereafter. Westley senses this is helping sharpen clubs' attitudes.
"That will give it an added edge," he said. "Manchester City were 18th but have won three games on the spin to get into top half."
Clubs play at least three matches in their main stadium, and Westley said: "Some of the lads have played at the training grounds since they were aged 10, whereas this is different. Manchester United came down overnight and playing at a stadium, with a bit of a crowd [700], with an intensity to the game, it is part of the players' development.
"There is a difference from the Under-18s to this. And there needs to be. Is there a big difference to the first team? Of course, massively. We understand that. So our role is to try and develop the standard of this league to the highest we can and make it one of the alternatives."
Pete Lansley (@PeteLansley), a freelance football reporter for the Sunday Times and the Guardian, is a Level 2/Youth Module 3 coach working with Derby County Community Trust and an FA Coach Mentor.
