He was played well out of position. For some reason an idiot who cannot be named played him at left back and left wing back instead of up front or just behind a striker(s).
i feel sorry for the lad, the fact that he cant even get into the rochdale team must be a right kick in the boloni
Yoof does not always for fill its potential, simple as.... which will be clear to everyone in the next few years with our wonderkid policey
Unfortunately he simply didn't have the pace to play out wide. The only position he could have played was in a No.10 role but no manager had the courage to play him there and give him a chance.
Scored for us on the opening fixture v Peterborough and we all had high hopes that his problems were over but unfortunately he went backwards again. Broken collarbone didn't help just afterwards but he'd already lost his place by then. Not mobile enough, not fit enough, bit of a 1 trick pony (trying to score from improbable distance). Mendez Laing joined us looking a similar type, bit short of confidence, bit bulky but obviously talented - he's totally been completely different, got himself fit and full of confidence and finished the season in terrific form and looking a proper player we've got high hopes for next season. Can only see RNL dropping down to league 2 now but he really needs to sort himself out - he's the only person who can do it if he wants to?
Davey didn't help him by playing him as a publicity stunt to take the heat and attention off his own inadequacies.
You could argue it's the fact Davey played him is why he got the reputation he did and still is in the football league. Plenty of other younguns didn't get a debut in the 1st team and just dropped to obscurity. Don't buy the fact that a manager 7 years ago is to blame for him failing to cut the mustard in L1 now!! Straw clutching a bit.
I watched RNL right through from junior football. He was brilliant then and looked certain to be a player who could hit the heights. Davey played him as a 15 year old in order to try to guarantee the club would be recompensed properly should he leave at the end of his contract with the fee being decided at tribunal. In that case, his early debut would have been taken into consideration in calculating the fee, and big clubs were sniffing around. His gradual descent into obscurity could be put down to him wasting his talent, but I do not think that that is the reason. His body shape now is very different to his body shape when he was younger. He is carrying too much weight, but I think that weight is mainly muscle. His adult body shape is not as suited to the game as was his youthful body shape. He now looks more like his dad, who is not built for football either. Keith Hill is the best man that he could have chosen in a bid to sort himself out. The fact that the attempt failed in not an indictment of either man. It is simply a function of growing up and growing into the shape that nature and your genes designed for you.
