Onel Hernandez

[The Great Mass Debater 1,081]

Reading Smith's comments about the squad. Rather complimentary about our favourite Cuban/German (side-note - technically Zimmermann was not the last remaining German).

I've always loved Onel. True he may be past his best, but he has always been an exciting player, who on his day has the flair to change a game. His attitude is exemplary, commitment to the club unquestioned, and maybe it's sentiment, but I would love to see him get himself back in the team.

Smith's words seem to suggest he has not been discarded and may still play a part this season.

 

Can he?

[Iwans teeth 18]

Personally I think he's our most proven winger in the team he'd make my starting eleven. 

[Nuff Said 5,118]

👍 I would love it, just love it. 🙏

[John Ryans Express 32]

I thought he played well up in Scotland at the weekend and seemed very motivated

[Yellow and Green 334]

He's certainly a good squad player. A great character who can cause teams problems as a super sub.

[AJ 1,218]

I think he's got a part to play as an impact sub. Looked hungry for it in pre season and could answer our right wing problems

[Canario 204]

Certainly doing his best Adama Traoré impression but hopefully with a better end product. 

 

[KeiranShikari 1,410]

Unless he's said something new I've not really gotten the impression that Smith is in love with Onel.

I would imagine Hernadez is in a similar situation to Zimmerman, especially if Bailey is right and we sign another winger. Don't know if we'd force him out but he'd be picking between a deep squad role here or more elsewhere.

 

 

[Newtopia 517]

Love him, not many coaches would pick Onel ahead of Rashica.  Assuming we are playing 4 3 3, he will be up against Rashica, Rowe, Sargent, Springett, and Todd.  So I reckon he does have a part to play.  

[rock bus 851]

Love Onel as a character but have to be honest if we end up relying on him this year we will be in trouble. He just has zero end product, hardly shined last year in what in theory should be weaker squads than ours.

We really should’ve moved on in terms of squad quality for Hernandez.

[The Great Mass Debater 1,081]

5 hours ago, KeiranShikari said:

Unless he's said something new I've not really gotten the impression that Smith is in love with Onel.

I would imagine Hernadez is in a similar situation to Zimmerman, especially if Bailey is right and we sign another winger. Don't know if we'd force him out but he'd be picking between a deep squad role here or more elsewhere.

 

 

Im sure he's better than Placheta. Smith had the opportunity to bring Onel back and farm Placheta out in January (the situation that exists now) but chose to go with Placheta. In his defence Smith had relatively only just come to the club and would not really know the players like he does now.

If Onel gets an opportunity and tears it up, it's not beyond the realms of possibility 🙂

[Yellow Wal 314]

1 hour ago, rock bus said:

Love Onel as a character but have to be honest if we end up relying on him this year we will be in trouble. He just has zero end product, hardly shined last year in what in theory should be weaker squads than ours.

We really should’ve moved on in terms of squad quality for Hernandez.

I am almost at the stage of saying this about Rashica. A lot of promise, little end product.

[TheGunnShow 5,937]

To be fair, I think Smith is being sensible and having a good look at the players who were out on loan so he wouldn't have had much chance to work with them yet, and seeing if he can find a place for them. Hugill was always going to be very much a plan B in a Farke side, and also to some extent look a bit like a fish out of water when Farkeball was in full swing. He was excellent at Preston, and scored a fair few at QPR, so if you build a team around his strengths at this level, you will get results.

Farke built his attack around Pukki - several attacking midfielders who could pick a through-ball (and Celtic didn't do that to the same extent, not to mention Pukki then was much rawer). Hugill's not about running into channels for through-balls. He wants high balls slung in to attack. Smith's realised we do have wingers, and we have a striker who likes planting headers in.

It is possible that this similar matter could apply to others, incl. Hernandez. My suspicion is that his inconsistent end product will always be a problem, but Hernandez is more likely to generate something if he's got a big lad to aim at.

[jaberry2 550]

I would anticipate Onel given quite a few minutes this season, as he is one of more consistent wingers we have. It remains to be seen if Rashica can become a force in the Championship, but you would hope he can contribute a lot. I suppose there is a question mark on Sargeant in that advanced right position, I suppose you set up depending on the opposition.

[paddycanary 538]

It's not that difficult to envisage Onel & Sargent being slung off the bench to create late chances for Pukki/Idah/Hugill when we're chasing those momentum-gathering late goals. 

[Feedthewolf 4,846]

I think it's more likely that Springett or Rowe would be sent out on loan this season than Onel get sold. It might be better for their development to get regular starts at League One level than bit parts off the bench. If you want to bring on a tricky winger to influence a game in the last half hour, Onel definitely has the X factor to make that happen.

If we do bring in another winger, we'd then have Rashica, Sargent, Cantwell, Hernandez and the new player competing for two slots... although in that eventuality, I think there's a good chance we'd play Cantwell in the midfield three.

Thinking about it, if we do sign Nunez and another winger on top of that, we're going to be looking pretty stacked!

[vos 155]

I am yet to be convinced that Rashica is any better than Onel. No end product and never looks likely to score.

[jaberry2 550]

3 minutes ago, vos said:

I am yet to be convinced that Rashica is any better than Onel. No end product and never looks likely to score.

Only shown glimpses of what he can do. You would hope against a lower quality of player he could turn them inside out a little in the championship. I suspect Onel and Hugill will feature quite a lot this season, especially if Pukki fails to get service or Sargeant doesnt deliver in an advanced right position. Onel should be kept purely for the point of morale, but I suspect he will contribute far more than that this season. 

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

1 hour ago, The Great Mass Debater said:

Im sure he's better than Placheta. Smith had the opportunity to bring Onel back and farm Placheta out in January (the situation that exists now) but chose to go with Placheta.

To be fair, at that point Onel had just come back early from an unsuccessful loan where he made minimal impact

He had a much greater impact in his second loan, earned his chance. 

[GodlyOtsemobor 2,290]

He's definitely one of very few of our players that has some kind of connection to the fans. 

Alot of them don't have that as of yet. 

[Yellow and Green 334]

10 hours ago, rock bus said:

Love Onel as a character but have to be honest if we end up relying on him this year we will be in trouble. He just has zero end product, hardly shined last year in what in theory should be weaker squads than ours.

We really should’ve moved on in terms of squad quality for Hernandez.

Onel got 8 goals and 10 assists in the 2018/19 promotion season (according to transfermarkt), so 'zero product' might be a bit harsh. You could probably argue that he's a bit wasteful with some of the chances he's had.

It may also be interesting to see how he does where the coach encourages the wingers to cross the ball into the box.

[chicken 2,624]

15 hours ago, KeiranShikari said:

Unless he's said something new I've not really gotten the impression that Smith is in love with Onel.

I would imagine Hernadez is in a similar situation to Zimmerman, especially if Bailey is right and we sign another winger. Don't know if we'd force him out but he'd be picking between a deep squad role here or more elsewhere.

I think the local journo's have already said we might look to loan Springett. I think he'll be kept, he offers something different to what others do, other than perhaps Rowe. If we want to play with two out and out wingers, either to change a game or from the get go, we only really have Rashica, Onel and Rowe. 

[Yobocop 1,097]

12 hours ago, GodlyOtsemobor said:

He's definitely one of very few of our players that has some kind of connection to the fans. 

Alot of them don't have that as of yet. 

I think if his name was Owen Houghton, he didn’t shop at Argos and didn’t enjoy using 2p machines at the seaside then we wouldn’t even give him a second look 

much like hugill and sinani has probably benefited from a change in management and has probably warranted a ‘second chance’ this season 

[GodlyOtsemobor 2,290]

6 hours ago, Yobocop said:

I think if his name was Owen Houghton, he didn’t shop at Argos and didn’t enjoy using 2p machines at the seaside then we wouldn’t even give him a second look 

much like hugill and sinani has probably benefited from a change in management and has probably warranted a ‘second chance’ this season 

And if if and buts were candy and nuts we'd all have a merry Christmas 

[cambridgeshire canary 6,698]

He may not be some fancy tricky dribbler who wow's you when he's on the ball but you know what? He's a top bloke, he clearly loves us, the club and fans, and he very much loves just being able to play football. There's also the fact that he is quite frankly sort of an Adama Traore style player in which he is quite the strong battering ram. He's not gong to do fancy spins and fake passes to get past defenders- But he will just batter his way past them with ease and quite often when he's one on one he sends the player he's against to the floor with his strength and determination. He really does bring something unique to our cub and I hope we hold onto him for as long as we can. Is he going to be a nailed on stater? No, of course not. But is he a fantastic choice to have to bring on against tired legs in the 70th minute? Yes.

[Capt. Pants 4,225]

Getting shot of Placheta and Tzolis elevates Onel up the pecking order, for now. 

It will be interesting to see if and where Cantwell plays. I can see him in a Grealish role tbh. Likewise Dowell? With a midfield 3 from Hayden, Sara, Sorensen,  Nunez, McLean and Gibbs I can see Dowell or Cantwell playing wider, which won't give Onel many opportunities, especially if we get another winger in as well.

[horsefly 4,296]

37 minutes ago, Capt. Pants said:

Getting shot of Placheta and Tzolis elevates Onel up the pecking order, for now. 

It will be interesting to see if and where Cantwell plays. I can see him in a Grealish role tbh. Likewise Dowell? With a midfield 3 from Hayden, Sara, Sorensen,  Nunez, McLean and Gibbs I can see Dowell or Cantwell playing wider, which won't give Onel many opportunities, especially if we get another winger in as well.

I think there is still something of a conundrum to be solved for Smith. It's often said he has a preference for 4-3-3. At the same time he has also publicly stated that he is a huge admirer of Dowell and thinks his skill and vision could be key to unlocking Championship defences. However, he has also described Dowell as no natural athlete, and that seems conclusively to rule him out from playing out wide where players are now expected to bomb back to perform defensive duties as well as bomb forward in attack (I think his performances there have shown this to be evidently the case). So Dowell would only seem to suit playing No.10 in a 4-2-3-1 formation. I could see Cantwell playing No.10 too. It will be interesting to see for what formation Smith shows a preference; if it is to be 4-3-3 I would much rather see Onel play out wide than Dowell. Personally I'm hoping for 4-2-3-1 with Dowell at N0.10 (when he's fit). 

[kirku 1,332]

On 28/07/2022 at 22:51, Iwans teeth said:

Personally I think he's our most proven winger in the team he'd make my starting eleven. 

By what metric could he possibly be the "most proven winger" when we have Cantwell and Rashica in the squad?!

[Canary Wundaboy 1,359]

1 hour ago, kirku said:

By what metric could he possibly be the "most proven winger" when we have Cantwell and Rashica in the squad?!

Because Rashica did sweet FA last season, albeit in the EPL. And Cantwell, is he a “winger” in the traditional sense? I’d argue he looks better in a more central role.

[All the Germans 1,075]

2 hours ago, Capt. Pants said:

Getting shot of Placheta and Tzolis elevates Onel up the pecking order, for now. 

It will be interesting to see if and where Cantwell plays. I can see him in a Grealish role tbh. Likewise Dowell? With a midfield 3 from Hayden, Sara, Sorensen,  Nunez, McLean and Gibbs I can see Dowell or Cantwell playing wider, which won't give Onel many opportunities, especially if we get another winger in as well.

I'd argue that Hernandez was already ahead of Placheta and Tzolis for this season, even if they were still here. I like Hernandez, he certainly has limitations and I wouldn't start him most of the time, but as an option against tiring legs, absolutely worth having around.

Who would you rather bring on in the 70th minute, Tzolis, Hernandez or Placheta? I'd rather bring my nan on than the other two (and she's 92) so perhaps not the best endorsement, but, his pace, strength and directness will give a different dimension and the opposition something to think about.