I think you're thinking of Ronan Murray... I think we have a habit of producing young strikers who we think will be the next big thing, only for their careers to hit a brick wall (other than rhodes) - we've had Bowditch, Billy Clarke, Wickham, Haynes, Murray and Marriott to name a few...none of them have yet to produce anything sensible. But is that because they havn't really been given the chance? A lot of people thought Wickham would be the future England No. 9. Has he not progressed because he wasn't actually that good, or his attitude? We obviously have the coaches who can nurture youngsters, but why aren't they given more of a chance at first team level?
I think the point is it doesn't matter if he's the next Jordan Rhodes or not. we're in a season where we're extremely unlikely to go up or down, where a third of our first team don't perform week in week out and we've got a goalscoring PROSPECT who, in that environment, is not getting the chance to show whether he can make the step up. I don't care how much you know the game, whether you're Bobby Robson or Alex Ferguson - yes you can spot talent and watch people in training and reserve games but you don't know how someone is going to perform at a level until they try it. On the world stage and in the Spanish league Giovani Dos Santos is a superstar, but in Spurs' first team he never looked like cutting it. You have to play someone in that environment. Why, on earth, wouldn't you give someone like Marriot a shot when the conditions are as perfect as they are at the moment. Even if he plays a full ninety minutes next game, why isn't he already playing? Keeping the same XI clearly isn't working as results go on proving.
Agree with you 100% hampy - why wait to the last game of the season, when in effect will be a meaningless friendly.
I think scoring in reserve/u21 games does not mean he is ready for the first team, i'm sure if he was ready and good enough then he would be playing... why would he not? I would like to see a young striker come in to the first team and score a hatfull but if he is not ready it could do more harm than good Imo....................................................i trust the coach that works with him day in day out to know if he is ready and i'll not make my judgements on paper talk or wishful thinking.
The ITFC website is very poor when it comes to u21 fixtures but what I can find out is our u21 games this season have been Swansea 2-2 draw Bristol City 1-1 draw Millwall 3-0 defeat QPR 2-0 defeat Brighton 3-1 defeat Cardiff 2-0 defeat You cant get stats for each player but so far this season in 6 games we have scored 4 goals and conceded 13 and sit bottom of the league. Teams we havent yet played are Brentford (currently 6th in the league!) Charlton & palace. As I have previously said I dont know how strong our or the other teams in our league are but the stats dont really seem to suggest that players are ready to step up for a start in the first team yet. I have no problems with space on the bench for any of the potential 'next crop' of town players but cant see that anyone really deserves a start
How is telling a young player that that he's good enough for the first team do more harm then telling him that, even though our forwards aren't setting the league alight, you are still not good enough to get on the bench ahead of Nouble?? I have to disagree about trusting the coach...he's not known for nurturing young players.
I'm with Hampy on this. Players with potential are falling by the wayside by not getting enough first team football early enough in their careers. Those that really kick on are those that are given the chance, like Sterling at Liverpool. You can say all you like about the standard of reserve football but if you are regularly putting goals away then you should be given a go. I don't really buy into this too much too soon baloney. You learn more from your mistakes than you do from the things you do right so why not throw him in? As Hampy says, we're in a season where neither relegation or promotion are likely so we could be using our time to form something for the future, including bringing talent through.
I'm talking more of putting them in when they are not ready.............putting him in too early and if he finds himself out of his depth it could destroy his confidence.
I find it funny that people have already written off our season ...............plenty of games to go and in this league a few good results and we could find ourselves in the play-offs. I've not seen enough of Marriot to know if he is better than Nouble( i do bloody hope so) or what type of player he is........do people have any actual knowledge of the lad or are we just hoping/presuming/praying that he is the next Jonas Axeldahl??
I haven't written our season off, it's just that I don't think we'll make the play offs this year or flirt with relegation. We have a solid team that will grind out enough results to see us finish in the top half. Maybe the transfer window will bring something to change my mind.
I agree SD...........but i think if we can finish top half..................... we can finish Sixth with a favorable wind....
Ronan Murray, yes that's the one. We have to face up the fact, like every club in the league, players in the youth team and reserves are almost certain to fail in their bid to become professional footballers, with the success rate about 1%. Cast your mind back to our FA youth cup final win in 2005, almost every player failed, okay Upson plays regularly in the Championship, but Garvin can not even get into the named 25 at Palace, his career has hardly blossomed. Most of them drifted out of football, or played in non league, so all clubs have a battle on their hands
On the subject of confidence, if you're the type of person whose confidence is easily knocked then you are unlikely to make it as a professional sportsman anyway.
Agree totally with the last two posts!! All this age sh1t etc is a load of b0ll0cks, he is a natural goal scorer, christ Didsy compared him to a young Michael Owen, i would say that at 19 yrs old it would destroy his confidence more by not getting in the team!!
Weighty - if you look at the kind of form we would have to hit to get into the play offs, that would need a spark, something to change the course of the trend, and it would have to happen soon. MM is content with slowly building and with that attitude, with him in charge, our season is written off. A change in form in January with a couple of signings would be too late, we're too far off the pace already for that When you're competing for a place at the top you are up against sides with the best form already so we'd need to better those by three or four wins or so... if we hit that kind of form right now. It's not the same as climbing up to mid table against teams with much worse form.
Well the u21 have scored 4 goals were these all scored by Marriot???? Spanish i agree with you that age does not matter and i believe if he was ready and better than what we have he would be starting..why would he not be? I am by no means slagging Marriot off i do hope he plays soon but i don't know enough about him to insist that he should be playing. Hampy maybe i don't give up as easily as you do............still a long way to go and plenty of points to play for i'm sure some teams above us will have bad runs(there is a bug going around)
Spanish, Not sure why you have called this argument 'age ****' I don't think anyone has mentioned age as a reason have they? I don't even think anyone has argued that he shouldn't be given a chance. The only argument seems to be whether he is ready to start in the first team On the Didsy Michael Owen statement... Neil Mellor outscored both Owen and Fowler at youth team level but I know where in the list of the 3 mentioned he would feature! Someone on here has mentioned Sterling at Liverpool but he was meant to break through after both Pacheco and Suso. Pacheco was one that many said would be a premier league superstar by now. His reserve team appearance are sensational apparently but he has never found his way. I don't think there is any argument against if your good enough your old enough but has anyone ACTUALLY seen him play. I have said I would like to see him make the bench but that is based 100% on stuff I have read. Its hardly a good reason to chuck him in. Does anyone know how he plays? Most people I assume would swap him for Murphy. Im not Murphy's biggest fan but he is the only presence we could have in our front 6. Can Marriott play this role? Also The ITFC website doesn't show opposition teams for u21 games so I have no idea if drawing with Swansea is as good as it sounds or if getting beaten by 3-0 Millwall is as bad as it sounds.
Weighty it's not about giving up, it's just statistics. it is a colossal deficit to make up. When we hear of teams storming up the league for promotion they have usually had a change of manager and have title winning form for the entire remainder of the season from around about now. remember that our form so far this season would have had us relegated last year. it's not impossible but you honestly see us hitting that kind of form consistently this season? I don't think we have the players or the manager for that, this time around. We haven't even won an away game yet so come on, title winning form with this bunch, no chance.
