PONTICELLI (18 Viewers)

Gazolba

Well-Known Member
Imagine if we leave it till the second half of the season before we give Ponticelli a chance. Then he turns out to be a prolific goal scorer. We'll all be kicking ourselves saying what might have been if we'd only played him earlier. Of course, we wont play him later because then we'll either be fighting for the play-off spots or fighting against relegation. Too risky then to chance an untried player. Now is the time to give him a few games, at the start of the season, when nothing is really at stake.
 

Mucca Mad Boys

Well-Known Member
Imagine if we leave it till the second half of the season before we give Ponticelli a chance. Then he turns out to be a prolific goal scorer. We'll all be kicking ourselves saying what might have been if we'd only played him earlier. Of course, we wont play him later because then we'll either be fighting for the play-off spots or fighting against relegation. Too risky then to chance an untried player. Now is the time to give him a few games, at the start of the season, when nothing is really at stake.

I don’t think that is the case. Robins’ has made it fairly clear that he doesn’t feel like he’s ready yet. So if he did get introduced and scored lots of goals, it would be because Robins’ has seen enough in training to prove he’s up to the standards of our current starters. Besides, how many 18-19yr olds are able to maintain high standards throughout a long season. Armstrong couldn’t stop scoring but stagnated and it took seemingly an age for him to eventually hit 20 goals. You have to be patient with young players.
 

stevefloyd

Well-Known Member
If we leave him to the 2nd half of the season and he starts scoring prolific that would be great! whos to know if we play him early if it will screw him up or not...let him keep scoring in the unders until its impossible to leave him out, I am sure Robins is keeping a very very close eye on him, he's been on the bench a few times giving him first hand experience of watching a learning but doubt he will be on the bench for tonights game
 

skybluegod

Well-Known Member
Imagine if we leave it till the second half of the season before we give Ponticelli a chance. Then he turns out to be a prolific goal scorer. We'll all be kicking ourselves saying what might have been if we'd only played him earlier. Of course, we wont play him later because then we'll either be fighting for the play-off spots or fighting against relegation. Too risky then to chance an untried player. Now is the time to give him a few games, at the start of the season, when nothing is really at stake.

You say that but then you could argue that, because he was kept out of the public eye, he was given the chance to improve day in day out away from pressure, and that is why he was so good in the second half of the season.
So it’s a pretty silly argument.
 

Adge

Well-Known Member
Pretty stupid way of measuring ‘success’... you’ve picked players who have gone on to play at premiership level. We’ve not been a prem side in a generation.

We’ve had a conveyor belt of young talent coming out of the club. By definition, the purpose of an academy is to produce first team players. We’ve consistently done this over a good 5+ years. Off the top of my head, I’ll reel off the following; Clarke, Cameron, Christie, Wilson, Turner, Davenport, McSheffrey, Willis, DKE twins, Stevenson, Haynes, Burge, Bigi, Maddison, both Connor and George Thomas and there’s probably more. A mixture of ability, but that’s reflective of our demise from Championship to League 2, so the definition of a successful academy changes.

I’d also argue that even though players like Harries didn’t play many games for the club, we got a fee off a club for them so the club got something for their trouble. We’re a lower football league side and having our young players poached is something we have to deal with.
Interestingly I had a conversation recently with Steven Pressley and his time at the club. I think it is well known that his remit was to replicate the Falkirk model at Ccfc where he slashed the wage bill and was told to "develop" the academy into the first team. Remember he gave an example where he gave George Thomas his debut at 16 at Leyton Orient not because George Thomas was a good player or ready at the time, but because there was nobody else.Also the bench that night was also made up of youth team/academy players who are now no longer involved in football. And with that remit is it any surprise we are where we are. Said if he knew what was coming ie/budgets/players/administration/points deduction's/Northampton move etc, that he should in hindsight, have left for Huddersfield who he had spoken too.
 

SlowerThanPlatt

Well-Known Member
Interestingly I had a conversation recently with Steven Pressley and his time at the club. I think it is well known that his remit was to replicate the Falkirk model at Ccfc where he slashed the wage bill and was told to "develop" the academy into the first team. Remember he gave an example where he gave George Thomas his debut at 16 at Leyton Orient not because George Thomas was a good player or ready at the time, but because there was nobody else.Also the bench that night was also made up of youth team/academy players who are now no longer involved in football. And with that remit is it any surprise we are where we are. Said if he knew what was coming ie/budgets/players/administration/points deduction's/Northampton move etc, that he should in hindsight, have left for Huddersfield who he had spoken too.

What are you talking about? Why do you keep making up things when a quick search on Google proves you wrong?

On the bench that night were Burge, Jordan Clarke, Haynes, Phillips, Willis, Barton and Slager.
 

Nick

Administrator
What are you talking about? Why do you keep making up things when a quick search on Google proves you wrong?

On the bench that night were Burge, Jordan Clarke, Haynes, Phillips, Willis, Barton and Slager.

Slager the striker he gave an 18 month contract and he left a month later mutually?
 

Danceswithhorses

Well-Known Member
Interestingly I had a conversation recently with Steven Pressley and his time at the club. I think it is well known that his remit was to replicate the Falkirk model at Ccfc where he slashed the wage bill and was told to "develop" the academy into the first team. Remember he gave an example where he gave George Thomas his debut at 16 at Leyton Orient not because George Thomas was a good player or ready at the time, but because there was nobody else.Also the bench that night was also made up of youth team/academy players who are now no longer involved in football. And with that remit is it any surprise we are where we are. Said if he knew what was coming ie/budgets/players/administration/points deduction's/Northampton move etc, that he should in hindsight, have left for Huddersfield who he had spoken too.
Sounds like he was sold a pup.
Maybe he should have jumped and gone to Huddersfield, or maybe have quit in protest, and been honest with the fans at the time, who would presumably have had some sympathy for him.
As it is, he is almost unemployable...he chose poorly.
 

Nick

Administrator
Pressley also said this about Orient.

"And credit to Leyton Orient. They're a really hard-working side and I hope for Russell Slade they are one of the sides that go up. They are an example to everybody about how to build a football club."

giphy.gif
 

skybluesam66

Well-Known Member
to be honest a team with
Joe Murphy
cyrus christie
John Fleck
Carl Baker
Leon Clarke
Callum Wilson

should have been strong enough to finish top 6 even with a points deduction
 

Adge

Well-Known Member
What are you talking about? Why do you keep making up things when a quick search on Google proves you wrong?

On the bench that night were Burge, Jordan Clarke, Haynes, Phillips, Willis, Barton and Slager.
Just passing on what he said. Maybe it was another game if anybody can be bothered to research it?
 

fatso

Well-Known Member
If we leave him to the 2nd half of the season and he starts scoring prolific that would be great! whos to know if we play him early if it will screw him up or not...let him keep scoring in the unders until its impossible to leave him out, I am sure Robins is keeping a very very close eye on him, he's been on the bench a few times giving him first hand experience of watching a learning but doubt he will be on the bench for tonights game
It's odd that MR dosnt think that ponticelli is ready yet, but somehow believes that Beavon is!
Personally, I don't think we need to rely on him (ponticelli) scoring all season, but we do need some goals from somewhere between now and January, when the transfer window opens again, and our lack of goals can be addressed properly.
Whichever way you look at it, it's bad management to go into a crusial season without a proven, experienced goalkeeper, and without a natural goal scorer.

That may go some way to explain why MR is managing a crisis riddled club in division 2 instead of an ambitious outfit in the championship.
I hope I'm wrong and the goals start flowing, ....... Only time will tell.
 

Grendel

Well-Known Member
to be honest a team with
Joe Murphy
cyrus christie
John Fleck
Carl Baker
Leon Clarke
Callum Wilson

should have been strong enough to finish top 6 even with a points deduction

Clarke left in January, Wilson I think was injured for a while and didn't Christie say he was off by the end of the season and gave up? Baker was back to baker in the championship after December.
 

ccfcway

Well-Known Member
Whichever way you look at it, it's bad management to go into a crusial season without a proven, experienced goalkeeper, and without a natural goal scorer. That may go some way to explain why MR is managing a crisis riddled club in division 2 instead of an ambitious outfit in the championship. I hope I'm wrong and the goals start flowing, ....... Only time will tell.

9 games in, 5 goals conceded and beat the top 2,

boooooo
 

Johnnythespider

Well-Known Member
I like to imagine to myself that Robins who is manager, knows he isn't quite ready yet and that when he is he will give him some game time. Just imagine if Robins had put him in the side for two or three games and he didn't score, and we lost those games everybody would be saying, what's he playing at putting an untried kid into the side when we've got Nazon.
 

Nick

Administrator
I like to imagine to myself that Robins who is manager, knows he isn't quite ready yet and that when he is he will give him some game time. Just imagine if Robins had put him in the side for two or three games and he didn't score, and we lost those games everybody would be saying, what's he playing at putting an untried kid into the side when we've got Nazon.
That's the thing, people seem to forget he hasn't been a footballer for very long. Robins will use him when he feels he is ready, at the minute he sees biamou in front of him anyway.
 

Johnnythespider

Well-Known Member
That's the thing, people seem to forget he hasn't been a footballer for very long. Robins will use him when he feels he is ready, at the minute he sees biamou in front of him anyway.
As do I, I quite like the option Biamou gives us and if he can add a couple of goals to his game all the better.
 

Greggs

Well-Known Member
Does it make sense introducing a kid into a team of players that are yet to gel.....or waiting until the team is more established?
 

vow

Well-Known Member
to be honest a team with
Joe Murphy
cyrus christie
John Fleck
Carl Baker
Leon Clarke
Callum Wilson

should have been strong enough to finish top 6 even with a points deduction
....and they nearly did it too, apart from a collapse near the end of the season.
 

Esoterica

Well-Known Member
I just hope Ponticelli gets a chance soon so people will shut up about him. When he doesn't score with every touch he gets I hope it starts to sink in that the issue behind the lack of goals is as much formation than personnel. All this lack of natural goalscorer chat is a load of old bollocks. Almost all players at this level need 2 or 3 decent chances per game to score (Just look at some of what has been missed against us - header over from a yard out, Reid's 1 on 1 Saturday) and we just haven't been creating that until already ahead in games.
 

Hobo

Well-Known Member
What are you talking about? Why do you keep making up things when a quick search on Google proves you wrong?

On the bench that night were Burge, Jordan Clarke, Haynes, Phillips, Willis, Barton and Slager.

Full of experience and quality....
Exhibit A: Slager!!
 

superskyblue

Well-Known Member
Just seen the goal on twitter. Whilst I'm sure the lad is a good finisher, I think every single one of our strikers would have scored so I'm not getting too hyped up yet.
 

pusbccfc

Well-Known Member
That's the thing with Ponti, having watched him a few times at youth level, he just gets into the positions. He is a clever lad.

Although I agree with not playing him right now, I wouldn't argue against him coming off the bench in the league.
 

Nonleagueherewecome

Well-Known Member
Two in two for the first team now isn’t it?

Lineker never scored from more than about five yards his whole career, still a bloody good striker


Exactly. Whilst he's obviously not that good, he is a goal poacher who gets into goalscoring positions. He seems to have that "natural goalscorer" instinct, which a few of our strikers-(whose overall game is way ahead of his at this stage) -sure don't, and for that reason he's a very handy sub. He brings something different. His overall game can be worked on and coached over time, but that knack of scoring goals is something that some players just have and it is rare and invaluable. Robins has clearly seen this, hence the long term contract. He'll feed him in gradually in games like today and soon, I really hope, some league games as a sub.

I'm delighted he's been given a chance and taken it so well. I know it was a simple finish tonight, but he got into that goalscoring position and it's hard to argue with his strike rate!
 

SkyblueBazza

Well-Known Member
If he is a poacher - MR is doing right so far imo. He will be watching & thinking "I would've put that one away" & just building up his angst & determination.
This boy could have Lineker value to him if he is managed right.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
 

Gazolba

Well-Known Member
It doesn't really matter because he'll be gone before the end of the season.
We better play him while we can.
 

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