Greg Taylor

Then why aren’t we shouting after Alexandro Bernabei or all the other foreign named players that have failed to make their mark at LB?

He’s a decent squad player and clearly well liked behind the scenes but he’s nowhere near the level we need for Europe.

 

Yeah, you're right about that. I guess @King of Kings had more of a point than I wanted to admit.

 

He was excellent again, especially considering both Maeda and Palma had a poor game.

@JC Anton called it spot on previously, biggest moment of his career is coming up, I don't think he'll go down south to the PL but he'll have plenty of teams abroad offering him a deal, I think he'd thrive in Spain and Italy tbh, but we should be doing all we can to keep him, even if he isn't guaranteed to be first choice going forward.

 

Him in Italy he would love btw, right up his street and would improve him immensely as a player as well I think, the level of tactical defending they go into over there.

I can’t see him wanting to leave, but we have a history of leaving the deals for guys who don’t want to go until it’s too late

 

To be fair, I don't think this has been the case in recent history.

O'Riley, Hatate, Maeda, McGregor, Kyogo, CCV, Scales and now there's talk of Johnston getting a long term deal, I think a bit of this delay is Taylor weighing up his options, which is 100% justified.

He's won it all here, experienced Europe over multiple seasons and is still young, I could see why he might want a new challenge.

 

Hatate and O’Riley were openly close to going or needing persuaded to stay. Kyogo and CCV we needed to secure, we have been more pro-active but.

Calmac could easily go if we don’t treat him properly, and is worth a lot of money to us. But he’s the closest I can think of that we’d usually sleep on out of those you’ve said. We have been much better, but Taylor we know and he knows this is the biggest club he’ll have in his career. The most importance he’ll have and the most success. Probably similar sort of money on the table. It’s one we historically leave too late.

 

It was partly tongue in cheek.

I don’t believe he’s nowhere near what we need in Europe though, at least not any moreso than most of our squad.

Truthfully, I’m not sure there’s a single member of our squad who can really say they’ve done the business consistently in Europe in recent years, which is backed up by how poor our results as a team have been. While he could be improved upon, so could everyone else.

 

I don't think Ange's style of football really worked in Europe, we talk about that 30 minutes against Real Madrid but seemingly forget about the rest of the games, it was his biggest crux whilst he was here.

For me, the only players who I'd say are easily CL quality currently are Schemichel, CCV, McGregor and Kyogo. Hatate at his best is good enough but he's far too inconsistent.

With the way we're progressing, I do think we could see a few more players make that list. The likes of Johnston, Kuhn, Bernardo and even Maeda are all looking excellent, and it's too early to comment on Engels but I think he could make the cut too.

I don't think Taylor will ever fall under that category, but that's okay! He's still a very dependable player who is more than good enough domestically.

 

I don’t disagree as such, but playing Devil’s Advocate - I think McGregor has been poor in Europe overall (albeit asked to play in a Laotian he isn’t suited to), and even Kyogo probably needs to step up. CCV is the one I have most confidence in.

 

We should get Spanish loans in more often if it's causing this form from him.

 

He's had an excellent start to the season, but the real litmus test for him (and most of them) is Europe, particularly against the better sides.

 

Because they didn’t perform to the levels Taylor has.

 

I think we all give him too hard a time. He slogs his guts out for us. Yes, some of his stray passes are infuriating, similar to Scales.

His height affects him too and folks talk about Europe being a test for him. Let’s just see.

The only challenge for him in his next contract is does he want to be part of a squad that wins trophies or will another team come in with eye watering wages on offer.

 

Yeah, that’s my point - they have been judged on their performances and not their ‘fancy’ sounding name.

Bernabei by all accounts is performing well at a higher level than the SPL so maybe we were too quick to right him off. I’d imagine if Taylor featured as little as he did then he wouldn’t of had the opportunity to impress us.

 

Bernabei made approximately 30 appearances for us, close to a season's worth of opportunities. If Bernabei was good enough he would have shown it for us, but he didn't.

Taylor has performed well for us for a few seasons now.

 

Think he's on about 15k p/w. We'll prob offer him 20k & a 4 year deal. That'll take him to 30 y/o and he ain't getting a big contract at that age so this is his moment to look at his options. He won't get a bigger club but if someone throws 30k + a week at him he might decide to take it.

I wouldn't grudge him that & let's be honest if we were doing our job correctly as a club he'd already be a squad player by now.

 

Dont think so, I have seen enough of Benny to know that he cant cut it in SPL

 

Agree, 20K max.

 

Credit to Taylor, he's lifted his game - that's what competition for places does.
Scales likewise. Rest of midfield too.

UCL is the test though, recently we've failed badly but now the best opportunity in years is here - can we take it?