Villa player loan watch

[supertom]

Carruthers is worth a punt now probably. It won't happen till next season but honestly, he had people off their seats 2 years ago in the brief cameos he had.
I'd have him back in the squad at the start of next season. He's at a key age. Grealish I'd loan to a Champ club for a couple of months then bed him in over Crimbo/new year.

[Monty]

Well, he's clearly too good for that level, and that just proves it. Whether or not he's ready for the top level is yet to be proven, but he's in danger of getting bored down there. Same as Grealish.

It's taken Carruthers a little longer to start really influencing things though, if he carries on playing for the rest of the season then we can say he's too good for that level but 2 goals and 5 assists in 22 isn't a record which marks someone as clearly playing below their level.  I like Carruthers and I think he'll be a good player but I'd be very surprised if, at this point, he's finding things so easy that he's getting bored.  Grealish has a similar record (4 goals and 4 assists in 23), I think both have benefited greatly from being at that level for a year though and I think both will get game time in pre-season before we decide what to do with them next year.

Of course, I was being willfully excitable (God knows we're a bit starved of opportunities for that around here). However, too much is made of the assists statistic - I always thought it was a bullshit statistic, to tell the truth. Let's say a player dribbles round fifty players, passes to a guy in front of goal who passes to another guy who scores. Who gets the assist, and who caused the goal? Things like that are more common than the overblow of my analogy suggests.

[paul_e]

Well, he's clearly too good for that level, and that just proves it. Whether or not he's ready for the top level is yet to be proven, but he's in danger of getting bored down there. Same as Grealish.

It's taken Carruthers a little longer to start really influencing things though, if he carries on playing for the rest of the season then we can say he's too good for that level but 2 goals and 5 assists in 22 isn't a record which marks someone as clearly playing below their level.  I like Carruthers and I think he'll be a good player but I'd be very surprised if, at this point, he's finding things so easy that he's getting bored.  Grealish has a similar record (4 goals and 4 assists in 23), I think both have benefited greatly from being at that level for a year though and I think both will get game time in pre-season before we decide what to do with them next year.

Of course, I was being willfully excitable (God knows we're a bit starved of opportunities for that around here). However, too much is made of the assists statistic - I always thought it was a bullshit statistic, to tell the truth. Let's say a player dribbles round fifty players, passes to a guy in front of goal who passes to another guy who scores. Who gets the assist, and who caused the goal? Things like that are more common than the overblow of my analogy suggests.

I don't disagree at all, I also find the assists stat pretty useless (key passes is a much better measure but you don't get that one for league 1 games) but the stats back up the fact that mk dons fans seem to think he's a very good player without being clearly above that level.

[Monty]

I think he's taken a while to get there but he's playing well above the level required now. Grealish has pretty much done that for most of the season, but Carruthers took a while. There now though, I think.

[paul_e]

Yeah, that's the impression I get as well.

[Dante Lavelli]

A few of my mates are MK Dons fans and they were more impressed by the chap from Chelsea than Carruthers, however now they're saying he looks a good, not great player.  He also seems to be targeted a bit by the opposition which suggests his reputation is growing. 

Therefore I think you're both right in your assessment that it's taken him a bit of time to get to the required level, which massively highlights how important loans are.  I'm not sure there are any fans in the country who would be patient enough to afford a player a similar period for them to 'get up to speed' and this a few levels below the required level.

[dekko]

From what I've read Carruthers has been pretty inconsistent at MK Dons, he started the season well and dropped off a little, and now he's coming back into form.  Also he was apparently just as bad in the first half at the weekend as he was good in the second.

[ChicagoLion]

Well, he's clearly too good for that level, and that just proves it. Whether or not he's ready for the top level is yet to be proven, but he's in danger of getting bored down there. Same as Grealish.

I could not see Tonev doing that at any level.

Except for in Poland, where he did it regularly I assume you mean?

Yes I think everyone else needed a bell in the ball.

[brian green]

Bad taste CL

[Matt Collins]

Well, he's clearly too good for that level, and that just proves it. Whether or not he's ready for the top level is yet to be proven, but he's in danger of getting bored down there. Same as Grealish.

He's a winger who's just scored his first goal in three months. It hardly demonstrates he's too good for that level. I'd like to see him and grealish  in the championship for a month or two at the start of next season and then see if they're good enough for the first team

[supertom]

Carruthers has definitely got the ability. Whether he has the mentality and work ethic for the highest level is another matter. He fell foul of Lambert very early on, and it never seems to take long, or much for Lambert to make his mind up on a player. I noticed in pre-season with Carruthers that he carried himself on the pitch a little like Bellamy. Very niggly, moaned a lot, could lose his head a little at times and show a lot of frustration to team mates. Obviously with an aggressive player you don't want to curb that fire too much, but at the same time he needs to channel it in the right way. Hopefully his time at the Don's just grounds him a bit and will inspire him to knuckle down more when he's back here. He runs the risk of following in the path of Stefan and Delfouneso etc.
He does have a bit of unpredictability that could be useful for us. I'm hoping he has a very good pre-season.

[OCD]

Well, he's clearly too good for that level, and that just proves it. Whether or not he's ready for the top level is yet to be proven, but he's in danger of getting bored down there. Same as Grealish.

He's a winger who's just scored his first goal in three months. It hardly demonstrates he's too good for that level. I'd like to see him and grealish  in the championship for a month or two at the start of next season and then see if they're good enough for the first team

Both should be very involved in pre-season.

Grealish has time on his side. I would like to see him loaned to a good Championship team for the first half of next season and if we can, to a lower Premier League team second half of next season (otherwise, Championship).

Carruthers - probably the same but it really depends on his progression. There's no point in keeping him around the squad if he's not getting games.

[fredm]

" if we can, to a lower Premier League team second half of next season (otherwise, Championship). "

You are leaving yourself wide open there OCD!!!

[dekko]

Carruthers has definitely got the ability. Whether he has the mentality and work ethic for the highest level is another matter. He fell foul of Lambert very early on, and it never seems to take long, or much for Lambert to make his mind up on a player. I noticed in pre-season with Carruthers that he carried himself on the pitch a little like Bellamy. Very niggly, moaned a lot, could lose his head a little at times and show a lot of frustration to team mates. Obviously with an aggressive player you don't want to curb that fire too much, but at the same time he needs to channel it in the right way. Hopefully his time at the Don's just grounds him a bit and will inspire him to knuckle down more when he's back here. He runs the risk of following in the path of Stefan and Delfouneso etc.
He does have a bit of unpredictability that could be useful for us. I'm hoping he has a very good pre-season.

Not having a go at you specifically, but this thing about Lambert not rating our youngsters etc comes up a lot.

If he's already made his mind up on Carruthers and doesn't want him, why did Lambert give him a new contract last summer?

[AlwaysAVFC]

Carruthers has definitely got the ability. Whether he has the mentality and work ethic for the highest level is another matter. He fell foul of Lambert very early on, and it never seems to take long, or much for Lambert to make his mind up on a player. I noticed in pre-season with Carruthers that he carried himself on the pitch a little like Bellamy. Very niggly, moaned a lot, could lose his head a little at times and show a lot of frustration to team mates. Obviously with an aggressive player you don't want to curb that fire too much, but at the same time he needs to channel it in the right way. Hopefully his time at the Don's just grounds him a bit and will inspire him to knuckle down more when he's back here. He runs the risk of following in the path of Stefan and Delfouneso etc.
He does have a bit of unpredictability that could be useful for us. I'm hoping he has a very good pre-season.

Not having a go at you specifically, but this thing about Lambert not rating our youngsters etc comes up a lot.

If he's already made his mind up on Carruthers and doesn't want him, why did Lambert give him a new contract last summer?

I didn't think he meant in terms of not rating young players, just any player who Lambert has a problem with (more so off the field) deserved or not doesn't often get an opportunity to make ammends.