Greg Taylor

To be honest I'm surprised it's happened just before the windows about to be slammed shut with no new left back in..

No that it'll matter one single bit anyway..

 

Does Scales deserve to keep his spot at CB? Of course. But it's not about what is best for an individual player. It's about what's best for the team. If BR thinks Frame is ready for a few weeks of first team starts, great. If we can bring in a new LB that's better than GT and is ready to hit the ground running, excellent. If it's neither, then moving Scales is probably the next best option. Not keen on Ralston at LB or moving another player there. Also, you never know, Berni might be given, another final chance.

 

This stands out for me and would be my approach to putting young guys in. Yeah we need to win every game but our team should be good enough that games like Ross County at home we could play 10 first team regulars and a promising youngster. Teams who bring players through do this all the time.

I agree you can’t just throw in 3 or 4 but 1 if they are showing promise shouldn’t be out the question.

 

To say we overplayed him, is a massive understatement.

 

No question about that. It's maybe a surprise that he lasted this long without picking up an injury given how many minutes he has played.

 

In a roundabout way this injury could be a blessing in disguise for us as fans. Nobody makes a signing to cover a 3 week injury but in this case we already needed one and now we have zero passable left backs available. There’s absolutely no excuse for not signing one. We literally can’t afford to go 3 weeks with one of our best performers of the season shoehorned into LB. Massive gamble.

 

What does it say about our LB position that many are so concerned about losing the very left back that most want to replace?

 

Not in the least, mate. Being a fan doesn’t mean trying your absolute hardest to put a positive spin on every single unpolishable *. It’s ok to say the guy isn’t good enough in this system - and he absolutely isn’t.

Say a new LB comes in and Taylor loses his place. You really think, when he comes off the bench, or comes in when the new guy’s injured, that that’s going to somehow make it ok that he’s our LB in that moment? You honestly believe teams/players will target him less, or that he’ll handle it any more successfully than he does now?

If any player (except a young, developing prospect) isn’t good enough for the first XI, they shouldn’t be in the squad - end of. I don’t at all accept what you said elsewhere in this thread about the GG situation. If I were Ange, I’d just have thrown him the odd start over Kyogo vs smaller sides or whatever, rather than benching him for months at a time. Not rocket science to maintain a depth of quality. It can certainly be done, but when fans do what you’ve done here - lowering their standards and/or pretending that the club not doing the absolute basics is somehow ok - that’s part of the problem.

 

I think he’s more than good enough and has shown it, especially when he’s allowed to roam from being an out and out LB and our recent run he’s been instrumental in it because of BR finally doing it. I’d be more than happy with him as a backup.

 

I’m sorry mate, as I really don’t want to be disrespectful here, but I do think that’s delusional.

If by ‘to roam’ you mean ‘to invert so we clog midfield and lose a man wide’, I’m not interested, and more importantly, Rodgers does seem to be either.

What he does typically look for is someone who can take the ball and beat a man, make overlaps off the ball, etc. Taylor will never be that guy for us.

It’s completely possible that we go and find a guy who is as good in the dressing room as Taylor seems to be, but can do what we need on the pitch. Let’s do that - twice, preferably; or promote Frame after we’ve bought one.

 

I have to agree tbh, Taylor under Ange was asked to do pretty simple stuff, not really asked to beat as man as such but be present for a pass in the middle of the park and if your under pressure you’ll have Jota/CalMac/Hatate all close by to pass to. If we sign a new left back i’d rather we sold Taylor and promote someone like Frame to be backup otherwise there is no point having a youth academy.

 

I'm all for promoting frame but there is absolutely zero appetite at the club for Taylor not to be first choice lb for the rest of this season.. we are looking at the equivalent of a left back nat Philips in on loan

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And you have that on what authority, exactly?

 

This is rewriting Taylor under Ange mate, his forward passing splitting the CB and RB in behind for Jota or Maeda was consistent, dangerous and a major part of our game. As was JJ, Tony and AJ doing that on the other side, some of his passing last year was unreal, his support and workrate to make room for Calmac and the winger infront of him was excellent, his use of the ball was decisive and was 2nd to Calmac for importance in keeping the ball and setting up attack rapidly.

It was at such a high pace, and he’d go LB, DM, LAMz as did AJ on the opposite flank.


Honestly, there was no complaints about him by the end of the season. Quickly forgotten now.

 

Gets bullied off thd ball because he the height and physical build of an u16 player

 

His threat cutting into the middle under Ange distracted from his shortcomings as a defender at LB. He was repeatedly targeted and exposed in Europe when forced to play like a standard full-back. I got pilloried for saying it and so did others, but he was poor in the defensive role last season as well. Ange's trick was to hide defensive weaknesses by always attacking and it benefited no player more than Taylor.

 

I would say the opposite flank got it worse, and most danger came down that flank. But that’s also where Vini Jr was, where Mudryk was and Werner/Nkunku rotating.


How many goals did we concede from that flank? Was the right, but it was stacked with quality every team we faced in that area. Whereas the left was Shved, Valverde tucking in narrow, and honestly can’t remember Leipzigs

 

More chance benny Hill getting a game than bernie

 

I think it's a fairly reasonable hypothesis.. our lb will be a middle of the road loan

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Not suggesting they’ll be the same quality but this could be frames KT-Izaguirre moment where we had absolutely no cover after the injury. Why claim we have the best youth academy in the country if we don’t have the trust in playing any of the younger players we have coming through