Squad Watch 2022/23

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Wouldn't necessarily reflect on NGW, more the completely negative tactics of the manager. Really should not be playing TMac at left (wing) back against sides languishing around (and below) Reading in the table.

Well that's where I think it would. If the first option is to play a CB at L(W)B, it shows where NGW is in the thoughts of Ince and the team.

Which reflects more on their judgement than his ability.

Maybe in your opinion, but I don't think he's actually that good anyway.

Young lad, deserves a chance, can hopefully show signs of improvement and probably wouldn't be that bad to have him for another year as a squad option competing for a place again, but I don't think it's much more than that unless he shows otherwise.

[URZZZZ]

Well that's where I think it would. If the first option is to play a CB at L(W)B, it shows where NGW is in the thoughts of Ince and the team.

Which reflects more on their judgement than his ability.

Maybe in your opinion, but I don't think he's actually that good anyway.

Young lad, deserves a chance, can hopefully show signs of improvement and probably wouldn't be that bad to have him for another year as a squad option competing for a place again, but I don't think it's much more than that unless he shows otherwise.

In fairness, I don’t think many people have actually argued that he’s “that good”. I do think to some extent, it’s a case of him being better the less he plays

However, it’s become abundantly clear throughout the season that Rahman wasn’t performing to an adequate level. Two years on the trot we have one of the highest goals conceded in the league. He offers next to nothing offensively, which at least NGW shows signs of. He shows some hint of promise, which is more than can be said for other options. McIntyre really isn’t the answer, backs off his man repeatedly and doesn’t have the positional nous to compensate for his lack of pace

Do think fans are somewhat over the top when it comes to giving younger players a go on the assumption they must be better. But we’ve been pretty poor for four months now and the fact Ince is reluctant to try and bring a bit more energy and drive into the side is concerning

[Hound]

No issue with playing McIntyre LB. Just not LWB. In fact I might choose him over NGW if we were doing 4 at the back

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Which reflects more on their judgement than his ability.

Maybe in your opinion, but I don't think he's actually that good anyway.

Young lad, deserves a chance, can hopefully show signs of improvement and probably wouldn't be that bad to have him for another year as a squad option competing for a place again, but I don't think it's much more than that unless he shows otherwise.

In fairness, I don’t think many people have actually argued that he’s “that good”. I do think to some extent, it’s a case of him being better the less he plays

However, it’s become abundantly clear throughout the season that Rahman wasn’t performing to an adequate level. Two years on the trot we have one of the highest goals conceded in the league. He offers next to nothing offensively, which at least NGW shows signs of. He shows some hint of promise, which is more than can be said for other options. McIntyre really isn’t the answer, backs off his man repeatedly and doesn’t have the positional nous to compensate for his lack of pace

Do think fans are somewhat over the top when it comes to giving younger players a go on the assumption they must be better. But we’ve been pretty poor for four months now and the fact Ince is reluctant to try and bring a bit more energy and drive into the side is concerning

Yeah it's definitely an opportunity for him now to come in and obviously with some lacklustre performances from Rahman, it's a good opportunity but I think he really needs to take it to have a chance of a successful career here. I do actually quite like NGW and I think he could develop into a good player, but I'm just not sure how good he actually is just because he's a raw talent. But it can't go much worse.

I wouldn't have McIntyre in front of him at LWB unless it was a clear tactical idea in a one off scenario against somebody (i.e. someone might have a powerful winger in the air), but if we do see McIntyre playing at LB/LWB consistently ahead of NGW, I think it shows where he is at in the clubs' mind.

[Snowflake Royal]

Well that's where I think it would. If the first option is to play a CB at L(W)B, it shows where NGW is in the thoughts of Ince and the team.

Which reflects more on their judgement than his ability.

Maybe in your opinion, but I don't think he's actually that good anyway.

Young lad, deserves a chance, can hopefully show signs of improvement and probably wouldn't be that bad to have him for another year as a squad option competing for a place again, but I don't think it's much more than that unless he shows otherwise.

Nor do I. And he's got worse the longer he's been under Ince not playing.

Doesn't change the fact that actual young wing back is a better choice than failed PL waster full back performing badly and a slow centreback.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Which reflects more on their judgement than his ability.

Maybe in your opinion, but I don't think he's actually that good anyway.

Young lad, deserves a chance, can hopefully show signs of improvement and probably wouldn't be that bad to have him for another year as a squad option competing for a place again, but I don't think it's much more than that unless he shows otherwise.

Nor do I. And he's got worse the longer he's been under Ince not playing.

Doesn't change the fact that actual young wing back is a better choice than failed PL waster full back performing badly and a slow centreback.

That's my point though, does it change that "fact"?

Rahman has had a bad reputation virtually all season amongst fans, whereas NGW can't do no wrong in some people's eyes.

To give you an example, WhoScored ratings have Rahman 17th in our squad with an average rating over the season at 6.43, whereas NGW sits lower in 20th at 6.34. Rahman has played more minutes and games, but it's not as if NGW hasn't had a fair crack at the whip this season. He's featured in 264 minutes less than Rahman and appeared in 2 less games this season. So, if Rahman is a full back performing badly, which he is, what does that say for NGW really?

[Snowflake Royal]

Maybe in your opinion, but I don't think he's actually that good anyway.

Young lad, deserves a chance, can hopefully show signs of improvement and probably wouldn't be that bad to have him for another year as a squad option competing for a place again, but I don't think it's much more than that unless he shows otherwise.

Nor do I. And he's got worse the longer he's been under Ince not playing.

Doesn't change the fact that actual young wing back is a better choice than failed PL waster full back performing badly and a slow centreback.

That's my point though, does it change that "fact"?

Rahman has had a bad reputation virtually all season amongst fans, whereas NGW can't do no wrong in some people's eyes.

To give you an example, WhoScored ratings have Rahman 17th in our squad with an average rating over the season at 6.43, whereas NGW sits lower in 20th at 6.34. Rahman has played more minutes and games, but it's not as if NGW hasn't had a fair crack at the whip this season. He's featured in 264 minutes less than Rahman and appeared in 2 less games this season. So, if Rahman is a full back performing badly, which he is, what does that say for NGW really?

You already know I think those ratings are absolute horseshit.

Even if Rahman were better, he's not, it's marginal at best. And cheap young player on the up with future potential is far more valuable playing for their improvement and development that will benefit the team later, than failed expensive loanee.

And again, Rahman isn’t a wing back. NGW is.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Nor do I. And he's got worse the longer he's been under Ince not playing.

Doesn't change the fact that actual young wing back is a better choice than failed PL waster full back performing badly and a slow centreback.

That's my point though, does it change that "fact"?

Rahman has had a bad reputation virtually all season amongst fans, whereas NGW can't do no wrong in some people's eyes.

To give you an example, WhoScored ratings have Rahman 17th in our squad with an average rating over the season at 6.43, whereas NGW sits lower in 20th at 6.34. Rahman has played more minutes and games, but it's not as if NGW hasn't had a fair crack at the whip this season. He's featured in 264 minutes less than Rahman and appeared in 2 less games this season. So, if Rahman is a full back performing badly, which he is, what does that say for NGW really?

You already know I think those ratings are absolute horseshit.

Even if Rahman were better, he's not, it's marginal at best. And cheap young player on the up with future potential is far more valuable playing for their improvement and development that will benefit the team later, than failed expensive loanee.

And again, Rahman isn’t a wing back. NGW is.

Yeah well it was just an example, I don't take them as gospel or anything but just some evidence really.

I don't disagree, the difference probably is marginal really, but that doesn't speak well for any young player if he's "marginally worse" than a player that's still performing poorly.

I'd definitely prefer for NGW to be given some minutes over Rahman, but based on that I can see why he isn't. It's all well and good saying play players who might be better in the long-term, by that token we should be playing a bunch of other U23 players as well, but there is a reason they sit where they do within the club.

[Hendo]

Maybe in your opinion, but I don't think he's actually that good anyway.

Young lad, deserves a chance, can hopefully show signs of improvement and probably wouldn't be that bad to have him for another year as a squad option competing for a place again, but I don't think it's much more than that unless he shows otherwise.

Nor do I. And he's got worse the longer he's been under Ince not playing.

Doesn't change the fact that actual young wing back is a better choice than failed PL waster full back performing badly and a slow centreback.

That's my point though, does it change that "fact"?

Rahman has had a bad reputation virtually all season amongst fans, whereas NGW can't do no wrong in some people's eyes.

To give you an example, WhoScored ratings have Rahman 17th in our squad with an average rating over the season at 6.43, whereas NGW sits lower in 20th at 6.34. Rahman has played more minutes and games, but it's not as if NGW hasn't had a fair crack at the whip this season. He's featured in 264 minutes less than Rahman and appeared in 2 less games this season. So, if Rahman is a full back performing badly, which he is, what does that say for NGW really?

Would also add that NGW had some shockers at the start of the season, which may contribute to his "low score". From what I can see though, he has improved as the season has gone on and will hopefully continue that with more minutes under his belt.

[Sutekh]

The issue these days is that everybody seems to have an obsession with wing backs rather than proper full backs. For my money a wing back is really a winger sitting deep and is largely there to give width and deliver crosses in an attack while a full back is primarily there to defend and occasionally get forward to aid an attack. Don’t know how many wing backs there are that can both defend and attack effectively depending on how a game is going but there won’t be many and they’ll therefore be very expensive when there is one available.

Personally I’d rather have the “old days” with proper wingers and proper defenders but sadly that seems to have long died as wingers have now basically just become varieties of midfielder in order to pack that area out while FIFA are doing all they can with various law changes to destroy how to defend - as apparently all anyone wants to see is attackers attacking rather than acknowledging the part of the game that allows for the undoubted skill needed in tackling and defending.

NGW is a wing back so I don’t see him being too hot defensively but based on what we’ve had so far he’s at least the equal of Rahman in that respect but does appear to be offering more than Rahman when going forward.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Nor do I. And he's got worse the longer he's been under Ince not playing.

Doesn't change the fact that actual young wing back is a better choice than failed PL waster full back performing badly and a slow centreback.

That's my point though, does it change that "fact"?

Rahman has had a bad reputation virtually all season amongst fans, whereas NGW can't do no wrong in some people's eyes.

To give you an example, WhoScored ratings have Rahman 17th in our squad with an average rating over the season at 6.43, whereas NGW sits lower in 20th at 6.34. Rahman has played more minutes and games, but it's not as if NGW hasn't had a fair crack at the whip this season. He's featured in 264 minutes less than Rahman and appeared in 2 less games this season. So, if Rahman is a full back performing badly, which he is, what does that say for NGW really?

Would also add that NGW had some shockers at the start of the season, which may contribute to his "low score". From what I can see though, he has improved as the season has gone on and will hopefully continue that with more minutes under his belt.

Yeah I'd definitely say he's acclimatised to the level he is playing at, but is still poor defensively. This is less of an issue if we have a strong defender down his side that can cover him which can allow him to play higher up the field with hopefully less consequence.

To be fair, you'd imagine that McIntyre/Sarr "should" be able to do that, although they've both proven at times why that isn't the case.

[Hound]

Would say whoscored is broadly accurate. Go through the top 50 players in the champ or so and you can pretty much nod your head in agreement to the lot of them. It’s stats based so difficult to argue too much

They do seem to weight too much to certain circumstances mind you - the winning team is nearly always miles ahead on points whatever the performance

But I suspect NGW and baba have performed at a fairly similar overall level. Baba been a bit better at the back and NGW going forward. As a wing back though ideally we’d want to see them have more impact offensively - Baba has offered zero going forward all season - why it slightly confused me Hoilett gets a bit of a free pass on here with such limited attacking stats. He’s done fine defensively but need him to create

[Snowflake Royal]

Hoilett gets penned back too much and when he does attack it tends to come.to nothing not because he oxf*rd up, but because there's so few options there.

You can't expect him to put in a quality attacking performance when he's in a defensive position and he's defended better than his actual defender counter part on the opposite flank.

[MartinRdg]

Luke Southwood called up for Northern Ireland for Euro 2024 qualifying matches against San Marino and Finland - has kept 12 clean sheets for Cheltenham this season

[NathStPaul]

Luke Southwood called up for Northern Ireland for Euro 2024 qualifying matches against San Marino and Finland - has kept 12 clean sheets for Cheltenham this season

Glad he has found his level. Nice lad and deserves success.

[Snowflake Royal]

Luke Southwood called up for Northern Ireland for Euro 2024 qualifying matches against San Marino and Finland - has kept 12 clean sheets for Cheltenham this season

Good for him. Was wrongfully scapegoated last season and the way some people on here delighted in updating on his less than stellar start there, then quickly went quiet once he started doing well was pretty shameful.

Good chance of stepping up to this level in future.

[Sutekh]

Casadei (Italy u21), Hendrick (Ireland), Mbengue (Senegal u21), Southwood (N.Ireland), Joao (Angola) and Camara (Guinea-Bissau) have all been called up for games in the international break. CBC has withdrawn from the Jamaica squad.

[Hound]

Luke Southwood called up for Northern Ireland for Euro 2024 qualifying matches against San Marino and Finland - has kept 12 clean sheets for Cheltenham this season

Glad he has found his level. Nice lad and deserves success.

+1

[Sutekh]

Luke Southwood called up for Northern Ireland for Euro 2024 qualifying matches against San Marino and Finland - has kept 12 clean sheets for Cheltenham this season

Glad he has found his level. Nice lad and deserves success.

+1

Media reporting Reading are unsurprisingly not going to take up the option of extending Southwood’s contract for another year.

[Snowflake Royal]

Seems like a less than brilliant decision seeing as we may be playing L1 football next season and he's more than adequate for that division.