Reminds me a little of Dion Pereira, and Sonny Blu. Technically gifted, nice to watch, and effective against defenders destined for Step 4/5 Football. But for me, to make an impact at a decent level as a not-that-strong, not-that-quick attacker, you need to be outstanding when it comes to your decision making, positioning, passing etc. I haven't seen enough of Blake to say if that's the case for him, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him at a similar level to Pereira and Sonny in a few years. Saying that, as soon as our season is done I'd be interested to see Blake, Grieves, Abbott given a decent opportunity, on the off chance they are more suited to men's football, or playing alongside a higher calibre of player. Could maybe tempt a National League/League 2 club into taking them on loan next year (if Blake stays).
Some interesting and quite revealing assessments of Shaq Forde on the York City forum (copied them onto here because you need to register to read them) - it seems you can take our players out of Watford but you can’t take the Watford out of them. For context, York have just avoided relegation from the National League barring a freak combination of results and Forde played a key part in that but opinions from their fans have been mixed. They have also had a Pozzo-like season, with an unpopular chairman who sacked a manager who was doing a solid job early on, only to appoint two managers under whom results have got worse. The bit about Forde being overplayed and insufficiently nurtured parallels the problems Sarr, JP, Sema and probably others seem to have had. “I think Ellis has been signing of the season (after Shaq).” “Shaq is clearly a talented young player but his lack of effort is highly frustrating. He did not look interested for much of today's game. It's not been the first time I've noticed it either.” “It's pretty much every game I've watched he does it I've noticed. Gives up a lot, wanders about. He's a thoroughly decent player but I get the impression he's looking forward to go back to Watford.” “Can’t blame him. Wonder what he thinks when he looks up from lacing up his boots and sees Morton stuttering in front of him?” “He won't make it at Watford level unless he improves his application. Undoubted talent but lazy out of possession, and overdose most of his plays. Needs a first class coach to bring him on.” “Shaq was also offside at least 3 times, his first touch deserted him especially in the first half. But the service to the front 2 was crap.” “If Forde goes on to have a successful career (by that I mean top end the leagues) I'd be amazed. I mean, he's got talent and his goals and moments in the box etc have clearly been a big factor for us, but lack of effort and commitment is in his nature and leopards don't change their spots. Talent alone won't make it and you've either got the character or not, even at a young age. However, thankful for all he's done for us in his time at York. We'd be down without his contribution but if he applied himself it could have been way more comfortable” “Someone of his age needs a strong guiding hand as manager. He certainly hasn't had that in recent months.” “I'd accept that if he was losing his head, being petulant, running around like a headless chicken rather playing his position but he doesn't. Guidance doesn't solve laziness” “I still can see him doing very well with a good team around him. He finishes well, and if he could learn to use his right foot he'd be downright dangerous. Let's not forget he's playing with a poor team at the moment. Some players will thrive in this situation and pull the rest of the team up by their bootstraps. Others need to be put in the right situation. I feel he's more the latter, but unfortunately we needed the former. I could see a decent league 1 or maybe even championship player in the right circumstances given time.” “Forfe shocking first half but he alone was the reason for the purple patch after half time.” “Forde was shocking first half , second half just bad. The lad is a kid in a man's body, he hasn't grown up yet, but if he doesn't realise soon he needs to apply himself when the chips are down his career at a big club will be short lived. He's turned it on down here a few times at this level, only problem is there's loads of lads at his level at under 23 who can do what he can. The lads who want it and turn it on week in week out succeed, he doesn't seem to have the mental capacity to do that yet.” “I’ll go in to bat a bit on Forde’s behalf. As a club, in recent years, we have become quite dire for younger players. We just don’t develop them. Young and inexperienced kids arrive and generally either stagnate or decline, the longer they stay with us. Sanders has slowly got worse. Greaves declined. A lot of first year signing players haven’t even been given a sniff. Tanner did nothing. Inexperienced players under 25 years old probably shouldn’t come to our club. We either do nothing to blood and develop them or we overplay them. The latter is the problem, I think, with Forde. He’s not being nurtured. He’s been thrown into the lion’s den and, even when he’s clearly in need of a rest, he’s played. Plus - to add to the problem, he’s essentially our main goal scoring threat. If he’s off form, our potency is minimal. Too much expectation. Too much game time. Too little support.” “Agreed Phil. And obviously the complete sxxtshow that is Henderson [their chairman] hanging over the club like a dark cloud, adds to that.” “Forde's 18 years old and has 8 league goals from 13 starts. Watford will be thrilled with his loan spell. He'll go back to a proper club, play with actual footballers and under decent coaches. Quite clearly, he's going to have a better career than any of his current teammates and play at a higher level than we will be at for the next decade plus.” Now I don’t know if he’s ready to come back to us - three levels above the NL is a big leap up, though we have signed players from lower/non-league before, albeit with mixed success and usually when there wasn’t much in the bank and realistically we had no chance of promotion. However, the squad is clearly in need of a major rebuild, and like many others I really want us to go a route much more like that of Burnley, Palace, Bournemouth (much though I am not a fan of them), Brighton and Brentford where we build a squad long-term with hungry and committed players who develop together as a team, and players like Forde could play a part in that.
Well one thing he will need to understand if he wants to build on this loan spell is to get into peak fitness over the summer, analyze his performances and remember to practice and work hard every day to maximize himself as a player.
Considering a high percentage of the criticisms of him from the York fans you quoted are that he seems lazy and lacks application, I'm not quite sure how you've arrived at that statement.
Not sure Twitter admin has read the room here really . https://twitter.com/WatfordFCAcad/status/1650490537458249736 Is it worth celebrating a goal by someone who is leaving the club?
It would look worse if they ignored it TBF. Sarr & Pedro will probably leave in the summer but they still celebrate their goals.
Hardly any of the players released by us last summer have had any impact on the footballing world. Dan Phillips is one of the few to play more than a handful of games for St.Johnstone and Conteh for Gateshead on loan from Boro. Says a lot about the sort of detritus we built up in the squad.
Increased new contract deals offered to Blake and Amass. Have the club left it too late? https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/23486126.watford-hoping-hold-onto-two-young-prospects/
For every Sancho there are loads who go to a big club but never get a chance and disppear out of the game. They need to be careful if these guys do move on.
Yes though the same end result. If they are looking aftre money and a big name on their Cv they would leave anyway.
Didn't notice this before but Ober Almanza had his loan at Santa Fe cut short in January and he's been loaned to Cartagena in the Colombian 2nd tier instead.
I get that no young lad deserves to be subjected to our shower of ****s, but it's mind-boggling that we tried to extend his deal without even giving him a go off the bench
I wonder if we didn't give him a go off the bench precisely because he was refusing to extend his deal; otherwise we'd be rewarding his insolence.
Until we’re a cat one academy it is pointless. All the talent will go, and only the crud will remain.
Changing to a category one academy would make very little difference in that respect - we still wouldn't be Arsenal/Spurs/Man Utd/ Man City etc.
Who has Cat 1 status? The myriads of teams up and down the country who don't have that status don't seem to have much difficulty bringing through youth players
Not sure if this helps. https://theathletic.com/3491051/202...demies-as-birmingham-could-lose-status/?amp=1
Another one that believes his own hype. Hasn’t done anything meaningful in his career and will find out that he’s a dime a dozen. Much like many of our overhyped youngsters, none of them have actually gone on to do anything bigger than Watford. He could have been playing championship football next season. Instead he’s listened to his agent. He might sign for a known club, but he’s going to be shipped straight out on loan. We will look back at this thread years from now to discover he’s floating around the football leagues and barely playing football.
I agree. Whilst it’s fashionable to knock the club right now, I think it’s a poor decision from Blake to look elsewhere. He needs a develop a lot to be even a Championship player and I feel given the likely direction Watford are going to take, it would have been a perfect place for him as he would have been given opportunities. He’s certainly not a Sancho/Saka in the making. I’ve not been overly impressed with him when I’ve seen him play, and whilst it would be nice to have a few academy players filling the backup slots, I don’t really feel it’s too much of a loss. If he wants to go, let him. We need players who are committed to the club.
This is the issue we are faced with. Rightly or wrongly, very few of our best prospects will turn down the chance to join a top club.
Particularly if they don’t think they will a chance here get as we add so chaotic and unpredictable even at youth level . Had a lot of coaches and management in the Academy.
Charlie Daniels seems pretty settled there now though? And seems a good coach from the limited info available.
Is he leaving already after just a season? We're now looking for another Academy Head of Recruitment: https://jobs4football.com/job/academy-head-of-recruitment-7/
