Training Tuesday 7/2

[bobby brows]

Cheers Doug

Is Scapuzzi back from his loan now? I hope this means he will make the bench again, its fustrating not having a striker on the bench whilst Mario is suspended and how there seems to be no one at the club deemed a striker, even a young player, who could come on in an emergency with Nimely, Bunn being all out on loan, etc

btw what is Helan like? he seemed to come with some hype and has been very quiet the last few years, very rarely hear his name

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Cheers Doug

Is Scapuzzi back from his loan now? I hope this means he will make the bench again, its fustrating not having a striker on the bench whilst Mario is suspended and how there seems to be no one at the club deemed a striker, even a young player, who could come on in an emergency with Nimely, Bunn being all out on loan, etc

btw what is Helan like? he seemed to come with some hype and has been very quiet the last few years, very rarely hear his name

Yes Scapuzzi is back from loan but I am not sure we will see him on the bench.IMO he isnt good enough and wouldnt make a difference in a tight prem game.He could come on and give someone a rest in a game we have won but not otherwise. Bunn is back as well I think but not ready yet for the 1st team imo.

Helan is interesting.Tall rangy lad but, although he has pace and skill, I have rarely seen him play well. The odd moment here and there but never anything remotely consistent.I wonder if it's a lack of confidence as much as anything else.I would have expected him to be making his name as a flying winger (very very left footed) but he doesnt use his pace and skill as often as he should.Too often bottling it and turning back.He has also been tried out as a full back with obvious overlapping talents but I doubt that is where he will end up and certailnly not at City.

[ant london]

On the subject of our young strikers Doug....and I know they are all at different stages of development and ages but if you had to take a punt as to which two of this lot had the best chance of being of use in the senior set up who would you say

Bunn
Scapuzzi
Hiwula
Guidetti
Cole
Nimely
or anyone I've missed

Guidetti seems the obvious candidate but are any of the others looking like they could have the potential?

[john@staustell]

Cheers Doug

Is Scapuzzi back from his loan now? I hope this means he will make the bench again, its fustrating not having a striker on the bench whilst Mario is suspended and how there seems to be no one at the club deemed a striker, even a young player, who could come on in an emergency with Nimely, Bunn being all out on loan, etc

btw what is Helan like? he seemed to come with some hype and has been very quiet the last few years, very rarely hear his name

Yes Scapuzzi is back from loan but I am not sure we will see him on the bench.IMO he isnt good enough and wouldnt make a difference in a tight prem game.He could come on and give someone a rest in a game we have won but not otherwise. Bunn is back as well I think but not ready yet for the 1st team imo.

Helan is interesting.Tall rangy lad but, although he has pace and skill, I have rarely seen him play well. The odd moment here and there but never anything remotely consistent.I wonder if it's a lack of confidence as much as anything else.I would have expected him to be making his name as a flying winger (very very left footed) but he doesnt use his pace and skill as often as he should.Too often bottling it and turning back.He has also been tried out as a full back with obvious overlapping talents but I doubt that is where he will end up and certailnly not at City.

The fact is all these youngsters come with some hype but, like many before them, they aint up to it. <it seems Rekik and Suarez are the only obvious candidates, and even that can change over time.

That said both United and Liverpool before them have incorporated players in great teams who just weren't at the same level as the other players. It's how you fit in the team that matters. We need to use our own players at some point, rather than spend 25 million every time we have a squad gap.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

On the subject of our young strikers Doug....and I know they are all at different stages of development and ages but if you had to take a punt as to which two of this lot had the best chance of being of use in the senior set up who would you say

Bunn
Scapuzzi
Hiwula
Guidetti
Cole
Nimely
or anyone I've missed

Guidetti seems the obvious candidate but are any of the others looking like they could have the potential?

Guidetti has to be top of that list partly because he is further on in his development and has shown in Holland that he can score at a good level.But mainly I would go for him because he is very strong willed and also quite a strong physical player.

Scapuzzi I would rule out,Bunn I think would be in the Ched Evans category.Good player but will need to find his level which isnt top of the premiership.Nimely I think also isnt top prem level.Obviously different to Ched and Harry as he much more of a touch and creative type striker but I don't personally think he has what it takes to break into the top level.

That leaves Hiwula and Cole.I havent seen enough of either and they are still very young (18 and 17 or is it 17 and 16) Initial gut feel would be Hiwula before Cole but as I say that's from limited viewing of both.I felt maybe Hiwula's movement and involvement in the game is better and actually his finishing as well.I cant actually remember Cole having a good game when I have seen him.

[ant london]

The fact that Balotelli is only 9 months older than Nimely tells you all you need to know about potential/talent there I guess. There's 20 months between him and Guidetti

[Ted Hughes]

The fact that Balotelli is only 9 months older than Nimely tells you all you need to know about potential/talent there I guess. There's 20 months between him and Guidetti

Robbie Fowler & Michael Owen were better players at 19 than Thierry Henry & Alan Shearer.

[ant london]

The fact that Balotelli is only 9 months older than Nimely tells you all you need to know about potential/talent there I guess. There's 20 months between him and Guidetti

Robbie Fowler & Michael Owen were better players at 19 than Thierry Henry & Alan Shearer.

True enough Edward.....I'm actually looking forward to seeing Guidetti back personally.

In terms of the parallel between Fowler/Owen and I assume you are meaning potentially Guidetti and Balotelli. Remains to be seen what JG turns out like but I think it's clear that talent-wise Balotelli has the potential to be at the very, very top. He's pretty bloody good now, and is still raw. Owen in particular was a one dimensional talent which is why he was at his peak at such a young age and dimmed with time (and injury). I think Henry is probably not a bad parallel with Mario and if Mario develops his game (and harnesses/controls his mentalism) to the same degree he could become an unbelievable player eventually.

[Ted Hughes]

The fact that Balotelli is only 9 months older than Nimely tells you all you need to know about potential/talent there I guess. There's 20 months between him and Guidetti

Robbie Fowler & Michael Owen were better players at 19 than Thierry Henry & Alan Shearer.

True enough Edward.....I'm actually looking forward to seeing Guidetti back personally.

In terms of the parallel between Fowler/Owen and I assume you are meaning potentially Guidetti and Balotelli. Remains to be seen what JG turns out like but I think it's clear that talent-wise Balotelli has the potential to be at the very, very top. He's pretty bloody good now, and is still raw. Owen in particular was a one dimensional talent which is why he was at his peak at such a young age and dimmed with time (and injury). I think Henry is probably not a bad parallel with Mario and if Mario develops his game (and harnesses/controls his mentalism) to the same degree he could become an unbelievable player eventually.

I suppose the point I'm making is that some players have their careers around that age and earlier wheras others are just getting started & continue to get better & better. I can still remember seeing a teenage Robbie Fowler do stuff which Mario has rarely even got close to, yet I recon Mario will be twice the player he is now at 30 wheras Fowler was half the player by then. I watched Henry for Juve & thought 'meh'. Sometimes they're just incredible and then get worse, other times they start ok but just keep getting better. If Guidetti falls into the 2nd catagory, we have a star as he's not far off at all. If he's in the first, he'll end up at Burnley.

Sweep was a prime example of a player in the first catagory. I suppose Peter Barnes & Gary Owen too.