Have performances really been that bad? A statistical performative analysis. *FYI may contain stats*

[WestYorksRoyal]

I'd be interested to know how often stats and feelings on performances misalign. We're not having much attacking possession or taking many shots. Well I could have told you that.

You generally know how good a team is by watching as a fan. You may have style preference; for example I'd choose a high pressing Klopp team over Pep tiki-taka. But I can still acknowledge that Pep teams are excellent.

Statistics are useful to the professionals in finding insights that can make a critical difference over a similarly matched team. But they can't convince fans that what they're seeing is different from what their eyes are telling them. We've been a mediocre L1 team on the pitch with a decent league position because we were winning key moments earlier in the season. I don't need stats to tell me that, and I don't think they can convince be otherwise either.

[Brogue]

I'd be interested to know how often stats and feelings on performances misalign. We're not having much attacking possession or taking many shots. Well I could have told you that.

You generally know how good a team is by watching as a fan. You may have style preference; for example I'd choose a high pressing Klopp team over Pep tiki-taka. But I can still acknowledge that Pep teams are excellent.

Statistics are useful to the professionals in finding insights that can make a critical difference over a similarly matched team. But they can't convince fans that what they're seeing is different from what their eyes are telling them. We've been a mediocre L1 team on the pitch with a decent league position because we were winning key moments earlier in the season. I don't need stats to tell me that, and I don't think they can convince be otherwise either.

absolutley. i wonder what the stats looked like under Stam.

[stealthpapes]

I get the feeling we basically have a Cat 1.5 academy.

We went quite deep into it (both academy and squad fringes) trying to get by the last two seasons.

Big Kelv shouldn’t ever have as many games as he does, but it’s where we are now.

Garcia was brought through early, he’s not the only one.

So, this season is (hopefully) an adjustment, it shouldn’t be a long term trend.

[stealthpapes]

Reading fans: academy is expensive, what if we spend the money on getting promoted?

Also Reading fans: I don’t like these older players and loanees coming into the squad.

[WestYorksRoyal]

I think what we're doing with the academy now in terms of using loans and cups is more suitable and what we did in recent years was a reflection of desperate measures.

Let's look at who broke through in that time (I'm treating those signed as inexperienced youngsters like Bindon, Wareham and Patton like academy products, even if they're not completely home grown).

Stickland and Holzman - way way off and it showed.

Kanu and Ahmed - Not ready and getting NL experience

Abrefa - Jury out. He won't make it here, but I wouldn't be surprised if he forges a solid L1 career.

Camara - there is no way a player of his quality should have had such a big role in a L1 squad.

Kelvin E - the big enigma. I don't know what to say. But perhaps an opportunity to play his formative years in NL/L2 would have benefited him

Vickers - hardly set the world alight since leaving. And ultimately brought in revenue which is an academy success.

Garcia - Similar to above. He's playing in the youth team at Brugge, and I don't think he was really ready for men's football.

Abbey & Bindon - The star players and big success stories.

You'd hope that even with more budget, we'd find a way of giving the likes of Abbey and Bindon a proper chance. I don't know how good Duah currently is for example, but he could be a potential EFL cup option.

But big picture, we went "all in" on our academy as we had no choice and were only ever 2 or 3 injuries off playing the likes of Camara, Garcia and Stickland. That is no recipe for promotion.

I'd happily send Patton back on loan and get in a short term option for next season. Then hopefully by 27/28 Patton's loan experience makes him ready for a big role.

[Clyde1998]

I get the feeling we basically have a Cat 1.5 academy.

There was a Q&A outside the stadium before the game in which Couhig was complaining about spending around £200k per month on the academy (so about £2.5m per year).

Aston Villa are the only club I'm aware of who list their youth expenditure in their annual accounts. In 2024-25, they spend £26.179m (up from £19.735m). I imagine clubs like Arsenal and especially Chelsea are above that level.

Different clubs will calculate this in different ways, but does show the gulf in expenditure we're dealing with.