Mark Robson played summer signing Patrick Kelly out of position last night as West Ham under-21s got hammered 5-0 by PSV Eindhoven.
The Hammers development side were one of the best and most exciting young teams on the planet last season.
They were somewhat decimated in the summer though.
Aji Alese joined Sunderland on a permanent deal whilst Sonny Perkins moved to Leeds. Meanwhile, the likes of Armstrong Okoflex, Dan Chesters and Emmanuel Longelo all left the London Stadium on season-long loans.
And as a result, West Ham have made a really poor start to the Premier League 2 campaign this season.
Mark Robson’s side have taken just one point from eight games and are sitting rock bottom of the table.
Things didn’t get any better for the West Ham under-21 side either in the Premier League International Cup match against PSV Eindhoven last night…
West Ham get hammered by PSV Eindhoven under-21s
The Hammers youngsters were not at the races last night, and were totally outclassed by PSV Eindhoven.
West Ham’s under-21s have now played two games in the inaugural Premier League International Cup. We lost 1-0 to Sparta Prague a couple of weeks ago and things got a whole lot worse last night.
We were battered 5-0 at home by PSV Eindhoven’s youngsters.
Mark Robson spoke to reporters after the game and highlighted the gulf in quality between the two sides. He also opened up on why he played new signing Patrick Kelly out of position, as quoted by WHUFC.com:
This was a good opportunity to look at some of the younger players. They’ve been doing very well in the U18s over the last year or so and it was a good test for them against a PSV team who were slightly older, and were much stronger. They were cleverer on the ball.
It was a big learning curve. You get to find out a bit about some of the lads, which is always good. It’s good for me because I can learn things about one or two players and whether they are ready for the next level. The increase in level up to U21s football is much higher. It’s a much, much higher standard than the one they are used to do. The quality you play against is much more and there was a lot of quality in that PSV team.
I wanted to give Patrick an opportunity. I played Patrick out of position, which was perhaps a bit harsh on him. I put him in that role because I wanted to give him a game, and we already had players coming into the middle, and he has played that right-back role. I wanted to see what he was like with the ball and it was a good opportunity for him.
Kelly moved to the London Stadium from Northern Irish club Colerain in the summer.
The 18-year-old central midfielder is very highly rated, and signing him in the summer was seen as somewhat of a coup for the Hammers.
It was a shame that Robson played him out of position last night, and we didn’t really get a chance to see what he is really capable of at under-21 level.
West Ham were taught a lesson by PSV Eindhoven under-21s last night.
Let’s hope that all of the youngsters who played, including Kelly, improve as a result of the ruthless nature of last night’s defeat.
Read also:
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