Mehmeti and McLeary
One of the pleasing aspects of this season has been seeing M&M get on such a great wavelength. There was an early game (Cheltenham away?) where some noted that McLeary looked frustrated at Mehmeti being a ball hog (and I think there was some truth to it), but having Mehmeti learn from McLeary has been visibly beneficial for his development. Anis can still be selfish at times as pretty much any player with his type of skillset can be, but having unselfish players such as GMac, Horgan and Vokes around him has really accelerated his growth, to my mind.
No matter how long those older heads stay, they have had a long term ripple effect through their influence on some of the up and coming younger lads.
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Bang on with what you say above.
Quick bit of background and context too being when McCleary was 20 he joined Forest and 4 yrs made roughly 50 starts and almost 70 sub appearances scoring 13 goals, most of which came in the final 2 months of his contract including 5 (I think?) against Leeds when finally it all came together for him.
Mehmeti is only 21 now, has 40 starts, 20 more as sub and has 10 goals and I’d argue is a more all round player as seen by playing CM times.
It’s a shame when people describe these types of players as greedy / selfish to me, running with the ball is their strength and probably what earned them pro contracts in the first place. They just need training and games at this level and more importantly the opportunity to make mistakes, learn from them and in turn make better decisions more of the time.
So pleased we have a manager that gives youth and raw talent a chance!
I think the "selfish" Mehmeti talk has reduced quite a bit, as he's developing at pace now.
Certainly destined for better things, but you never know, if we can get up, it could very easily be better things with us.
Agreed. I also think Mehmeti's stint at a deeper role in the 3421 in games such as Charlton away really helped him kick on with his all round game. He now covers some of the most ground in the team each game. He works his socks off. He has the potential to be the best player we've seen at Adams Park in my lifetime. Of course you also have to credit Gaz and our whole backroom staff. We've slowly brought him into the regular first XI. This is probably his most extended spell in the starting line up. Next season we will see him playing even better.
Nothing wary or suspicious about Garath @Shev !
I always thought too many of our admittedly good players were often too shy to take a shot. First goal came from Mehmeti having a go and Wing could have had a brilliant goal. Anis has stepped up which means we have danger everywhere across the pitch. Hopefully we can shake things up for Plymouth and Sheffield Wednesday.
I've also complained in the past about us not just shooting, seemingly trying too hard to work the ball into the positions they've rehearsed in training - just having a pop can so often lead to a second chance though as with the first goal last night. More of that please.
I think I was the one that @Shev mentions in his original post. I was also the one who thought Anis might benefit from some time in the reserves earlier this season after a series of mazy dribbles that went nowhere as a message that those in the starting 11 need to be team players. A short while after that he threw a punch at Luke O'Nien and it took quite a while for him to be recalled after his suspension. I'm delighted to see he used that period for reflection and subsequently has become a far more mature, less selfish player who knows when to dribble and shoot and when to pass to a teammate in a better position. He's also cut out the demonstrative petulance that the cameras in the Championship often picked up. He's become a much better player as a result and now deserves to be among the first names on the teamsheet. Sometimes tough love can work and in Anis's case it clearly has.
Nothing wrong with selfishness as long as you know when and when not to be selfish, but I guess it's an easy dig at players
If only he’d passed the ball to an unmarked Lewis Wing (by the penalty spot) instead of attempting to score from a virtually impossible angle. 5-1 sounds disproportionately better than 4-1! And goal difference could well be critical in the final run-in.
But, given his excellent overall performance and the match situation, Anis is easy to forgive.
If he improves much more he will give Eze a run for his money as the best attacking midfielder I've seen play for us in recent years.
If you watch the replays there’s a defender keeping right in the pass path to stop that pass coming in. Had it been a striker running with him, rather than a midfielder, I’d imagine they would have checked their run about a second before Anis shoots which would have opened that path up.
Must admit I did wonder about that at the time. But remarkable (and typical of the amount of ground he covers) that Wing should have been there at that stage of the game. When you see him walking he looks as if he might have picked up a knock but once into his stride he moves very swiftly. He must be very fit.
Nice to be considering how we could/should have scored more goals...rather than how the hell we managed not to score!
Maybe, just maybe, the floodgates have opened!
4-1 up with seconds to go..... not many players are passing in that situation
Lovely stuff yesterday, the boys have earned some patience. It normally takes everyone a few attacks to get near goal, not even Real Madrid score with every attack,. The likes of Mehmeti and McCleary probe and try to find little holes, any attempt at trying to limit that on the basis that they occasionally give the ball away would be footballing vandalism. As long as they are regularly scoring and we are winning it's all good, and occasionally when we aren't it needs to continue to be allowed to develope. If nothing else when you give the ball away you want it to be down the other end as as with the opener there's secondary opportunities.
We won't always play like last night but we should probably try. By all means whack it down the other end when in trouble but we have players with ability and need to allow them to get on with it.
Fast ball playing players may get themselves tangled up and tackled but they still put the wind up the defenders who see them coming back and back at them. As I have said many times this term, whatever happens, this is some of the best attacking football we have played under GA and it has been a pleasure to watch. Even Cheltenham and Shrewsbury!
Too right