I mentioned this in another thread so would be interested to hear others thoughts on this.
It's early days, of course, but if Karoy keeps up this level of performance and passion, do we have a future captain on our hands? Is he too young to be captain even next season (what with the likely departure of Dobson)?
Likely getting ahead of myself but I honestly can't remember the last time we had a player show this amount of passion and commitment - it's a joy to watch.
He's a proper CM, seems to be able to do it all and has the engine to cope.
Need to use him carefully and know when to rest him cause he's still very young. Luckily we seem to be pretty well stocked in that area at the moment and NJ seems to be managing them all well
If i recall correctly he was really good for us in pre-season as well. But then clearly lost his way (as did our whole team) under Appleton. Glad to see him in his current form as it's always that bit more satisfying when a homegrown player does well for us.
The problem is that the longer he keeps this form up combined with us being stuck in this shit league, then inevitably it won't be long before he'll be attracting interest from higher leagues.
Was the appointment of Apples a masterstroke by Scott. Kill the confidence of Anderson and Kanu. No one interested in them so they sign new contracts with us. Then bring in NJ to get their real value to the fore. Man's a genius?
I mentioned this in another thread so would be interested to hear others thoughts on this.
It's early days, of course, but if Karoy keeps up this level of performance and passion, do we have a future captain on our hands? Is he too young to be captain even next season (what with the likely departure of Dobson)?
Likely getting ahead of myself but I honestly can't remember the last time we had a player show this amount of passion and commitment - it's a joy to watch.
He's great but too early to be the captain. He's great to have as a natural leader but you don't want to add pressure. May & Jones will be captains next year probably with Thomas and Hector in the leadership group if they stay
He's playing brilliantly at the moment, but as with all young footballers this rich vein of form will have a drop off. But that's all part of his development - much like DK and NA, which is why we as fans need to keep expectations down and let him get on with his game.
It was excellent when he spoke last night about how he spent his time out of favour, got his head down, watched learned and improved. I am sure NA is doing the same right now.
Remember current conversations when he has a drop off for 2-3 games.
Whenever you get a new manager in you need a player that typifies his style if there's going to be any visible change. Managers need buy-in and with Nathan Jones having such a clear and distinct style he needed someone who could be direct and aggressive, causing chaos high up the pitch and helping us win it back there. That's Karoy all over, he's very quickly twigged what he needs to do and once he's got the positioning figured out it's suited his natural way of playing. Kanu is another one who has fitted in brilliantly but watching Anderson play in a slightly unfamiliar role and terrifying opposition players is incredible. It's a real step up from all the players buying into Appleton's style by looking miserable and uninterested every single minute he was there.
Why do we as fans only think of youth players in the extremes. 3 excellent performances and suddenly he is a future captain, future in the premier league etc while completely disregarding the significant struggles he had adapting to league football in his previous 10 appearances. On the flip side a couple of bad performances and suddenly he is a non league player ( I have certainly been guilty of overreacting to some of our youth this way) Why aren’t we more balanced. He is a kid who has potential but is learning to be a professional - that means ups and downs. History has taught us that the majority of the time, the actual result is somewhere between the extremes. Maybe he be a good not great league one player, maybe he will develop into a solid championship it is too early for any of us to tell
Karoy is a talent, the club wouldn’t have given him a five year deal if he wasn’t?!
I’m glad to finally see his place in the team. He's not a tricky creative midfielder which I think many assumed or expected. He is all action, box to box, keeps the ball ticking with plenty of energy. Very much in the Scott Parker mould. Very excited to see the kid get better and better.
Performance against Cheltenham last night was probably his poorest under NJ, but some few things to caveat against that:
He's played 6 games in 4 weeks, with 5 of them being the full 90+ minutes.
Those games have been intense affairs, where he has been asked to do A LOT of the running and we are under pressure to get points.
He has less than 20 League One appearances for the club.
He is 19 years old.
I haven't read a lot of the (likely) kneejerk drivel on X about him, but people should not being throwing him at all under the bus for this performance. Like Aribo (or pick any other raw talent) in the past, he's going to have streaks of good and bad form while he learns his trade and he continues his growth in strength and conditioning. NJ is the perfect coach to bring the best out in him and will manage him correctly. Tired legs were quite clearly a big factor here.
He's one of our own and we need to support him, good matches and bad, and respect the project that he is. He's absolutely run himself into the ground since NJ came in, plus added some vitally important goals. He epitomises everything that Fraser was not, and more.
Him giving away the ball is not a rest issue. He has been doing it all year. He has a lot of positives - his energy, pressing ability, ability to push forward into the opponents box etc but if he wants to advance his career and be a starter for us next year, he is going to need to improve his ball control significantly. Not really much of an option for him to sit in the upcoming matches though unless Camara gets fit. Doesn’t appear that NJ has L Watson in his plans and Bakrinson is a different style midfielder
Him giving away the ball is not a rest issue. He has been doing it all year. He has a lot of positives - his energy, pressing ability, ability to push forward into the opponents box etc but if he wants to advance his career and be a starter for us next year, he is going to need to improve his ball control significantly. Not really much of an option for him to sit in the upcoming matches though unless Camara gets fit. Doesn’t appear that NJ has L Watson in his plans and Bakrinson is a different style midfielder
From what I’ve seen it’s more about experience, awareness, composure, consistency etc than technical ability. That should come in time, we need to find the right balance between giving him the game time to develop and knowing when to take him off or rest him. I think Jones will do that and we’ll see Anderson improve over the next year.
I'm coming to this only having seen the legally streamable games, but I get the impression that the games where he has done well are the ones where we are the ones harrying the opposition (such as Derby) and the ones where he's looked less good have been the ones where we're more on the receiving end of that. It may partly be an upper body strength issue, as he gets pushed off the ball a bit too easily, and partly a situational awareness one, and both of those can be fixed with a bit of time.
I'm coming to this only having seen the legally streamable games, but I get the impression that the games where he has done well are the ones where we are the ones harrying the opposition (such as Derby) and the ones where he's looked less good have been the ones where we're more on the receiving end of that. It may partly be an upper body strength issue, as he gets pushed off the ball a bit too easily, and partly a situational awareness one, and both of those can be fixed with a bit of time.
Yes, he's very good at pressing and winning the ball back, but then tends to suffer the same fate himself when opponents press him. It's not that he's constantly making bad passes to opponents, it's more that they are winning it off him too regularly, and many times in dangerous positions.
Karoy and Kanu are becoming men in front of our eyes. Karoy is captain material. Not yet maybe but he’s got it in his locker
on the latest Peter Crouch podcast he’s interviewing Jermaine Jenas who said he was made captain at Forest at the age of 17 and it was the making of him. having established pro’s looking up to him gave him an incredible boost.
Apparently Derby fans absolutely hated him which is always a massive compliment to hear. Niggly fouls, aggression. But he can play ball too and he does it fucking well. He is the real deal.
Karoy and Kanu are becoming men in front of our eyes. Karoy is captain material. Not yet maybe but he’s got it in his locker
on the latest Peter Crouch podcast he’s interviewing Jermaine Jenas who said he was made captain at Forest at the age of 17 and it was the making of him. having established pro’s looking up to him gave him an incredible boost.
Apparently Derby fans absolutely hated him which is always a massive compliment to hear. Niggly fouls, aggression. But he can play ball too and he does it fucking well. He is the real deal.
Personally i don't care who the player is, no one at the age of only 17 should be a club captain.
All that says to me is that the manager doesn't rate any of his senior pro's.
In the U18s and U21s he was very much a creative midfielder creating and scoring goals.
And we’ve seen a few signs of that in the first team, but give him time and I think we’ll see a lot more. Said the other day Aribo looked tidy to begin with but improved a lot. By the time he left he had grown in confidence, consistency and became a regular goal threat. His touch and close control really stood out in a way it didn’t when he was first in the team.
He's the reason I'm not too disappointed that Dobbo is leaving. Coventry and Anderson in the middle of the park next season has the potential to be really exciting. His exposure to a struggling League One team will stand him in good stead, making mistakes now will benefit him and the team next term.
Karoy and Kanu are becoming men in front of our eyes. Karoy is captain material. Not yet maybe but he’s got it in his locker
on the latest Peter Crouch podcast he’s interviewing Jermaine Jenas who said he was made captain at Forest at the age of 17 and it was the making of him. having established pro’s looking up to him gave him an incredible boost.
Apparently Derby fans absolutely hated him which is always a massive compliment to hear. Niggly fouls, aggression. But he can play ball too and he does it fucking well. He is the real deal.
Personally i don't care who the player is, no one at the age of only 17 should be a club captain.
All that says to me is that the manager doesn't rate any of his senior pro's.
Jenas went on to say that he was encouraged to sign a 5 year contract pretty much as soon as he got into the first team. In hindsight he thinks it was just a ploy to increase his value because he was sold 6 months later and offers were already coming in before he even started in the first team. Basically Forest said he was an "established, contracted first teamer and a natural leader so he's worth more" but the reality is it probably gave him a massive boost and did boost his career.
Coventry is the natural captain after George and karoy can just carry on establishing his game after having a really good month since Jones turned up. Anderson even on Tuesday was good out of possession it was just his ball skills were lacking and I'm sure he will love to start or get on against Carlisle.
Comments
It's early days, of course, but if Karoy keeps up this level of performance and passion, do we have a future captain on our hands? Is he too young to be captain even next season (what with the likely departure of Dobson)?
Likely getting ahead of myself but I honestly can't remember the last time we had a player show this amount of passion and commitment - it's a joy to watch.
Need to use him carefully and know when to rest him cause he's still very young. Luckily we seem to be pretty well stocked in that area at the moment and NJ seems to be managing them all well
Very excited by both him and Kanu
The problem is that the longer he keeps this form up combined with us being stuck in this shit league, then inevitably it won't be long before he'll be attracting interest from higher leagues.
It was excellent when he spoke last night about how he spent his time out of favour, got his head down, watched learned and improved. I am sure NA is doing the same right now.
Remember current conversations when he has a drop off for 2-3 games.
Karoy's not good enough and needs a L2 loan.
Young players can be inconsistent so find the positives if there is an indifferent performance or a dodgy moment.
- He's played 6 games in 4 weeks, with 5 of them being the full 90+ minutes.
- Those games have been intense affairs, where he has been asked to do A LOT of the running and we are under pressure to get points.
- He has less than 20 League One appearances for the club.
- He is 19 years old.
I haven't read a lot of the (likely) kneejerk drivel on X about him, but people should not being throwing him at all under the bus for this performance. Like Aribo (or pick any other raw talent) in the past, he's going to have streaks of good and bad form while he learns his trade and he continues his growth in strength and conditioning. NJ is the perfect coach to bring the best out in him and will manage him correctly. Tired legs were quite clearly a big factor here.He's one of our own and we need to support him, good matches and bad, and respect the project that he is. He's absolutely run himself into the ground since NJ came in, plus added some vitally important goals. He epitomises everything that Fraser was not, and more.
Like nearly all youngsters he has made mistakes and been inconsistent which is not surprising in a side as poor as ours has been.
I just hope fans give him time to develop and don't 'scapegoat' him a la Albie Morgan.
Look at Kanu now compared to last season. Karoy has the potential to sustantially improve in my opinion and become a real asset to the Club.
Karoy is captain material. Not yet maybe but he’s got it in his locker
on the latest Peter Crouch podcast he’s interviewing Jermaine Jenas who said he was made captain at Forest at the age of 17 and it was the making of him. having established pro’s looking up to him gave him an incredible boost.
All that says to me is that the manager doesn't rate any of his senior pro's.
Anderson even on Tuesday was good out of possession it was just his ball skills were lacking and I'm sure he will love to start or get on against Carlisle.