Will Alves

[honeybradger]

3 hours ago, LVFox said:

Got to imagine he starts against QPR in the cup, and he massively needs to take that chance.

Why does he massively need to take that chance? Why is the requirement for game time so much higher for our academy players than our senior players?

 

Cordova Reid gets given consistent minutes despite usually playing poorly for us, why does Alves need to blown the doors down just to get given a chance.

[Verumex]

17 hours ago, niyaminski said:

How did he actually look when he came on?

 

I had left the pub by that point.

He only got passed the ball a couple of times, looked tidy, passed it on with no issues.

 

Off the ball he seemed intimidated and nervous, was chasing the ball, unwilling to take on players, and the Man City players singled him out to play piggy in the middle with over and over again with cheers from their fans as they wasted the last few minutes.

 

It reminded me of 3 people playing catch with a terrier running around in the middle of the triangle.

 

That all said, that's to be expected given the occasion, and I see no reason why that would be indicative of him as a player in general. There's nothing really to take from the 5 minutes he had on the pitch, the point of the appearance was to help with nerves in future games.

[cruzFOX]

We’ve seen this before under Rogers where Alvez looked close to making a proper senior debut. Sadly the injury halted his progress. Than came relegation and cooper.

I’m really encouraged by Ruud taking a shine to Alvez. He sees the potential and now it’s all about timing. I think we will see Alvez in a cup game soon. Hope he takes that opportunity to really shine and impress our new manager. One thing we know is RVN loves to develop promising young talent.

[FoxesFourLife]

I would start him in the cup game if reports are true we may lose Buonanotte in January he could well do a good job for us playing with Bilal.

[LVFox]

4 hours ago, honeybradger said:

Why does he massively need to take that chance? Why is the requirement for game time so much higher for our academy players than our senior players?

 

Cordova Reid gets given consistent minutes despite usually playing poorly for us, why does Alves need to blown the doors down just to get given a chance.

Because Alves will be viewed as a luxury player at this point, and will need to immediately prove he can make a difference. 

 

As opposed to someone like McAteer who will always get called upon in certain scenarios due to his work rate. It's no criticism and it's nothing to do with him being an academy product. More the type of player.

 

[BKLFox]

I’d imagine he’ll start or at least get a good chunk of minutes v QPR but with Ayew back for Villa I’m not sure he’ll make the bench sadly.

[JimJams]

8 minutes ago, BKLFox said:

I’d imagine he’ll start or at least get a good chunk of minutes v QPR but with Ayew back for Villa I’m not sure he’ll make the bench sadly.

Surely Wilson-Browns space on the bench disappears for Ayew.

[Sooper Steve's shin]

Unfortunately, in our predicament, we don’t really have the luxury of giving youngsters too many minutes. I said at the time (and it’s been proven right) that I thought one of the few good moves that Cooper made was in bringing a couple of experienced PL guys like Ayew and BDCR, who may not set the world alight but you’d back them to come on and be in the right place to nick the odd crucial goal. It’s far more likely that we benefit from that kind of sub towards the end of most games than throwing on a youngster that we hope might set the game alight. Unless you have world class youth talent, you only really want to bring them on if you’re coasting otherwise it’s potentially harming them and not helping the team. 
 

We are not going to find ourselves coasting very often. With the size of the subs benches these days, we can take a youngster just in case but more often than not they won’t be the ones we turn to. It’s unfortunate for Alves as we’ve all seen the clips and would love him to be a local hero - he probably has a better chance of starting if, say, Bilal got injured. At least you then have experience to turn to if it’s not working for him in a game. 

[RedSoxUK]

5 hours ago, honeybradger said:

Why does he massively need to take that chance? Why is the requirement for game time so much higher for our academy players than our senior players?

 

Cordova Reid gets given consistent minutes despite usually playing poorly for us, why does Alves need to blown the doors down just to get given a chance.

I really want him to get more game time, but think it's down to his circumstances.

 

He's not had a loan, so other than the occasional cup/sub he's only played youth football.

 

He has had every opportunity to impress in first team training this season under two different managers, and from the fact he's. It been thrown in he hasn't done enough to get ahead of others.

 

He's playing in a congested position where there's multiple experienced players ahead of him: Mavididi, BDR, McAteer, Al Khannouss, Ayew, Buonenotte can all play there. BDR hasn't looked anywhere close to his supposed return rate for Fulham suggested, and with Fatawu/McAteer being injured, Alves does seem to be at least further up the order.

 

So injury/rotation, limited cup games, and occasional appearances off the bench will be what he gets and probably deserves if he's not lighting up during training.

 

I don't know what happened in the summer but he desperately needed a loan with playing experience, whether it was him or the club not finding a suitable club. It feels like we've massively stunted his development after the injury setback. Considering Braybrooke went to ****ing Dundee of all places id say it's us not doing the work to find him a League One club.

 

[Ric Flair]

48 minutes ago, Sooper Steve's shin said:

Unfortunately, in our predicament, we don’t really have the luxury of giving youngsters too many minutes. I said at the time (and it’s been proven right) that I thought one of the few good moves that Cooper made was in bringing a couple of experienced PL guys like Ayew and BDCR, who may not set the world alight but you’d back them to come on and be in the right place to nick the odd crucial goal. It’s far more likely that we benefit from that kind of sub towards the end of most games than throwing on a youngster that we hope might set the game alight. Unless you have world class youth talent, you only really want to bring them on if you’re coasting otherwise it’s potentially harming them and not helping the team. 
 

We are not going to find ourselves coasting very often. With the size of the subs benches these days, we can take a youngster just in case but more often than not they won’t be the ones we turn to. It’s unfortunate for Alves as we’ve all seen the clips and would love him to be a local hero - he probably has a better chance of starting if, say, Bilal got injured. At least you then have experience to turn to if it’s not working for him in a game. 

And yet the problem is, if we hadn't raised over £110m on player sales from the academy in the last 4 years we'd be in an even bigger state than we are now. We simply have no viable choice but to bring through academy players. We won't succeed without it.

 

So we can  argue why we can't (this season and beyond in the PL), but if we don't we'll be done eventually anyway.

[HankMarvin]

2 hours ago, FoxesFourLife said:

I would start him in the cup game if reports are true we may lose Buonanotte in January he could well do a good job for us playing with Bilal.

What reports ?, just people suggesting it here isnt it?

[SafewayFox]

58 minutes ago, Sooper Steve's shin said:

Unfortunately, in our predicament, we don’t really have the luxury of giving youngsters too many minutes. I said at the time (and it’s been proven right) that I thought one of the few good moves that Cooper made was in bringing a couple of experienced PL guys like Ayew and BDCR, who may not set the world alight but you’d back them to come on and be in the right place to nick the odd crucial goal. It’s far more likely that we benefit from that kind of sub towards the end of most games than throwing on a youngster that we hope might set the game alight. Unless you have world class youth talent, you only really want to bring them on if you’re coasting otherwise it’s potentially harming them and not helping the team. 
 

We are not going to find ourselves coasting very often. With the size of the subs benches these days, we can take a youngster just in case but more often than not they won’t be the ones we turn to. It’s unfortunate for Alves as we’ve all seen the clips and would love him to be a local hero - he probably has a better chance of starting if, say, Bilal got injured. At least you then have experience to turn to if it’s not working for him in a game. 

I couldn’t disagree more.

 

Ayew and Reid are not good enough to start and Abdul’s injury has highlighted how poor our squad is in depth.

 

Imagine bringing in young talent like we have done, or like Brighton did when bringing Facundo to the UK at 17 from Argentina.

 

I HATED Cooper’s obsession with PL experience and a much better coach/manager in Enzo wouldn’t have touched either with a barge pole.

[Ian Nacho]

Needs to get some more minutes. Mavadidi is starting to wind me up with his step overs with no output.

[murphy]

4 hours ago, SafewayFox said:

I couldn’t disagree more.

 

Ayew and Reid are not good enough to start and Abdul’s injury has highlighted how poor our squad is in depth.

 

Imagine bringing in young talent like we have done, or like Brighton did when bringing Facundo to the UK at 17 from Argentina.

 

I HATED Cooper’s obsession with PL experience and a much better coach/manager in Enzo wouldn’t have touched either with a barge pole.

Me too.  The trouble is, if you're Leicester City in 2024 and you want Premier League experience, you can only afford/attract mediocrity and you pay a premium for it.  You can add Skipp to the list too.  If you buy mediocrity, you are buying relegation.  That horrible window is Cooper's legacy which will continue to hurt us even after he has gone.

 

You can almost draw a line through pre-season recruitment - Cooper's insistence on PL experienced plodders - Ayew, BDCR, Skipp and the club's scouted players - Okoli, Buonanotte and BEK.  Many others got away, or rather, ran a mile, but I much prefer the non-Cooper approach.  There is a gulf in quality and potential there.

 

 

Edited 31 December 2024 by murphy

[An Away Move]

5 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

And yet the problem is, if we hadn't raised over £110m on player sales from the academy in the last 4 years we'd be in an even bigger state than we are now. We simply have no viable choice but to bring through academy players. We won't succeed without it.

 

So we can  argue why we can't (this season and beyond in the PL), but if we don't we'll be done eventually anyway.

This is why I think the club have a very poor strategy. I’m pretty certain he was made to feel part of first team plans under Maresca and before Cooper came in, and most likely turned down loan moves. Then El Khannous, Cordova Reid, Ayew were signed alongside Buonanotte on loan - all of whom play in Alves’ positions and have started ahead of him. What does that tell him about how the club value him as a player and his development? I suspect he’ll now choose to go off on loan in Jan. It wouldn’t surprise me if he chose to leave on a Bosman once his contract is up, especially if we’re relegated and struggle to return first time. I think he’s probably learned that he might not be able to trust the club to put his interests first. Stupid really, because he’s a very bright talent with big sale value potentially. 

Edited 31 December 2024 by An Away Move

[LCFCJohn]

7 hours ago, An Away Move said:

This is why I think the club have a very poor strategy. I’m pretty certain he was made to feel part of first team plans under Maresca and before Cooper came in, and most likely turned down loan moves. Then El Khannous, Cordova Reid, Ayew were signed alongside Buonanotte on loan - all of whom play in Alves’ positions and have started ahead of him. What does that tell him about how the club value him as a player and his development? I suspect he’ll now choose to go off on loan in Jan. It wouldn’t surprise me if he chose to leave on a Bosman once his contract is up, especially if we’re relegated and struggle to return first time. I think he’s probably learned that he might not be able to trust the club to put his interests first. Stupid really, because he’s a very bright talent with big sale value potentially. 

He’ll be waiting for a while until 2028!

 

3 and a half years is a long time. He could either turn out not to be good enough and moved on, be in the first team and sign a new contract or moved on to bigger things than us and of course that all depends on how his progress is relative to how the club progress or regresses relative to his own progress. 

[Turtle27]

16 hours ago, FoxesFourLife said:

I would start him in the cup game if reports are true we may lose Buonanotte in January he could well do a good job for us playing with Bilal.

Reports? What have I missed? 😬

[CrazyKopCorner]

13 hours ago, SafewayFox said:

I couldn’t disagree more.

 

Ayew and Reid are not good enough to start and Abdul’s injury has highlighted how poor our squad is in depth.

 

Imagine bringing in young talent like we have done, or like Brighton did when bringing Facundo to the UK at 17 from Argentina.

 

I HATED Cooper’s obsession with PL experience and a much better coach/manager in Enzo wouldn’t have touched either with a barge pole.

Absolutely and surely it was pretty clear that 2 reasonably average Premier League clubs no longer wanted their services even as squad players. 

 

Experience obsessed but no longer up to the standard was a part of Copper's ridiculous 'strategy'. 

[FoxesFourLife]

14 hours ago, HankMarvin said:

What reports ?, just people suggesting it here isnt it?

 

1 hour ago, Turtle27 said:

Reports? What have I missed? 😬

It's online a few media outlets are reporting Spurs have made a bid not sure if it's true but wouldn't be surprised if it was he is a huge talent and there a big enough club for him.   

[lcfc sheff]

He really should’ve been loaned out to a team that plays good football, notts county etc. 

[Sly]

He’ll get minutes at QPR I’d imagine, unless we sign a raft of players early in the window, so he’s loaned out. 

[FoxesFourLife]

6 minutes ago, lcfc sheff said:

He really should’ve been loaned out to a team that plays good football, notts county etc. 

That's a good shout I personally would send him to a Championship club that will play him the standard is better if he can make an impact at this level for the remainder of this season then he will be ready for us next season. 

[los dedos]

11 minutes ago, FoxesFourLife said:

That's a good shout I personally would send him to a Championship club that will play him the standard is better if he can make an impact at this level for the remainder of this season then he will be ready for us next season. 

I thought the Mercury said the club was surprised no one  in a high enough level was interested in taking him.

[Pliskin]

The lads mental resolve is to be applauded, to go through the injury he did at such a young age can finish some young players off. But he’s managed to fight back and is now included in the match day squad. Excellent stuff. 

[adejo92]

On 30/12/2024 at 13:05, honeybradger said:

Why does he massively need to take that chance? Why is the requirement for game time so much higher for our academy players than our senior players?

 

Cordova Reid gets given consistent minutes despite usually playing poorly for us, why does Alves need to blown the doors down just to get given a chance.

I think rightly or wrongly, and however good we think he is now, BDR will be seen as a 'proven' Premier league player and has a lot of experience given 200+ appearances for Fulham.

 

There's also probably a pressure for him to get minutes due to him being on decent money.

 

I'm not saying I agree, I think he's extremely poor and didn't exactly have amazing stats at Fulham....but I think that's probably the reason.

 

I'd love to see Alves get a chance but I also do wonder what this forum sees in him that none of the managers clearly have...