In the first instalment of a new series, I discuss our young players, our first friendly and the way in which our squad is shaping up
There have been some more interesting happenings, recently so I thought I`d start off by talking about youth before moving on to our first first team friendly of pre-season and on how our squad is shaping up.
As we have discussed man a time, one bright shining light in a seemingly barren drought of money and luck is the young players coming through.
The likes of Zach Clough, Josh Vela, Max Clayton and Tom Walker all have lots of potential and could certainly lead the team forward this season. Niall Maher has been shown faith by Neil Lennon during pre-season as a permanent move to Blackpool now looks to be off the cards following the departure of Lee Clark. Oscar Threlkeld, Quade Taylor, Hayden White and Andy Kellett have also been in the thick of the action; all have quite a lot to prove and this season could prove to be make or break for them.
Young midfielders Jordan Lussey and Jon Ceberio have each joined us on one year development deals following the expiry of their contracts at Liverpool and Real Sociedad respectively- given their ages it`s probably one year to show whether they can make it up to the first team.
However, I want to talk about a player who I genuinely think has the ability to prove to be one of the best players to have come through the academy in recent years. That young man`s name is Jamie Thomas.
Yes, Jamie is a friend of the site and we have interviewed him twice. However, that is by no means to say that the rest of this article will show any bias. His achievements speak for themselves.
Having joined Bolton from Blackpool`s academy in the U16`s, Thomas has proven to be a key member of the U18 side, scoring goals for fun while also having a great impact on the team`s general play. He describes himself as a ‘modern day number 10` and boasts terrific ability with both feet- a skill sadly lacking in many modern day footballers. He`s also played for and scored for Wales at youth level.
Last season he made the step up to U21 side, replacing Emile Heskey to make his debut I believe, and he scored a few games later. This pre-season he`s already shown his hunger to break into the first team set up, having scored in both U21/Bolton XI/’whatever you want to call it` matches so far, including this one?https://vine.co/v/evZxh29ZKI1
No, as much as you`ve tried you can`t help but get excited about this either. As I said, he`s shown he`s hungry- he may well have shown that he`s ready. I`m not one to make this decision. I`m not Bolton manager, nor do I have any coaching skill as much as I like to think I do.
You never want to be too excited about a player because 1) you may get disappointed and 2) is it actually good for a player`s development if he knows that everyone has such high expectations. Ricardo Quaresma was said to be better than Cristiano Ronaldo when they were young in Portugal and has failed to live up to that expectation.
We don`t even have to look that far- in recent years we`ve seen the likes of Michael O`Halloran, Tom Eaves and Conor Wilkinson upon whom a lot of hopes had been pinned.
However, I think we can all be proud to have a young player doing so well at Bolton at the moment and hope that he can continue his development and make the step up for our team.
That brings me onto my next topic: the first first team friendly. I`ll keep this pretty short as there wasn`t an awful lot to talk about.
I thought that there were some absolutely atrocious moments played by some players from both teams. However, from our perspective we can be reasonably pleased with what we saw from a fitness perspective, and some players did quite well.
Amos looked good in goal, as did Ross Fitzsimons. I was surprised to see Hayden White play as a centre back, and Maher as a right back. Both were okay. Twardzik isn`t a left back- I`ll leave that there. Spearing, Danns and Medo were both okay. Pratley began to replicate some of his form. Madine looked strong and confident on the ball. Clough looked exciting. Walker was quiet, but showed quality with his left foot. Moxey passed well but gave a way an odd penalty. Sparky was good and scored a funny goal. Threlkeld and Taylor had little to do, and they were fine. Derik looked good. I think that`s most people mentioned.
Now, I`d like to move onto our squad.
If you read this site regularly, then during my absence you`ll have seen Tom`s posts about different formations. I`m not suggesting that we play this way, but let`s just see how we could line up with a 4-2-3-1.
Amos
Vela Derik Ream Moxey
Spearing Pratley
Walker Clough Clayton
Madine
So we could go something along those lines- yeah the defence may be a bit slight; we may have too young a ‘3`; there may well be problems with this team. However, just looking at it, to me that looks like a strong Championship team.
Now let`s name seven subs: Fitzsimons, Dervite, Danns, Feeney, Sparky, Hall, Dobbie. That looks like a reasonable Championship bench.
However, there are some positions where we lack strength.
1) We need an experience sub ‘keeper. I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw from Ross Fitzsimons against Sturm Graz, however we do need a player we could rely on, should Amos get injured/suspended. Also, Amos is young enough as it is at the age of 25. Someone like Paul Rachubka as I`ve mentioned before would be a decent signing.
2) I think we need a right back. There are people who say that if we keep White, Threlkeld and Maher then one of them will turn good. However, does that mean we risk rotating loads of different inexperienced players until one of them works? And what is they don`t turn good? We need a proper right back. We could possibly do with a left back but I feel that Ream provides ample cover, along with Andy Kellett if Moxey is injured/suspended/out of form.
3) We need a goal scorer. The only person in our squad with a good scoring record is Zach Clough, and he`s played 10 games. There could be more goals in our squad if we tap into the likes of Gary Madine and Darren Pratley who have done it before. Similarly, I think Clayton has the ability to be a consistent goal-getter. However, we can`t rely on everything to work perfectly. I think that we`ll really have to invest in one and if that means clear ing out some of our centre midfielders then so be it. Stephen Dobbie may well sign for us, and I`d support that signing however he`s not a goal scorer. In fact, it`s my understanding that in recent years he`s played a much deeper role.
Okay, now I`m tired. Stay tuned for more pre season diary entries.