[Albion] Evan Ferguson

[PlayMoran]

Best thing we can do with Evan, is build him back up in the u23's for a few games.

It's stupid for a young player to be doing their return to match fitness at international level, mostly because of the public glare that comes with it.

Let's get the lad some decent minutes in his legs away from big stadia and public pressure, then ease him back into the squad

Yeah, he's still ony 19.

Two PL2 games would help him. Maybe an EFL Trophy game as well.

He'll need a few 10 minute cameos at the end of Brighton games if winning.

 

[Flounce]

I hope someone thinks to take the lead that he seems to have had in his boots out soon

 

[Brovion]

Yeah, 20 next month.

We're no longer League One hopefuls. We're a top Premier League side. More often than not, if by 20 they are not demonstrating qualities that they're a top quality player at this level, then they probably will never be.

I rate him, I think he's good... but he's not the next Alan Shearer. I think he'll be a useful squad player going forward, unless we decide to part ways.

On balance I disagree with you, but I can also see where you're coming from. He IS young, he DID show a lot of promise .... and then he got injured and ill and apparently didn't like the manager. These things happen to young players and it is extremely possible he'll get back to where he was and then 'train on' (as they say in horse racing) and become the top player he was predicted to be.

But it's not a given. Loads of talented youngsters start with a bang, then never really fulfil their early potential and disappear almost without trace. He could still fall into that category, or he could end up as 'good' but not great - or he could be the next Alan Shearer. Nobody knows. I still think he'll be more in the latter end.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Yeah, he's still ony 19.

Two PL2 games would help him. Maybe an EFL Trophy game as well.

He'll need a few 10 minute cameos at the end of Brighton games if winning.

He'll play against Wolves next week in the cup. He'll score a couple, and all will be right

 

[severnside gull]

He'll play against Wolves next week in the cup. He'll score a couple, and all will be right

Love the optimism.
We should close the thread now.

 

[Hamilton]

Love the optimism.
We should close the thread now.

Agree. Let's leave it there.

Evan knows what he needs to do. Let's hope he does it. He'll have circa 30,000 willing him to succeed next time he comes on in a PL game at the Amex.

I hope he comes through.

 

[Commander]

We're no longer League One hopefuls. We're a top Premier League side. More often than not, if by 20 they are not demonstrating qualities that they're a top quality player at this level, then they probably will never be.

Absolute nonsense. We signed Alexis MacAllister at 21, he was at least 23 before he started to look anything like a top quality player. JPVH didn't even make his debut with until he was 22, and that was against the might of Forest Green Rovers. He didn't look comfortable in the Premier League until he was 23/24. Glen Murray didn't even play Premier League football until he was in his 30's!

Different players develop at different speeds. And Evan scored a hat-trick in a Premier League game at 18, one of only four players to ever do so, two of which were Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen.

To suggest that if players don't look like top players by 20 they will never make it is ridiculous, and to suggest that Ferguson hasn't already demonstrated qualities that he will be a top player is even more ridiculous.

 

[Milano]

It’s really simple - he’s clearly not fully match fit, in body or mind.
The big question is what is the best way to get him there?
Purely my opinion but to let him go train and have a few minutes with a glorified pub team (that in no way resemble BHA in quality or style of play) isn’t the way to do it.

As an aside I can’t remember Eire being this bad since before Charlton. That team wouldn’t get promoted from the championship.

 

[Dibdab]

To suggest that if players don't look like top players by 20 they will never make it is ridiculous, and to suggest that Ferguson hasn't already demonstrated qualities that he will be a top player is even more ridiculous.

Agree, possibly one of the daftest comments I've ever read on here. Most players are nowhere near top level until they are in their early 20's, we've just been very luck to see a handful of under 20s contribute well in the last couple of seasons. Even Harry Kane didnt break through properly at Spurs until he was 21 and had a pretty underwhelming loan at Leicester at 19.

 

[Swegulls]

I think it’s better for him to stay and train with top players daily than going to the Championship. He’ll soon be back, the ”old” Evan!

 

[Han Solo]

I really don't see the issues with him going and getting 40 minutes of football, regardless of how good or bad he was (its certainly hard to measure the quality of a non-match fit player playing in a League One team against Championship teams). Its a lot better if he makes his first half of football playing for Ireland than for us in a cup or PL game.

I could see him getting a game with the U21s and then against Wolves... and then he might still be a bit from top form, but at least he'll be "fully started".

 

[JBizzle]

I really don't see the issues with him going and getting 40 minutes of football, regardless of how good or bad he was (its certainly hard to measure the quality of a non-match fit player playing in a League One team against Championship teams). Its a lot better if he makes his first half of football playing for Ireland than for us in a cup or PL game.

I could see him getting a game with the U21s and then against Wolves... and then he might still be a bit from top form, but at least he'll be "fully started".

I agree. This is one of those rare occasions where International games have done us a favour. He got the game time he missed vs Crawley with RoI and came through fine, so win-win.

To add to some of the other points, people have to remember that, other than the first few matches, he almost never played in a side that had wingers. Mitoma was out for most of the second half of the season, Adingra was out of sorts post-AFCON, March was out all season, Pedro was out for two months, Enciso was out and we essentially stopped scoring after about December

 

[London Irish]

Absolute nonsense. We signed Alexis MacAllister at 21, he was at least 23 before he started to look anything like a top quality player. JPVH didn't even make his debut with until he was 22, and that was against the might of Forest Green Rovers. He didn't look comfortable in the Premier League until he was 23/24. Glen Murray didn't even play Premier League football until he was in his 30's!

Different players develop at different speeds. And Evan scored a hat-trick in a Premier League game at 18, one of only four players to ever do so, two of which were Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen.

To suggest that if players don't look like top players by 20 they will never make it is ridiculous, and to suggest that Ferguson hasn't already demonstrated qualities that he will be a top player is even more ridiculous.

It's certainly a bold opinion to dump on an Albion site when Gyokeres is still relatively fresh in our minds

 

[ATFC Seagull]

As an aside I can’t remember Eire being this bad since before Charlton. That team wouldn’t get promoted from the championship.

This is a very accurate assessment.

Consistently weaker than the sum of their parts (which aren't particularly great).

 

[Han Solo]

This is a very accurate assessment.

Consistently weaker than the sum of their parts (which aren't particularly great).

I think they have a really bad team and if they were located next to.. Hungary or something, they'd have very few if any players in the PL. England and Greece are way too good for them and I suspect they'll struggle to beat Finland as well.

 

[ATFC Seagull]

I think they have a really bad team and if they were located next to.. Hungary or something, they'd have very few if any players in the PL. England and Greece are way too good for them and I suspect they'll struggle to beat Finland as well.

That's an interesting take. Whilst I think you're right on a geographic basis I don't think there's any sort of "Irish premium" in England - ie I don't think many of the Irish players in England are playing at clubs above their level. I'm sure if we were located near Hungary you'd probably find most of them scattered around the bottom of the Bundersliga 1/top of 2, maybe a few more in leagues like Austria, Switzerland, Greece etc. Which might be better than warming benches or playing in yo-yo teams in the EPL.

You're absolutely right we'll fail to beat Finland home and away but I think a decent manager would be able to get a tune out of those players to complete with the likes of Greece (even if we're a bit behind on squad level). But we've not had a decent manager in 7-8 years since Martin O'Neill lost it.

 

[Han Solo]

That's an interesting take. Whilst I think you're right on a geographic basis I don't think there's any sort of "Irish premium" in England - ie I don't think many of the Irish players in England are playing at clubs above their level. I'm sure if we were located near Hungary you'd probably find most of them scattered around the bottom of the Bundersliga 1/top of 2, maybe a few more in leagues like Austria, Switzerland, Greece etc. Which might be better than warming benches or playing in yo-yo teams in the EPL.

You're absolutely right we'll fail to beat Finland home and away but I think a decent manager would be able to get a tune out of those players to complete with the likes of Greece (even if we're a bit behind on squad level). But we've not had a decent manager in 7-8 years since Martin O'Neill lost it.

Indeed, they'd be in Bundesliga etc. for the most part and thats fine, but there's a lot of nations in Europe with that kind of quality. Far more than in Irelands latest "glory days" some 20 years ago. Things look ok for the future with the quality of the league improving steadily and a handful of reasonably talented kids coming through every year. But currently its a pretty sad sight with a bunch of youngsters who aren't ready and a bunch of oldies that are a bit done.

You have a decent manager now though and absolutely the right man for the job imho, he's known as a specialist in getting the most out of very limited quality.

Not over night though, but it will be interesting to see what squad he picks for you the next time. From what I know about him, he will very likely axe anyone who doesn't have the psychological or physical strength and discipline to play in his national team. If given time, he will build a very solid and exceptionally dull 4-4-1-1/4-4-2 formation where every player is capable of spending 90 minutes mainly covering spaces and making it difficult for the opponent; and not every player is able to fit into that - it'll take some time finding the right team. 25% possession and an upsetting 1-0 win is the ambition, Scandi style.

 

[Mustafa II]

I think now we've all calmed down a bit, we need to have a little chat about Ferguson.

Clearly low in confidence at the moment, he was anonymous and ineffectual yesterday, forcing a substitution.

We know there's a quality player in there. A natural goalscorer. He's only 20 - but at the moment it's not working out. Putting in a poor shift like that will only further dent his confidence. It's been a long time since he last scored, which is tough for a striker of any age.

It does feel as if sending out on loan would have been the best solution for him. Somewhere he can bang in a load of goals. That said, with Pedro out and a possible Welbeck injury - we kind of need him in the squad. Perhaps a loan out in January, providing Welbz and Pedro are fit, is the best solution.

 

[BevBHA]

Needs to decide if he wants to realise his potential, or been the next Connolly.

And I don’t at all mean there’s any comparison in off the field antics, but in the steep decline in performance since he broke through, absolutely.

Screaming out for a Championship or even top European league loan but if that happened and he didn’t perform, I don’t know where we go from there.

I do think De Zerbi is a lot to blame. No matter our injury situation last year, he should have protected him more as a teenager

 

[BluesRockDJ]

Buanotte doing well for Leicester...............................................