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Could it be Morison has given the board a list of players he wants to bring in and they have backed him? Or is that to positive?Originally Posted by Citizen's Nephew
Way too positive Stan. You're trying to reason with a seasoned cynic here. I've put the years in mate!Could it be Morison has given the board a list of players he wants to bring in and they have backed him? Or is that to positive?
There was a lot of talk yesterday, about whether Morison had 'abandoned' the younger players, lads that he had guided through the ranks. Truth is, he's given them ten or eleven games to prove that they could get us out of a hole, and has come to the conclusion that it's not going to work. We are in desperate straits, and relegation has to be avoided at all costs. Hence bringing in players with experience. Yes, it might seem odd that we are effectively training future Premier players, instead of bringing on our own, but needs must.
We could carry on with the youth, and possibly get relegated, or, we can bring in short term help, and keep the club in the Championship. I know which I'd prefer. If we went down, there would be a lot of players offloaded, and those promising youngsters would be lost forever. In my eyes, those loanees are helping to preserve a future for our youth.
Has he? Here's who's started 6 (around half) or more of our games under Morison
Smithies (obviously), Ng & McGuinness - 13
Nelson - 12
Giles - 10
Pack & Ralls - 9
Flint - 8
Vaulks - 7
Collins, Moore & Harris - 6
Not many of our youngsters in that list, the only one really being McGuinness who was signed this summer. Colwill started 5 but weirdly no starts since the 2-2 at Birmingham and not many minutes when has come on (12 v Blackburn, 11 v West Brom) in those 5 starts he scored at Stoke & Luton he's now not in the squad. Davies has had the main impact but mainly as a sub. Evans and Zimba have been sent out on loan, Bowen has been injured but really is nowhere to be seen. There's not even been a suggestion that he may look at one of the u23s defenders
I don't buy this "lads that he guided through the ranks" stuff, this crop of youngsters was known to be good for a while, Morison was in charge of the u23s for 18 months. Is he important? Yes. But I think he's getting a little bit more credit than he should in terms of these players' development
We should never had been so reliant on academy players. The way to bring them through is with appearances from the bench and the occasional start. The squad as a whole looks stronger now, and it was good to see Davies come on and score yesterday. Hopefully we'll see more of that between now and the end of the season for him, Harris, Colwill and Bagan.
Then who knows what happens in the summer.
Having both Pack and Vaulks on the bench but not Colwill is a bit odd. How often are we going to want to bring on two central midfielders?
I think he has had an illness recently (Covid?). He played in the u23 game against Swansea last week and wasn't back to his sharpest.
Maybe it is just a case of managing a young player, taking him out of the firing line, and giving him time to get back to full fitness?
He will be a major player for us for years to come.
I guess Mick McCarthy would have liked to have had the opportunity to sign more players, but we are where we are.
if we end the season with McGuiness a first team regular and Harris, Davies, Colwill and Bagan as squad players that has to be seen as a positive in terms of youth development imo
Pretty sure McGuinness was a free transfer? That one's definitely gone under the radar, as I'd say he's already a first-team regular. I wasn't a fan of MM but that was a great bit of business.
I heard 200k (on here)
Ah ok, thanks. Got that wrong. Still a snip at that some sort of money.
Reading between the lines, Kieffer gave him Covid. Jesus it just doesn't end with that guy
Yet to see any evidence that says Kieffer didn't invent Covid, the scoundrelReading between the lines, Kieffer gave him Covid. Jesus it just doesn't end with that guy
Stay up with imports or go down with our own kids
I think we will still try to bring the kids through, but as Steve Morison said, they are much more likely to shine being gradually weaned into a side that is playing well, than being expected to bear the brunt of a relegation battle.
he brought Davies on, fairly early on Sunday, and he scored what turned out to be the winning goal, and looked lively. that's won't have done him any harm at all.
Logic would indicate the "means to an end" approach is short sighted, in exactly the same way Warnock's signings were.
We've a manager who briefly ran the u23s claiming to provide a pathway to the first team. That pathway has virtually disappeared; Davies will get sub appearances, we've signed Hugill, a lump, recalled Watters, Harris is still around too.
Sang overlooked on the bench for Pack and Vaulks. Bowen is still injured or I'd assume he'd have been loaned out. Bagan has been binned.
The question is if Morison believes the kids aren't good enough or if he's merely being expedient to keep his job. It does appear to me that the usage of the kids reduced after Bellamy gave interviews bigging them up.
Or he just thinks they need more game time knowing they will need to be used next season when a lot of players are out of contract.
I’d prefer the likes of Evans to go out and get game time week after week than sit on the bench to be honest.
For once, I think the club is doing the right thing:
- bringing in loans with game experience and/or a culture of playing a passing game, which in turn takes the pressure off our younger players and offers a better chance of staying in the division.
- not throwing the Kieffer money at the first thing they see, so it can (hopefully) be used sensibly in the summer, by whomever is our manager and in the light of whichever division we’re playing in.
With there being a major rebuild coming in the summer, maybe it’s sensible not to burn out our academy boys.
So whilst I’d love to see more of our homegrown lads in the line-up, I see that as having a plan - for the short term and hopefully longer term, the academy players will become the backbone of our team.
Fair comment on Sang but Bagan was on the bench on Sunday (not 'binned') and Bowen was in the u23 team against Swansea last week, coming back to full fitness (and into the first team squad).
I agree
Interesting comments in Morison's press conference this morning about Sang seeing himself as a RWB but Morison seeing him as a CM
Logic would suggest a young player bring on the bench shouldnt be classed as binned.
I think Morison wants his wingbacks to have pace and be able to dribble to bring the ball forward. the likes of Ng, Bagan, and Sang can absolutely do a job there but I think the formation works a lot better with genuine pace on the flanks
Davies did well when he came on, made a difference. Ran the channels and got in two or three good crosses as well as the goal. It was all positive, something for him to build on. It could be argued that Davies came into the game while City had a semblance of control over the game and things were functioning well. The midfield were doing well etc. Morison was afforded a substitution in Davies that was designed to stretch the opposition at a crucial point in the game and it worked. Previously, that may not have been the case. Davies may have found himself in a situation where we were losing and performing poorly. That's a much more difficult situation to be thrust into when you're learning.
Morison had positive options for a change as opposed to having to react and put extra pressure on himself and young players who can't be expected to walk into a fire fight and make the difference.
I have no idea what team you've been watching if you think that the young players would send us down. They've not even played that much, the way some people go on you'd think 6 of our 11 every week are under 21! The only first team regular who's a "kid" is Mark McGuinness, who's performed better than the other senior defenders this season. The other squad regulars are Davies, Colwill (though not anymore by the looks of things) and Bagan, who started the season in the team. Davies and Colwill have both performed well this season and have had a key role in some of our victories. Other than that Bowen's had a couple of games, as has Evans. King got about 10 minutes and Zimba got 45. The reason we're in a mess are the senior players who've been utterly dreadful all season.
I'm not entirely against some of the loan signings, though I think we've gone a little overboard and the approach got very scattergun by the end, but this narrative of young players playing every week and sending us down is completely unfounded
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