Elliot Watt

Agree Faithful. When fit Angol is a class above L2 but managing those hams will require judicious playing time. MH obviously gets that big time, otherwise he wouldn't have re-signed him.

 

Agree Faithful. When fit Angol is a class above L2 but managing those hams will require judicious playing time. MH obviously gets that big time, otherwise he wouldn't have re-signed him.

Ridehalgh is a 'steady eddie' and all teams need em. He'll rarely ever be your MoM but he's 7s and the odd 6 almost metronomically. With two young centre backs alongside him, Liam's experience will good to have.

 

Of course, but he obviously wasn't interested in that extra 50p a week

 

My first thought was that he should have stayed however, what’s his best position? Distribution wise he fits into the Jonathan Hogg role, sit deep, pick the ball up from the defenders/ keeper then distribute it to runners and start an attack. This was difficult in the Adams set up, our centre halves would dither and pass sidewards before passing to him by which point the opposition would be already closing him down, then he had zero players making runs or finding space so he’d have to try a worldie pass whilst under pressure. I thought in a better team with time on the ball he’d be great at this, but the defensive side of his game doesn’t suit that deep lying role, plus that’s the position Smallwood is going to occupy. I now think AG or even Sutton will be a better fit in the team with East as backup to Smallwood.

 

Completely pivotal. But injured far too often. And that’s the rub.

 

I am not one to look back so this is just to show there was a player in there our variety of esteemed coaches up to
Adams did not find the key to.
I exonerate Hughes because I imagine his agent had already turned his head with a move to Salford lined up and
probably more money. The attraction of a new set up and new challenge and more money would probably be
attractive to a young ambitious player with an academy background struggling to find himself in the ever changing
environment he experienced at VP.
If you look at the League 2 stats for midfielders so far this season he is head and shoulders above everyone else
on all midfielders requirements especially passes and chances created.
I wish him well and expect he will find his way to higher levels with a proper coach to get him there.
I am sure if he had stayed Hughes would have got him there but he was perfectly entitled to try somewhere else
after a few less than successful seasons here.
I wish him well
His partner in crime here Callum Cooke is not faring anywhere near as well at Hartlepool.

 

I'm not sure about the "higher level" thing. I never really saw enough while he was here to determine that he could go any higher than maybe a middling league one side. He was often praised for having potential but, certainly under Bowyer (which I suppose is mitigation in itself) he went backwards. He faired better under Hughes but when he left I wasn't expecting us to struggle to sign a replacement. That said, I'd take him back over Gillead who has now been elevated due to things us ordinary football supporters can't see despite watching the games. Similar to Will Atkinsons 'revival'.

Anyway, he is only young so the criticism is perhaps harsh but while he was here he drifted through some games and often his passing, perceived to be his strength, was far too erratic.

That said, I wish him well and given we only saw a very small sample size, who knows, he could easily prove me wrong and play Championship football in the not too distant future.

 

Have we a sell on clause.

 

Is he playing in a more advanced role at Salford as to what he was with us. Apart from the very rare 40 yard Gerrard ball that landed, I don't think we ever saw anything out of the ordinary from him, especially to supposedly turn the heads of Norwich and Blackpool.

I think at the end of last season his bookings for stupid lazy fouls following being caught in possession or out of position outnumbered the number of chances he created.

Others will disagree, that's the nature of the beast, but for me he isn't missed.

 

Shove this in the where are they now thread and move on.

 

He’d have been good for us next to Smallwood as I said yesterday.

As it is he choose a horrible little club so feck him, hope Smallwood kicks him into touch when we play them and we take the 3 points.

No point looking at what ifs move on and demand better.

 

That I agree with but tackling was his weakest link imho.

 

I'm not sure he would. He's too similar to Smallwood, in that he likes to sit deep, receive the ball off the back four and pass it from there. That's exactly what Smallwood is doing for us now. Admittedly Watt is a more ambitious passer than Smallwood, and a much worse tackler, but I still think they'd be too similar to play together. Gilliead is a better foil for Smallwood, because he puts himself about and carries the ball forward, as well as being a better tackler than Watt.

 

I think he was deep out of necessity, as you say he was a crap tackler which is a useful trait to have for a DM. He seems to be more box to box going on reports at Salford, which having a Smallwood next to you allows you to play that role well. Unfortunately we’ve not had a holding midfielder like Smallwood for years, which I think has effected a number of our more creative midfielders. Watt included.

 

I'm surprised at that. I've never seen any indication that Watt is either a ball carrier, or has the engine to be box to box.

 

Smallwood is a leader of men.
Watt at times reminded me of a petulant child.
No comparison.

 

The base comment is harsh but a reason suggestion. That double booking in the space of seconds whereby he got sent off was the classic example. Imho that’s why MH probably didn’t try ( unconfirmed but my thoughts) all that hard to keep him. I won’t be affective against us as long as Gilly or Sutton are playing. Look at Reeves on Saturday, a better footballer than Watt imho, did Reeves have a good game on Saturday or was he anonymous?