Thought he had a decent game tonight Thought our 1st teamers were shocking especially Cotter Jalo and Lofthouse
I'd add Benson and Mcarthy to the poor first teamers list, they should have been leading by example last night but let the game pass them bye.
Id argue, that the reason being, if it was a case at all, that it was down to, not wanting to get injured in a pointless game given their recent injury track record So they took the opportunity to gain some match fitness Example of injuries being Max Watters v Man utd U21...A pointless game in a pointless cup competition in my opinion
Cotter was appalling. Too much showboating and none of it paid off. Jalo is so overhyped it’s unreal and wouldn’t be surprised if Lofthouse gets moved on in January. Players will have to leave if we’re going to be active in January - I know it’s weeks away yet - but can see Lofthouse, Benson and Jalo all finding themselves somewhere else.
Unless we offer Benson a new deal, he'll be a free agent in the summer. Given how many injuries he's had, I'd be surprised if any team would pay a fee for him and instead just wait til the summer. Sadly its likely to prove to be another catastrophic piece of business involving a significant fee and a lengthy contract. As for the others, I see no value in writing off Jalo. He's a very young kid trying to find his feet around a squad thats looked poor in most games. Thats not a great environment for youngsters if there's little stability and understanding. Lets be patient with him. Lofthouse... I've not seen enough of him in his best position to judge. But we have 3 right sided defenders, so if we're to learn lessons, one of them needs to go in the January window.
Training session for the senior players mentioned. Minutes for fitness and little more. The younger lads tried to impress but there were too many of them in one team to compete against a side from Donny which had first team players throughout - not necessarily their starting eleven but certainly matchday squad players, seasoned pros. When you couple three or four pros going through the motions with several kids without much exposure to mens football, and play them against a team that have that experience and exposure throughout, the end result is not surprising nor particularly worrying. One or two showed enough to suggest they have some ability - Bayley being one of them.
Bit harsh on Lofty ,he is making big steps into moving up into the first team. As said earlier game time for young uns against a good 2nd division side. Matched them most of the game ,3 1 flattered Donny.
I hope if Lofthouse does depart that it’s only on loan. I think there’s a decent player in there. Has he started once in his preferred position of right wing back all season? I could be wrong but I think that’s the case. He’s spent most of his time as a left wing back or as a forward when we had injuries before Humphreys & Keillor Dunn joined.
IIRC , he started there once and then at half time he moved to the left. Unless I'm misremembering? I think there's a real talent there. Raw at times, but talented. And he loves taking players on. He's had very successful loans and I think it'd be stupid if we let him go permanently mate
By the usual bedwetters. TBH I'm not particularly arsed about the result on Saturday and would like us to play a couple of fringe players.
No midweek game next week. For me we have to go full strength in the FA Cup. Put it this way if I tip up at Vale Park and we put a weak team out I’ll be very disappointed. I do understand it’s his prerogative but think we should have a crack at getting to the 3rd round and potentially another big tie.
Yeah I suppose we shouldn't be too harsh on them. But its a meaningless pathetic competition full stop, I wish we could avoid it.
Winning on Saturday is worth a minimum of £50,000 to the club. £30k for first round winners, £20k for second round losers. Getting through to the 3rd round is worth another £80k minimum... Or we could always recall a player from loan and play them!
