Kevin O'Connor believes the quality of fixtures has improved since Brentford moved from an EPPP grade two academy to having a B team setup.
The Bees have played a host of fixtures against leading Premier League sides such as Manchester United and Liverpool and hosted USA U20s last Sunday.
And O'Connor believes the focus on just the first team and B team has benefited the younger players who remain at Griffin Park.
He said: “There are a lot of differences. The fixture programme – the quality of the opposition has gone up.
“There's less people around the training ground and it's focused on the first team and the B team.
“The players get more exposure to first team training. They do it as much as possible. It's a system that gives the younger players a chance to get into the first team.”
This is O'Connor's second spell in charge of the B team, taking over after Lee Carsley was parachuted into a first team role after Marinus Dijkhuizen's sacking in September 2015.
He returned to an assistant role with Flemming Pedersen taking over in January 2016 but after he returned to FC Nordsjælland, O'Connor was back in charge.
The Bees legend reflected: “Cars brought me in and took me under his wing. I had a stint myself and then I was learning off Flemming who was a completely different coach to Cars. I feel I'm more than ready to take the team on myself.
“Flemming was total football 24/7 and he'd watch any game on TV. For his style of play it was interesting to see the level of detail.
“One brilliant thing for Cars, even when he took over the first team was his man management. That's a major part of being a manager.
“He got players liking him and working for him. You have the tactics as well but what Cars had was he got the players to play for him.”
O'Connor played practically every position for Brentford in his 501-game career with the Bees and that experience has stood him in good stead when guiding the younger players.
He explained: “I try to. I don't think I was great in all of those positions. I have experience in most position but I lean on other guys as well.
“I have my idea of how I want someone to play in a certain position and that's the one I have to impose on them.
He added: “It's hard work at times and very challenging but I very much enjoy it. I enjoy working what makes the players tick and getting the best out of them.”
Ask the majority of players what the biggest individual buzz they can get in any given game and they'd say scoring a goal.
For coaches, especially ones whose job it is to develop a young player, it would be seeing a player struggling with a specific issue and helping them resolve it.
O'Connor said: “There's a comparison between giving good advice and scoring a goal. You can't beat scoring a goal but if you see someone improve that's the biggest buzz you can get (day to day). The biggest buzz will be getting someone into the first team and have a proper career.
“There are a few knocking on the door and we need them to open it and lock it behind them. We want someone in the starting XI and become an important part of the first team.”
Development is the aim of B team fixtures and O'Connor was pleased with how his side coped against the USA U20s.
He said: “I think the quality of opposition were good today. I thought in the heat we needed to stay focused, which we've struggled at at times.
“The development of the players mentally was better. I need someone to organise more when the going gets tough which we're looking for. There's slow development in the players and we need to keep accelerating that.”
