Does anybody have the slightest idea what this guy is doing at the moment? He's disappeared off the face of the NCFC earth, never mentioned, never in the squad, never in contention. Is he a duffer that was never scouted before paying a large amount of money for him? Is McGrandles doing anything? Does anybody know? Did they enter The Twighlight Zone, or even worse signed from performances in it.
I thought AN would have had more success playing McGrandles in midfield than Whittaker out of position against Brentford. Yes, both players seem to have disappeared 'off the radar'
Has Miquel even played for us? McGrandles has had at least a few minutes of action (though I don't think he's had a look in since Neil has come in?)
I had completely forgotten about Miquel. A quick google suggests he played for our U21's last week, but whatever we paid for him is far too much for him to make zero impact on the first team.
Think he played at left-back in a cup game that we lost, he certainly didn't pull up any trees. Never thought that one would work out, couple of gooner mates didn't rate him. Was thinking about McGrandles the other day actually, agree that I thought he'd have made some sort of impression by now, and have no idea what he's up to. I see Butterfield is doing ok for himself at Huddersfield - did we put some kind of sell on clause in the deal in case a PL club wants to spend silly money on him?
It might be a question of circumstances. As I understand it Miquel is a left back who can play CB. With Olssen and Garrido already here he was always presumably considered to be a more long term prospect and he would have got more chance if Olssen had gone to WBA in Jan. With all the CB's we have and Bassong back in favour he was never going to get a game at CB either. We might get a better idea of his ability next year, especially if we don't go up, and the same really applies to McGrandles, the lad at Swindon, the lad who has done well on loan at Luton and Cambridge, the Murphy twins etc etc.
True. A CB who can also play as a LB. At 22 now, he is still relatively young for a CB but was brought in as cover as a left-sided centre-back. Is someone suggesting that we should drop Bassong so that we can play him? A comparison with Ayala might be more apt than that with Butterfield, but the same principle applies. He played 5 times for the Arsenal first team and was the captain of their U21 side. Having played for the Spain U16, U19 and U21 teams, he must have some potential, but whether it will be realised remains to be seen. As for McGrandles, he's still only 19, and although he played 62 times for Falkirk's first team (36 of those under Gary Holt), the Championship is still a big step up for him. As with Miquel, he has potential, but whether it will be realised here remains to be seen.
Don't forget that we also have Louis Thompson next season. Just how good is he? Seems we have a lot of youngsters who will get little game time.
I suspect, and genuinely hope, that our current Manager has a different mindset and, if we don't go up, a few of the youngsters will get a lot more game time.
What about Vadis? Surely now we should experiment with our squad now we know that autos are and outside chance and he we have a favourable run-in for our last two games of the season? I think we should involve some of the fringe players - well at least Vadis and Elliott Bennett, maybe not the youngsters.
I would say with auto promotion still a possibility, there should be no experimenting at all. It's 6 points in the next two games or the lottery of the playoffs... And a good chance even if we do get 6 points I suppose.
I'd like to see Vadis get a proper run out but suspect that would only happen now if Howson or Hoolahan drop off. Be interesting to see what he can do at any rate. He sounded like a great attacking prospect when we picked him up.
I mentioned before that in an interview a couple of weeks ago AN said that at this critical stage of the season he was unlikely to use Ofoe due to lack of match fitness. Use him from the bench if needed.
