Yeah for sure. He is a swiss army knife of a player that can do a job in a lot of positions and I think he is a good player to have at this level. He has had some **** games for us, but he has also had some decent ones. Maybe wing back in a 3 is the role for him. We will see.
He can't defend to save his life but given the formation, the level he'll be playing at and his versatility on either side would be content to have him stay (especially if he has knuckled down like a professional even when he'd rather be elsewhere). If we go up will need upgrading though.
If we go up, I'd be very interested in seeing Quina, Ngakia and Wilmot in the Prem after a year of being regulars for us in the Championship. Might be able to get Garner for another season too, then after that there's a few players like Sema and WTE that might just about be able to hack it in the top flight
If you'd actually like to see how that plays out, I'm sure there's a '19-20 season in review' video knocking about the Norwich City interwebs somewhere fairly accessible.
I think Ngakia looks like he has all the tools to be a huge success in the Premier League in the long term, but Quina as it stands looks lost even at Championship level, which is hugely disappointing (though obviously not necessarily final), Garner hasn't shown anything to suggest he's got anything special and right now looks like a timid boy in the mens game, and Wilmot does look like he has potential to me but I think is less of a certainty than Ngakia.
I pretty much agree with all of that, although I did think Garner looked much improved against Luton, and I feel like it sort of gives my Norwich joke/comparison even more weight - they had multiple highly-touted young players who had spent an entire season playing together, one of whom who is now talked in serious circles about being wanted by Barcelona, and yet they still went down with a dreadful whimper as one of the lesser performing teams in recent promotion history. If we do go up again, we'll have to spend, or we'll be coming straight back down.
If we go up we will come back down again and have the same issues with signing loads of players and then having to let them go the following summer.
Also more important we actually get ourselves promoted than planning for the possibility of promotion.
Ngakia didn't look out of place in the Premier League at all, he'll be back there soon either way. Garner has been fine, he doesn't do anything flashy, we've kept the ball better with him in the team compared with when he hasn't (he was OK against Newport, although as that was very much an experimental team I'm not sure how much you can look into that). Him with Chalobah has worked well so far this season, hopefully he's not too much of a miss today Quina has been a disappointment so far, although I think he'll do well in front of a steelier midfield to do the dirty work for him Wilmot has been fine defensively, seems to have struggled a bit in distribution, I don't know whether that's because we overrated his passing ability, or because he's been playing on the left of a three
To be fair, we've assembled a side full of kids and cant expect all of them to be successful. Unfortunately, it seems to be our strategy to put all our hopes on their shoulders. It's unfair on them and the supporters.
When the window closes and the want away players who are still with us will finally fall under the full control of Vlad we won't be totally reliant on Kids then. The experienced players will have to knuckle down, if for no other reason than to put themselves in the shop window for January, then hopefully Vlad will be able to play a stronger team, and the added bonus is that the youngsters will be able to learn from these guys too. Furthermore, if those want away's finally get their wish and get a move in January we will probably get a better price for them. As by then they will probably have impressed potential buyers, which is something Vlad has not allowed them to do so far. I actually think that that might have been Vlads plan all along, because refusing to use many of them in our first four games and playing a weaker side, he has kept them out of the shop window and possibly created doubt in the mind of potential suitors as to whether they were worth a punt or not.
Not his fault because it's not his natural position, but he's far better off on the right side. Only problem is Ngakia is a fantastic defender, and Kiko is...not
Kiko & Ngakia as the right sided defender options, Masina & Douglas on the left, plus the 58 centre-backs in the squad and should be okay for this season.
I don't necessarily agree with that Smudger. I don't think Kiko is going to be a regular first eleven starter, but he should certainly be a bench option IMO as he is so versatile and therefore will always be a good option from the bench in quite a few positions.
He's absolute sh*te. Always has been, always will be. Even more worthless on the left. Can't defend, can't cross, bottles challenges, doesn't chip in with any goals or assists, but does look "neat and tidy" at times and continues to fool some of our fans because of it. Awful, awful player.
Is a Championship back-up player. His main attribute is his pace, but his main job is defending and he isn’t great at it
These players got us relegated. Many thought they were too good to come down with us and still many more have appeared and failed to shine at a lower level. Still people get offended when you criticise though. It's baffling. There's a severe Stockholm syndrome amongst our fans concerning their relationship with our owners and several players.
He doesn't offend me, I just had enough of his 'I hate this club, I hate that player, I want us to lose' ultra negativity which is pathetic, spiteful, immature and confrontational - but not offensive. I clicked the 'ignore' button on him a while ago and it makes for a much more pleasant experience scanning this forum. It's disappointing to see that he is still around spewing his bile from the comments on this thread, I had hoped he'd disappeared after we got relegated as he promised to do. You don't help the situation backing him up with that daft 'severe Stockholm syndrome' comment.
Defensively he is shocking, but I don't think he is that bad going forwards to fair. You could have stuck two world class full backs into our side this last season or two and they would struggle to get assists because the striker we have been playing week-in-week-out is ******* rancid. By the time Kiko reaches the by line to cross, Deeney has just panted past the centre circle. Also think judging him based on his performances on the left is a little unfair - it clearly isn't his position and he is only playing there because our owners are utterly incompetent. I could not agree any more strongly that Kiko was nowhere near good enough to be our starting full back in the premier league, but I do think he is a more than reasonable back up for us.
But what is him being "not that bad" going forward actually based on? You can blame others for not getting in the box etc. (fair point at times, at least in regards to Deeney), but what does he do right on that front? His final ball/crossing is more often than not absolutely woeful. Again I think people are fooled by the fact that he is a reasonable - not good, but reasonable - dribbler who has a bit of pace. The end result of those two things is still nothing. He provides nothing of substance going forward whatsoever.
