With the influx of new midfield players where does this leave Pattenden and Young especially Young who’s hardly had a kick in the two years he’s been here. Possibly loaned out.
I think the coaching staff rate Pattenden but I agree it must be hard for them to take watching loan players who are of similar age or younger from PL academies come and take minutes that could’ve been promised to them when they signed their development squad contracts.
Would like to see each of them get a short term League 2 loan. Reassess in three months.
It further questions what the actual point is of the development squad. Apart from Forino and Mehmeti (the latter leaving for a reasonable but not hugely beneficial figure), the rest have looked well short of the quality required to challenge for a first team place.
To be fair to the dev squad boys & Sam Grace it was never meant to be a mass production line of first team talent. It has always been talked about in terms of unearthing the occassional rough diamond that we can mould, use & perhaps move on for a tidy sum.
Surely as long as we improve those who do not quite make it then we are doing a good thing e.g. Al Hamidi.
Pattenden has shown some promise as a squad/bench player but needs game time to develop further & really ought to be loaned out to a National League or Div 2 side
As for Young he is an enigma wrapped in a mystery, signed on a 3 year contract (apparently) yet has to date not shown enough to get game time.
Feel sorry for Young who was the best player on the pitch against Wealdstone pre season and looked far more 1st team ready than Breckin, but hasn't been involved in the opening 2 fixtures.
Don't think either will be loaned just yet with League Cup and Pizza Cup games upcoming, but may need to review in January.
Any comment like that will bring the scorners, but now we're back to loaning a lot of equally young players in from prem clubs, the question is worth posing.
Thought this may be Young's breakthrough season. Feel for the kid.
@DevC Not sure how many of our players that have been on loan to Maidenhead in the past have made it into our first team. Not sure why Maidenhead are any more beneficial to us than any other team?
It’s a very valid question at the moment. We only had one development squad friendly, a heavy defeat from which we can have learnt very little, we’ve heard nothing about new signings, and Sam Grace was noticeably absent from the most recent group picture of the coaching staff.
Both need game time and should head out on loan for minutes, don’t think they’re going to get as much game time as I initially thought they might when we were shaping our squad in the summer. There’s a player there in Young, but he needs to show it in a loan for me.
Comments
I think the coaching staff rate Pattenden but I agree it must be hard for them to take watching loan players who are of similar age or younger from PL academies come and take minutes that could’ve been promised to them when they signed their development squad contracts.
Would like to see each of them get a short term League 2 loan. Reassess in three months.
Pattenden can also cover wingback, although we're probably well covered there too.
It further questions what the actual point is of the development squad. Apart from Forino and Mehmeti (the latter leaving for a reasonable but not hugely beneficial figure), the rest have looked well short of the quality required to challenge for a first team place.
To be fair to the dev squad boys & Sam Grace it was never meant to be a mass production line of first team talent. It has always been talked about in terms of unearthing the occassional rough diamond that we can mould, use & perhaps move on for a tidy sum.
Surely as long as we improve those who do not quite make it then we are doing a good thing e.g. Al Hamidi.
Pattenden has shown some promise as a squad/bench player but needs game time to develop further & really ought to be loaned out to a National League or Div 2 side
As for Young he is an enigma wrapped in a mystery, signed on a 3 year contract (apparently) yet has to date not shown enough to get game time.
Feel sorry for Young who was the best player on the pitch against Wealdstone pre season and looked far more 1st team ready than Breckin, but hasn't been involved in the opening 2 fixtures.
Don't think either will be loaned just yet with League Cup and Pizza Cup games upcoming, but may need to review in January.
Also Ward, who was supposed to be the next big thing ?
Christie is injured, which, in part, explains the late loan arrival of so many young mid field players from higher up the pyramid. His time will come.
i do wonder if a relationship with Maidenhead for our young players to get experience in the Conference might be productive for both parties.
Any comment like that will bring the scorners, but now we're back to loaning a lot of equally young players in from prem clubs, the question is worth posing.
Thought this may be Young's breakthrough season. Feel for the kid.
@DevC Not sure how many of our players that have been on loan to Maidenhead in the past have made it into our first team. Not sure why Maidenhead are any more beneficial to us than any other team?
It’s a very valid question at the moment. We only had one development squad friendly, a heavy defeat from which we can have learnt very little, we’ve heard nothing about new signings, and Sam Grace was noticeably absent from the most recent group picture of the coaching staff.
An assignment for @bluntphil perhaps.
Both need game time and should head out on loan for minutes, don’t think they’re going to get as much game time as I initially thought they might when we were shaping our squad in the summer. There’s a player there in Young, but he needs to show it in a loan for me.
In Bloomfield's interview about Richard Kone:
“That’s more Sam Grace’s domain with the development boys, but Richard has been in with us for most of pre-season and played games as a trialist.
Seems Sam Grace is still around, for now.
He's 100% well involved still.
@floyd that management photo was the daily pool car from Colchester /M25 way. Sam is local so wouldn't be in it.
I believe midweek would have had more of an assorted lineup if we hadn't taken such a beating day 1.
That changed the plans.
Sam was sat behind me at the Aldershot and Exeter games, still very much a Wycombe man and one of our most inspired appointments.
Very glad to hear it (all of it.)