Reports that we are back in for him. http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/sport/15895016.Tykes_keen_on_Connor_Mahoney_loan_deal/?ref=twtrec
That’s a good potential signing in my opinion. Looked class for Blackburn at this level. Not played any football since moving though.
I hope we learn from the mistakes of overloading positions like we did in the summer with "attacking" midfielders. If we sign the French lad, that would be 4 wingers, plus Dylan Mottley-Henry on the fringes. I don't think we need 6 wingers personally when we can only play 2 at any given time.
with hedges and isgroves injury record i think we could definitely do with two more. Think DMH made the bench more out of necessity. Would like to have two wingers on the bench every game and we also will look to rotate in busy periods.
The frustration I've often had is that we go from feast to famine in certain positions. Think last season to January we had 3 central midfielders. This season we've used god knows how many. Last season we had enough strikers, this season so far we haven't. I'd rather go with 4 wingers/wide players and have an opportunity for a young lad to break through in the time of multiple injuries, otherwise we'd end up having a massive squad and struggling to get games into them all which helps nobody.
...........'we can only play 2 at any given time' ....... I'm nearly sure we have had a discussion in the past about the number of wingers we need ??? But just to reiterate...... in case of injury or suspension we need 2 wingers plus 2 spares. Any others, including academy kids, is a bonus. There's no mention of Hedges in this thread - who I believe is a good player.
Hence why I said earlier in the thread we needed 4 in the squad. So yes, 2 to start and 2 as spares to replace or challenge. 6 would be counter productive as many wouldn't get competitive game time and it would block the chance for our own young players to push through.
Can see your point but I think at this moment in time the only winger who has performed consistently is Isgrove - and he's regularly injured. I think not only do we need more, we need better.
Agree with this, We have options out wide but we do need better. DMH is untested and yes he did well on his loan spell but I can't see him being ready for this league yet after a short spell in Conference. Hedges has shown good signs but I still don't think he is ready yet and needs more time before he can play week in week out at this level, there is a good player in there somewhere but he needs to bulk up and develop more. Hammill has been brilliant for us over the years but we need slightly better IMO. We need to get 2 in at least this window, assuming one is Manzala which looks all but done from reports we hear. I think at least one more is a must between now and end of window.
Hedges did pretty well, our 3rd top scorer still despite being injured most of the season or just bit parts. And we need better all over the pitch. But we do that by getting rid of people too. I also think the wide players would do better if our midfield wasn't so poor. To have so many attacking midfielders (though we've loaned many of them out again), we've created virtually nothing through the middle. All our danger comes from set pieces (lessened since Connor went) or from wide. Which is probably why we've scored so few goals because we're so easy to set up against. So maybe if our central midfield had more creativity, our wide players might have a bit more room and not get double banked so much.
I was thinking about this earlier.... I wonder what the average age a "youth" player makes his debut for us now compared to say the 90s or even 80s? I have a perception in generations gone we'd blood kids younger (own players, not loans), at say 17-19. I can think of people like Carl Tiler getting an early go and establishing themselves, Mark Robinson was pretty young too when he was getting outings as a winger. It sometimes feels now that kids cant get near the team til they're well into their 20s. I had a feeling Moses, Watson, Eaden all started pretty young too and were regulars. Could be a case they just aren't good enough, or perhaps they are being mollycoddled too much and being held back too long.
Hedges did ok from the bench but not great when started. And like Isgrove has been regularly injured. Can see your point about CM but really don't think we need to ship any wingers out before we get new ones in. The worst case scenario is we have Hammill, Isgrove, Manzala, Hedges and one more all vying for 4 positions in the matchday squad. However, I think the chances of all being fit at once are slim. If this is the case, wouldn't be against hedges going out to get some regular game time.
Only way players will get better is by playing them, and i'd rather do that here, with our coaches, hearing the messages we want to instil. I'd rather work on Hedges than bring in a loan player for a few months who chose a payday at Bournemouth rather than regular football.
More competitive and more at stake, with proper academy setups rather than reserves where they’d have the sh*t kicked out of them. The standard of the league now would destroy a kids confidence if they were brought in too soon. Apples and oranges I think.
The point about only way to get better is playing them is somewhat true, the issue I have with that though is if they are not good enough for this league now then by us playing them week in week out we are hampering our own progress. We could end up losing games and maybe go down. We need to sign players that are good enough to play in this league that can keep us up and progress.
So are young players more fragile than they were? And by holding them back longer, do you worsen the effect on confidence if they don't get off to a flying start?
Bit daft to suggest Mahoney went for a "payday". Also, don't really have time to work with players at present - need to ensure survival - and to do that we need better wingers who are ready to play in the championship. Mahoney fits the bill perfectly.
I don't disagree, but if we're on a path of coaching and bettering players... we have to play them at some point, no? They aren't going to improve in the insipid under 23's. I'm not sure playing in the national leagues on loan is going to improve them much either. If we've done our homework, you have to commit and give them a chance. Hourihane, Mawson, Roberts, even Winnall all had a learning curve and they started in the league below, but they were given the chance to play and all got better and better.
