What is the future for our Academy products? I was looking forward to RD and BoB using the Young Guns and bringing them through. We ended last season under JR with 5 or 6 Young Guns in the side, but look at them now- Cousins- banished to the wide left, like a fish out of water, subbed every week. The Harriotts- 5 goals in his last 2 games, now gets a few minutes here and there, may not even get that now with Bulot's arrival. Fox- A few minutes at the end to shore up the left. Poyet- Gone. Pigott- Appears to have no future at Charlton. Gomez- Received particular praise from BoB, played one game out of position at RB. Lennon- back in the Development squad. Wilson may not quite be a Young Gun, but he is one of ourn, was my POTY last year and is now warming the bench. Pope- Back on the bench despite settling down so well over his 3 games. Last season was a great season for the Academy, can't see that happening again, especially if Igor keeps banging them in.
I think the young guns will still have a part to play this season. Can see Bulot on the left of midfield. I would like to see Cousins taking Jacksons place in the middle. I would also like to see the Harriotts play off Vetokele. Solly is a bit off the pace. Pigott should go out on loan. I wouldn't mind Fox being given a go as Wiggins has not been playing to his full potential. But I think the squad has improved from last season, so it will be more difficult for the young ones.
The starting 11 is stronger now, so some of the youngsters will need to be patient. This time 12 months ago we were fielding Wood, Gower, Pritchard and Church. Now we have Bikey, Buyens, Gudmondsen and Igor.
But at the end of the season, when we were doing much better, none of those were in the starting eleven. For Bikey and TBH we had Morro and Dervite. For Buyens we had Poyet. For Gudmunsson we had Wilson or Cousins at RM., and if it weren't for Igor we'd be looking at a different set of results. I think that if you have a rare talent like Gomez his progression should be a priority, personally I'd have given Cort another year just to mentor him. The signs to me are that Riga had real faith in the youngsters, and they responded, with BoB it is just hot air. Buyens has been playing well, but IMO he's not as influential as Poyet was, and I'd have been happy to see Cousins take over as def-mid, his natural position. Instead, he will probably be dropped. I know we're on an unbeaten run in the league, but the team is a bit of a curate's egg, Vetokele being the one who is obviously irreplaceable.
At the start of the summer when we were negotiating a new contract with Morrow he was one of the best central defenders in the Championship yet now it seems he is only the third best central defenders at Charlton behind two Douchebag men? Bob talks a good fight about letting youngsters have their chance but then (as with Pope yesterday) he picks experience over talent.
Talking the good fight, yes, not just BoB but RD as well, but when you look at the players he's brought in, the intention must always have been to play them first. I took the talk at face value when I predicted Gomez ending the season as first choice CB, but the way things are going I think if Roland received a decent offer for him that would be the end of the matter. We'll see in January.
There could have been another reason why Joe wasn't on the bench yesterday? http://footballleagueworld.co.uk/liverpool-and-newcastle-open-talks-with-17-year-old-starlet/ Although I can't see him going to Newcastle?
Can't agree with you on that one. I like Morrison, but Bikey and Ben Haim are much better players than him. TBH looks the business in the Championship even in his 30s. Bikey has possibly been our best player so far alongside Igor. What I like about both of our CBs is that they are great talkers & organisers throughout the game- both potential captains in fact.
I don't expect him to go anywhere before January. Hopefully we can get him on a longer contract before he gets into the first team at CB, because his value will shoot up then, just as Poyet's did. This is a big call for BoB to make since we have a settled CB pairing, and also Morro waiting in the wings, but the Cup is a long way off, and Gomez' time to make his appearance at CB is about now.
Is our defense really better now than when we had all those clean sheets under JR? Our CB pairing was Morrison and Dervite, although I gave Poyet a lot of credit for his defensive work.
I think the CB partnership has been better, but Solly is yet to settle back in to the team Since the Brentford match and Wiggins is not enjoying having Cousins in front of him. Cousins is constantly forced to keep coming inside which is wasting RW's runs. He's also often being teamed up on as Cousins natural game keeps bringing him inside.
I feel that Bob is getting a bit of a hard deal here. He has come in with the fans not wanting him. If he had played the kids and not got results, the fans would be saying that he doesnt know what he is doing and that he is just a puppet for RD. He has brought in some experience and we are playing some decent stuff. Who honestly thought that we would be unbeaten at the end of August when the fixtures came out. It would appear that unless we are in a relegation scrap we are not happy. I have thoroughly enjoyed August and not having to go to work on a Monday waiting for the ridicule to come my way from the glory seeking prem supporters in my office. For me, so far he is doing a good job.
Yes, but this thread was specifically about BoB and RD's promise to play the youngsters. They both emphasised this as being their policy, and anyone who follows the Youth teams will have been happy about this at the time.
I was one of the original members of VG, so can claim a long term interest in the devlopment of our young players. HOWEVER....can we not claim that they should ALL play regardless, just because Bob has promised to give youth a chance. Harriott has had dozens of chances now....what is his ratio of good games....1 in 5 ? Fox I have seen on a number of occasions, the lad lacks pace & will be caught out at full back. Piggot- the jury is out on him, to put in mildly. Solly warrants a place on ability...and gets one. We will soon be saying the same about Gomez.
Not only that.....Bob has got our team playing passing football along the deck. Quite a contrast to the long ball dross we were served up under Powell ! Strange how the Powell Ra Ra merchants - the Ted(s), Jimmy, Scratching etc...have all gone strangely quiet since we started playing passing football
Without looking back at the specific quotes, I'm sure the comments were 'if they are good enough then they will not be afraid to put them in' He has had a look at the squad and he has made his decision. He has told the youngsters they have a chance but it is not their right to play, they have to earn it. Also the fact that we have got some experienced players is a good thing as the young guys can learn from them. It all adds up to competition for places which so far adds up to an unbeaten start.
It's true that they have to earn the right to play, but this should apply to everyone, Trucudean,Moussa et al. If Pigott had been in the team playing like Trucudean (apart from one good 45 minutes) he'd be getting pelters.
