Wilson is so much more than a poacher from what I've noticed.. Would I be wrong In comparing him to someone like Tevez in terms of his ability to burst past defenders while using his body strength to stay ahead?
The next big thing...
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I've compared him with Suarez (minus the racism, biting and general twattishness) before. Not directly, but he's got that ability to beat defenders one-on-one and to be a goal threat no matter where on the pitch he picks the ball up.
Anyone labelling Wilson as a poacher simply hasn't watched him play (or doesn't understand what the term 'poacher' means). Seriously - have a search for the youtube video of all his goals from last season, give that a watch and come back and claim with a straight face that he's just a poacher. He must have scored half a dozen goals last season where he ran from his own half beating defenders for fun, probably the same amount again with brilliant strikes from distance.
Anyone labelling Wilson as a poacher simply hasn't watched him play (or doesn't understand what the term 'poacher' means). Seriously - have a search for the youtube video of all his goals from last season, give that a watch and come back and claim with a straight face that he's just a poacher. He must have scored half a dozen goals last season where he ran from his own half beating defenders for fun, probably the same amount again with brilliant strikes from distance.
What about Saidy Janko?
He was Youth Player of the year?
For those who've watched regularly could he do a squad role at RB for example
I watched a couple of times and IIRC he played RB or RM
He was Youth Player of the year?
For those who've watched regularly could he do a squad role at RB for example
I watched a couple of times and IIRC he played RB or RM
it's amazing that this ever even has to be said. Anyone who's watched him could not possibly be describing him as a poacher. And anyone who hasn't shouldn't be describing him at all!
How many of the Class of 92' were "World Class", btw ?
Anyway, if you Discount Januzaj whose already made it to the first team then Wilson is likely to be the "Next Big Thing".
World class or not depends on how you define world class and how he develops, but he is a damn terrific talent.
Anyway, if you Discount Januzaj whose already made it to the first team then Wilson is likely to be the "Next Big Thing".
World class or not depends on how you define world class and how he develops, but he is a damn terrific talent.
Wonder if we'll loan out Ben Pearson.. Is it the right time?
Nah, keep the really special ones in, where we can keep an eye on them. One more season of U21s, a game or three in the domestic cups, perhaps a place on the bench in some league games if we do end up offloading as many midfielders as rumoured (Ando, Fellaini, Cleverley). Then hopefully he'll have impressed enough to start to earn a real first-team place next season.
Really excited with the trailests being successful here.
He only played once maybe twice at RB for the reserves. I'd have Varela in the first team or on loan and give Janko some time at RB with the reserves first to give him some experience actually playing as a fullback. He is obviously great physically and I think although his positioning may be off at times he is quite good defensively for how young he is and even looking at the best fullbacks in the world they are all questionable defensively at times. With the proper training he could be a bit of a Valencia with a brain which would be quite the player.
James Wilson clearly has world class potential for me. Like Januzaj last year I didn't see anyone from our opposition who was better than him. Arguably the best player in the Premier U21 league has to have world class potential. Maybe he will become world class, maybe not. There are loads of factors that will play into that. James Wilson isn't a poacher or any one type of forward. He really is an all-rounder. His run in behind remind me of Michael Owen, so fast and defenders seem to have no clue where he is. The left foot that will remind you of RvP, struck some amazing long shots and I even remember him hitting a free-kick near the start of the season. Good hold-up, good link-up. Then there is his dribbling and running at the defence. You only have to look at his highlight reel to see his 50-yard runs where he takes on 4-5 players and beats them with ease. He averages almost a goal a game and I don't see what more could really be expected from a young striker. Even when he was clearly not fit at the end of the season he was still bagging goals.
Nah, Januzaj usually was the best player on the pitch in almost every game for the reserves even as a striker. The Arsenal match (can't remember which one) was the only match where he let down. End product wasn't why I and everyone rated him so highly for the reserves. It was just so obvious with his touch, his intelligence, his passing, etc... Wilson as the striker would naturally have more end product. I'm pretty sure Lingard, Cole, etc... had more end product than Januzaj, yet Januzaj was outperforming them, unless of course end product is how you measure a player's performance. Some do, I don't.
Januzaj?
-You're wrong about Wilson, who is very much a potentially world class player.
-Pearson.
-Some actually rate Rothwell higher than Pearson. I don't, but if his ceiling is anywhere near Pearson's then he belongs in this list too.
-Pereira has the ability, but not the attitude at the moment. Touch of Nani about him in that sense.
-Harrop, I think, although I expect him to be a slightly slow bloomer.
Januzaj isn't really under the radar.
Already replied on the Wilson subject.
Never heard of this Harrop guy, what position does he play?
You're wrong about Januzaj here. He very quickly became the standout player from the group, and was throwing down MOTM performance after MOTM performance. Hence why he was only really in the U21s as a regular for one season before moving onto the first team. You're right, however, that Wilson has also been similarly impressive - every level he's been at with us he's been absolutely lethal in terms of his goalscoring consistency.
I wouldn't be too bothered by threads like this. People who actually watch these kids regularly are all positive and excited about them. There are a number of 'potentially world class players' (whatever that means) amongst them, and lots of potentially very good ones too. People who don't watch them regularly think that's naivety, talking about how we've only had occasional promotions to the first team in recent years (Welbeck, Evans etc). But of course if you actually follow the academy and reserves you know that our youth setup underwent a bit of a rebuild some years ago, with Meulensteen and others coming in and the general approach changing. And bang on schedule, those changes are beginning to bear fruit, with an ever-increasing density of talent in each generation.
Unfortunately the attitude to actually giving these kids their chances has been a little slow to catch up, hence why we lost most of the first truly promising generation (of Pogba, Morrison etc.) But there are plenty more to come, Januzaj is just the first.
We didn't lose Morrison because we weren't prepared to play him…the Pogba situation has been debated to death with different people taking opposing viewpoints so even that's not clear cut.
Apart from those two…who else did we LOSE?
These generalisations are taking on myth like proportions!
Fryers was thought to be promising as well
Not by most…his positional play and technique was very suspect although his pace was exceptional. The fact that he has not progressed over the last three years suggests that it is still the case.
When he stepped into the first team (league cup) he looked badly out of place in my opinion.
Daehli. He probably lost patience after not playing for the reserves last year. He's performed consistently well for both Cardiff and Norway. I look forward to how he will perform in the championship. Even though I think he's already good enough to stay in the PL, working with Ole to improve his end product in the Championship won't hurt.
Agree with Fryers. He wasn't rated that highly. When he left the papers just talked about him a lot due to Pogba and Ravel leaving. It was the very definition of sensationalism. Anything to make matters appear worse.
Fair point, got kind of caught up in my own generalisation! What I mean is that I see that as having been the first generation in which we really saw the changes paying off, and unfortunately none of them so far have made it into our first team, with the two key talents (Pogba and Morrison) ending up elsewhere, though not necessarily for reasons that are really relevant here. To be fair, Lingard is still with us and still has a good chance, I think.
My main point was that people dismissed those kids based on the lack of recent precedent for youth promotions, but they now put them on a pedestal and dismiss our current prospects as 'not at the same level'. Every time a kid makes it, these posters seem to forget their reservations, decide that the success story is some sort of unique talent, and move on to dismissing the next lot. They never learn.
Fryers was (and still is, from what I've seen) mediocre. His departure was only even considered newsworthy because it followed on the heels of Pogba and Morrison.
Pereira is the one lads. He's a Belgian Brazilian who looks like someone out of Dream Team. That's more than enough for me.
And the fact that Spurs refused to pay the compensation fee and clearly had a deal worked out with whoever it was that he originally signed for (Club Brugge or somebody) to sign him 6 months later.
He was never going to make it, and I'd be very surprised if he makes it into a regular Premiership team's XI.
Zeki Fryers was useless. He even got tackled a by a ghost. Twice.
He looks like a tanned @jakec to me.
Agreeing with your point here mostly, but i guess Rossi would kind of fit that category but that's going years back and was understandable.
Daehli is the only one i couldn't yet understand at all. Though it wasn't really due to not giving him first team chances as he wasn't at that level yet. But he will be a Star.
Michael Keane and Johnstone have a good chance as well.Will Keane and Thorpe in that same crop still with us.Plus you can count Lawrence since the "Class of 92" weren't exactly all in the same age group.
Lawrence was sort of half in that group and half in the group below, but I always think of him as part of the latter since that's where he's become the player he is now.
Michael Keane too, yep. And his brother and Thorpe, although I'm not sure either has a great chance at this stage, for various reasons.
I think we can all agree that Blackwell is now in contention. Varela is a strong one for the future.
As of now, I'd say all of:
Blackett, Wilson, Pereira, Pearson, Rothwell, Janko, Harrop and maybe Varela (though I'm not convinced by him) all have decent shots at making the first XI in the future.
Depends how they progress. Janko right now is nowhere near good enough, but a few changes and he really could become an amazing wing back imo. I also think Thorpe still might have a chance if he still counts. The likes of Lingard and Powell are also up there. Really there's no way of knowing though. I'd be shocked if Wilson doesn't make it and he definitely has "world class" potential. Blackett looks to have that too if he can continue his pre-season form throughout the season (not going overboard just yet though). The rest, it's really impossible to tell. It depends on injuries, work ethic, their mental attributes and how much they can actually improve their technique and understanding of their preferred/required role. There aren't any guarantees in football.
Blackett, Wilson, Pereira, Pearson, Rothwell, Janko, Harrop and maybe Varela (though I'm not convinced by him) all have decent shots at making the first XI in the future.
Depends how they progress. Janko right now is nowhere near good enough, but a few changes and he really could become an amazing wing back imo. I also think Thorpe still might have a chance if he still counts. The likes of Lingard and Powell are also up there. Really there's no way of knowing though. I'd be shocked if Wilson doesn't make it and he definitely has "world class" potential. Blackett looks to have that too if he can continue his pre-season form throughout the season (not going overboard just yet though). The rest, it's really impossible to tell. It depends on injuries, work ethic, their mental attributes and how much they can actually improve their technique and understanding of their preferred/required role. There aren't any guarantees in football.
Off topic but are any of the staff that LVG brought in responsible or directly involved in the youth set up? Or is he going to rely on the current staff for reports on youth players? I remember him saying he is going to focus on the first team for the first year before delving into the youth set-up or something along that line.
Not that I know of...
When LvG said he was leaving the youth set alone he meant U/16's and below. He will take an active interest in U/18's and reserves.