Morgan Rogers

[Somniloquism]

He was criticised for not tracking back and supporting Moreno last time he played on the left, he did a lot better this time, positive signs.  The goal will give him some real confidence and drive to finish the season strongly.  I wonder if his substition was with an eye on upcoming fixtures and the season ending injury for Ramsey.  I can't imagine Zaniolo will start on Thursday and he's still new to the pace and pressure of top level football, we can't afford to have him break down on the run in.

Well it was Digne on the left on Saturday so did he track back or did we have a better defender so it he didn't have to/ wasn't noticed as much. I don't know what play happened before the first goal (corner or something), but Digne was on the right with Tielemans defending a throw-in, two of their defenders was in the centre of the box and Rogers was ambling back from the halfway line. I'm not having ago, just wondering why they had so many forward then and the right hand side was bear of any of our players. Give him credit, he did run back when the ball was almost cleared by Wissa, and the secondary danger unfolded, but if he had been back defending more when the Throw-in was given to them, he might have won that ball or did a better stop of the secondary ball and those 9 mins don't happen.

[Footy-Vill]

There are some deals to be had in the lower divisions worth taking a punt on.  Rogers obviously one and I have been impressed from what I have seen by Plymouth’s Morgan Whittaker.

I gather there's a lad called Philogene whom several Premier League clubs are looking at ...

Leeds Archie Gray right back /midfielder
Ipswich Leif Davies - left back
Swansea Nathan Wood centre back

[andyh]

I am really excited about this kid.
For me, shades of Collymore.

[Duncan Shaw]

I wonder if Unai and the team see him as someone they can mould into a new Ollie?

[Risso]

I wonder if Unai and the team see him as someone they can mould into a new Ollie?

I wouldn't have said so. He doesn't look like an out-and-out striker to me, and he doesn't look quick enough for a start. He's strong, with good balance and quick feet, so one of the attacking positions for sure, but not our main forward.

[Smithy]

I am really excited about this kid.
For me, shades of Collymore.

Would be nice if he could become that sort of player! Collymore also had a quiet few years (including being let go at 21 by Palace) before taking off with Forest. 

I do sometimes wonder if it just takes a bit longer for the bigger, more physical players to hit their stride.  The players who burst onto the scene as teenagers all generally tend to be quite small, and have finished their growing by about 18 - they are the finished product, physically speaking, at that age.  Whereas the bigger units like Morgan continue to grow until 20-21, which must make it harder for them to really push on to the required technical/physical levels?

His improvement already is pretty impressive.  Imagine what he could be like this time next year?

[pablo_picasso]

I wonder if Unai and the team see him as someone they can mould into a new Ollie?

I wouldn't have said so. He doesn't look like an out-and-out striker to me, and he doesn't look quick enough for a start. He's strong, with good balance and quick feet, so one of the attacking positions for sure, but not our main forward.

Behind Watkins or someone like him would be best.

He has vision & likes a threaded through ball, to add to his ability to drive forward with the ball.

That best suits a fast striker to chase them.

I wonder what we would be like if we switched Bailey to the left, Diaby on the right, & Rogers sat just behind Watkins. Then behind them, McGinn & Douglas Luiz.

Would give pace all around Rogers to chase through balls, especially on the wings, running ability with the ball from all three behind Watkins, etc, etc...

[pablo_picasso]

I do sometimes wonder if it just takes a bit longer for the bigger, more physical players to hit their stride.  The players who burst onto the scene as teenagers all generally tend to be quite small, and have finished their growing by about 18 - they are the finished product, physically speaking, at that age.  Whereas the bigger units like Morgan continue to grow until 20-21, which must make it harder for them to really push on to the required technical/physical levels?

His improvement already is pretty impressive.  Imagine what he could be like this time next year?

There might be something to the stronger players having a more difficult time adapting to mens football too, because they have dominated so much at youth level, that jump to the mens game is all the more difficult.

And while they have the physical attributes to compete, the mental side of the game not being so easy as it was at youth level cant be good on a young kids confidence.

[Risso]

Is that true though? We've bought up loads of promising kids, but the thing that seems to put the brakes on is that a lot of them are quite small, eg Archer, Barry, Wilson etc. The lads who seem to be more Premier League ready are the physically bigger players like Iroegbunam and Chukwuemeka.

[pablo_picasso]

Yeah, probably.

Maybe Im thinking of the pacy ones...

I suppose it depends on the player, I guess.

[Hookeysmith]

Another thing will be physical fitness at this level.
All the players wear those electronic devices in what looks like a bra which records and reports all their physical outputs, breathing, stamina etc whilst a group of analysts watch on and they can see when players are reaching their limits - hence some players it seems strange that they are pulled off. Tiredness can lead to all sorts of muscle injuries, cramp and going late into tackles etc

I think Morgan was shot when he came off

[Smithy]

Is that true though? We've bought up loads of promising kids, but the thing that seems to put the brakes on is that a lot of them are quite small, eg Archer, Barry, Wilson etc. The lads who seem to be more Premier League ready are the physically bigger players like Iroegbunam and Chukwuemeka.

Chukwuemeka Snr was Rogers-sized and nowhere near good enough.  Maybe I'm just guilty of mistaking correlation for causation, but it just seems that "generally speaking" the youngest players who become first-team regulars, across the league and not just for us, tend to be the smaller ones who have already stopped growing and so are more physically mature (even if still "small").

Kobie Mainoo is another example.  Quite small, and I'll bet he's no bigger at 21 than he is at 18.  Whereas 6 ft 3 Paul Pogba left the same club before he was 20 because he wasn't considered "premier league ready", before maturing into an £80m player at Juve.

It feels like the majority of very young players who have become Premier League regulars over the years are small.  Not all, but the majority.  Recently, there have been the likes of Harvey Elliot, Foden, Garnacho, Saka and Rico Lewis. Going back further you've got the likes of Rooney and Owen, Aaron Lennon, Jack Wilshere.  All small-ish players who broke through very young and never went beyond 5'9"-ish.  Even our own Jack Grealish didn't really become a first-team regular until just before his 20th birthday, when he'd filled out and grown a bit.

I just think for some of the bigger players (or players still growing) it takes a while to physically mature, playing at 21 in a body that is unrecognisable to the one they played in at 17 - whereas some other players are exactly the same at 21 as they were at 17 - and they're the ones who break through quicker.

There are exceptions, of course. Evan Ferguson is the one who springs to mind right now, but it will be interesting to see how much bigger he is at 21 compared to his debut at 18.  It's why I'm always loathe to write off promising youth players until they're 21-ish, as I always think a growing player who was brilliant at 18 can have a couple of fallow years before they come back strongly in their early twenties.

Anyway, here's hoping Rogers is the second coming of Collymore (the Forest version, and the one we got when he wasn't fighting his demons!)

[Vegas]

There are some deals to be had in the lower divisions worth taking a punt on.  Rogers obviously one and I have been impressed from what I have seen by Plymouth’s Morgan Whittaker.

I gather there's a lad called Philogene whom several Premier League clubs are looking at ...

Leeds Archie Gray right back /midfielder
Ipswich Leif Davies - left back
Swansea Nathan Wood centre back

Archie Gray is not a “deal to be had, worth taking a punt on”. He will probably go for more than our record transfer, possibly to Real Madrid.

[LeeB]

There are some deals to be had in the lower divisions worth taking a punt on.  Rogers obviously one and I have been impressed from what I have seen by Plymouth’s Morgan Whittaker.

I gather there's a lad called Philogene whom several Premier League clubs are looking at ...

Leeds Archie Gray right back /midfielder
Ipswich Leif Davies - left back
Swansea Nathan Wood centre back

Archie Gray is not a “deal to be had, worth taking a punt on”. He will probably go for more than our record transfer, possibly to Real Madrid.

Or Wulvz. Someone of that ilk.

[Percy McCarthy]

There are some deals to be had in the lower divisions worth taking a punt on.  Rogers obviously one and I have been impressed from what I have seen by Plymouth’s Morgan Whittaker.

I gather there's a lad called Philogene whom several Premier League clubs are looking at ...

Leeds Archie Gray right back /midfielder
Ipswich Leif Davies - left back
Swansea Nathan Wood centre back

Archie Gray is not a “deal to be had, worth taking a punt on”. He will probably go for more than our record transfer, possibly to Real Madrid.

Wow, I didn’t realise he was that good. I must watch a Leeds game one of these days. I think I watched them over the Easter weekend but I didn’t really notice Gray.