Bearded Shrimper
Striker
i'm not sure we need him to bulk up but to get core strength so he's not knocked off the ball easily
i'm not sure we need him to bulk up but to get core strength so he's not knocked off the ball easily
If we compare his progress to Moussa (), then you can see some similarity.
Moussa's first real season in the first team was 2007/08 (05/06 made 1 sub appearances & 4 appearances in 06/07) when he made 20 appearances with most as a sub. The following season started well, 3 starts before getting sent off against Brighton and was sent on loan to League 2 Wycombe. He managed 38 appearances that season (9 for Wycombe) scoring twice (one against Col Ewe). The following season would be the one where he really kicked on, playing 46 games (only 2 as a sub and missing 3 games due to suspension) producing 5 goals and 3 assists. I firmly believe that had he stayed with us, he would have been a key player in League 1, let alone League 2.
In Payne's first season (13/14), he made 15 appearances and most as a sub. In the season just gone, he made 38 appearances as well having 5 times more game time than in the previous season. He was quite productive too, scoring 8 goals and 5 assists. Hopefully, he can follow the same path as Moussa and we will see him flourish in the next few seasons.
Boring! - this 'lightweight' will cope fine with League One, the players rate him highly and they see him day in day out. As for not tracking/tackling back, remind me again how the ball ended up at Weston's feet at Wembley ?
Yep just this, would like to see him get a run of games in he could fit in the team somewhere, every player needs a run of games to adapt and show what they can do.I think the key with Payne is he and Brown getting together and working out what position they seem him actually contributing in. Is he a central midfielder? Is he a striker? Is he a winger? If he's a 'no.10' then I guess that is fine but it means the team needs to be built around him which I'm not sure he's ready for.
I have always said Jack is a impact player, he is too lightweight for a full 90 minutes.
League 1 is too bigger step up for him at this stage. I would loan him out for a month to a Div 2 team.
Although would make sure he is back before the Xmas New Year period.
I hadn't even considered loaning him out so that's quite an idea but we have a lack of attacking options at the moment (especially with Hunt injured) so I would still prefer to have him on the bench.
So here we are - October - Payne has played a very limited role to date. He did start in the game against Crawley and I understand he played well.
But that's 11 games gone - that's just under 1/4 of the season - so I wonder quite where Jack features given some of the comments above about this division being better for him. We played Crewe last week - a team that likes to move the ball around - and potentially a game where people where predicting Payne would be an asset but he didn't get off the bench.
And we now seem to be playing 4-4-2 regularly.
Any views?
For all those who want Jack to get more minutes - who do you drop? Does Jack Payne improve our team in any way?
He just needs to get his head down and focus on improving all aspects of his game. He is still very young and I do see him having a future as a pro, but, maybe not with us. I would definitely look at loaning him out to a League 2 side as suggested for game time. One area he needs to improve as an AM is his shooting in my opinion, yes he chipped in with half a dozen or so last season, but, on many occasions he had great chances and his shooting was weak and in the middle of the goal.