starting 11 verses youth

[Samwam27 606]

With exception of Jacob Murphy, what has been most frustrating this season is AN''s perseverance with his group of under-performing "seasoned" pro''s.

Yes we''ve seen tiny glimpses of the younger players, such as MOM from Thompson, followed by a frustrating injury. But the rest have been a puzzle. Canos, Maddison out on loan, and then Pritchard. A great performance, followed by an average and he gets drop, whilst everyone else retains their place. Poor man management.

And that brings me nicely onto Godfrey and AN''s latest comments about shipping him out on loan.

Godfrey gets a run in an injury laden team and puts in an extremely assured performance against a decent PL team. But all AN can say is "we don''t regard that as his best position and gametime elsewhere may benefit him."

Fair enough, but why not give him, and Madds etc more gametime here, as a CB or in midfield? And the pro''s keep underperforming! We''ve looked woeful all season in these positions. Why not see if he develops in a different position, after al AN''s judgement has been pretty poor on lots of areas.

My reasoning is simple for two examples.

Take Thierry Henry. He arrived at ARsenal as a winger. Wenger tried him up front and what happened.

Or, closer to home, take pour dear old R Martin. Majority would agree his best position is RB, but AN persists with him as centre back.

So AN is contradicting himself anyway! But my point is (with transfers pending) why not try Godfrey as a CB with Klose. It may benefit Klose and vice versa benefit Godfrey. We can hardly do any worse. OR try him in midfield, where he played so well. Tettey''s been well short all season, as has Mulumu, with assumption we keep Howson.

Same goes for Madds (if Pritchard is sold) Either war, let Madds or Pritch try and cement that No.10 spot as Wes can''t go on forever, and we do need a higher tempo game.

Or stick with our high earning, underperformers. We''ve been heading opposite direction from playoffs for a long time now. What have we got to lose

[Move Klose 303]

I posted this the other day but I perdonslly would rather see people like:

Matthews, Toffolo, Godfrey, Thompson, Maddison, Canos, Murphys, Pritchard, Morris

In and around a match day squad over people like:

McGovern, Whittaker, Bassong, Mulumbu Naismith, Jarvis, Lafferty etc.

[morty 0]

[quote user="Move Klose"]I posted this the other day but I perdonslly would rather see people like:

Matthews, Toffolo, Godfrey, Thompson, Maddison, Canos, Murphys, Pritchard, Morris

In and around a match day squad over people like:

McGovern, Whittaker, Bassong, Mulumbu Naismith, Jarvis, Lafferty etc.[/quote]Wouldn''t we all?The reality of it, though, is that they are probably not quite good enough yet. And it is never a good time to blood youth, when things aren''t going well. The sheer weight of expectation can ruin them, remember Ian Henderson?

[Indy 3,471]

I think from what we''ve seen of Thompson, he''s got his game to a level he''s good enough for this starting 11, Pritchard been fantastic at this level and that''s true for Canos too. The rest agree, not good enough yet.

That said, I''m just trying to decide if the the normal squad are good enough yet as it appears not, so maybe the case can be argued that they can''t be any worse?

[Move Klose 303]

I''m not saying let''s start them every week. But from what I''ve seen from laferry this year has he really done anything Morris couldn''t have done in his brief apperances. Look at Whittaker last week at LB, surely Toffolo would''ve been a better bet. We have 3 30+ keepers, and from what I''ve seen McGovern would rather see Matthews in the odd cup game etc.

[Move Klose 303]

Godfrey was good midweek, Mulumbu won''t be here next year. Let''s plan for that.

[morty 0]

[quote user="Indy"]I think from what we''ve seen of Thompson, he''s got his game to a level he''s good enough for this starting 11, Pritchard been fantastic at this level and that''s true for Canos too. The rest agree, not good enough yet.

That said, I''m just trying to decide if the the normal squad are good enough yet as it appears not, so maybe the case can be argued that they can''t be any worse?[/quote]If Thompson was fit, he''d be starting. Alex Neil clearly thinks he is good enough, and ready.Pritchard has been hot and cold, forget what he did last season. His lack of consistency shows that he isn''t ready to be playing every week yet.Canos, no idea, but people who have seen him for the U23''s say he doesn''t look like troubling the first team yet.Ultimately its down to your perceived expertise of Alex Neil, and his ability to know if they are ready, or not.

[morty 0]

[quote user="Move Klose"]I''m not saying let''s start them every week. But from what I''ve seen from laferry this year has he really done anything Morris couldn''t have done in his brief apperances. Look at Whittaker last week at LB, surely Toffolo would''ve been a better bet. We have 3 30+ keepers, and from what I''ve seen McGovern would rather see Matthews in the odd cup game etc.[/quote]Lafferty should never pull a yellow shirt on again, after what I saw at Southampton.I don''t think Morris is quite there yet, same goes for Toffolo.

[morty 0]

[quote user="Move Klose"]Godfrey was good midweek, Mulumbu won''t be here next year. Let''s plan for that.[/quote]Godfrey was very good. But was that his first senior appearance for us?Alex sees him as a right sided centre back, rather than a DM.

[wcorkcanary 4,785]

''''Alex sees him as a right sided centre back, rather than a DM.''''....Morty

By all accounts he was v good against Southampton in DM, surely that means, if Alex is correct of course(i have my doubts lately) that Ben Godfrey will even better as a centre half. Given his performance out of position, why not bring him in at his (Alex) stated , preferred position.

''''He was very good at X, but he''s better at Y, I wont play him there(Y) just yet though.''''..... would make sense if we were doing well and strong in defence, but we arent.

[Guest]

I honestly believe one of our real problems this year has been the "two" who are supposed to protect especially when the full backs go bounding forward, which is one of our tactics.

We can groan about our defence, or basically yhe two centre backs but in reality I don''t believe ours are any worse than other teams in this league.

I just believe that two full backs go forward, the two CB''s spread to cover slightly and at least one of the "two is supposed to cover the middle.

But I don''t believe ours do that particularly well. Thompson looked like he had the energy and nous to do that and he has been missed. But despite many assertions that we have too many midfield players, I believe a calming player in that role, a Matic/Carrick style (I know we won''t get someone with that ability obviously) who can cover, pick up the ball and roll a good pass.

[ZLF 335]

Thompson is one the few that is ready to push for a regular squad place (all players inexperienced or not have to earn a starting slot)

one of the reasons he is ready is the match practice he has had while on loan.

[Barclay seats 4849 the 3rd 0]

Canos got MoM twice playing for the U23 team . I have only see him play once in the flesh , looked good to me , but it''s all opinions , AN rarely has the same opinion as many others .

[Salopian 1]

You must respect that views of the management/coaching team, when they say even an impressive youngster who has played well, needs to go on loan for further development.

My own view is that a number of seasoned pros, - I mention no names, have shown that they continue to make costly errors or are too slow, so what is the point in selecting them when we have youngsters who have demonstrated ability?

[The Bristol Nest 597]

To switch this around, I am excited by the young players coming through . We appear to have a plan for next season which will see a lot of our older pros gone and some real talent come to fruition.

Would this happen if we were to be promoted this season? Probably not.

[lincoln canary (& Golden Coppel) 0]

[quote user="bristolcanary"]To switch this around, I am excited by the young players coming through . We appear to have a plan for next season which will see a lot of our older pros gone and some real talent come to fruition.

Would this happen if we were to be promoted this season? Probably not.[/quote]

If this is the plan, then I''d agree, exciting times ahead.

Except I have no confidence in AN executing this plan, if it is even the plan of course.

[lincoln canary (& Golden Coppel) 0]

[quote user="lincoln canary"][quote user="bristolcanary"]To switch this around, I am excited by the young players coming through . We appear to have a plan for next season which will see a lot of our older pros gone and some real talent come to fruition.

Would this happen if we were to be promoted this season? Probably not.[/quote]

If this is the plan, then I''d agree, exciting times ahead.

Except I have no confidence in AN executing this plan, if it is even the plan of course.[/quote]

Judging the way AN has thrown contracts around to older pros I''m certainly not convinced he shares this plan.

[The Bristol Nest 597]

There is that view as well.

[AJ 1,359]

It is a difficult thing, whichever way you look at it. Do you bring in youngsters into a side that is struggling to win games and hope they have a positive impact? Or do they come in, play poorly and set their careers back a long way. You''ve got to protect the talent. The Murphy''s are a good example, looked off the pace last year before going on loan, now look at them.

Thompson, had he not got injured, would certainly be featuring for us now.

Maddison would be if Naismith had of gone, I hope he gets some chances to play before the end of this season.

Toffolo is a frustrating one, should be in the squad given we have no left backs.

Godfrey looks to be the next one likely to break into the first team - but he''s not near being a regular starter just yet.

It is a bit frustrating to be spending money on these players and not getting to play them - but that''s why the decisions have to be made to loan them out, they need to be playing regularly.