Think theres a nixed bag here in opinion, but lets face it, he was rubbish. Massively overrated by some. He always looked like he was a work experience worker trying to figure out what his role was, not got visionary passing ability, I always thought he tried dumb passes, not very strong, not good in the air, **** in midfield and 7th choice CB. 1.5m is too much for Stoke.
Yes we did thanks to Troost-Ekong, the keepers and other defenders. I'm sure he's a great leader and a talker, but I've seen nothing from him to suggest that he won't be eaten alive in the Premier League.
All the best Ben. I think there is a good player in there, but I don’t think he was going to realise his potential playing with us. He is only young so I wouldn’t say he could never be premier league standard, but he isn’t that at the moment.
Not sure but he will have "lost his way", will have "an attitude problem", and will have thrown some "fab Covid parties". He will have also played in Belgium.
"Destroy the Championship" - cuckoo land. He's a decent Championship defender. He didn't get much game time because we had exceptional Championship defenders and we are now in the Premier League so even less chance of him playing. Good luck to him.
I have mixed feelings about this. Wilmot seems like a great lad with a good attitude. Definitely rough around the edges but there's a decent chance he smooths out his defensive over the coming years with Stoke. It's a good move for him and for Stoke as they seek to replace Collins. Wilmot was clearly the best passer of our CBs but the weakest defender. Seemed much more suited to playing as one of the outside CBs in a three than as part of CB pair. He'd be eaten alive right now if played in a pair in the PL.
Has the attitude and desire to be a club captain. All well and good signing young players but they need to play. We had to win promotion and couldn't take that chance, whereas Stoke's ambitions allow for pitch time. Good move for him.
By not staying and trying to force his way into the team, surely he’s not showing the required desire and attitude? Indeed, it looks just as much like he didn’t fancy the fight or didn’t back himself enough to be able to do so - and has jumped at the first move available. He’ll get game time at Stoke - but I don’t think he will be threatening the promotion places there and I think he’s sacrificed ambition for regular game time at a level lower in the table than he should be. Time will tell if his gamble pays off. I think there’s more chance he becomes a decent Championship CB over his career than there is of him getting a regular PL gig - just my opinion. I liked the lad and wanted him to succeed. And I think he may have done had we used him more in the earlier days when we had him. He’s another who’s path I don’t think we got right. This move is good for all parties IMO - apart from the fee. No matter how many people try to defend the fee, it just looks far too low.
I just think he realises his ability level is not quite high enough to get those matches. He's not going to displace Troost or Sierralta and he knows it.
Watching him that was certainly the impression I got and I am sure some of our ertswhile data gurus have some stats to back that up. Which of our CBs do you consider a better passer, out of interest?
I don't think any are great but I would say Cathcart, certainly two footed but maybe experience helps. I thought Wilmot was ok at most things without really excelling at anything. Probably the right time to move and play on a regular basis
Not sure that's completely correct. He has a desire to play rather than just sit in squad, barely getting any game time. I would say that's a good attitude to have. You won't improve if you don't play and maybe he realised he isn't good enough currently and needs to play regularly to get to the level he feels he can play at. I would rather players actually wanted to play football
Of course you'd rather players who want to play football - but as I said the other day, that's idealism and football doesn't allow for that. It's 11-a-side and by association you are going to have 14+ unhappy players every week who aren't starting or even playing at all. Every squad will have unhappy players who are not playing every week - but it's a measure of a player whether they knuckle down or look for a way out, however noble their reasons. Wilmot got game time last season - many say he got unfairly overlooked by Xisco. But we are also accepting of the fact that Wilmot was half-decent in a 3 man backline but shaky in a 4. Personally, with the club having made the leap to the PL and Wilmot still being young in CB terms, I'd have hoped he would remain patient and work on his ability to play in a 4. He's decided he didn't want to do that and wanted to fall back down a league and start again - maybe thats best for him. And maybe that shows certain traits of desire and attitude. But I think it also show a lack of other traits of the very same characteristics.
I think that was why we shunted him out on the left, everyone else was shaky enough on their right foot, but Wilmot was just about good enough on the left to make something of a success of the LCB role
I make it he started 3 games at CB in a back 4 last season, Birmingham, Huddersfield and Norwich, with Brum and Norwich fine performances, and Huddersfield just a shambles all around from the whole team
The fact a slow, 32 year old Craig Cathcart was considerably better than him at both CB and at full back last year says it all. Won't lose any sleep over this one.
He might be good enough in 5 years, or not Either way, he wasn't good enough to get in the team last year, and won't be next year either Good luck to him, but no loss to us. If he eventually becomes a good player, it will be too far in the future to keep him around now, and he will need to play football to reach that potential anyway
Agreed to an extent, but he isn't as good as he was 4/5 years ago (and even then his ceiling was 'decent PL player, nothing special')
Cathcart was a very consistent steady Eddie type player. If he had a stinker it resulted in us usually getting hammered though. A decent professional who I believe is happy as a squad player now.
