Gavin Kilkenny

First he needs to stay in our team now that he has finally got the chance .then he needs to play at a consistent level for a period of time.no doubt Gavin has the quality anyone can see that he just needs to get stronger and push on.could do well to look at old videos of Johnny Giles who was small but a midfield general for Leeds and Ireland
 
I have no doubt if he continues the way he is going that Irish Caps await ! Also nice of the Cherries to accomodate him with the third strip Hopefully the IFA will get the hint :}
 
The big thing that Kilkenny will struggle with is the very fact that we have 3 established CMs that he'll have to get ahead of...

I have no doubt that he has the talent, after Saturday's performance, but you have to ask, if Lerma, L.Cook, and Pearson were all available... Would Kilkenny have even been on the bench?

We have 4 very good, if not very similar, CMs in our side... For the next couple of weeks, the CM position will continue to be his to lose, and he absolutely must now go all out and stake his claim for it longer-term... But you have to think that both Pearson and L. Cook are not far away, and Lerma has a definite date that he will be back in contention...

It will be interesting to see how Parker sees things and from what I've seen he very much has an open mind about who to play... Which also brings you on to the Lerma situation... Lerma is a great player, lets not kid ourselves he isn't... However, if for whatever reason Parker decides that Kilkenny and Pearson (for example) are our 2 preferred CMs going forward, a club like ours cannot afford to have a player like Lerma (with his wages), sat on the bench...

There are no guarantees in football, but I guess one might need to think if Lerma is only going to be a 'challenger' for a CM position, do we sell now and offload wages...?
 
We dont have 2 CM positions though, its more like 1 DM, and 2 AM. I personally would like to see Lerma as one of the 2 AMs challenging Billing and Marcondes.

That leaves Cook and Pearo battling Kilkenny for the DM slot going forward.
 
Da Bomb said:
We dont have 2 CM positions though, its more like 1 DM, and 2 AM. I personally would like to see Lerma as one of the 2 AMs challenging Billing and Marcondes.

That leaves Cook and Pearo battling Kilkenny for the DM slot going forward.
Click to expand...

This post perfectly sums up the fact that we shouldnt lose a single mid field battle this season with the quality and strength in depth we have there. If we can improve the defence and attack we should do ok.
 
Gavin showed on Friday that he can operate in tight spaces and under pressure. When up against a high press he can receive, turn and pick out a pass into the space left behind by the opposition high press.

This Saturday will be the opposite test for the guy. I expect Hughton will set Forest up to sit in and let us have lots of the ball (that's what Hughton sides usually do).

So the challenge from Kilkenny's position on the field up there will be more one of picking gaps out of a congested Forest shape. Keeping the tempo and movement of the ball high and then threading the eye of a needle to find our advanced players.

Look forward to seeing how he gets on.
 
Da Bomb said:
We dont have 2 CM positions though, its more like 1 DM, and 2 AM. I personally would like to see Lerma as one of the 2 AMs challenging Billing and Marcondes.

That leaves Cook and Pearo battling Kilkenny for the DM slot going forward.
Click to expand...
Yep. As I mentioned yesterday, with the depth we have there now, we should start to see Lerma ( if he stays on ) as more of a utility player IMO. As cover for DM if required but also for the Billing/Marcondes role should either get injured or lose form. For instance, if Billing has another spell where he doesn't look as if he fancies it too much, it would be good to have Lerma breathing down his neck for that spot. When Lewis Cook comes back we really will have plenty of options in midfield, goodness me !
 
I think Gavin is competing with Lewis Cook and Pearson for the no.6 role.... I also think he could be very effective as one of the 8s in this system.

Lerma is a tricky one....if he stays then he had to be a starter....I just don't know where he fits in that system as I just don't see him as an 8.....he's a DM in every sense of the word ....the sort of player that we would rely on in the PL.....if we could sell him and bring in Callum O'Hare to compete with Billing and Marcondes for one of the no 8 roles that would definitely improve and really freshen up our attacking options.
We might even have enough change for a cheeky bid for Rob Dickie at CB .

I wouldn't be shocked if he did stay though and it might be interesting to see how Parker is going to utilise him.
 
In my opinion, our priority needs to be competition for Brooks and Solanke. I think we're fairly well covered in all other positions (goalkeeper aside). As much as I love Lerma, if there was the opportunity to move him on and free up wages and add enough to the transfer kitty to bring in some quality in these two positions then I think that would be worth doing. That said, I'd be perfectly happy if he stays too. He's a likeable guy.
 
Kilkenny should keep his place until he falls out of form, not as soon as Lerma or Pearson or Cook return. He’s been just as good as any of those three were last season IMHO. The whole point of the academy is to create players that we can use and have a role to play; if we’re always just going to immediately drop them for any senior player, we may as well scrap the system.

As much as I’m loving Marcondes the person, I’d drop him before Kilkenny at this moment in time. Tbh I wouldn’t drop any of them at this moment in time lol.
 
NWCherries98 said:
Kilkenny should keep his place until he falls out of form, not as soon as Lerma or Pearson or Cook return. He’s been just as good as any of those three were last season IMHO. The whole point of the academy is to create players that we can use and have a role to play; if we’re always just going to immediately drop them for any senior player, we may as well scrap the system.

As much as I’m loving Marcondes the person, I’d drop him before Kilkenny at this moment in time. Tbh I wouldn’t drop any of them at this moment in time lol.
Click to expand...
Yes well I did try to explain this on here last week but everyone seemed to be determined to ship Gavin Kilkenny off to L1.....:wagging:
 
NWCherries98 said:
Kilkenny should keep his place until he falls out of form, not as soon as Lerma or Pearson or Cook return. He’s been just as good as any of those three were last season IMHO. The whole point of the academy is to create players that we can use and have a role to play; if we’re always just going to immediately drop them for any senior player, we may as well scrap the system.

As much as I’m loving Marcondes the person, I’d drop him before Kilkenny at this moment in time. Tbh I wouldn’t drop any of them at this moment in time lol.
Click to expand...
I am not sure one or two games constitutes form.

Having reviewed a lot of the different sites that rate performances using a variety of statistical and other methods, but excluding any home team bias, his rating was not as high as many are raving about. The reality is that the manager and coaches do pay attention to the stats and don't go all warm and fuzzy because he's an academy player.

He's going to compare what he sees and we don't in training, and put his managerial reputation at stake by making the call as he sees fit, without sentiment.

Good luck to the player and hope he kicks on to establish the type of form that truly makes him undroppable.
 
Topfarrier said:
Yes well I did try to explain this on here last week but everyone seemed to be determined to ship Gavin Kilkenny off to L1.....:wagging:
Click to expand...
Not everyone - subject to other players being back I would have been inclined to put him on loan at a Championship rival until Jan (lower down table of course) to guarantee him more chances at the right level because he still may not play for us much if other players are fit and not sold. If we are not careful he could be another Simpson in the making, picking up occasional games but otherwise warming a bench in a year where playing regularly might be more important than being available when we might need him.

Sure letting him out puts this season at risk for the club, but not loaning him out risks the player he looks like he might become having an impact for many seasons. Not point having your cake and not eating it.
 
ChampagneCherry said:
Not everyone - subject to other players being back I would have been inclined to put him on loan at a Championship rival until Jan (lower down table of course) to guarantee him more chances at the right level because he still may not play for us much if other players are fit and not sold. If we are not careful he could be another Simpson in the making, picking up occasional games but otherwise warming a bench in a year where playing regularly might be more important than being available when we might need him.

Sure letting him out puts this season at risk for the club, but not loaning him out risks the player he looks like he might become having an impact for many seasons. Not point having your cake and not eating it.
Click to expand...
It would have been difficult to find a Championship club willing to guarantee him regular football..... he's much better off with us ....... being able to rotate him with Pearson and Lewis will only help him.
 
It’s going to be interesting to see what Parker does when Pearson and Lerma are available. He’s shown that he’ll make ruthless decisions, like switching Rossi for Mepham (which plenty wouldn’t have done, but in retrospect was probably the right decision).

Judging by how frequently West Brom cut through our midfield in the second half, at least one of Lerma or Pearson has to play for the added steel they’d bring. Positionally, the only real candidates to drop out are Kilkenny or Marcondes, neither of who really deserve to be dropped. Glad I’m not a football manager!
 
For me if he performs he should stay in the team,same for e try player.Eddie be very loaned him because I imagine he felt it was better to keep him here ad he saw him as a 1st team player at this time.he travelled many times with the squad under Eddie
 
Whilst still not as good as first team football, lets not forget the U21s are in the PL cup this year which is a group phase, so guaranteed 6 games against high (ish) level oppositions...

Like I said, it's never going to rival first team experience, but at least we know the likes of JZ, Anthony and Kilkenny will get at least 7-10 decent games (including league and FA cups) outside of first team championship football over the coming months...
 
Topfarrier said:
It would have been difficult to find a Championship club willing to guarantee him regular football..... he's much better off with us ....... being able to rotate him with Pearson and Lewis will only help him.
Click to expand...
This is one where hindsight will make somebody right, and I hope it's you.
 
ChampagneCherry said:
I am not sure one or two games constitutes form.

Having reviewed a lot of the different sites that rate performances using a variety of statistical and other methods, but excluding any home team bias, his rating was not as high as many are raving about. The reality is that the manager and coaches do pay attention to the stats and don't go all warm and fuzzy because he's an academy player.

He's going to compare what he sees and we don't in training, and put his managerial reputation at stake by making the call as he sees fit, without sentiment.

Good luck to the player and hope he kicks on to establish the type of form that truly makes him undroppable.
Click to expand...

1. For me he’s been our best player in preseason and the first 2 competitive games. 4 games of good form is fair imo. Granted it’s not like months and months of consistency; but for me, like I said, he’s been our best player period in terms of executing his role.

2. As someone who loves stats and used them to big up players like Rico- stats aren’t everything. I’d imagine SP will have been impressed with his determination to get on the ball and make himself available and his mental approach to the game more than anything. That aside, he also made more than a couple notable forward passes, lots of interceptions, and helped dictate the rhythm of the game from deep. Everything you could want in a deep lying midfielder.

There’s also just that “eye test”; I can see why players like Rico didn’t pass it despite having mostly incredible stats. Kilkenny has an air about him this season; he doesn’t really play like a youth. The games I’ve seen this season he really does seem like he’s been there for years.

3. Agreed

4. Agreed :grinning:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

;