Managing under 21s

[waynethickett]

I am just entering into my 3rd season as Arsenal. Consecutive third place finishes and surviving a takeover are the heights I have reached so far. I noticed as I was strengthening my squad in between seasons 2 and 3 my under 21 squad is tiny. Is it possible to take charge of your under 21s? Want to try and ensure a good crop of future stars getting regular football?

If it is possible has anybody done this themselves and seen a benefit to the long term success of the team as a whole.

 

[Tracz]

The under 21's is just a squad for players that are to old for the youth team and arent ready to be in the first team. Or for 1st team players needing game time after returning from injury etc.
I can imagine there being much change if you were to take control of the team, would just be more games for you to take control of.

 

[waynethickett]

My only thinking was that when you make players available for under 21s more often than not it says unused or sub and there are times when you want somebody who is struggling to make the first team have regular football without having to loan them out.

 

[Tracz]

You can set players to play the full 90mins,

 

[Tracz]

You can set players to play the full 90mins,

 

[DonVilla]

Not sure if it is just me, but my U21 manager very rarely listens to instructions I give on how long to play first team players in U21 games. He often plays players marked for 20 minutes for the full game.

I think there could be benefits to this, if you are patient enough to sit through all these games as well.