Matt Ritchie received a lot of praise yesterday for his performance against wigan, including Guy Mowbray tweeting 'Can't be many better crossers of the ball in lower divs than Matt Ritchie' One of the worst decisions by cotterill to let him go! i wonder if we have a clause similar to that we had with Jason Pearce? Would be good to see him back, and im sure he would come back, being a pompey lad.
Same goes for Marlon Pack- went to Tottenham v Cheltenham game yesterday, and he was superb for his new team- Cotterill should never have sold him
They were both good young local kids, who wanted to play for PFC. Steve Cotterill did us no favours when he let them go. Good luck to them both for the future.
Matt is a good little player but is he of Championship quality? It's always difficult with young players. Some are later than others in their development and Matt has really benefitted from regular football in a lower league under the tutorship of someone like Di Canio. Whether he can keep improving and force himself onto people's shopping lists remains to be seen, but I'm really pleased for him.
Surely loaning him out again would have been a better move rather than selling him for a minimal fee. Then if he does develop into a championship quality player, and i think he will, then he is still a pompey player. If he doesn't turn out to be good enough then you sell him. This is just like the Jason Pearce situation, because someone has poor judgement at the club and is quick to sell someone who is 'not good enough,' then we end up buying them back, its poor business. Why can't we just be patient and loan the player out for a few more seasons??
I saw Matt Ritchie play the first few games last season, and he looked like a brilliant prospect. I was gutted when I saw that Cotterill the Clown was selling him.
Say what you like about Saints but we have always given youth ago and have to say on the occasion i have seen Ritchie he impressed and if he is local its a crying shame he moved before really being given a chance to develop
Can't deny how good the Saints academy is. Up there with Cardiff, Middlesborough, Villa. Not the best in England but certainly very good. In ref to Mattie Ritchie chappers, he's as local as you can get. When he was playing for us he lived in Gosport. My dad X ray'd him a few times. He's pompey through and through and I reckon under lord Applemort's guidance, he could be a decent player. Depending on if we do go back for him.
Thats the thing we are to quick to judge eg Jason Pearce, Matt Ritchie and Marlon Pack, all who have turned out to be good players. We never give any youngsters a chance in the first team like you lot have, despite having a threadbare squad, we are happy to have has beens such as benjani in the team rather than a youngster who has something to prove and its a shame. Will be interesting to see what Appleton does when the older players start to retire, i would love to see the likes of Magri, Dan Thomson etc in the first team.
That's what I like about Appy. Already we've seen a few of our young uns in the squad if not played. This will only help them improve as they are training with the senior lads and will no doubt get minutes on the pitch. I do wish that Ryan Williams had slightly less intense baptism. I know he came on vs Brighton but that was 5 months ago. To ask a 17 year old to come on with virtually no experience in the championship let alone in the prem is a bit too much IMO. Would like to see him come on for 20 mins or so vs West Ham though, from what I've seen he reminds me of Albrighton or Matt Jarvis. A proper old fashioned winger who gets to the byline and crosses it
They have got to start somewhere Hermanator - as you say, 10 or 20 minute cameo appearances as a substitute, to begin with, is a good grounding. The more experience they get, the more they will improve - send them out on loan to lower division clubs, etc., but give them a chance to show what they are capable of. What a crying shame, some eejits from the FA reduced the number of substitutes you can name in a match, from 7 to 5 players. Backward step or what ?
Well, remember Joel Ward came through the academy at Pompey- and Marko Futacs is getting a deserved run in the team. PTID- totally agree, Sam Magri and Dan Thompson should be used in our first XI next season.The youngsters we have certainly are prospering. And, thank goodness; Benjani isn't even getting a look in !!
