If Onomah is the answer ...

[Mister E]

I think he's a decent player, but unlike Snodgrass who seems thrive on pressure and adversity, Onomah wilts and fades if things aren't going well and loses all his confidence.

He was started in a role that doesn’t suit him, on the left wing.
It’s when he moved further back and centrally that I concluded he is a bit of a liability;either because he is low on confidence or because he is just not very good.
I’m sure Ssssppppurrrrrrrs will get more out of him - perhaps they could try to do so this season rather than next!

[olaftab]

I think he has been next to useless for us however we will all be WTF mode when in 2023 Real Madrid pay £250,000,000 for him to break their transfer record.

[junxs]

Agree, Onomah wasn't that bad against Preston. He's still young with a lot to learn and is undoubtedly talented. Some people on here criticised Grealish in the same fashion....

You're missing the point of a loan signing though, we were patient with Grealish and now we are reaping the rewards years later.

Loan signings are supposed to provide an instant impact, whats the point of being patient with Onomah when there are only 12 games to go, and they are all vital. There is absolutely no point in playing him to develop him as he wont be here after those 12 games. Poor performances in these 12 games is detrimental to our objective.

[passitsideways]

Looking back, I can't help but think Onomah was signed to be a bit of a utility midfield player, capable of playing centrally, behind the striker, and out on the left. It obviously hasn't worked out that way, as playing further forward seems beyond him, at least at his current stage.

[Mister E]

Looking back, I can't help but think Onomah was signed to be a bit of a utility midfield player, capable of playing centrally, behind the striker, and out on the left. It obviously hasn't worked out that way, as playing further forward seems beyond him, at least at his current stage.

... playing further back seems beyond him, too.
As junx above says, the loan system should be about instant improvement in squad quality for the recipient-club and accelerated development of a talent for the loaning club. In this case, neither appears to have happened.

[passitsideways]

Looking back, I can't help but think Onomah was signed to be a bit of a utility midfield player, capable of playing centrally, behind the striker, and out on the left. It obviously hasn't worked out that way, as playing further forward seems beyond him, at least at his current stage.

... playing further back seems beyond him, too.
As junx above says, the loan system should be about instant improvement in squad quality for the recipient-club and accelerated development of a talent for the loaning club. In this case, neither appears to have happened.

Who knows re Tottenham's end - perhaps a loan spell playing fairly constantly in the Championship, no matter if the performances were a mixed bag leaning towards the negative end of the scale, is better than getting a few minutes here and there at Spurs.

I mean, I honestly can't think of very many games where he's played back in midfield - it's almost always been Hourihane + one of Whelan/Jedinak/Bjarnason. Even if he did, I can't help but think his style (at least based off the U20 video, he looked like someone who's better when given freedom to drive forward with the ball to link up with the attackers) isn't really what Bruce wants either. So, yeah, the more and more time has gone by, the more ill-fitting the loan appears - I can only imagine that we didn't have too many options.

[PeterWithe]

I think he's a decent player but at the moment maybe better coming off the bench.

Not as easy to decide that if we're financially penalised by Spurs for not starting him.

Probably worth the risk of promotion without him featuring prominently than playing him just to save a couple of hundred thou you would have thought.

Why would we be financially penalised? We paid a loan fee for him. They can't fine us for not playing him.

No, that sounds exceedingly unlikely. It’s more like there’s an unwritten agreement that he’ll play as much as possible and Bruce doesn’t want to upset Spurs.

Personally I would love it if we upset Spurs.

If we dont go up this season we might be more and more reliant on the loan system in coming years.

[tomd2103]

Looking back, I can't help but think Onomah was signed to be a bit of a utility midfield player, capable of playing centrally, behind the striker, and out on the left. It obviously hasn't worked out that way, as playing further forward seems beyond him, at least at his current stage.

... playing further back seems beyond him, too.
As junx above says, the loan system should be about instant improvement in squad quality for the recipient-club and accelerated development of a talent for the loaning club. In this case, neither appears to have happened.

Who knows re Tottenham's end - perhaps a loan spell playing fairly constantly in the Championship, no matter if the performances were a mixed bag leaning towards the negative end of the scale, is better than getting a few minutes here and there at Spurs.

I mean, I honestly can't think of very many games where he's played back in midfield - it's almost always been Hourihane + one of Whelan/Jedinak/Bjarnason. Even if he did, I can't help but think his style (at least based off the U20 video, he looked like someone who's better when given freedom to drive forward with the ball to link up with the attackers) isn't really what Bruce wants either. So, yeah, the more and more time has gone by, the more ill-fitting the loan appears - I can only imagine that we didn't have too many options.

From what I have seen of him so far, I think playing as one of the more advanced midfielders in 4-1-4-1 formation (basically where Hourihane and Grealish were playing before the latter got injured) would be his best role.  He has spent most of his playing time since he has been here either in the 'number 10' role or on the left wing, neither of which suit him really. 

[passitsideways]

Looking back, I can't help but think Onomah was signed to be a bit of a utility midfield player, capable of playing centrally, behind the striker, and out on the left. It obviously hasn't worked out that way, as playing further forward seems beyond him, at least at his current stage.

... playing further back seems beyond him, too.
As junx above says, the loan system should be about instant improvement in squad quality for the recipient-club and accelerated development of a talent for the loaning club. In this case, neither appears to have happened.

Who knows re Tottenham's end - perhaps a loan spell playing fairly constantly in the Championship, no matter if the performances were a mixed bag leaning towards the negative end of the scale, is better than getting a few minutes here and there at Spurs.

I mean, I honestly can't think of very many games where he's played back in midfield - it's almost always been Hourihane + one of Whelan/Jedinak/Bjarnason. Even if he did, I can't help but think his style (at least based off the U20 video, he looked like someone who's better when given freedom to drive forward with the ball to link up with the attackers) isn't really what Bruce wants either. So, yeah, the more and more time has gone by, the more ill-fitting the loan appears - I can only imagine that we didn't have too many options.

From what I have seen of him so far, I think playing as one of the more advanced midfielders in 4-1-4-1 formation (basically where Hourihane and Grealish were playing before the latter got injured) would be his best role.  He has spent most of his playing time since he has been here either in the 'number 10' role or on the left wing, neither of which suit him really.

I think even in that formation, a lot of what Grealish is doing is no. 10 type stuff which Onomah isn't capable of, and likewise, Hourihane maybe has marginally more freedom than he does compared to when playing in a flat midfield two.

It's just become all a bit square peg in a round hole for Onomah, but at this stage, it is what it is, and it doesn't necessarily mean he still can't make some positive contributions, perhaps providing some energy coming off the bench in situations where the usual gameplan has to be thrown out the window.

[DennisHodgetts]

The simple answer is NO.
Has anyone else had the thought that there maybe other hidden financial factors with our loan strategy and our improving losses?
Others have posted speculation that the deal with Spurs requires us to play Onomah. There is no way an experienced old fox like Brucie would have his hands tied on team selection, but what if Spurs pay us to give him game time? Carrying the odd loaner waste of space could be a good little earner...

[Clark W Griswold]

Maybe If you're Walsall or Blues.

[wittonwarrior]

Unfortunately fully fit

[paul_e]

Only read this thread today and there's a few things that have come up a few times:

He's getting the same type of criticism as grealish and snodgrass.  This is true but there's 2 things to remember, Snodgrass reacted to the criticism and has been superb ever since.  Grealish on the other hand took longer but we're now seeing his true quality.  Some people (including Bruce today) seem to think that his age means he deserves encouragement after poor performances because he's still learning.  I agree with the sentiment but I couldn't give a shit if he's going to be a good player for spurs in 2 years time, if he's poor for us, as a loanee, then he should be taken out of the team until he earns another chance, there's no room for sentiment, he isn't our player and isn't going to be so we get no benefit for the learning curve he's on right now, we just get what he provides week after week, and that's not good enough currently.

He's played out of position/hasn't.  I'll happily put my neck on the line and say he will never make it as a premier league attacking midfielder, he is totally unsuited to it.  I think he can make it as a box-to-box player but we haven't given him any game time as that, he should be competing with Hourihane for the more traditional role in our midfield ahead of thor/jedi/whelan sitting deep and behind jack/angela/o'hare as a '10'. Just like Houri I'd trust Onomah to pick up goals by arriving late into the box from deeper and coming on to the ball.

I don't think he's shit or disinterested, I think he just can't get into the game because he's being asked to do something that doesn't come naturally for him.

If Tottenham or any other club, is shallow enough to not loan players to us any more because we drop a guy who's out of form then we should politely tel lthem to fuck themselves, they get as much out of this loan deal as we do and we shouldn't be risking our promotion to keep them sweet, that's the sort of fawning I'd expect from a club like Burton who are punching well above their weight, not a club that plans to be competing with the Tottenhams in a couple of years.

[ASHTONVILLA]

Has been pretty rubbish in every position we have tried him in, and seems to have zero work ethic. I would hope the club are considering ending the loan early to save on his wages at this stage as he clearly has nothing to offer.

[wittonwarrior]

Has been pretty rubbish in every position we have tried him in, and seems to have zero work ethic. I would hope the club are considering ending the loan early to save on his wages at this stage as he clearly has nothing to offer.

I would provide a taxi for his trip back to north west London right now. Seen better technical players on Sunday pitches. If he wasn’t such an athlete would have nothing