Jon Russell might make Jamaica squad

From what I've seen so far he could do with making another club's squad this summer.
Duff definitely has his work cut out to make him an asset for sure.

 

Thought same with Andersen when he first joined. Now I love the bloke. If anyone can do it, Duff can. Hes clearly got talent, just needs the application

 

Saw people writing off the likes of Cole and Kitching this time last year. Cadden improved a lot as the season went on.

Early to be writing off any of January's signings.

 

If Duff manages to make him into a decent player... im gonna start to rethink about my religious beliefs. Water into wine stuff that.

 

Is this a proper Jamaica call-up, or an Ipswich style "Jamaica call-up"?

 

Mads was raw but he wasn’t lacking in enthusiasm and effort. Thus far Russell has just been going through the motions giving the impression of wanted to be anywhere but on the pitch wearing a red’s shirt! We would have been far better with Larkeche on the bench for the playoff final

 

Some interesting comparisons here.

Andersen always had great attributes but wasn’t equipped to play in a two with another very inexperienced partner in Diaby - who was a bit hot headed and made poor decisions (it appears off the field as well as on it). Always looked to have everything Andersen, attribute wise, but was young and needed time to settle, as well as better and more experienced partners to guide him and learn from. A season with Sollbauer and then Helik, and look what we have, a towering presence and leader of the pack.

Kitching had as many fans as detractors last season even when making frequent balls ups - and still has the odd, if less frequent, brain fart now.

Cole would be a much better player if he applied himself more. Disappears and floats through games aimlessly sometimes.

Russell MIGHT resemble a professional footballer - if he applies himself - AT ALL.

I don’t doubt he must have some ability and I certainly don’t doubt Duff’s coaching ability. But I do doubt that Jon Russell will be a starter next season, and if he is, I definitely doubt we will be hugely successful. Not really as a reflection only on him, but more that if he’s a starter you’d imagine that means we’ve lost Connell who for me is absolutely integral. We can afford to lose him even less than Andersen I’d argue. Russell playing instead doesn’t fill me with any confidence.

This said, joining a winning team mid way through the season, having no real prospect of getting into the starting eleven and little time between games for the coach to get into you and for you to get up to speed, is exceptionally difficult. I’ve not rated what I’ve seen thus far from Russell but a full summer pre-season, and being properly embedded into the squad, might help massively. I wouldn’t bet on him being brilliant but I certainly won’t write him off. Whoever pulls the shirt on is backed by me from the stands - I’ll write on here whether or not I think he’s any good.

 

That thought did cross my mind!

 

Jamaica hide and seek squad. Didn't Huddersfield fans warn us he was lazy and disappeared during games?

 

Any sensible fan will back the players when they put the shirt on but eventually we all make decisions after we've seen them play. Its still a bit early with Russell and he needs benefit of doubt for a while longer imo. However, so far he has been carp ( not the fish). Has to start hitting the ground when picked now.

 

I'd trust Duff to recognise if a player was going through the motions, and make a selection accordingly. He looks cumbersome and immobile, which when he's not in great form looks really bad. But I don't think it's lack of effort. Similarly, people slate Cole's efforts, when it's, imo, a combination of his running style which looks more natural than say Norwood who really has to bust a gut to run at any pace and the fact that we had a more selective pressing game in the play offs.

I don't think any player not trying would be in the squad. They'd be loaned out to the Turkish second tier.

 

Exactly how many minutes have we seen Russell in a Barnsley shirt?
It seems the "he's won a raffle to be a footballer" section are out in force again.

 

Cool running , could be the winter Olympics

 

I think there's a player in there, I was impressed when he came off the bench.
So far since then he's flattered to deceive,
I really hope he comes good as he was at the heart of HTFC play off campaign.

 

First time he came off the bench he did a Cruff turn and left two of the opposition for dead then, later, hit a 30 yarder heading for the top corner. Everybody was raving about him.
Since then he's looked off the pace and not that great. Time will tell but I'm not judging on what we've seen so far. Duff must have seen something to agree to him coming in and, like you say, he was in a Championship play off team.

 

When ah read the post title I expected it to end with " A cake" cos he must be good at summat

 

Absolutely.

 

Jamaican gingercake, yum!

 

2 starts and 12 sub appearances. The irony is, it's probably the same people writing him off now, who were raving about him when he came on and looked really good on his debut.

With a full pre-season behind him, and a bit of time to bed in, no doubt we'll see an improvement.