Quote Originally Posted by the other bob wilson View Post
Thanks for that, Morgan's not been a man of the match candidate in any of the under 21 matches I've seen at the back end oflast season and the beginning of this one, he goes on the occasional run where he shows his pace and directness, but he's been turning over possesson a lot.

Just watched the highlights of the Wigan win on the club website and I was struck by the positions the two full backs got into when we were attacking at 0-0, it was very much front foot football and, although I'm not saying they should both start on Sunday, there are facets of the game already where I'd say Kpakio and Giles are at least the equals of the current first choice full back selections.
Over the past 10 years or so the full back position is probably the one where we've differed most from the views of the first team manager. The Academy and under-21s have had a succession of enterprising and pacy players in that position while the seniors have usually had someone more prosaic playing there. To be fair, while we've been pushing the claims of a few adventurous types, not much has become of them. Even Drameh.

They're eye-catching though and Kpakio certainly comes into that category. I'd say he had enough issues against Reading and Bristol Rovers to suggest he's not quite ready for Championhip football yet but he's come out in credit both times for me and those two games were probably much more beneficial to him than Penybont was.

Southampton will be another good test for him. Giles too. I tend not to notice Giles so much, he's less flamboyant than Kpakio but that might favour him here in the long run. The ball in for Robinson against Reading was quality and it was interesting to see he got the nod for the free kick outside the box against Wigan. He's obviously a talented lad.

It looked like front foot football at Wigan, yes. A bit off topic but I like the way Reindorf wants to make things happen rather than waiting for the action to come to him, which is a bit like waiting for Godot if you're a City centre forward. The last half hour of the Rovers cup-tie was a good watch as him, Tanner, Evans, Colwill and the full backs were on the front foot and pushed for a second rather than settle for a 1-0 win. Fagan Walcott spraying out some nice passes from the back too. It was refreshing but I guess that's how young players want to play it in that situation. It was funny to see Rinomhota trying to calm them down a bit at times like he was their dad.