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The youth players/on-loan thread 2015-16

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Could Winks cover Dier? He doesn't have Dier's build so less suited to dropping back into a back 3, but he'd distribute well and be able to side step the opposition press.
 
He's impressive with the ball and knows his duties at the base of the midfield, but he's not got the level of defensive ability to act as a solo anchor. I think he could do a good job covering Dembele though.
 
Cochise said:
He's impressive with the ball and knows his duties at the base of the midfield, but he's not got the level of defensive ability to act as a solo anchor. I think he could do a good job covering Dembele though.
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That was my thought too but that is the more congested route to the first team.
 
The U21 match was a decent watch. It's definitely one of those games where we could be happier with the performance than the result, with us playing the better football throughout. Strangely, it was in the latter stages when we had started to look to tire when we actually got the equaliser.

Winks and Stylianedes played like Dembele and Dier, creating similar shapes with their CB's to the first team. They were always in good positions and Winks dictated play all night. Sonupe, Miller and Onomah tried to do similar to Eriksen, Alli and Lamela although the vertical threat that Alli presents was missing. Miller despite going periods where he was almost anonymous was probably the most dangerous of the lot, finding lots of little spaces around the edge of the box and having little fear in striking the ball. Edwards was decent when he came on, very left footed, almost to the point of being predictable. He did draw a lot of fouls, but was constantly shifting past the man and not going down despite probably having the right to.

So far as first team options go, Winks was the one that looked like he could fit in. He's not got Dembele's strength, but he almost has that Modric-esque ability to just roll his way out of trouble. He's not the quickest but he has that little turn of pace which is enough to get him moving up the field and isn't shy of striking it with either foot. Onomah disappointed me in this game. It might be because UTD sat back nearly all match and it meant that what touches our front players had, had to be of a very high quality in order to create a chance. He did show some good passes and easily dribbled his way out of trouble, but there wasn't enough of it.
 
milo said:
That was my thought too but that is the more congested route to the first team.
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I think he has the talent to get ahead of Mason and Carroll, but throwing him in to that role in games next year could be brutal. If he copes though and takes to it, then the rewards could be long lasting for him and the club.
 
SpurMeUp said:
Could Winks cover Dier? He doesn't have Dier's build so less suited to dropping back into a back 3, but he'd distribute well and be able to side step the opposition press.
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Looks excellent to me, and as someone else has said, you can see that he's learned some things from watching Dembele play.

Whether or not he could cover Dier, to me that comes down to defensive instinct - some players have that, and some don't. From what Bentaleb has sown to date, he doesn't seem to, but perhaps Winks does.

Will be interesting to see what happens with our CMs this summer - we definitely need a third top class CM in addition to Dier and Dembele given that we have CL football coming up when we want to be playing strong 11s both Wed and Sat. I'm not sure we have that yet, though we do have players with potential.

One of the challenges in my mind is that Mason will be 25 in a couple months, Carroll will be 24. Winks is only 20 and Bentaleb not 22 til Nov. So that latter two have a lot of time on the other two and personally I think they are more complete packages. I don't think having all four at the club next season in addition to Dier and Dembele, plus possible a new signing, plus Ball is arguably now pushing a place in domestic cup games.

I would move on Carroll, given that I think Mason can contribute more now and is more versatile, but I'm expecting Bentaleb to leave unfortunatley
 
For a few season we've had a lot of similar level midfielders. Last summer we shed Capoue, Stmbouli and Holtby. We're in a much better position with Dembele and Dier. But we still have one or two similar level players who don't command a place. All talented and have potential, a nice problem to have.

The right loans might be the answer; say for Bentaleb and Winks. Even for Carol and Mason if we strengthen and don't find or want buyers for them.
 
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Glenda's Legs said:
Came across this amongst the mass of tweets today :

https://twitter.com/x/status/727433804219047936

Nice to see him getting this recognition. I wonder if he will stay at Rotherham (loan or a permanent move) or is he ready for a pre-season with Poch and the squad?
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Not sure what the tweet says (as Twitter is blocked from my workplace) but Warnock recently said that while he would love to keep him he thought that it was unlikely that he would be able to keep him at Rotherham as he knows there is interest in him from clubs of a higher standing.
 
Finney Is Back said:
Not sure what the tweet says (as Twitter is blocked from my workplace) but Warnock recently said that while he would love to keep him he thought that it was unlikely that he would be able to keep him at Rotherham as he knows there is interest in him from clubs of a higher standing.
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Tweet says he has won Rotherham Utd's Young Player of the Season award.
 
I see Edwards was scoring for the under 18s again, I hope he has not been demoted after being with the DS. The longer he goes without signing his deal the more I worry. I actually know a guy who worked at spurs and watched him this was 4 years ago and he said even then everyone knew he would make it.
 
Danishfurniturelover said:
I see Edwards was scoring for the under 18s again, I hope he has not been demoted after being with the DS. The longer he goes without signing his deal the more I worry. I actually know a guy who worked at spurs and watched him this was 4 years ago and he said even then everyone knew he would make it.
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He's with the u18s as preparation for next week's next-gen tournament, the u21s didn't play this week so he may as well get game time where he can.
 
Just discovered England U17 vs France U17s is live right now on Europort. Unbearable commentating but doesn't look like we have any of our lads in the line-up.
 
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