Wood was a very good signing for you. The Millwall fans that I know were gutted that they ballsed up the attempt to sign him permanently. Not sure why West Brom let him go, to be honest. He's young, scores plenty and they've got a few strikers on the way out at the end of the season, in all likelyhood. Does seem a bit odd about Kane joining you, but the club always wants our youth players to try and take a step up with each loan. Sending him back to Millwall wouldn't give him an opportunity to prove anything, as we already know what he can do there. Maybe they think that this sort of challenge could be good for him?
I worry that he's going to be a bit like Nugent, actually. Class in the Football League but never quite good enough in the Premier League.
Can't believe Kane has gone out on loan again. I really thought he'd get some game time for us with our current predicament. Best of luck to him though.
Also signed for an additional year with us. It'll be interesting to see if he can convert his reserve form into Championship level goalscoring.
Despite our predicament and popular opinion, the two lads going out on loan are clearly considered by our management as not ready for first team. Its a crucial part of our season now, and no time for experiments with young lads that aren't quite there yet. It could go wrong and upset any further development. The pressure should be put on Ade and Dempsey to shape up, not youngsters.
just done some brief digging in to coulibalys progress - he's come on as a sub in Grosetto's last 2 games, yet to score but seems to be their sub of choice when they are chasing a goal, which is quite often, given they are bottom of Serie B...
Townsend again recieves high praise for his performances. With Bale drifting and Dempsey being Dempsey, then sending Townsend on loan was mistake as I know some thought he wasn't ready, yet hes able to perform for QPR and would have been a useful option when we needed width.
I was against him going too. I don't like Dempsey on the wing, so having Bale and Lennon with Sig backup(who I'd only play on the right) we are left light in an important position. I know Holtby can play wide but as we saw on Thursday, I think he's best drifiting into positions to support the player that's already there than being left out on the wing, even if he has license to move inside. I do think it will be good for him to get some regular Premier League football but without signing another striker it puts our season at more risk than I'd want.
YV, i remember you being agaisnt him going, was dissapointing especially as we have no wingers as backup, and we could have played townsend and put Bale in the centre (if thats his new role). Although if you remember the chelsea home game when Bale was missing, Villas Boas decided not to call Townsend to the team, so its obvious he isn't rated by our manager.
Villas-Boas seems to prefer Townsend on the right, for some reason. Whenever he was brought on, it was almost always to play down that side. Given that we already have Lennon and Sigurdsson as options in that position, I can see why he decided to loan him out, but I think he's better on the left, so it's not a good move, in my opinion. Still, it seems to have given him an opportunity to impress and push his game on, so it should be good for him in the long run. It'll be hard for him to stake a claim for a place in our starting XI, but others have done it recently, so good luck to him.
AVB is not alone!...http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/9341936.stm I remember a game that AT was brought onto the right wing...with Lennon told to stay put on the left side??
Bostock's trial at the San Jose Earthquakes has apparently failed, but he might be on his way to Toronto FC, instead. Not going well for him, is it?
PNP, have your Millwall supporting friends given you any clue as to why Adam Smith is not starting for them at the moment ?? I notice he's been on the bench for the past 3 games at least.
I think he got rested against Luton in the cup, but he was withdrawn at half-time in their embarrassing loss to Peterborough and seems to have been held somewhat responsible for it, SC. There's been no official comment on it, but he played against Hull and Blackpool prior to that, so it makes sense. Someone that knows some members of his family has claimed that the loss of their forwards badly affected the dressing room there, so perhaps his confidence has taken a blow?
This is just speculation SC, but perhaps Jackett is going for a less attack-minded option, now that Millwall have lost a lot of their firepower? A lot of what I'd heard about Smith seemed to be regarding his ability to get forward, start attacks and pick out dangerous crosses. If there's nobody to put them away, then he might get caught out when such moves broke down. I haven't seen enough of him or Millwall to judge for myself, so I'm just guessing really, but it seems odd that someone being hailed for so many positive performances has been dropped.
It would be really disappointing if this further loan period manages to undo all the advances that Adam has made in the last few months. As a somewhat lone voice advocating that we should have added him to the squad at Xmas as cover (and pressure) for Walker, the thought of him wasting 3 months of his development is not something to welcome!!
