Callum Styles vs …

Is he really a proven championship player? He had one decent season at that level with Helik who’s likely to win player of the year at 2 different championship clubs, Carlton Morris who’s top class, Dike, Mowatt etc.

By the same logic are Dominic Frieser & Toby Sibbick proven championship players? Both like Styles made decent contributions at that level, but none were stars.

By the same logic is every Wigan player better than every Ipswich player? They must be if they’re currently playing at a higher level.

Styles like Brittain had one decent season in a system that flattered him & had better players around him that made him look better than he is.

For me he’s never been a central midfielder, his awareness isn’t good enough, when he played there he kept turning into danger. He’s much better as a wing back where he has a view of the full pitch

 

Styles has started 11 games all season for Millwall and made 10 appearances from the bench scoring 1 goal and assisting 1. Hardly set the championship alight.
I like him but last season in our squad he looked weak in center midfield and at wing back got forward and slow to get back.
You would swap him with Phillips I wouldn't just opinions mate.

 

I would suggest his involvement at Millwall this season although restricted through a bad injury has proven that he is championship credentials & of course he was excellent under Val , but the fact that he is currently holding a place in a championship side heading into the play offs does the talking for the lad, he is doing it on the pitch .

 

Meh.

 

Controversial opinion but I thought styles was made to look good at wing back because our overall play that season meant the wing backs simply had to run up and down a lot and had acres of space to do it in. My evidence to support that is that Callum Brittain was also successful as a wing back in the same season.

In midfield I don't think he was ever as good as fans built him up to be and he believed the hype which stopped him from really trying and at that point his development stood still.

 

He was hyped up to be the new Alex Mowatt, unfortunately he wasn’t up to it and worse still he believed he was better than he actually was to me.....I am not sure Millwall will buy him tbh......it’s a poor division this years championship and cannot believe an average side such as Millwall are still in the mix!!

 

Schloppy and Poya made all our players look crap, it took Duff months to rebuild them. I'd love to have Styles back next season.

 

He's literally played less than 12 whole league games for them minutes-wise. He did get injured but he also got dropped before that & after that. I wouldn't have him in the midfield in the championship, there's 1 position he performed in and that was LWB. His crossing isn't a patch on Cadden's though. I do think Styles is slightly better defensively, but in my opinion as the season has gone on Cadden has also improved in that area, especially positionally. I reckon in this system under Duff, Cadden would be the preferred LWB still, and I doubt he'd get into the starting 11 as a starter. Phillips offers something completely different to our other midfielders, Kane often slows the game down, slows tempo (sometimes it's a detriment when on the counter, etc) and keeps us calm & in possession, as for Connell his performances speak for himself - so personally I don't think Styles would get into our starting midfield either.

 

It's a sign of times that Styles wouldn't fit in. He just hasn't got that x-factor and we're heading in one direction.

 

Spot on didn't see him have a decent game in center midfield last season. Blackpool away stands out he was the worst player on pitch and didn't play that position again.

 

Even if we were allowed to play him in the play offs (which we aren't and wouldn't be even if Millwall wasn't also going to be in them), I wouldn't have him in our squad.

 

Still a chanve of him playing for Millwall in the Play-Offs

 

Thought he looked very good going forward in Val's system but was extremely suspect defensively. I have no doubt Val was fully aware of that as Styles was mainly tasked with playing in the opponents half of the pitch. The manager asked him to do a job and he did it very well on a number of occasions. However, I don't think he would perform very well in the left wing back position in Duff’s system. I don't think he has the necessary attributes. But I haven’t seen him being asked to do it, so I could well be wrong.

I don't think I've ever seen Styles play particularly well when selected in central midfield. Certainly not as well as I've seen Connell, Kane and Phillips play this season. But then again he's still young and I haven't seen any of his games for Millwall.

To answer the OP, I wouldn't be in any rush to drop any of our players, all of whom have impressed me this season, to make way for Styles. I'm not writing the lad off, but I like the team we have and if Styles does return he'd need to prove himself to displace players who have performed well over a full season. If he managed that then we've got a good player.

 

Bet Kane's on good money here judging on the fee and from where he came from. If we don't go up I'd suspect he'll be moved on to lower the wage bill.