Knowing that we were always likely to recall him in January i'm amazed we let him play for Wimbledon in the cup. Oxford would've been a decent time to give him a run out.
Wouldn't be at all surprised if he's back at Wimbledon by the end of the month. It's not at all obvious what Chris Powell will learn about the player during the next two weeks that he hasn't seen in the last two and a half years.
It might all be political, is as much as we might be letting AFC know that if they want him back they have to pay for it. This could be in the form of a higher proportion of his wages or a transfer fee if em let him leave.
Knowing that we were always likely to recall him in January i'm amazed we let him play for Wimbledon in the cup. Oxford would've been a decent time to give him a run out.
Totally agree with this, seemed a really odd decision at the time particularity as we did not allow Danny Hollands to play for the Gills in the same round
Pigott and Smith are different types of player. They played very well together for the u-21's, and Smith was one of the main reasons Pigott scored so many.
I hope we'll see Smith as a first team option now. Our striking options are limited, as we saw today. He's a better option than Cook, surely? And more likely to score than Churchy, though I appreciate the rest of Church's game.
Powell talks as though Smith were little more than a child, a mere beginner. He is just a few months younger than Sordell .. The Powell interview was a masterpiece of him evading the issue .. yes, he's our player, we'll assess him etc etc .. it still sounds to me as though Powell does not fancy him .. f f s bring him back and give him a chance .. Powell's innate conservatism and inability/reluctance to take a risk can be so annoying ..
For all this he has got the introduction of Jordan Cousins to first team football just about right - perhaps risk taking with youngsters (e.g. Pigott vs Millwall) has its downside.
I expect Smith to be back at Wimbledon by the end of January, and don't expect him to feature for us unless everyone else is injured.
Do you think Powell will let him go back to Wimbledon with Sordell injured now? - Or do you think it'll be a case of waiting to see what happens with our transfer targets in January first
The defending in the Smith compilation video is to be frank, atrocious, so I am reserving my judgment whether he is as profilic with the calibre of today's Championship defences???
rather have smith than pigott anyday, i just don't think he will solve our striker problem by al ong way. could help it though since he looks improved as a player. still remember he hasn't scored a championship goal and only 2 league one goals. jordan cousins was less of a risk imo
Neither Smith or Piggott are the answers to our prayers. Smith has done well at Wimbledon and i'd like to see him given a chance (at least from the bench) but he is not the finished article at this level. Even Wimbledon fans have said he would probably be out of his depth in Championship but maybe good at League One. Time will tell and i hope he comes good for us.
Piggott i think needs to go out on loan to a League Two team to find out what he can do. I see potential in him, but its far to early in his career to put this sort of pressure on him. Send him out and he will come back a good player. Send him for a season and half i think we will see the benefits in him. He looks good, but just needs that sharpening up and confidence which our current team can't offer him.
sorry, but from what I have seen (home v Millwall, away v Watford, home v Blackpool ) he wouldn't score in a brothel. Having seen his hat trick v Welling I was hoping for good things, but I've not seen him get his head to a ball and seems to get muscled off the ball too much.
I'd love to see Smith given a run of games (like Church has had) and I wouldn't mind betting that he would have scored more than said player if he did. However I feel that he is not in CP's plans & wouldn't mind betting that we wont ever see him a CAFC shirt again.
If the iranian arrives from Standard which looks like then we don't really need him and he'd be 4th choice at best.
I'd personally be looking to loan him to a league one side for the rest of the season and see how he copes at that level first.
We need a 4th choice striker. Right now we have Yann, Church and Piggott, with Sordell injured. None of those players are prolific and if we pick up injuries we have no-one else. We need a squad to get through the season and we may as well use a player at our disposal. Loaning him out only means we don't get to see him play before his contract runs out. Hopefully we'll get in two decent strikers and then we have a bit more of an option but until then we should make the most of having a striker in the squad
Pretty sure andynelson goes to all the youth games so think i would put his judgement above yours based on 3 games Golfie.
The Millwall game was a disaster for young Joe. It was the wrong game to throw him in and just as he was starting to find his feet he got subbed. The manager saw a lot of good things in his game after Oxford but after Millwall he seems to have changed his mind. There's no doubt his confidence took a knock, especially if he read some of the contributions on this forum as kids his age do. It might take a loan to another club to get his confidence back. Nathan Jones, who is a brilliant coach, described him as the most natural finisher he had ever worked with.
I'm sure Piggot will comeback, he is only young and he has a lot of filling out to do. He does need time and experience away from the Championship, and his route back may not be with us, but he has long term potential to play at this level, whereas I get the impression that Smith will be a good Div 1 player.
Nathan Jones gave him a lot of freedom, and this got the best out of him; he's a real workhorse and an excellent crosser. I think most managers would use him as a target man, he does look like one.
Trouble is... We can keep Michael Smith in the squad until past January 31st... If we dont bring in cover then we're covered with him as an option - If we do bring in a couple of Strikers, we can then loan him back out when the Football League loan window opens
No disrespect to Smith but I'm hoping for a better option coming in during the window than an untried player.
I am not having a go but Chris Solly was also untried once. So was Wagstaff and Jenkinson and Cousins. If anything Smith is more tried than the others and although the defending was poor in his compilation clip, Smith is in those right positions to stick them in the back of the net. It seems to be that we've sent him on loan to 3 different clubs and he's done well at all 3.
3 in 6 at Accrington 2 in 8 at Colchester 10 in 24 at AFC Wimbledon.
The problem I have though is that the majority of his goals are due to service into the strikers. We don't do that enough. I'd like to see him come off the bench vs Barnsley.
No disrespect to Smith but I'm hoping for a better option coming in during the window than an untried player.
I am not having a go but Chris Solly was also untried once. So was Wagstaff and Jenkinson and Cousins. If anything Smith is more tried than the others and although the defending was poor in his compilation clip, Smith is in those right positions to stick them in the back of the net. It seems to be that we've sent him on loan to 3 different clubs and he's done well at all 3.
3 in 6 at Accrington 2 in 8 at Colchester 10 in 24 at AFC Wimbledon.
The problem I have though is that the majority of his goals are due to service into the strikers. We don't do that enough. I'd like to see him come off the bench vs Barnsley.
Of course every single player on earth was once untried. I'm not a a critic of either Smith or Pigott but let's face facts. We are three points off the drop and cannot afford to get relegated under any circumstances. I think it would be foolhardy of SCP to even consider giving the responsibility of saving our bacon to either.
Comments
Hope I'm wrong. Be nice to see the boy make it.
Piggott i think needs to go out on loan to a League Two team to find out what he can do. I see potential in him, but its far to early in his career to put this sort of pressure on him. Send him out and he will come back a good player. Send him for a season and half i think we will see the benefits in him. He looks good, but just needs that sharpening up and confidence which our current team can't offer him.
I'd personally be looking to loan him to a league one side for the rest of the season and see how he copes at that level first.
sorry, but from what I have seen (home v Millwall, away v Watford, home v Blackpool ) he wouldn't score in a brothel. Having seen his hat trick v Welling I was hoping for good things, but I've not seen him get his head to a ball and seems to get muscled off the ball too much.
I'd love to see Smith given a run of games (like Church has had) and I wouldn't mind betting that he would have scored more than said player if he did. However I feel that he is not in CP's plans & wouldn't mind betting that we wont ever see him a CAFC shirt again.
3 in 6 at Accrington
2 in 8 at Colchester
10 in 24 at AFC Wimbledon.
The problem I have though is that the majority of his goals are due to service into the strikers. We don't do that enough. I'd like to see him come off the bench vs Barnsley.
I would like to think he has been recalled because he has done well when on loan and not because we are short of firepower.
Perhaps its a bit of both.