Youth & Loanee Watch

Thanks for that HQMC and why do you think I changed my Avatar???

I know several posters will say, “Ah, but that was against SPL defenders blah, blah blah!!”, but I would advocate letting him loose on a tiring defence and see what mayhem he can create. Some of the skills and vision he showed in that montage of his awareness of where his teammates are etc was fantastic, something that was one of Redmond’s biggest failings. He’s also very useful at ‘dead ball’ situations, again something we lack - for those who can attend home games, time and time again, corners fail to beat the first defender!!
I was fortunate enough to see him against both Villa and Dinamo Zagreb in the under 23 International PL cup and he played a massive role in both victories and in the game against Zagreb, he drew two penalties with his skills. Cantwell was brought on against Zagreb, so JM just played a little deeper, so that Cantwell could play in his favoured position. Unfortunately, he may not feature in tomorrow night’s game against Sunderland, as he’s now part of the first team squad, but knowing AI, the best he can hope for is to be on the bench at Villa, as AI would rather start with Wes!!!

 

He's a great prospect, but I really think it's a case of play him or lose him. He's not going to sit at Norwich and waste the next 2 years of development because we keep playing the old gits irrespective of their performances. Indeed I think this is an area with player development where we let ourselves down, we seem to buy good prospects, but don't seem to know how to develop them. Often we seem to think the answer is to bung them out on loan and often the places they go to on loan aren't great. For me Maddison seems to have a good head on him, his decision to go out on loan this season to Aberdeen was the right one for his development. It's next season that concerns me.

 

Just about the best montage I have ever seen. Arsenal would have given him his debut by now, and so would several other top clubs. We MUST play him, sooner rather than later. I have said on another thread that Wes is yesterdays man for next season. Time to move on.

 

Canario and GE - Two excellent posts and as you say if JM and GM are not going to get regular playing time, then they are not going to sit 'kicking their heels' at CR and whoever is HC next season MUST make them at LEAST part of the first team squad to persuade them to stay and we might as well relinquish our Cat 1 Academy Status.
Those of us that have seen JM actually play, know what he's capable of and had he been at most other clubs, he would have been given his chance by now.

 

Great compilation, HMQC. If Wes is still injured, JM should at least be on the bench on Saturday.

 

The perverse thing is, AI and AN before him would probably be saying/thinking that he is to much of a risk with the playoffs still an outside possibility. When in reality, by not playing him and sticking with the tried but failed, they are in fact taking a bigger risk. JM could be just the spark we need but he likely won't get played

Bah!

 

The ball stuck to him like it was on some kind of elastic string. He could see a pass and keep play moving. One thing I have criticised Norwich for in the past is at times they attack so slowly they can't thread the needle. Looks like a fantastic prospect!.... actually Maddison looks like a fantastic player now!

 

I would give Maddison a run in the team now. Let him play until the end of the season and see how he gets on.

 

I think we all would cc, it's just not our decision!

 

Yes canario, he can't be any worse than the 'old boys'/teacher's pets who are regular starters.
I know Derek McInnes the Dons' manager was hoping he'd return after January and I remember reading some of the comments on their games and the reporters were saying that he was one of the best players North of the border.

 

Apparently AN was one of the best managers North of the border, but was just another also ran in the south.

 

II was talking to some other fans last week and we agreed that he seemed to completely 'lose it' after our trouncing at SJP in our season in the PL and never really got his 'mojo' back after that.

 

Yep for me that was the start of the decline. I really hoped he would recover once we were back in the championship, but i don't think he ever did.

 

Right you are, general. I've given up any hope for the playoffs but we have a better chance of going on a run if we spice things up by playing some youngsters.

 

Much as I'm all for us developing young players, Maddison among them, he has to fight for his place in the side. Pritchard is only 23, but he's far more experienced in the Championship. Maddison's time will come and possibly on the bench Saturday if Wes is still injured. At 20, JM has to respect players ahead of him for now and take his chance when it comes, the way Jacob did. I get a little irritated when people on here criticise AI for his line-up choices after one match in charge (he could hardly change the game-plan after taking over the night before the Blackburn game). We still have a chance at the play-offs and while that is a long shot, we need to play the side most likely to get a win while that is the case. Our attack is rated the third best in the Championship, so putting the blame on those players is hardly fair. Like Josh, Maddison will need to show that he can defend as well as attack and develop his overall game accordingly. If he does that, his chance will come sooner rather than later.

 

Fair comment Rick and I'm sure I'm not alone in hoping that Pritchard is preferred to the disinterested Naismith at Villa and IMO, this weekend, I would MUCH rather JM gets to show what he can do against Sunderland tomorrow evening and then maybe get his chance against say Fulham in a couple of weeks' time.
I don't know if you watched the clip HQMC posted this morning of JM's time as a 'Don', but that did show him as being able to defend and in our match against Dinamo Zagreb a few weeks ago, when Cantwell was brought on as a sub, JM was perfectly happy to drop back and play a more defensive role.

 

Sorry RER but this is the very attitude that persists at the club which stops us from turning talented youngsters into top quality professionals. Better managers and clubs would manage player development rather than say you have to wait your turn. Whilst I accept that midfielders need to defend as well as attack (which from what I've seen of JM he is just as capable as some of our midfielders of doing), I'm going to be a bit radical and suggests maybe our defenders should learn how to defend first. The club has clearly decided to go down the academy route, but there is much more to player development than good facilities & signing hot young prospects. Their development needs managing through coaching, exposure to new experiences and rewarding them when they do well and unfortunately sometimes they need to be given chances and that includes maybe playing them over a more senior player if we want them to come good for us in the future. So sometimes you need to play them even if they are not quiet as good or experienced as your favorite old player who might be slightly better at the time but have no potential to improve. Otherwise they either wait around to fill dead mens shoes or go elsewhere. I have a mate who supports Southampton who moaned about Redmond getting played so much when he first arrived when they had better options, but he's less critical now. The best teams at developing young players use them when they have a chance over established players. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but any chance we had of making the playoffs disappear about November last year.

 

Well said canario and my worry is that if JM isn't playing regularly for the first team next season, regardless of whether Wes is still around, then i can see him pestering his agent for a move!!
Perhaps someone can explain why we're developing a 'dynasty' and then sticking with players who are 'past their sell by date!!!'

 

Maddison is just over one year into a 3 and 1/2 year contract, so he won't be going anywhere soon. He chose not to continue his loan at Aberdeen so that he could stay and fight for a place in the team. That's what he is doing. I did watch the compilation video and it clearly shows the skills he has and his potential as a player. I never said that 'he should wait his turn' canario, but he has to fight for a place like every other player. The fact is that he has yet to play in the Championship and to throw him in at the deep end now to see what happens could do more harm than good. Like JMF, I hope he plays for the U23s in their semi final against Sunderland and shows just what he can do at that level yet again so that he can stake a claim for a chance in the first team soon. His time will come.

 

Meat on dem bones, bor!