Just flicking through the resurrected thread about Jacko joining on loan got me thinking about how quickly we jump to conclusions about new players that are often wrong and at times land a player with a reputation that he takes a long time to shake off. Wilson is a case in point in the latter category. While the welcome for Jacko was pretty positive overall, there were a few "meh" comments but within the thread are some implied criticisms of Solly and a general view that Kyel Reid, Semedo and Racon were the mutt's nuts. We got that lot a bit wrong! I for one was very critical of both Solly and Wiggins when they first arrived and I thought Grant Basey and Danny Green would prove to be terrific. It took several games (at least six or seven) for me to revise any of these opinions and I still hold out a rapidly dimming glimmer of hope for Green.
The moral of the story is that we ought to give it a few games before we jump to conclusions. All the more so at times where we have an influx. Already a picture is emerging that Thuram is Coco the clown, Polish Pete is an abberation by RD, Astrid is the new Messiah, Reza is a lightweight Tom Daley impersonator and Nego isn't ready. All these may well turn out to be justified, but I'll bet we are wrong with at least a couple.
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Looking back at some of those names from the Parkinson era...
Solly played a lot of his early games at left-back in an ordinary team and was a bit unfairly moaned about. But even at Millwall in the 4-0 you could still see his attitude was fine and he had a little bit of something.
Basey had a decent left-foot and that always wins a few supporters over (probably me included) but was unable to back it up with fitness and then of course, he suffered a bad injury at Bristol Rovers. In the end nobody really knew whether he should be a left-back, holding midfielder or centre-back.
Reid was at least an exciting player because he ran with the ball, so the expectation rose quite quickly. He did have some good games and scored the odd great long distance goal but he never really kicked on and his attitude seemed to go a bit.
Semedo grew into an important player for us but took time and only really started to shine when others left the club.
Racon, who promised much early on, faded quite badly and looked pedestrian.
PS: If Polish Pete doesn't work out he can be quickly loaned out to one of our Sister Clubs. I don't think we'll see too many spare players moping about the training ground in future. And any players who do go out on loan, can always come back stronger (remember Scott Parker...)
Might be coincidence of course, probably is in fact, but we went down the season Dowie and Pardew decided he wasn't up to it
If we are not careful, we are doing exactly the same with Thuram - in a position where confidence is very, very important.
Was never critical of Chris Solly but then again I'm in the camp that is always more patient with Youngsters (in terms of making mistakes) than any signing (i.e. if Holmes-Dennis made his debut with Messi then the latter would have to perform for me... Okay bad example)
Kishishev for me was a good player... He just did the hard work (almost Michael Carrick style) that no one sees so people instantly think isnt contributing anything
I was never a big Semedo fan, even in his POTY season. A very limited footballer, maybe we should have kept him at CB?
The year we got relegated from the Championship, if he and Zheng Zhi were fit all season rather than injured for 3/4 of it I really think we would have stayed up.