Feel for the kid, what a **** time for him to get injured! The Northern Irish Cafu didn't do bad though
We must retain this guy and I think he might possibly give Kiko a run for hid money next season as despite Kiko's great season he isn't getting any younger and is beginning to look a little injury prone.
Good job today against our old pal from South London! Could he be making an argument to be our starting RB? Honestly, for all Kiko's good relationship with Sarr, I've always rated Ngakia a much better defender, so I wouldn't mind seeing him get a go!
Was good tonight. Zaha had him on toast in the friendly a few weeks ago, but this time Ngakia played him much better. Sure Zaha beat him a couple of times, but not in dangerous areas, plus he is probably one of the toughest opponents anyone faces for a right back. He can be pleased how he played and will certainly come back into Xisco's reckoning in future team selections.
Did well against Palace/Zaha in the week by all accounts and did well when he came on today up against Bergwijn and Son. Good burst of pace and cross late on in the came going forward as well. He also had a number of good early season performances last season which some people bizarrely almost seem to want to forget. Definitely not good enough though and should be left to rot in the under 23's rather than given a chance to grow as a footballer and in confidence.
Xisco has been very cautious with Sierralta and Rose with their far from ideal preparation for this season, Ngakia and Kiko were both injured at the end of last season, I'd imagine they are both being eased back
Seen posters claim in today’s match thread he’s good going forwards but suspect defensively. Am I in a parallel universe here? Every time I see him it’s the opposite. Great when defending but can’t pass a ball.
Exactly this. Co-comms on the stream I watched (Tony Gale?) nailed it. Excellent defensively, lacks confidence on the ball. I'm sure that will come with game time, and he'll develop into a very decent PL full back
Gonna go somewhere down the middle and say he's a tidy passer, yet not in the same league as Kiko in terms of levels of threat, and good, yet raw at defending
He's still only 20 and has played barely 30 first team games. He's got a lot of learning to do but I'd rather he did it by playing games than have Cathcart at right back.
Settlement with West Ham agreed. No idea how much and guess we’ll never know !. https://www.claretandhugh.info/hammers-settle-dispute-with-watford/
"A club insider told Claret and Hugh “He’s not torn down trees for them, but might still turn out good, we didn’t want to leave him us”" We don't want to leave him us either.
A real non important game tonight for guys,to get game time not great defending by jezza for the 1st goal
Feel a bit bad for Jezza. The gulf between him and Kiko is pretty large now. Can see why Femenia has been preferred by every HC that has been at the club and had them to choose from. Used to think Femenia was better overall but Ngakia was a better defender, but not sure that's even the case anymore. He's showing really poor positional sense and doesn't seem as convincing with his tackling. Once it became clear he wasn't ready for this level we should have found him a Championship loan to let him develop. A wasted season.
Was Kiko expected to leave in the summer of 2020? I seem to recall Valencia were interested, but didn't have any money, because it seems odd that Ngakia would come here to warm our bench in the Championship when he could have done similar at West Ham
I don't know if we'd have got promoted with JN playing every week, but it's a shame, his development has been stunted here only playing occasionally
I think Kiko was probably one they expected to go, and he was linked with several top flight clubs before deciding to stay.
Agree with this completely, but I do think he’ll still come good. A loan move should’ve been arranged though in January at least.
He's a dud sorry guys. He's 21, that's not young in this day and age. Lamptey is 21 and miles clear, Livramento at 19 is better, Ben Johnson at West Ham just turned 22 far more capable, Max Aarons is still only 22 with probably close to 200 under his belt, I just don't see Ngakia taking the steps at this stage that will make him a Premier League regular.
I was shocked at how bad he looked today. Slow to react to every situation from what I saw on MOTD. Looked a real liability.
I think I would prefer Luke O’Nien as a regular full back than Ngakia in the Championship. But he would be a useful squad filler with the chance of improving or getting a fee for him. But he is not an option as a starter in any future Premier League campaign. I would not be surprised to see Cathcart in future this season ending up as a fullback if Kiko injured.