Surely we need a left back who is 25+ so that they can slot straight in and that way we can slowly bring in Lewis Gibson? If we sign a younger left back then where does that leave Gibson? Never seen Gibson play but apparently he is almost as good as Haidara!
I'd like to see Gibson in the first team squad next season. Not sure it will matter the age of the one in front of him. I actually think Rafa will just go with Dummett anyway, but someone like Borthwick-Jackson and Gibson in competition would suit me.
Why do we need a 25 yo full back. If Gibson is good enough then play him. Segnesson (sp) being a very good example of this.
Zouma would be class. Deeney would be an issue, the guy is on 100,000.00 a week at Watford and Mike wont pay much more for a player of his quality. Deeney could be class, but I think he needs to concentrate on his fitness as sometimes he looks less mobile than Mitrovic. Also Deeney doesn't fit Rafa's style of play. King, not too sure, don't think he's proven enough, I'd be annoyed to see gayle on the bench while Josh King is playing, don't think he offers much more. I'm confident Rafa will get the defensive players in and set up a side that is hard to score against. I worry more about the creativity/flair and attacking options available.
This this and this!!! Not just about this player but any youth player. We seem to be the one club with a history of preferring to play a first team midfielder at left-back/right-back/forward rather than bringing through a youngster who genuinely plays that position. What message does that send out to the youngsters at our club?
So who did Segnesson (sp) learn from? Gascoigne played when he was 17 yo in the first team. He was that good the older players were learning from him. I know he's an exception but the principle is the same. Players learn from playing games not watching an older player in training or games.
Firstly, Gazza was an exceptional talent and probably the most skillfull player England has every produced. Gazza didn't play LB either, Being further up the field is a lot less risky. Make a mistake at the back and you usually get punished, especially in the PL. Re Dummett: he is a very competent championship defender, he's managed to keep championship wingers quiet in all those games where we've had 60%+ possession. Honestly next year will be different and he will be found out. Teams in the PL often attack down our left because it's so weak. no decent left winger since Gutierrez (more a lwb) and Dummett has occupied that space too long, Right footed Santon before him. Our team has ben unbalanced for years.
In our relegation season we conceded far more goals when attacked down our right flank against Janmaat than we did down our left against Dummett.
Loftus-Cheek on loan sounds a good idea for me and also Zouma however I think he may be higher up the pecking order next season at Chelsea. On a side note there is no comments from the club re rafa staying I see. I think that may be next week after the season is over!
Just play them, young players often surprise you. They will learn more playing than watching. If we have him and a Borthwick Jackson (or whoever) in competition, they'll both get enough games. I don't see the problem with a 17yr old playing if he is as good as they say. One thing for sure is if Man U etc are sniffing, he is going to prefer sitting around in their reserves earning more money than ours. Our advantage is we can give him first team football. Take that away and the young lad has no incentive to stick around. We made this mistake with Carrick.
We need to educate ourselves on that point too though. For a long time now we have been far from the best crowd at giving a young player the space to learn and improve.
Also, it's worth noting that young players who succeed are often strikers/attacking midfielders, not defenders or DMs. This may have a lot to do with the fact that if a young player makes a mistake in an attacking position and wastes a chance, it's far more quickly forgiven/forgotten than a young player who makes a mistake and concedes a goal - even if the net effect on the match is the same.
We just need to get it into our heads that bringing in young players will involve some risk. If we never take that risk then we will never reap the rewards and will lose out in the long term. If we do take that risk then no young player coming in is going to be the finished article. They will make mistakes. If they are good enough they will learn from those mistakes. However, abuse or nervousness from the stands will make it a lot harder to learn from those mistakes without being destroyed mentally.
Agree with this, but it's been nervy at JSP all season, people have brought it up time and time again, but it doesn't change it. It's difficult to implement change in the stadium on a full scale. I think the potential signing section and the possibility of both Away fans being closer would help. Safe standing would also make a big difference to the atmosphere.
Southampton are proof that giving young players opportunities works. To be honest you wonder how much better Walcott, Shaw, Chambers, and Ox would have turned out if they'd stuck it out there. They'd be playing more football. Of course Southampton wanted to sell, in the belief that they could produce more and they wouldn't let them down given the opportunity. Ward-Prowse, Targett, Stephens, McQueen have all played a part. I'm sure they will blood more again.
We just have to get behind the young players. We will have to breed some young players next season but if they are in the first team squad they should be able to play. Mix of seniors And youth is the key. We don't really have many seniors though.
I'd be happy and unsurprised if Rafa focused on picking up the players in their young 20's who haven't quite pushed on but still have 2-3 seasons of Premier league experience. Quite a few have been mentioned on this thread and the positives far outweigh the negatives. Loans will be a key question for me, we never relied on them in the past (Remy aside) whilst many around us did - I'd prefer it if no-one loaned players from the same league at all but if it's happening then I think we're disadvantaging ourselves if we don't do likewise. It feels like the opposite to what Ashley would like though!
