Bit of a lazy assumption just because he came from Arsenal. He hasn't played U23s for 2 years & has had 3 loan spells in the EFL.
I can see why you say that and I’d agree on the face of it.
He’s 23 now, 22 when he got here and had played 40 odd games in the EFL. Have in mind there were quite a few sub appearances and quite a few where he was subbed off.
Up until the age of 21 he’d played very little competitive football and only really u23 matches.
The point Thompson made and I conveyed was that in his day young players at 21 may have had 3/4/5 (Thompson playing in Central League, he says, from 15/16) full seasons playing in a competitive league with old pros and the like.
Maybe, just maybe, that format of playing a lot competitive games might have stopped him dwelling on the ball (fear of getting a Doyle-like player clattering you season after season might do the trick more that a combined 20-30 full games at the age of 22)
I’ve looked at the season reviews from Donny and they said “he got caught in possession a lot”. I’m guessing Robins was hoping that this would be drilled out of him but in the sporadic games he played for us this wasn’t the case.
So, I’ll stick to my original thought.
U23’s football isn’t the same as competitive reserve football and players therefore develop differently. The equivalent nowadays would be a loan out at aged 18/19 to L2, Nat League, Scotland. Sheaf didn’t get that until realistically a couple of years later.
Of course, you may totally disagree with the opinion of Garry Thompson and think his opinion lazy. That’s your prerogative.