david in sweden

Some of you aren't looking at this from the same perspective. Many 18 year olds only get into the first team dressing room in order to take care of a senior player's kit. Dibling has been a talent from a young age, but coming from U18/U21 level to begin playing Prem. football is a huge step. Tyler shows up well when he has the ball at his feet, but is scarcely a big asset in the sense he can link up, or tackle back as many others in the team must do. He still has a lot to learn in terms of being a " team player." A lot depends on his attitude to the future. He has ambition... but his previous short sojourn with Chelsea soon lost its glamour when he had to adjust to life in another part of the country, and found himself in competition with dozens of other talents in his age group. Back with Saints, he has developed well, and been fortunate that several other Academy hopefuls are already out-on-loan with lower league clubs and so there is little competition from anyone else in our U21 set-up. Much of this " so-called interest " from top-end clubs may well be agent-provocation / media inspired, and seemingly no-one has put in any sort of offer yet ..or ? Various" fees" mentioned are down to journalists own " guesstimates", but only an interested club would come up with " exact figures". If Dibling can play out the remainder of this season with the same enthusiasm, there may well be clubs making serious approaches but his value may dwindle if he is still with us after the summer and we are playing at a lower level. Its a Catch 22 situation for sure. 1)...Playing Championship-level football may make him look better, but (2) reduce the level of fee we might expect in an eventual sale as the lifespan of his present contract - is growing shorter every month. The big question is.... Do we stick, or twist ?

(JWP) ..if he was " bang average"... how come there aren't more players with 16, 15 or 14 free-kicks still around trailing after him?. David Moyes knew JWP capabilities when he bought him, but they already had a couple of regular players taking free kicks. Prowsey's performances at WHam weren't bad at all. He scored half-dozen times and gave good assists and scored direct from a corner in one game at the end of last season. After Moyes was sacked, their new manager didn't see a place in his plans, and now Prowsey is on loan at Forest (who seem to be doing alright) and so it's no surprise that he has difficulty in getting a starting place. Forest are doing amazingly well considering their struggles after getting back up, so why use a loan player if your own are DAJF you? IMO.... JWP always looked good going forward in an attacking role for us, but after Romeu left , JWP was forced into that defensive MF role which " physically-speaking" isn't ideal for someone 10 stone and 5'8" but his possession and distribution were the best in the club. Every player can perform well - if played favourably in his best position, but giving someone a shirt number and expecting them to perform - just because they get 20 minutes at the back end of a game - isn't always a good indication as to their real quality. Managers who have to put subs. on ...because their plan A isn't working, shouldn't be seen as a condemnation of those thrown on in desperation who don't win the game for you. It's the manager's can to carry, that's why we finally sacked Russell Martin. I noted that Juric was very keen on keeping Les U.... because he can see a role for him in his planning ... not so RM ..who ignored him.

and not for the last time either. Although his enormous height may have looked impressive, he was useless with ball control (or lack of it ) on the ground. Vestergaard made more appearances than Hoedt ..(ouch) , but was little better as CB.

It's hard to understand why Moyes hasn't found another club yet ? Perhaps he's the wrong generation for these " youth-driven " top-end clubs. As for Potter ..I still think he is somewhat over-rated. YES, he did well over here in Sweden back in the day when he took a fourth tier club, upto the top league and then into Europe, but (unlike most Swedish clubs)... they had a millionaire owner who wasn't afraid to spend. Sadly... he went bankrupt.. and the club was demoted in the leagues sometime after Potter had left. Potter DAJF Swansea (!) but who couldn't (even Russell Martin did OK there), then he went to Brighton at a time when they needed a boost. HIs move to Chelsea was ..a bridge too far .. (no intentional pun), but his stay was underwhelming, and now he's living off his million compensation. Is there a top-end Championship club ready to sack their manager? ..maybe not, and any club going for promotion would have spent big by now. We know to our cost that any club stepping up will need to spend several hundred millions to stand a chance of surviving even one season.

All things considered, Moyes might easily return to WHam, after all he did win them their first trophy in half-a-lifetime. I'm sure he'd bring Prowsey back from the wilderness of the Nottingham's bench.

NOT SAINTS, OF COURSE... but noted that Plymouth have sacked Rooney, yet another example of expecting a player / legend to duplicate his own career success when he goes into management - and fails miserably. Not the first of the recent crop, as both Lampard and Gerrard have had disappointing (albeit profitable sojourns) with lesser teams and yet still couldn't cut it. Some players achieve success because they play - to someone else's instructions - and very few are " born-coaches " with the talent to help others succeed. Guardiola and Mourinho had careers they could boast about, whilst Wenger and Klopp never played the game ( except at a lower level ) in their home countries, yet they knew how to coach winning sides. Last count there were only TWO Prem. clubs with British managers and although Gareth Southgate seemingly "earned" his knighthood as the " unsuccessful manager " of the national side, he wouldn't have earned many accolades from his time on in the North East. As for Saints, it may take time for Juric to discover the shortcomings of the squad he has inherited, but his own modest career has taught him something positive and if we must go down fighting, at least he has a brand of football that can raise a cheer, instead of the defensive nightmares from the likes of Puel and Martin, to whom defence was the priority and goals something that occasionally came " by chance".

....at least until the weekend...(sad)

Polite reply Sue Whistle ....not quite correct (mathematically-speaking), but in the last 10 games of Russell Martin's reign we managed to get double figs. for shots - on only two occasions - and that in a season when we have more strikers on the books than ever before (?) ..we have seldom scored less. In comparison, ( in those same matches ) our opponents had a minimum of 16 shots (on average), and in several cases... more than 20. The more adventurous style we saw v. W. Ham was entertaining to watch, with 18 shots ...(pity about the result.)

Even so ...Dibling didn't look that fresh at the end. Mentally tired / stressed ? We have lacked a good finisher in the final third ever since Danny Ings left the club. Dibling. Great to watch Agreed, but in 12 starts and half a dozen sub. apps. he's still only scored once. Can't disagree with the goal drought comment, but Dibling was not a big goal scorer even at Academy level, but he does look impressive going forward. I think we've been awaiting that " someone " for several years past. We have until the end of January to see if Onuachu can really deliver, regardless of which we still need a few more established talents who know how to finish properly if we are to stand any chance of survival.

Think you are sounding .. a bit over-critical of Dibling there (Chez). Agree it was a good chance, and he might have done better, but tired legs in the 80th-odd minute wasn't the best timing, as he had worked his socks off during the match, and looked really tired, so that comparing him to Salah - in the same sentence - is perhaps a tad unfair. Dibling is still only 18, and has barely a dozen Prem. starts and to be fair, his goal-scoring record at Academy level was a bit hit-and-miss. It's true to say that his "perfect hattrick " at St. James Park against Newcastle's U21 side gave him big headlines, but he is hardly a big goalscorer. At 16 years old... TD, JJ Morgan and Dom Ballard showed great promise, but Ballard was.. by far...the better striker. (c.30 goals at U18/ U21 level) and only Ballard's long injury spell stopped him from getting the first team place that Dibling now occupies. As for Salah.. I don't think he was any great shakes at 18 either. Unsure of the facts here, (but I think Salah was a Chelsea reject around that age?) If Dibling lasts out the season, and is still attracting interest he may well move on to a " big club" , but he is still developing and likely - in time - he may well descend to their U21 level that his age demands, and history shows that some of our youngsters who moved of late, have struggled badly after their big money moves ..(Lavia, Livramento ) and several others who have left us seeking greener pastures, have found it a struggle. (Kammie Doyle's moved to Brighton failed and he is presently on Exeter's bench, and JJ Morgan's move to Chelsea has left him in the wilderness). I agree with much of your post, but at 30+...Salah's goal-scoring abilities should not be mentioned in the same breath as Dibling's youthful talents.

you'd ask the same... if you had the problem we have Turkish......

It seems pretty obvious now, but how can you have a CF like Onuachu ....and NOT play him ?

or, to whom?

well it's humble start, but ONE point so far at least.

you mean those who we enjoy reading ?, or those who show no respect ? Sssh, I'm sure we all have our own list in both categories.