I am interested to find out if the current Crawley squad players have the least league experience, I am guessing there are no more than 4 players in the current squad that have played in the football league (National League not Included}, also I believe we may be close to having the youngest squad in League 2?
I am interested to find out if the current Crawley squad players have the least league experience, I am guessing there are no more than 4 players in the current squad that have played in the football league (National League not Included}, also I believe we may be close to having the youngest squad in League 2?
No more than 4? They’ve all played in the Football Lesgue…🤔
I was certainly one of those who were concerned with the lack of experience and age of the squad at the beginning of the season.
Of our squad, Adeyemo, Brown, Fish, Forster, Greensall, J Kelly, Mukena and Sandford plus Swyer (now back at West Ham) had never played at this level when we signed them. Davis, Kastrati, Khaleel, Lolos, Olagunju, Omole, and Williams had limited experience (less than 20 games).
I remember having discussions with Ellywelly16 (whatever happened to him) stating my concerns about lack of experience. At the start of the season we only had 6 players who had played more than 50 games (Campbell, Conroy, Gladwin, Gordon, Kelly and Tsaroulla). I felt we would struggle to stay up, but have obviously done well and vastly exceeded my expectations, so credit should go to everyone at the club.
Age wise, the average age, based on minutes of the players playing is actually 26, higher than I thought. Only Accrington, Colchester, Crewe, and Walsall have a lower average age. The highest two are Mansfield (29.5) and Sutton (29.3) opposite ends of the table.
Dorking, who I also watch have a very old squad (average age 30.1) and struggle with pace. They often play 3 or 4 35+ players including a 38 and 39 year old in a 3 man defence. Hence their current position.
I think it is about getting the balance between experience and youth, and we have done a lot better than I expected. However, a little more experience would have helped us in games such as our losses yesterday, and home defeats against Morecambe and Salford.