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Quick question (not to wind anyone up)!

Sorry my humble apologies , and yes it did seem odd , a top six Championship club having him on loan to get him ready for the Chelsea first team maybe yes .

The only way it made sense is that if he'd had a serious career threatening injury . I was thinking Critchley isn't that good with his contacts , maybe Everton and Liverpool under 21s or 19s but not that level

Not quite sure about Doncaster , the jist of the article is that Westley let him go to concentrate on the first team
Chelsea’s Reece James has just put in a masterful performance in a winning Champions League final and will be starting for England at the Euros.

The only place he’ll be going from Chelsea is Real Madrid or Manchester City as no one else could afford him.

The Reece James in question is a Nobber reject and has been bumbling around League 1 for years.
 
But ask yourself honestly ,which club is more progressive (at the moment )Blackpool f.c ,or Preston North end .
Not after an argument why or (just an honest opinion of real football supporters ) And I seriously hope we both stay in the championship (because local rivalry is best for both of us), up the mighty tangerines👍.
Talk about sing while your winning. .

Where were you the last few yrs.
 
Yes it does sound like his level , it's up to Neil Critchley if he thinks he can step up to the Championship

and yes the Chelsea Reece James will be the right back , if not Kieran Trippier or Kyle Walker and Spain is usually the next stop after the Premier League

 
Strange how football can polarise opinions.

I think he looks like a much better raw player than Hugill. He’s fast, physical and we’ve seen at his previous club he can finish.

He’s been playing in a side last season devoid of confidence and had little to no service. Hugill had Robinson, McGeady, Reach and prime Barky feeding him over the years.

He just needs the service and a bit of confidence. I think learning from Ched will be good for him too. I genuinely believe we’ll lose him on the back of a good season.
It's a myth imo that he didn't have service. He missed multiple sitters throughout the season.

Whether his finishing improves or not remains to be seen, but that was the problem in terms of his lack of goals, not the service that put him 1 v 1 against the goalkeeper at home to Wycombe, at home to Norwich, at home to Bristol City, away at Blackburn, and away at Huddersfield. He missed them all. Away at Barnsley, he even had the ball in a 2 v 1 situation with Maguire on the stroke of half time, and hit it straight at the keeper. And those examples are just off the top of my head.

As I'm trying to be balanced rather than just slating him, I suppose when someone is getting into positions like that fairly regularly, you could say his movement is much better than some people give him credit for, and his pace obviously gets him into good areas. But when you look at the chances he's had, I think it's just wrong to say he hasn't had service.

I certainly don't expect perfection or 20 goals from a young lad coming over from Denmark, but I think he's really poor technically for this level and that will be a problem for him going forward. I think the best he can hope for is to be decent at our level, not the Prem.
 
It's a myth imo that he didn't have service.
You refer to "service" he was given last season; but against Wycombe the "service" was a 50+ yard punt up field and Vs Barnsley it was another 40+ yard punt up field.

No idea why you reference Huddersfield (A). He got hauled down after beating his man and got their guy sent off. We later launch a 50+ yard punt upfield (you see the pattern here?) which he controls, beats two men and smacks a great shot against the crossbar.

How's that miss a negative mark against Riis? The one against Bristol you refer to it took a finger tip save to keep his shot from going in.

Yes, he missed some good chances. All strikers do. Especially ones with a manager quite happy to destroy their confidence. For the most part his first season could be summed up by the term... "Get after that Riis!"

Asking a young player to fight for scraps at this level, chasing punts, often only getting 15+ mins in games, to then slot away the odd few chances that come his way - is asking an awful lot.

I don't see any need for singling out Riis for blame here. I certainly don't believe the likes of Barky, Potts, Maguire etc sparkled in front of goal either.
 
It's a myth imo that he didn't have service. He missed multiple sitters throughout the season.

Whether his finishing improves or not remains to be seen, but that was the problem in terms of his lack of goals, not the service that put him 1 v 1 against the goalkeeper at home to Wycombe, at home to Norwich, at home to Bristol City, away at Blackburn, and away at Huddersfield. He missed them all. Away at Barnsley, he even had the ball in a 2 v 1 situation with Maguire on the stroke of half time, and hit it straight at the keeper. And those examples are just off the top of my head.

As I'm trying to be balanced rather than just slating him, I suppose when someone is getting into positions like that fairly regularly, you could say his movement is much better than some people give him credit for, and his pace obviously gets him into good areas. But when you look at the chances he's had, I think it's just wrong to say he hasn't had service.

I certainly don't expect perfection or 20 goals from a young lad coming over from Denmark, but I think he's really poor technically for this level and that will be a problem for him going forward. I think the best he can hope for is to be decent at our level, not the Prem.
I take everything you say on board and can understand why you have the opinion you do.

But for me a 22 year old lad in his first season in English football, living in a flat in Manchester for a large part without his partner due to covid, working under a manager who had lost his interest and in a team that was devoid of confidence, service and attacking prowess, I think he did well.

I honestly believe he has all the raw attributes that with some polishing, good coaching and confidence will see him shine at this level and move on higher up the food chain with or without us.
 
It's a myth imo that he didn't have service. He missed multiple sitters throughout the season.

Whether his finishing improves or not remains to be seen, but that was the problem in terms of his lack of goals, not the service that put him 1 v 1 against the goalkeeper at home to Wycombe, at home to Norwich, at home to Bristol City, away at Blackburn, and away at Huddersfield. He missed them all. Away at Barnsley, he even had the ball in a 2 v 1 situation with Maguire on the stroke of half time, and hit it straight at the keeper. And those examples are just off the top of my head.

As I'm trying to be balanced rather than just slating him, I suppose when someone is getting into positions like that fairly regularly, you could say his movement is much better than some people give him credit for, and his pace obviously gets him into good areas. But when you look at the chances he's had, I think it's just wrong to say he hasn't had service.

I certainly don't expect perfection or 20 goals from a young lad coming over from Denmark, but I think he's really poor technically for this level and that will be a problem for him going forward. I think the best he can hope for is to be decent at our level, not the Prem.

He did miss some decent chances but personally I think that’s more down to decision making rather than technical ability.

Decision making can be coached and there were opportunities last season were he maybe could have passed or he took it too far or he could have gone down winning a penalty rather than taking the shot. He seemed to panic when through on goal.

His first touch is class and at times last season his hold up play was brilliant - QPR, Huddersfield and Reading he had brilliant games and was probably man of the match in all three. Middlesbrough at home as well.

As others have suggested from then on his confidence looked to have been shot. Our awful home performances, punts up field to him, in and out of the team.

Clearly this lad has ability. He reminded me of nmecha in his first season - pace and power. I like him and I think he will be a real asset for us.
 
He did miss some decent chances but personally I think that’s more down to decision making rather than technical ability.

Decision making can be coached and there were opportunities last season were he maybe could have passed or he took it too far or he could have gone down winning a penalty rather than taking the shot. He seemed to panic when through on goal.

His first touch is class and at times last season his hold up play was brilliant - QPR, Huddersfield and Reading he had brilliant games and was probably man of the match in all three. Middlesbrough at home as well.

As others have suggested from then on his confidence looked to have been shot. Our awful home performances, punts up field to him, in and out of the team.

Clearly this lad has ability. He reminded me of nmecha in his first season - pace and power. I like him and I think he will be a real asset for us.
This all day long, very similar to Nmecha in terms of hit and miss performance but general raw ability and talent.

If he goes on to replicate Nmecha in the coming years, it’s safe to say he’ll be on a spring board to a cracking career.
 
You refer to "service" he was given last season; but against Wycombe the "service" was a 50+ yard punt up field and Vs Barnsley it was another 40+ yard punt up field.

No idea why you reference Huddersfield (A). He got hauled down after beating his man and got their guy sent off. We later launch a 50+ yard punt upfield (you see the pattern here?) which he controls, beats two men and smacks a great shot against the crossbar.

How's that miss a negative mark against Riis? The one against Bristol you refer to it took a finger tip save to keep his shot from going in.

Yes, he missed some good chances. All strikers do. Especially ones with a manager quite happy to destroy their confidence. For the most part his first season could be summed up by the term... "Get after that Riis!"

Asking a young player to fight for scraps at this level, chasing punts, often only getting 15+ mins in games, to then slot away the odd few chances that come his way - is asking an awful lot.

I don't see any need for singling out Riis for blame here. I certainly don't believe the likes of Barky, Potts, Maguire etc sparkled in front of goal either.
We’re just discussing/debating an individual player, that’s what tends to happen on football forums. It’s not “singling” him out or blaming him. Of course we have other players who were not good last season, they have already been talked about individually on the forum at length. If anything, Riis is far more exempt from criticism than others, even though usually a striker that scores 2 goals in an entire season would be a big talking point.

Regarding ‘service’, just because it’s a long ball doesn’t mean it’s bad service. They put him 1 v 1 against the goalkeeper. If he’s put through for an easy chance that is service, other people can’t go and put the ball into the back of the net for him.

It’s not just the lack of goals either that bothers me. His all round no.9 play (see Evans’ performance at Forest as an example) is way, way off what is required at this standard. Maybe that will come with more experience, who knows. I would reiterate that I’m not writing him off and as I said earlier I think he does have the attributes to eventually be decent enough at this level (but not higher), I just think he’s a lot further away from being good enough right now than people think.
 
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