Ben and Jordan Williams

In an ideal world you're right, both of them would be out on loan to lower level clubs. But our recruitment policy and a lack of confidence in anyone else means they've been dropped in at the deep end.

 

In an ideal world we could just dip these young players in and out of the first team i.e when theres suspensions or bring them on as subs etc but at the minute we have no choice but to play them..... Its pretty much just throwing them to the wolves and it isnt pleasant viewing!

 

Ben is decent but young left back. I rate him and obviously so do Wales no he is a full international. He gets stuck in, has had some good games for us, but is still young and learning.

Jordan Williams has played very few minutes and jury is still out. Had a very good game against Hull. But I am not yet convinced. Although defensively better than Cavare and has good pace.

 

Things Ben Williams is good at:
No nonsense tackles
Goal line clearances

Things Ben Williams isn't good at:
Positioning
Passing
Crossing
Heading
Defending one on one situations
Pace
Tactical awareness

He looked out of his depth at League One most of the time, hence him only playing 11 games last season, with most of them being due to Pinillos being injured. He's now our first choice left back somehow which illustrates why the recruitment in the summer was so bad.

 

Was there a left back from Leeds that we tried to sign, that Wigan got? Before we fudged it by labelling Odour as a left back.

 

Personally I think they both show some good promise, but they make the odd mistake as all young players do. I think a large part of the problem is the way we play, with the full backs high up on either side. Losing the ball up front or in midfield then often leads to a quick break with the full backs in front of the ball chasing (or ambling!) back. I'd love to know how many goals we've conceded from such situations. Playing like this also often results in the full backs being knackered later on.

In my day (school football, Barnsley U15s, local football) the full backs were told it was fine to go on a rampaging run, but another player would then drop back as cover. Sometimes the winger (if we had one) on that side, or a wide midfield player. So the back 4 was always a back 4, regardless of personnel. It seems that's old fashioned these days. The way we play one of our central defenders often gets dragged out wide to cover for the missing full back, leaving us short in the middle. Even that would be OK, if a midfield player (Halme?) could then drop into the back 4, but our midfielders are often too high up also. I'm sure that Struber knows the (modern) game far better than I do, but that's the way I see it.

As far as going forward is concerned, I think Ben shows the most promise. He's quite quick and usually (although not at Cardiff) is a decent crosser.

All in all I think they're doing as well as expected, I don't blame them (or anyone in the team) for our predicament at all.