He's been injured since November, but I agree. IMO he should have had the first half of the seasons out on loan at a Championship club.

I'll keep beating hte drum, but it all stinks of not having a plan. Instead of half a season out on loan, he's got 130 minutes. Not helpful for him, and not helpful for us.

But as I said, that explanation only really makes sense if we're uniquely bad amongst PL sides, which I think is nearly impossible to argue - at a point it's simply about how willing someone is to give out opportunities.

I'm not suggesting we're the best academy and our U21s are all superstars, but there is literally nothing to suggest we have the worst batch of the whole division - even if it's just ok, so are most other teams, and they find pathways for the decent ones.

Sorry MrR, gotta take issue with you about the bit in red.

Boro, won away, lost at home.
B'ham won away.
Stevenage Div 1 1st team players.
Ipswich lost at home(give you that one).
AFC Div 2 1st team players.

Dont forget they have also progressed in the 'International Cup' by beating Benfica, drawing with Feyenoord, beating Monaco & drawing with Athletic Bilbao.

Bearing in mind the U21's also have players out on loan & by all accounts a couple more will be also going out on loan in the next week.

This operation, will make the 'Charge Of The Light Brigade' seem like a simple military exercise.

There's always so much chat about not playing the kids. Fans, the board and presumably the manager all want the academy graduates to progress to first team regulars, but the simple fact is they're not currently ready.

We have the worlds most experienced manager at the club who watches them train daily, what makes any fan think they have more knowledge on this subject than Roy Hodgson? If they're good enough, they'll play. Why wouldn't they?

From what we've seen, Ozoh looks like he'll develop into a first team player, but you wouldn't throw him into the starting 11 ahead of experienced pro's like Hughes or Schlupp given our precarious league position.

Franca had a decent cameo against City but has otherwise looked lightweight and out of his depth and Rak-Saki has looked much the same.

Anyone who went to the U21's final Vs PSV Eindhoven at the end of last season would have seen that none of the players were anywhere near Premier League level.

As others have said, academy players showing potential should be shipped out on loan to experience the intensity and pressure of first team professional football. In reality, as a minimum, they need to be performing consistently well in the Championship for at least 6 months before they should be considered first team squad players at Palace.

If we are comfortably away from relegation with 5 games to go, that's the time to give the likes of Ozoh, Franca and perhaps Rak-Saki more game time.

Honestly I just find this take lazy - by extension, none of us can have a view on any tactics, team selections, substitutions, transfers or anything football related, because Roy knows best on all of them.

Yeah, definitely agree re the lack of planning - we have a really poor structure for developing promising academy players into professional players.

I just disagreed with the bit about a lack of U21 players knocking on the door - I think we have 2 or 3 there who another manager would've at least given an opportunity to by now.