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Ben Reeves


Winchester Red
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He was by far Southend's best player. You could see he's used to playing around much better players and operating in tight spaces, his first touch was excellent on a pretty rubbish pitch.

 

I'll call "scuff" on the goal though, looked like he hit it into his standing foot :lol:

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He was by far Southend's best player. You could see he's used to playing around much better players and operating in tight spaces, his first touch was excellent on a pretty rubbish pitch.

 

I'll call "scuff" on the goal though, looked like he hit it into his standing foot :lol:

 

I call excellent finish off a dodgy bounce on a rubbish pitch :)

 

Wow. Barca 2 down. Now watch Milan park the bus in the second leg

Edited by Winchester Red
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Few times I saw him he seemed like a good little midfield player. Remember a great defence splitting pass with the outside of his left foot away to Millwall (cup I think), to Harding who crossed for Lambert to score. think it was him anyway. We seem to have a super abundance of short arsed, fair haired midfield players.

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Lets be honest he is 21 years old so any potential he has should have been fulfilled by now. He wont be offered a new contract by us in the summer. Will end up at league 2 or possibly a league 1 club. Not good enough for PL or NPC imo. Happy for him to prove me wrong.

 

I'm sure I don't need to say the name of our key player that puts the whole logic of your statement into question.....

 

I'm sure at the very least Reeves will be able to carve out a decent league career for himself.

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Lets be honest he is 21 years old so any potential he has should have been fulfilled by now. He wont be offered a new contract by us in the summer. Will end up at league 2 or possibly a league 1 club. Not good enough for PL or NPC imo. Happy for him to prove me wrong.

 

He probably will prove you wrong. Might not be quite good enough for us right now but he's already showing he's too good for League 2 and I wouldn't be surprised to see him at an NPC club soon.

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I'm sure I don't need to say the name of our key player that puts the whole logic of your statement into question.....

 

I'm sure at the very least Reeves will be able to carve out a decent league career for himself.

 

I assume you are referring to Lambert? If so Rickie by his own admission lacked professionalism and discipline prior to playing for Bristol rovers which meant he did not fulfil his potential until he got serious about his career. No suggestion that Reeves has followed suit and given the training facilities and sports science at our disposal saints will have made sure he is physically at his peak. So that leaves just the question is he good enough to play for saints! answer is based on what we have seen thus far and given he is 21 years old then then the answer is No.

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I assume you are referring to Lambert? If so Rickie by his own admission lacked professionalism and discipline prior to playing for Bristol rovers which meant he did not fulfil his potential until he got serious about his career. No suggestion that Reeves has followed suit and given the training facilities and sports science at our disposal saints will have made sure he is physically at his peak. So that leaves just the question is he good enough to play for saints! answer is based on what we have seen thus far and given he is 21 years old then then the answer is No.

 

It's strange how players get written off at such a young age now. The dominating Liverpool teams in the 70's and 80's would routinely give debuts to players from the lower leagues in their early 20's having given them a chance to grow and teach them how to be a part of their team first.

 

Ben Reeves needs to be given time and further chances on loan to play first team football before we can really judge his true potential. He may not be fully grown physically yet, his body may still be adjusting and 'mapping' itself to perform. Peter Crouch needed time before he developed to his potential in his late twenties, he only started to show his true worth at the age of 23 with us.

 

I'm willing to reserve judgement on the lad, I think you are being a bit harsh. But of course, we would both love him to succeed in Saints colours. :)

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Thing is though, we're not in the 70s, 80s now. The players get pampered ridiculously and we have one of the best facilities in the country. And what I meant by playing every week is exactly why he's been sent out on loan. He's nowhere near to being good enough for a premiership side, so he's probably better off leaving us and going somewhere else where he can play every week. I think he's alright, but if he's not playing he's not going to progress. He'll probably go to a L1 side in the summer, and then end up maybe in the bottom half of the prem or a regular in the championship, Not going to be anytime soon though.

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Hear what you're saying SG, I didn't express it very well. I think he has skill to be a top player, but is probably lacking a bit of desire? At Southend he's learning to really 'want' to win and a trip to Wembley could well spark him into life. Playing reserve/academy football can be a bit sterile, after all.

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Thing is though, we're not in the 70s, 80s now. The players get pampered ridiculously and we have one of the best facilities in the country. And what I meant by playing every week is exactly why he's been sent out on loan. He's nowhere near to being good enough for a premiership side, so he's probably better off leaving us and going somewhere else where he can play every week. I think he's alright, but if he's not playing he's not going to progress. He'll probably go to a L1 side in the summer, and then end up maybe in the bottom half of the prem or a regular in the championship, Not going to be anytime soon though.

 

In that case he could well be playing for us in the future as we are just the type of team that will be 'yoyoing' between leagues.

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I assume you are referring to Lambert? If so Rickie by his own admission lacked professionalism and discipline prior to playing for Bristol rovers which meant he did not fulfil his potential until he got serious about his career. No suggestion that Reeves has followed suit and given the training facilities and sports science at our disposal saints will have made sure he is physically at his peak. So that leaves just the question is he good enough to play for saints! answer is based on what we have seen thus far and given he is 21 years old then then the answer is No.

 

Oh come on, to be honest, AL at 21 had some really bad days.

 

Different players mature at different times.

 

Some (like Shaw) will be ready at 17. The other 17 year old LB is clearly not yet ready.

 

Reeves may well be another Simon Gillett, but this loan may well be the making of him.

 

If it isn't we'll get some of the cost of running the academy back when he does leave. I think he may have a place in the squad for a while yet

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Oh come on, to be honest, AL at 21 had some really bad days.

 

Different players mature at different times.

 

Some (like Shaw) will be ready at 17. The other 17 year old LB is clearly not yet ready.

 

Reeves may well be another Simon Gillett, but this loan may well be the making of him.

 

If it isn't we'll get some of the cost of running the academy back when he does leave. I think he may have a place in the squad for a while yet

 

In fairness Gillett was Donnie's player of the season and O'Driscoll took him with him to Nottm Forrest where i'm told he's doing well.

 

Reeves does not a good run in a first team but football has had plenty of late bloomers. Im sure he's not on "big" wages and is, if nothing else, showing enough to be a squad player. Up to him to show he can do more, loans may be a good chance for that!

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Oh come on, to be honest, AL at 21 had some really bad days.

 

Different players mature at different times.

 

Some (like Shaw) will be ready at 17. The other 17 year old LB is clearly not yet ready.

 

Reeves may well be another Simon Gillett, but this loan may well be the making of him.

 

If it isn't we'll get some of the cost of running the academy back when he does leave. I think he may have a place in the squad for a while yet

 

Indeed...there's plenty of "Lallana isn't good enough for the championship" threads we could dig out from our League 1 days...

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Ian Wright played non league and sunday football until he was 21, ended up being a England international and world class finisher, for me potential can show until your 23-24 then you end up playing your best more often then not until your 32/33, depending on how well you look after yourself and injuries.

 

However MP is a exellent coach and im sure he will ensure he will maximise any potential in our players no matter there age, look at Ricky i think he looks quicker and better last 2/3 games and he is 31.

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Lets be honest he is 21 years old so any potential he has should have been fulfilled by now. He wont be offered a new contract by us in the summer. Will end up at league 2 or possibly a league 1 club. Not good enough for PL or NPC imo. Happy for him to prove me wrong.

 

About 14 (mostly fleeting) full appearances in professional football and you've adjudged him as not good enough for us, the NPC or League One. Really?

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