[Albion] Locadia, prove us wrong

[Swansman]

He's nearly 22 and it's become quite clear he has no future as a Premier League player. He's not technically good enough, nor does he have the right attitude.

Not all of the players we break through will make it. All clubs go through the same thing.

We need to move him on.

He is a lot better of a footballer than you are of a supporter yet you're moving nowhere

Regardless of that I wouldn’t call him a ‘useless waste of salary’. He’s perhaps been used too early at this level, he may not be good enough. I know at 22 Ian Wright was playing for Greenwich Borough and Jamie Vardy didn’t leave Fleetwood until he was 25, at 22 he was still at Stockbridge Park Steels. But of course some numbskulls on a football forum know a player is good enough or not ahead of their 22nd birthday.

Indeed.

However this has been mentioned before just as it has been mentioned that Connolly have a decent record in the PL compared to what other players had produced at that age. Like Stato wrote yesterday:

Connolly is still 21. He's going to be learning his trade at that age. He believes that he can do this best by getting what game time he can in a Premier League squad. Some may disagree, but he is decent enough to have convinced Potter that he is worthy of the chance to do this. Since the explosion of his first league start against Spurs, he has just followed the career path of most of his peer group. Very, very few strikers of his age start many games in the Premier League, even fewer score many goals.

If you look at the records of most strikers ever to have played for this club, you will struggle to find many who had played as many minutes or scored as many goals in the top division as Connolly has by the age of 21*. This doesn't mean he will go on to have a great career at the top level. That will be down to his attitude, his ability to learn and improve and to good fortune. Many players have fallen by the wayside after showing great early promise. However, we can't let fan frustration that he hasn't set the world alight since those first two goals allow him to be labelled at this early stage of his career as someone who won't make it.

*- Danny Welbeck was one I found to have played for three seasons in the top tier by the time he was Connolly's age. He had played in 34 games and scored 7 goals for Man Utd and Sunderland, two top ten teams. Connolly has played 43 and scored 5 for a team that finished in the bottom six. If, a decade on from now, Connolly has had a career that's still comparable with, but not quite as good as Welbeck's, I reckon he'd have done rather well.

However, it doesnt matter how many times these points are made - a sentiment of the fans (supporter is something else and non-compatible with the bullying of Connolly) have found someone to hate, and they love it. It is present all over society today resulting in depressions, suicides and similar. Humans are a lovely species, finding someone to collectively hate is one of its great pleasures and once there are consequences to it, they shrug their shoulders and say/think "well I didnt do anything, merely expressed my opinion..:" and move on to bullying the next guy who has a bad haircut or whatever excuse they find in order to have someone to throw dirt on.

 

[Swansman]

I remember lots of similar posts about Solly March when he was 22.

Or Lewis "The new Titus Bramble", "I'll drive him to Fulham myself" Dunk.

 

[Swansman]

I'm a lifelong Brighton fan. You're not even a fan.

I want Connolly out because I want the Albion to be the best team we can be.

I'm not sure why you're even invested in this subject.

Fan, no doubt. Supporter? Apparently not.

 

[Hampster Gull]

Fan, no doubt. Supporter? Apparently not.

Define a supporter of a football club

 

[Rookie]

He's nearly 22 and it's become quite clear he has no future as a Premier League player. He's not technically good enough, nor does he have the right attitude.

Not all of the players we break through will make it. All clubs go through the same thing.

We need to move him on.

Absolute nonsense.

It is clearly not clear that he has no future as a premier league footballer otherwise he would not be in the squad. Maybe he will move on in January, the summer, next year or in 5 years but all the time Potter thinks he’s good enough then he is a premier league player.

Good to see the usual crap about his attitude being raised as well - so many people seem to know about his attitude and yet he seems quite popular among the squad and continues to earn a place in the match day squad. If he has that bad an attitude he would have been shipped out long ago

 

[Weststander]

Are you sure about that?

https://nortr3nixy.nimpr.uk/showthread.php?356938-Solly-March-and-Lewis-Dunk&highlight=march

 

[heathgate]

AC is just 21 and a product of our Academy. Frankly a ridiculous thing to say.

Hey, I have been a big supporter of his to date,... but crikey,... he is simply not improving, he has failed consistently to make any impression.... despite a hat full of chances.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[Wardy's twin]

Hey, I have been a big supporter of his to date,... but crikey,... he is simply not improving, he has failed consistently to make any impression.... despite a hat full of chances.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

same here... last night why on earth did he not take the ball forward.... i think his confidence is completely shot so a loan out to improve/restore is probably the answer.

 

[Solid at the back]

When is this waste of space out of contract?

 

[macbeth]

same here... last night why on earth did he not take the ball forward.... i think his confidence is completely shot so a loan out to improve/restore is probably the answer.

Last one did the opposite of that

 

[GT49er]

Sad, isn't it - a thread about Locadia, but only a few posts in the Connolly haters have found another platform to broadcast their agenda!

Now, to make it clear, I agree Connolly is a long way off delivering at the moment - and I certainly wouldn't have had him in the team yesterday. I am also one who has been in favour of him going out on loan to somewhere where he can recapture the goal scoring form that made him PL2 player of the year (a proper loan, not like loans for the likes of Locada and Andone, where we're hoping somebody will take them off our hands!). I'm still honestly baffled as to why this hasn't happened.

Two suggestions (that I've heard of) have been put forward about why he's still here, dong nothing worthwhile. One is that the club want to keep him where they can keep an eye on him - which if true would be a damning indictment of his character and responsibility.
The other is that his ego won't accept dropping down a couple of divisions - in which case someone should surely have slapped him round the back of the legs and told him not to be a naughty boy!
If there's an iota of truth (IF) in either of these theories, it doesn't bode well. I hope that's not the case, and I really hope he becomes a top player, preferably with us. But I'd dearly love to know the thinking behind the current plan - keeping him here, only playing him very occasionally whilst watching his progress (and his popularity with the fans) going backwards (which at the moment it undoubtedly is).

 

[Wardy's twin]

Last one did the opposite of that

always possible if you don't get the loan right....

 

[zefarelly]

always possible if you don't get the loan right....

Send him to Palace and the he can 'do a Duffy'

Other examples are available

 

[Milano]

I remember lots of similar posts about Solly March when he was 22.

Chalk and cheese, March had a spot on attitude and is the most un-billy-big-bollox person you’ll meet. His main hobby is cricket not clubbing…..
Injury slowed his development down, that was all.

 

[herecomesaregular]

Or Lewis "The new Titus Bramble", "I'll drive him to Fulham myself" Dunk.

You weren't on the ride with us then that's just a few quotes from your searches of old threads (and not representative of most Albion fans on here or in the Real World) !

I do appreciate your allegiance always to the underdog and the maligned though.

 

[macbeth]

always possible if you don't get the loan right....

I hear Barca are a bit light up from at the moment...

 

[NooBHA]

Or Lewis "The new Titus Bramble", "I'll drive him to Fulham myself" Dunk.

A weird quote to bring up when trying to defend Aaron Connolly.

Lewis had actually established himself as a very good player an prospect around then. So much so that Fulham and West Bromwich Albion had made big offers for him around the same time.

That said, he was also very prone to making mistakes and had some rash decision making whereby he would often get sent off which would end up being costly.

CH was a very pragmatic Manager and identified those issues and they were easy to eradicate from his game and that made him an absolute superb defender that he is today. I had the same views back then. I would have sold him t West Brom when he wanted to leave but I would have been wrong.

To try and compare Connolly to Dunk around the same age there is no comparison. Dunk just needed to eradicate the rashness and stupidity from his game. He had all the ability. Connolly on the other hand doesn't have the ability to be successful at this level. So that quote you pulled out from years ago doesn't fit the context of the point yo are trying to argue.

I do like it when you defend Maupay because he does have the ability and he has potential to be better. However Connolly won't make it in the PL. He is being shoe horned into the side because Non Coaching Management want him in the squad and the team. They wanted him in the squad and the team even before Graham Potter arrived as well. I think they just want to produce a striker from the Academy and at the moment they don't want to give up on Connolly potentially being that striker.

I just don't think he will ever live up to that expectation.

 

[Easy 10]

Christ, nobody can criticise Connolly without being branded a HATER, because he's only 14 or whatever. From where I've been sitting, I've seen zero improvement in the bloke in the 2+ years since he made his debut, in fact he's regressed. Does that mean I HATE him ? Err, no. I just don't want him in a 1st team shirt till he's up to it.

Not much to ask, is it.

 

[ditchy]

I remember lots of similar posts about Solly March when he was 22.

Solly March buckled down and worked , I dont recall seeing any news about his so called wayward private life !

 

[Swansman]

A weird quote to bring up when trying to defend Aaron Connolly.

Lewis had actually established himself as a very good player an prospect around then. So much so that Fulham and West Bromwich Albion had made big offers for him around the same time.

That said, he was also very prone to making mistakes and had some rash decision making whereby he would often get sent off which would end up being costly.

CH was a very pragmatic Manager and identified those issues and they were easy to eradicate from his game and that made him an absolute superb defender that he is today. I had the same views back then. I would have sold him t West Brom when he wanted to leave but I would have been wrong.

To try and compare Connolly to Dunk around the same age there is no comparison. Dunk just needed to eradicate the rashness and stupidity from his game. He had all the ability. Connolly on the other hand doesn't have the ability to be successful at this level. So that quote you pulled out from years ago doesn't fit the context of the point yo are trying to argue.

I do like it when you defend Maupay because he does have the ability and he has potential to be better. However Connolly won't make it in the PL. He is being shoe horned into the side because Non Coaching Management want him in the squad and the team. They wanted him in the squad and the team even before Graham Potter arrived as well. I think they just want to produce a striker from the Academy and at the moment they don't want to give up on Connolly potentially being that striker.

I just don't think he will ever live up to that expectation.

Lewis Dunk was two years older when Fulham bid for him. Two years before that he was on a bench in the Championship. Just like I very much dont trust peoples abilities to judge Connolly or any other non-established player I seriously doubt that someone like TottonSeagull who made the Bramble-quote would have done some in-depth analysis of Dunks abilities. He, and plenty others according to the archives, judged him based on a couple of bad games and a couple of bad mistakes. Those nuances may have been yours but hardly everyone of the frequent pitchforkers cares about nuances.

The theory that Connolly is being shoe horned into the team because TB and DA wants it is ridiculous and frankly not worth a comment.