[Albion] Evan Ferguson

[Napper]

I would suggest you don't base any of your strategic thinking on Aaron Connolly.

You are basically saying we can never get excited about a young player because of what happened to 1 young player, and we base all future development plans for young players on what happened to 1 young player.

Ferguson's development and progress needs to be structured and managed for Ferguson, not on what happened to other players. If he is ready, the manager feels he is ready, then get him in the side.

Should Dortmond and England not be playing Jude Bellingham?

plus on top of this , Ferguson hasn't just appeared from no where. He's been managed and developed for this very moment. He's been highly rated for ages. I actually think we could of thrown him in sooner , especially when you consider our official recognised striker numbers .... but he has to a degree been held back a bit. You can't hold someone back further if they are showing they are ready which so far he is. Obviously if he starts looking out his depth then another plan may happen but the lad is taking his chance and so far stepping up and some.

Would be tempted to rest him Saturday then start him v Liverpool. 2 goals and an assist in the last two games surely means a certain starter in one of these anyway

 

[Triggaaar]

Just maybe…

View attachment 155368

Wiki says his debut for Frank was at 14

 

[Icy Gull]

Wiki says his debut for Frank was at 14

Except it was against Frank, not for him

 

[Weststander]

I don’t know the full story of how he came to sign for Brighton BUT we must look such an attractive prospect for young players. There’s a genuine proven pathway to the first team, we have excellent training facilities, play attractive attaching football towards the business end of the league and won’t stand in your way if youre ambitious.

Having our first proper training and academy complex was the game-changer.

Until then Chelsea, S’ton and Charlton for example grabbed all youth prospects. All we could offer was borrowed facilities at Sussex Uni.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Having our first proper training and academy complex was the game-changer.

Until then Chelsea, S’ton and Charlton for example grabbed all youth prospects. All we could offer was borrowed facilities at Sussex Uni.

Fair point.

 

[Triggaaar]

Am I the only one who thinks people are getting carried away here? He looks a good player but so did Connolly, and there is an argument to say we ruined him by keeping him in the Premier League when he wasn't ready for it. I'd get Ferguson out on loan to a Championship, or even League One club for the rest of the season. Get him banging in the goals and continuing to learn away from the pressure of the Premier League. We gambled on Connolly because we hoped he might be the answer to our goalscoring problems, and it didn't pay off.

But when Connolly couldn't keep scoring at the top level, loaning him out then should have done the trick, and maybe it was off the field issues that have hampered his career. Not all players need to get loaned out - Owen and Rooney managed to succeed despite being in the top league. I'd hope that if Ferguson doesn't push on, we can then loan him out with nothing really lost.

Also, it's could become harder to sign players like him ahead of the likes of Liverpool, if we play them, see them do well, and then loan them out.

 

[Triggaaar]

Except it was against Frank, not for him

 

[Nialler]

It was at 14 made a cameo and played a clever part in a goal and beat 3 or 4 Chelsea players and nearly curled one into the top corner after about a minute on the pitch Made national news here and people complained it was too much too soon. Lads in the team were laughing saying you haven't seen him play yet clearly because he is a monster!!

As an aside Brighton did complain to gov about brexit effects and sited it already was costing them a "generational" talent. That talent was of course... Ev

Not a shock there wasn't a rush to sign a striker. Belief has always been there he was the real deal number 9 i think.

 

[HalfaSeatOn]

Talent doesn’t necessarily equal success. We probably all can look back on young footballers we’ve seen in our local area who were very talented for their age but taken different paths. The most talented I’ve seen , for whatever reason, took a path of booze, parties etc but was phenomenal at non league level hung over and all. Some others who were very talented and and very dedicated went on to success at top professional level. Early days but Ferguson gives impression of latter.

 

[raymondo]

On motd Wrighty explained really well how Evan helped make that goal for March by his run round the back. Great stuff, that I'd missed completely. I always learn something from Wrighty

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Talent doesn’t necessarily equal success. We probably all can look back on young footballers we’ve seen in our local area who were very talented for their age but taken different paths. The most talented I’ve seen , for whatever reason, took a path of booze, parties etc but was phenomenal at non league level hung over and all. Some others who were very talented and and very dedicated went on to success at top professional level. Early days but Ferguson gives impression of latter.

Pretty sure that Evan's dad Barry Ferguson has set him on the right path from an early age

'There's no hard-luck story with me. I wasn't good enough to play Premier League football'

Ex-Ireland underage international Barry Ferguson looks back on his career with Coventry, Longford and others.

www.the42.ie

 

[Hotchilidog]

I would suggest you don't base any of your strategic thinking on Aaron Connolly.

You are basically saying we can never get excited about a young player because of what happened to 1 young player, and we base all future development plans for young players on what happened to 1 young player.

Ferguson's development and progress needs to be structured and managed for Ferguson, not on what happened to other players. If he is ready, the manager feels he is ready, then get him in the side.

Should Dortmond and England not be playing Jude Bellingham?

Absolutely agree with this. Evan Ferguson is not Aaron Connolly. Ferguson appears to be very level headed and possesses the traits that anyone would be looking for in a striker. I think it's important that we continue his development in the PL, when Welbeck returns we can mix and match between the two.

 

[Zeberdi]

You look at the amount of young players we have now in the first team squad. There is this clear pathway now that our system is producing PL quality players.

For youngsters we’ve got to look like an attractive option for academy and under 18s/21s football. They’ll come here knowing if they work hard and prove they are good enough they’ll be given the chance to play on the biggest stage of all.

I agree and I and others have been saying exactly this for a long time - ( and echoing what TB and PB have been saying for years!) - that Brighton’s youth development work has for years been a key component of building not just cross age young PL1 and 2 squads for ourselves but as part of a sustainable business plan that enables us to compete as a mid-PL table Club when we loan the youngsters out or sell them on. Opportunities for us. Opportunities for them.

As far as Evan is concerned, as I said the other day, he’s clearly good enough to be a regular starter this season and coaches have known he would be so for a while (not just physically but mentally) - He’s come up through the Academy, played for our U21s, scored several times for our U23s, played for our first team in various cup matches and he debuted for the PL nearly a year ago now, so we are not ‘throwing an 18 year old’ into anything’ as some posters have been suggesting - that is the whole point of our youth development work -it’s unfortunate that Brexit has complicated that process for getting young U18s lads from over the water but that is why continuing development of our youth academy is so important.

I also posted this link a few days ago showing how Evans Father, Barry, inspired nurtured his son’s success and why those getting triggered by the ‘Connolly experience’ can take a chill pill

Charting Evan Ferguson's remarkable rise from prospect to Premier League scorer

After scoring against Premier League leaders Arsenal on Saturday, everything has changed for Evan Ferguson

www.buzz.ie

edit to add photo: If anyone doubts he lacks maturity at age 18 - Evan at age 14 v Chelsea holding off Zouma

We have 42 goals in 21 games and scored more goals (17) than any other PL club in past 6 games - for those seeing Evan as the no9 ‘we have been looking for’ - Ferguson (imho!) will not be expected to carry the whole weight (or even quarter of the weight) of our goal scoring responsibility - on the ‘striker thread‘, (#219) I posted why I thought that a traditional no9 (and false 9) is only part of an alternative goal scoring system that started under GP and is being further developed by RDZ. Our goals from what is an increasingly a strong AM at Brighton (and none by Welbz this season in 13 appearances, 7/42 by Tross), will continue to flummox our oppositions defence lines by making us difficult to mark or use effective low blocks again. Evan Ferguson, despite clearly being a true 9 (in stature and style) doesn’t change that for me.

 

[GT49er]

Am I the only one who thinks people are getting carried away here? He looks a good player but so did Connolly, and there is an argument to say we ruined him by keeping him in the Premier League when he wasn't ready for it. I'd get Ferguson out on loan to a Championship, or even League One club for the rest of the season. Get him banging in the goals and continuing to learn away from the pressure of the Premier League. We gambled on Connolly because we hoped he might be the answer to our goalscoring problems, and it didn't pay off. We don't have those problems now (despite what the SING A STRIKER brigade think), we are the 5th top scorers in the league.

We need to play the long game with this lad, like we do on everything else.

Quite possibly you are! Ferguson's progress will be monitored, and hopefully the right decisions will be made. I would hope Ferguson gets plenty of game time for the rest of the season - if, like Aaron, it appears that his initial impact was a flash in the pan and he's struggling to mainain his levels, then he should go out on loan; if, on the other hand, he continues to take to PL football like a duck to water, then we keep him in the team and enjoy what he does.

The trouble with Connolly was that once his two goal demoltion of Spurs turned out to be a false dawn, and it was too early for him to be a PL striker, it took two wasted years before he was sent out on loan. If Ferguson needs a loan, I hope that doesn't happen that way to him - I somehow don't think he's going to need that loan though.

 

[Bold Seagull]

But when Connolly couldn't keep scoring at the top level, loaning him out then should have done the trick, and maybe it was off the field issues that have hampered his career. Not all players need to get loaned out - Owen and Rooney managed to succeed despite being in the top league. I'd hope that if Ferguson doesn't push on, we can then loan him out with nothing really lost.

Also, it's could become harder to sign players like him ahead of the likes of Liverpool, if we play them, see them do well, and then loan them out.

Shearer was 17 on debut for Saints, still the youngest scorer of a top flight hattrick at 17 years, 240 days. Robbie Fowler played 28 games scoring 12 goals as an 18 yr old in his first season. Jermaine Defoe starting his first full season as an 18 year old making 35 appearances scoring 10 goals. Dwight Yorke, started for Villa at 18 making 18 appearances that season, then 32 the year after, Emile Heskey was 17 when he played a full season for Leicester in the then First Div, went up and played a 35 games in the PL at 18. Far longer list of young strikers in the top flight being good enough and ready than people seem to give credit.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

What a bold and brilliant move by RDZ to give Ferguson a start. BBC called it 'another mature performance'

I think it’s also a sign of how RDZ is understanding, accepting and trusting of the support, set up, systems and processes we have in place and how he fits into all of this.

 

[Audax]

We have 42 goals in 21 games and scored more goals (17) than any other PL club in past 6 games - for those seeing Evan as the no9 ‘we have been looking for’ - Ferguson (imho!) will not be expected to carry the whole weight (or even quarter of the weight) of our goal scoring responsibility - on the ‘striker thread‘, (#219) I posted why I thought that a traditional no9 (and false 9) is only part of an alternative goal scoring system that started under GP and is being further developed by RDZ. Our goals from what is an increasingly a strong AM at Brighton (and none by Welbz this season in 13 appearances, 7/42 by Tross), will continue to flummox our oppositions defence lines by making us difficult to mark or use effective low blocks again. Evan Ferguson, despite clearly being a true 9 (in stature and style) doesn’t change that for me.

This touches on an advantage that I think Ferguson has over Connolly at the same point in their careers. Ferguson comes into a team where goals are being scored, and they are being scored from multiple positions. Connolly came into a side that was desperate for goals. In Connolly's case, once teams had seen him they just adjusted slightly the standard "anti-Brighton" defence structure (don't give the strikers any room to shoot, safe in the knowledge the midfield was too slow to create anything else and very goal shy even if they did create) and carried on as usual. Today, Ferguson is coming into a team with a very different midfield. We've got more pace, more options, and I think we're now seeing the fruits of that - blocking out the strikers isn't preventing us from scoring, and that will in turn open up opportunities for the strikers to score themselves as opposition defences also need to watch out for Mitoma, Trossard, Gross, Mac Allister, March(!).

We're moving the ball better, faster, creating better opportunities from non-striker positions and that's going to make it easier for any striker on the field to do their job when the opportunity arises.

 

[Napper]

This touches on an advantage that I think Ferguson has over Connolly at the same point in their careers. Ferguson comes into a team where goals are being scored, and they are being scored from multiple positions. Connolly came into a side that was desperate for goals. In Connolly's case, once teams had seen him they just adjusted slightly the standard "anti-Brighton" defence structure (don't give the strikers any room to shoot, safe in the knowledge the midfield was too slow to create anything else and very goal shy even if they did create) and carried on as usual. Today, Ferguson is coming into a team with a very different midfield. We've got more pace, more options, and I think we're now seeing the fruits of that - blocking out the strikers isn't preventing us from scoring, and that will in turn open up opportunities for the strikers to score themselves as opposition defences also need to watch out for Mitoma, Trossard, Gross, Mac Allister, March(!).

We're moving the ball better, faster, creating better opportunities from non-striker positions and that's going to make it easier for any striker on the field to do their job when the opportunity arises.

so are you saying Connolly could do well in this side ?

 

[dazzer6666]

I think it’s also a sign of how RDZ is understanding, accepting and trusting of the support, set up, systems and processes we have in place and how he fits into all of this.

…..which in turn is a sign of why Tony wanted him

 

[Audax]

so are you saying Connolly could do well in this side ?

If he was starting his career today, and kept his attitude in the right place ... potentially, yes. He showed signs of having a decent talent as a striker. He's wasted it, ultimately, and I guess we'll never know how much of that was simply his attitude / personal choices that would have happened anyway, or if the attitude and choices arose out of the pressure to provide goals in a side that wasn't scoring. I don't think it helped him at all, let's put it that way. Some players would have thrived in that pressure. Connolly crumbled. Who knows what might have happened if he'd had today's midfield behind him back then.