Demarai Gray

[Nick]

So, I’ve been unable to find a specific long term thread for all things Demarai so I’m starting this one.

 

Firstly I reckon he’s a player with a lot of promise who stagnated a bit under Puel but still a rated memeber of the England U21/23 set up although seemingly in a more central position...

 

I think under BR he’s looked a lot sharper but of late has had to deal with lots of comments about his footballing progress and intelligence which has got to be tough for a young lad.

 

Id like him to stay and develop under BR - I’m hoping he has an exemplarary future at LCFC and makes a starting wide forward place his own.

 

It’d be nice if we had a thread for the lad with a bit of balance and knowing he reads the forum some integrity please.

[tsintskaro]

He was working hard yesterday but still ricardo is much more threat going forward 

[Nick]

1 minute ago, tsintskaro said:

He was working hard yesterday but still ricardo is much more threat going forward 

Ricardo is an animal though, you could argue he’s more of a threat than Barnes as well.

[Countryfox]

8 minutes ago, Swan Lesta said:

So, I’ve been unable to find a specific long term thread for all things Demarai so I’m starting this one.

 

Firstly I reckon he’s a player with a lot of promise who stagnated a bit under Puel but still a rated memeber of the England U21/23 set up although seemingly in a more central position...

 

I think under BR he’s looked a lot sharper but of late has had to deal with lots of comments about his footballing progress and intelligence which has got to be tough for a young lad.

 

Id like him to stay and develop under BR - I’m hoping he has an exemplarary future at LCFC and makes a starting wide forward place his own.

 

It’d be nice if we had a thread for the lad with a bit of balance and knowing he reads the forum some integrity please.

 

Lets hope that you're right Swanny ...   Brenda certainly seems to be getting more out of everybody and has many tools in his armory to do this ...  certainly in Grays case there is massive room for improvement ....   if he can get his application and attitude right the rest will easily follow and we will see a very different player on the pitch.   Fingers crossed, he has a lot to offer and could be brilliant on his day ..      

 

 

 

Edited 1 April 2019 by Countryfox

[urban.spaceman]

He can be quite frustrating, particularly with his low goals/assist output, but he’s a hard worker and adds a lot of energy to his team. There can be arguments made for his slow development being down to inconsistent game time and management, which I’ll leave for others to squabble over; Puel showed him more faith than anyone but his overall management made everyone look bad. I think with Brendan here now he has a real chance developing into a top player, but he still has to work hard on his output. Let’s not forget that he’s still only 22. 

[StriderHiryu]

 

Good summary of his season on WhoScored. 4 goals and 1 assist needs improvement for a wide forward that has also played up front at times. I think calling "Defensive Contribution" a weakness isn't fair this season, as he has improved a lot in that area with some great tracking back and challenges. But for a forward player Gray needs to create much more and get on the end of more. Barnes has provided numerous great crosses since he's come into the team, but Gray doesn't gamble on those chances enough IMO. I also think as others have said that Ricardo contributes much more going forward in terms of assists and key passes like the chance he created for Vardy at the weekend.

 

Gray does have potential, but I'd have hoped to have seen more from him this season. IMO the way Barnes plays is what I'd expect from Gray. Barnes is yet to score, but seems to create a couple of really good opportunities either for himself or others in every game other than the Watford one, where he struggled with the system we used.

[Babylon]

1 Assist in 29 appearances (20 starts) isn't good enough I'm afraid. We have to start seeing more from him and soon. Barnes already has more assists, our full backs have more assists... Iheanacho has more and doesn't even play.

[CosbehFox]

I'd say he's just a typical Premier League winger for a mid-table side really. 

[Nicolo Barella]

What a frustrating player. I do think he has a lot of potential, and he has improved this season, but he can be so annoying. The instance that always comes to my mind for some reason is against Wolves, he has about 3 passing* options ahead of him on the break, instead he put his head down, dribbled, and lost the ball. 

 

In the end, if he doesn't score enough, and doesn't assist enough, Leicester won't have faith in him much longer. 

Edited 1 April 2019 by Nicolo Barella

[Nicolo Barella]

19 minutes ago, Swan Lesta said:

Ricardo is an animal though, you could argue he’s more of a threat than Barnes as well.

Barnes already has more assists and is much more creative, and his shooting has been better than Gray's as well imo although he has naught to show for it. 

[foxfanazer]

He's a good young player. Unfortunately on here we love to put our young players down

Edited 1 April 2019 by foxfanazer

[Haywood_6]

Gray still has not won me over tbh, and i'd probably choose Alrbighton over him if both were fully fit as he has more of an impact on games. Hope he can prove me wrong until the end of the season and bag a few goals/assists. 

[Koke]

Decent squad player. Not every player has to be guaranteed first teamer. Gray, along with Mendy, Amartey, Ward etc, are decent options to come off from the bench. He will never be an England international like his team mates but he'll be an alright player for us. 

Edited 1 April 2019 by Koke

[Koke]

14 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

I'd say he's just a typical Premier League winger for a mid-table side really. 

 

Exactly this. He'll have patches of good form and then go through phases where he's just going through the motions. Every team got one. Traore, Fraser, Redmond, Antonio, Walcott etc.

[Ted Maul]

If he stops drifting inside every single time and actually looks to exploit space out wide in behind the full-back, he'll have a lot more success. It's absolutely mental that he's still doing it.

[whoareyaaa]

He is a bit like Sterling 18 months ago his stats were pretty poor, I think with the right man management and regular starts he could easily add the assists and goals to his game he is only 22 jesus.

[cropstonfox]

 

7 minutes ago, Ted Maul said:

If he stops drifting inside every single time and actually looks to exploit space out wide in behind the full-back, he'll have a lot more success. It's absolutely mental that he's still doing it.

Perhaps hes been told to cover inside.?

Hes better on the right uses his pace to bomb on.

If he plays on the left hes easily read as he will opt to cut in to get back on his right foot.He may well flourish under Rogers.next season make or break?

[Ted Maul]

Just now, cropstonfox said:

 

Perhaps hes been told to cover inside.?

Hes better on the right uses his pace to bomb on.

If he plays on the left hes easily read as he will opt to cut in to get back on his right foot.He may well flourish under Rogers.next season make or break?

It's irrelevant about whether cutting inside would be predictable- at least he would have the ball. He just seems to constantly drift into crowds of players and effectively mark himself out of the game.

 

I thought he'd kick on this year with Mahrez out of the picture, but he's still the same player we bought 3 years ago. I'm willing to give him more time but it's so frustrating.

[demon_dog]

I actually said to the guy next to me when Gray once again tried to take on a couple of players and lost the ball, that I would sell him in the summer. I think he will would be a very good championship player. Not quite premiership standard.

We should be looking at better quality if we want to break into the top six.

[Stadt]

40 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

I'd say he's just a typical Premier League winger for a mid-table side really. 

That would suggest he’s an average premier league winger which I think is probably being kind. He’s had so many chances, a lot of starts and he’s never really repaid the faith by putting in 2 or 3 consistently decent performances back to back. If he wasn’t English I don’t think we’d have persisted with him as long as we have 

[st albans fox]

shall we wait to see what a few months of Brendan's coaching might achieve ?????

[Gerard]

I've been a staunch defender of Gray as the lad has lots of ability and physical assets to be a top player. However come the summer if we got a £20M+ offer I'd sell as he hasn't really kicked on much and with the amount of experience he has now at 22 he should be going up a level which he has failed to do so far. 

[blue army 1988]

He would be good at Bournemouth or teams like that. I think he's learnt all he can do now and if an offer of £20M + comes in then i would take it.

[CosbehFox]

23 minutes ago, Stadt said:

That would suggest he’s an average premier league winger which I think is probably being kind. He’s had so many chances, a lot of starts and he’s never really repaid the faith by putting in 2 or 3 consistently decent performances back to back. If he wasn’t English I don’t think we’d have persisted with him as long as we have 

Out of interest on my lunch I've just picked out four comparable players from the teams in 7th to 11th 

 

Leicester - Gray - 4 goals, 1 assist - 1741 minutes 

Everton - Bernard - 1 goal, 3 assists - 1645 minutes

West Ham - Antonio - 4 goals, 3 assists - 1724 minutes

Watford - Pereyra - 6 goals, 1 assist - 2419 minutes

Wolves - Traore - 1 goal, 1 assist - 841 minutes 

 

So I'd have Gray in that category of average Premier League wingers. Wolves don't really play wingers in a midfield four like the others do mind. 

[Nick]

Still only 22 though and many of those minutes under Puel which really perhaps shouldn’t count!