Having spoke to a defender from ncfc recently it was stated that within the football circle so to speak , several pros cannot understand why his time on the pitch is almost zero. He added that he was glad he did not play against him every week , very strong on his hold up play ,hard to beat in the air , and cannot be bullied easily. Dont mention bolton again or if you do tell me who did play well against them anybody else would like to see a cw , dg given ago at some point
You mean dropping Fletcher?? if so then no! But if Fletcher was injured I would like to see it. Connor is, IMO, an excellent young player - but the only game he has started he has been poor - looked better this season as an impact sub (although I'd like to have seen him for more time as an impact sub) I don't really know all in all - I rate him very highly but he is also only 20 year old (I think) and the last time we constantly played a 20 year old he looked very burnt out (and became the focal point for quite a few people with frustration). Yep see that answers it - I don't know!!!
You can't discard the Bolton game because the team put in a poor performance, this was Connors big chance to say "yes I am good enough " and he didn't deliver. MON clearly dosn't fancy him and I am amazed that some on here use words like excellent , brilliant to describe him. When he made his debut for Ipswich at the tender age of 16 he has bags of potential and carried this on into the following season he is coming up to 20 next birthday , at what point do you say "has turned into a good player" as opposed to " has the potential " because he is running out of time. It may be a case that to fulfill his potential he may have to move but if he can't show his manager enough on the training field and in the very limited time you get on the pitch then he isn't going to make it at our club. he is still a kid but I honestly don't think he will ever have enough in his game to " take us to next level" as I expect MON and any other manager would have to see.
In Wickham I see a lot of potential but not a lot of conviction. The Bolton game was awful but as mentioned, a chance to say to Mon, look at me and how much I want to be in this team. What I saw, sadly live at the game, was a lad going through the motions and giving maybe 60%. Not good enough. We have 2 simple choices with Connor and they have to be made this summer. Either keep him or move him on. If he stays, then he has to be loaned out for 3 or 4 months to get fit and up to speed. If hasn't played enough games and looks ring rusty. If not, then we move the lad on and take a hit on what we paid for him. As he is under 21, I guess we may recover a bigger portion. We can then use that money to buy a replacement. One thing is for certain, we can't keep him on the bench for another season with no games, as that's counter productive to our ambitions. We need players that can come into to team and make an impact and hold down a regular place from the bench. Big decisions indeed but my gut instinct is Martin has already made that decision in his own mind and if I were a gambling man, I'd say we won't see Connor Wickham next season in a Sunderland shirt.
Well thought out and presented post there Cest. One i find zero flaws in, and agree with every word of it..
he should be given 90 mins in one match before the end of the season. When (if) we get to 40 points, then change the team around, why not put Johnson on the left in one match and Gardener on the right, then Switch gardener for Sess, Rose in Midfield and Colback at the back and so on.
So what if we win the next 4 games and have 41 points but are playing really well? Do you still make all of those changes? You shouldn't change a winning team IMO - if it ain't broke and all that
You seem to have forgotten the Chelsea game at the start of December that he started, played very well and looked like a real threat against their world class defence.
I can't believe people keep referring to the Bolton game to pass judgement. It was one bad game. Yet the same people are saying N'Diayes performance against Swansea was just 1 game and he is a star in the making
if he gets dropped from the u21s ,he wont get a game at all.this lad if let go will come back to haunt us, we will rue the day that happens.we as fans are bemused as are his fellow pros by all accounts
