What is Josh Benson?

Depressing thread..

 

What is Josh Benson?

19.

 

A 5hit George Moncur.

 

Actually he did, Milwall @ home I believe it was, got MOTM & we beat them.

 

I’ve never accused Benson or anyone else of not trying - there are a few who lack a bit of heart and grit though.

He’s one of them. He’s not actively ‘not trying’ - but as others have said and I said before, he’s got to add to his ability the other elements of the game that will give him the right to play and express that ability.

Hourihane is a fine example of someone who did that, though from a stronger starting point.

I’m not writing him off completely - but I don’t see ‘what he is’ at the moment, he’s not bringing anything to the table.

That might not be his fault - but he shouldn’t be playing for a championship team whilst he’s so ineffective

 

Exactly. He is a young lad just at the beginning of his football career who should be brought on gradually with the benefit of some experienced players around him, instead we just chuck him in with a bunch of players at a similar level and wonder why he doesn’t perform like a seasoned professional.

 

I get your point.

Though he’s actually 22 next week.

EDIT

I’m not sure now - he’s got different dates of birth of 1999 and 2001 depending where you look! Defo his birthday next week though…

 

Josh Benson - Midfielder - First Team - Barnsley Football Club (barnsleyfc.co.uk)

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Benson
https://www.barnsleyfc.co.uk/news/2021/july/benson-signs/

Guessing it's a typo on the profile page. But still 21/22 is still very young, particularly when you're thrown in with a group of other 21/22 year olds in midfield. Mowatt only started to look anything like for us when he was 23 and we were in League 1. We'd also signed Dougall to play alongside him in that league, and will have benefitted from playing alongside James last season.

We're screwing up the development of our midfielders by investing a little into a high volume of young players, rather than a lot into a lower volume.

 

It's the same old problems. Repeatedly. We just don't learn.

 

I have some sympathy, because bringing experience in can be easier said than done. Any experienced midfielder that would be a guaranteed starter is likely to want far more money that what we were able to offer Mowatt in the summer, and that wasn't enough. But I suspect Sheff U's contribution to Hourihane's wages, and certainly Reading's contribution to Drinkwater's wages would've been within reach, so you'd imagine there'd be a loan option somewhere.

As it stands now, I think anybody that's played 200+ games in leagues 1&2 would be a welcome addition. Won't happen though, I think the CEO said he could find a 19 year old with 100 appearances in Outer Space.

 

Its maybe easier than spending millions on transfers that are speculative and at the moment, we've a number of players we just aren't going to get close to making money on. It;s quite possible that in Kane, Schmidt and Thomas, we've thrown away the best part of £3m.

We've also the possibility players we've stuck with to improve could just leave for free at the point they are getting to be of value after 3 years of frustration.

We could also massively cut down our 35 man first team squad and reapportion wages across the board to get a better calibre of player.

The whole premise of how we operate is flawed in my view. There are many ways to assemble a competitive team. What we do is a largely failing form of stubborn zealotry and any profits we do attain just go towards netting off losses on other players we couldn't shift or walk away on free transfers.

 

The new whipping boy.

 

Agree entirely. The contract thing is a particularly relevant one. There have been predictions that players will be more likely to run their contracts down as clubs look to avoid paying the extortionate fees. At the top end, Messi has run down his contract, Mbappe and Pogba are likely to. Go down to our level, and you have Mowatt gone, Palmer likely to, we could even find ourselves in a position where Victor is our top scorer in January, and only 6 months left. Then in the summer, we have Helik and Styles into their last year and no doubt sold for precious little. Less of an issue with Helik, who we'll make a profit on after two years. But more time will have gone into Styles.

Maybe shorter contracts, with higher wages may be the way to go, to get some quality in, and actually use the development squad as a development squad.

 

Yeah I agree in general that it’s not a complete lack of effort, I think it’s more ‘we don’t really know what we’re supposed to do’ so they end up wandering around pretty aimlessly, I know a fair few on here rate palmer , and I don’t think he’s a particularly bad player , but last night he kept just ball watching the play and wandering often leaving Britain with 2 men. Benson all night didn’t stick or twist, it was all just hanging around in a general area - same with the pressing, some of the strikers did it sometimes, which is worse than nobody doing it as it just leaves gaps - it needs very clear instructions- let’s hope the new man can get across his requirements quickly and we start to see a more structured plan in the games.

 

Length of contracts is always a tricky one, and somewhat a mix of science and art.
Sign someone on a long contract and they're gash, then the fans are upset that we're stuck with them.
Sign someone on a short contract and they're ace, then the fans are upset when we lose them.
Flip the contract lengths and abilities in the above statements and the fans are happy.
It's always a bit of a gamble, especially when we target young, mostly unknown players.

 

I think the point is, if we're going to be losing players for free anyway, then it's lose lose. Two of the last three captains have gone on a free (the other being Bahre, who I think was released). Palmer will go this summer, unless there's a bid in January. We'll be trying to sell Styles in the summer because he's in his last year. No point signing somebody on a 4 year contract, spend two years developing them to a point where they play well in year 3 and go for peanuts or on a free.

 

He speaks very highly of you though.

 

I don't get this obsession with lambasting certain individuals. The clue is in the fact that no-one is playing well. Poor managerial decisions on every level - and some unavoidable events - are to blame, resulting in the entire team struggling and playing nowhere near their abilities.