Liam Scales

Scales has done very well but we’re a far weaker team and far more wide open with Starfelt out of it, and to say he’s on par with Carter Vickers is madness.

 

He's been as important to this defence this season as Vickers has.

 

Obviously people give Irish and Scottish lads more time and have a soft spot for them as players. Part of the reason he's overrated is a consequence of that. It's natural to some extent, everyone wants a local lad to do well. If he was from Timbuktu, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

 

Utter bollocks.

 

Patently and obviously true. Bizarre that anyone should claim otherwise.

 

Yes, because the adulation for Daryl Murphy, Shane Duffy, James McCarthy and Michael J. Johnston et al are testament to your inept ramblings...

 

I'm not saying people worship blatantly * players because they're Irish, but that they have a soft spot for players from that background and are more likely to get carried away by a purple patch.

I don't understand why this is proving controversial, there isn't a single sensible person that doesn't recognise that as true. Including you. There's no way you actually believe otherwise.

 

Plenty will argue that local lads get a harder time of it and there are a few examples of that.

With regards to Scales, I think he has been great but some mistakes are overlooked. I think he gets away with it because from memory, we haven't really been punished for any of his errors.

 

Boyata, for me, was rotten on the ball. So much so that Gerrard made it a tactic to sit off him and press the rest of the team.
I was stunned we knocked back £12m for him.

 

Nawrocki is looking good on the ball and I think he showed well in his time on the oark vs Rangers. But Scales is starting because he has been solid and deserves to keep his place.

In any case, healthy competition is a good thing and its why we need players in who will push the likes of Kyogo. We should always have players vying for places.

 

No idea how you come to that conclusion. Scales is twice the player on the ball, both were good in the air, and both had a mistake in them. Scales has played well with several different partners in central defence. Starflt was normally shaky when CCV wasn't with him.

 

Because it’s true.

 

I'd say it's actually more difficult for "home grown" players to be given a chance by our support as I think it's in our national psyche to believe we are inferior to other footballing nations and will look to give the foreign import more time to "adjust" etc. Look how long it took Callum McGregor to be accepted by the fans, although he's doing his best in this thread to sour that a bit.....

 

That's simply your opinion. It's my opinion that there are areas of the game that Scales is significantly better than Starfelt (ie ball at the feet). Doesn't matter now anyway, as Starfelt is gone. We can aim for better, but we have to recognise that Scales has done a job that nobody expected, and has earned his place in the team. It will remain to be seen if he can keep it up or if he is replaced by Nawrocki or someone else.

 

Obviously. It’s a forum.

 

Don't think it's anything to do with his nationality but everything to do with his early showings. I honestly don't think he ever looked terrible but will concede he looked off the mark to begin with.

Now, with ccv struggling for fitness there is a genuine arguement to say he has been our best defender this year and for that you got to give him all the credit in the world. That being said, I often wonder, has he got a dam sight better or has our defence overall regressed?

Taylor - never been convinced by
CCV - as stated, struggled with fitness
AJ - decent but doesn't look nearly as good as last year
Lagerbielke - not as good as scales
Nawrocki - might be better than scales but cannot tell on limited game time

Admittedly, I have starfelt a hard time but I think he and CCV was a better partnership than scales and CCV for example

 

I feel quite strongly that he's not as good as Starfelt. Look, he's done well; but if you offered to swap Starfelt for him, I wouldn't hesitate to accept the swap. I personally think that being Scottish or Irish just makes opinions more extreme in whatever direction your performance merits. If you're poor, a lot of people will be convinced you're utterly useless; if you're a good player (which I acknowledge Scales is), a lot of people will want to see you as outstanding.

I for one definitely feel like I see him with rose-tinted glasses partly because he's Irish, especially after he gave that interview actually in Irish. I loved that. There was that 2 months in the autumn where he genuinely was outstanding and I really wanted it to be his level and not just a purple patch; but it turned out it was a purple patch in the end.

 

Sure it's not because he's a ginger?