Great player when he is at CM. Played there for the U21s a few days ago and was apparently the best player on the pitch by a country mile. It is no coincidence that he always looked very promising while playing that position in the championship and he had a fantastic game there against Rochdale on the final day. All his mistakes and poor games have been when he has played at CDM i.e MK Dons, Swindon away, Fleetwood. He is obviously not suited to being a crab and playing just in front of the defence but when he has freedom to run forward and express himself he is a totally different player. How the last 2 managers and most of our fans can't see this is beyond me. It is simple.... CM- Great CDM-Poor.
Can't run, can't pass (except backwards or to the opposition), lacks any physical presence for a lad of his size. On the evidence before your eyes, he can't hack it at league level. Be lovely if a local (ish) lad could succeed but this is the real world.
Like the lad and was fully in the hype when he first started making the step up but I've yet to see anything to suggest he's capable of moving up to senior level. Would love to see him do well though, but I fear he may end up in another list of "ex players who scored today" sooner rather than later.
There is a massive step between u21 and first team. Personally I've seen very little from him at first team level to make me think he's going to be a player with 'resale' value.
There's some who seem to love him & some who don't rate him at all. The truth is none of us will know how good he is until he gets a run of games either here or on loan. Getting chucked in the first team once every few months does him no favours at all. He should be loaned out to a league 2 / conference side ASAP but I've been saying the same for about 3 years
I'm not surprised he looks good in the under 21s team. He's a great footballer. Unfortunately for both Digby and Barnsley FC, he's not been quick enough, alert enough and strong enough when selected in the senior side and I've now lost count of the number of times he's been caught in possession in our half of the field resulting in a goal for the opposition. That sort of things happens when you introduce young players to the side. You've got to allow them mistakes, even those that cost goals, and you've got to allow them a few. But Digby has made so many that I don't know how we can risk selecting him any more. If we were a good team, winning more matches than we lose, beating teams by 3 or 4 goals then yes, because even if he does cost us a goal we'd be able to compensate for it. But we're not, we're crap, we're right in the relegation mire and we can't afford to select someone who has buggered it up so many times. That's for his benefit as well as the club. When it happened last time, poor lad hid for the rest of the game. As much as that annoyed me, I could completely understand. If we're going to give him another go, it's got to be when the rest of the team are full of confidence and will help him through the game. Not at a time when they're so nervous about making mistakes of their. If we select him now and he makes the same mistake again it could destroy him. Not that he's been handled particularly well. He wasn't even getting on the subs bench for much of this season, let alone getting game time. Then he's straight in the starting, only to be dropped from the 18 for the next game. That's not right for a young kid visually struggling with confidence.
I would like nothing more than to see him, as a local lad, make good and do well for the team. On the occasions I have seen him he has fallen way short of the level of competence required. He's had long enough now to make an impact. I've heard Stuart Pearce recently say that some of the lads turning out for the England youth sides don't even have what it takes to become a professional footballer, let alone represent their country. That, I'm afraid typifies Digby in my humble opinion. The other point - and I've heard more than one high level ex-pro say this - is that without a proper reserve team and league, youngsters from academies and youth teams are not gaining the experience of playing against men. They are learning little, and struggle to make the grade at first team level. Man of the match awards are very frequently a total joke. You'll have to do better than that if you want to convince me that Digby is a good player. I'm going on what I've seen, and it ain't good.
Has he ever played three games, or more, in a row? I agree that he often gets caught out on the ball, but he's a young lad and hasn't been exposed to any real run of first team football. Everybody was quick to jump to the defence of George Smith the other day, claiming he's young and will make mistakes. The difference is that George has had a run now that has allowed him to learn from his mistakes, whereas Digby makes a mistake and he's out of the picture for a good 2/3 months. I'm not claiming he's going to come good, but I'm certainly not willing to write him off after a few appearances here and there.
He needs a loan move away from here to get a regular run of games build fitness and confidence. IMHO he wont get that here, and many fans are impatiant. Doesn't help with all off field talk which builds expectations.
That last match he players in the league, he held hands with the cb's and refused to let go. like he was glued to them.
