Billy Gilmour

[Jase 43,479]

 

[Special Juan 28,122]

Age is nothing with the personality he plays with....

Goodnight.

[Jase 43,479]

 

[Jase 43,479]

4 hours ago, Alabama said:

Scottish Xavi...

 

Nah. Xavi's the Spanish Gilmour. 

[MoroccanBlue 5,378]

1 hour ago, Mana said:

> 150k a week

Thanks a lot CHO and Marina for setting the bloody bar.

This will likely be the case with all top clubs moving forward. TAA and Gomez will soon be given greater contracts. Foden too when he realises what his former youth team mates are earning. 

Investing in talented youth players could save a club a fortune in the long run. 

[Strike 7,477]

14 hours ago, kellzfresh said:

 

Part of this is because Reece came in and took Billy's position. Billy was attacking more often after that. 

I think he is a good fit for the CDM position but I also want a senior like Jorginho around even next season and expectations to be tempered for a bit. All this Sky Sports praise is getting overboard. 

[OneMoSalah 8,885]

4 hours ago, Strike said:

Part of this is because Reece came in and took Billy's position. Billy was attacking more often after that. 

I think he is a good fit for the CDM position but I also want a senior like Jorginho around even next season and expectations to be tempered for a bit. All this Sky Sports praise is getting overboard. 

Tbf the kid done very well in 2 games that you wouldnt say are easy.

Plus I think Roy Keanes point was spot on, weve seen guys have 1 amazing game and look poor the next even more so as a younger player, Billy backed his previous performance up yesterday. He may have off days in the future but again I think he will surprise us with how consistent he can be at this level now hes done 2 games on the trot being MOTM although it means people will expect more. I think it just comes naturally to him, physically he maybe still needs to fill out when he grows up over the next few years but again he isnt shy to get stuck in and more than anything in these last 2 performances you can tell he is relishing both sides of the game, going right into tackles or making interceptions without the ball and then showing the more aesthetically pleasing side such as some dribbling and good passing when he has the ball. 

Yes theres a long road ahead of him but I have seen enough of him from his time at Rangers, with the Scotland U21s and with us at reserve level to know that as long as he keeps his feet on the ground and lets his football and willingness to work hard to become a top player do the talking for him,  he will be absolutely fine. 

He has a real composure on the ball as well as a willingness to take it anywhere which you dont associate with 18 year olds normally, only other 18 year old MF players who had this that I can think of off the top of my head in the PL was probably Cesc when he broke through with Wenger and Jack Wilshere making his first real waves with Bolton then Arsenal before it all went tits up. Maybe a few others in Europe as well with this same traits, Marco Verratti being one in Italy with his time at Pescara prior to going to PSG. Sandro Tonali looks as if he has these too. 

I think he has got a perfect mentality in the terms he is confident in his own ability but as FL also said after the Liverpool game, he is very humble. Also you see when he has the ball his desire to always play forward regardless of if he has time or not is something that looks as if it has been coached out of a lot of British MF players, the likes of Winks, Dier, McTominay, even Barkley at times amongst others, who have a tendency to panic when under pressure and play it safe or overcomplicate it by doing too much. I think this is a cruical trait for a top midfield player not being afraid of going for that forward pass under pressure or where it could leave the team exposed if it doesnt come off,  I mean the risk is the worth the reward because for me if your good enough and confident it will come off, then it will 99/100 times. Even then he just seems to be able to play with his head on a swivel, knows what's around him at all times before he gets the ball. It reminds me very much of Cesc and Xavi in a sense, they would be scanning around them before receiving the ball in these great Barcelona and Spain teams. It seems very simple and ordinary but all the top MFers are not just able to do it but execute the pass into that player or space as well.

 

[Special Juan 28,122]

I'm all over the hype train, it's fucking great to see and hear.

[Jase 43,479]

 

[OhForAGreavsie 6,060]

On 08/03/2020 at 10:51 AM, OneMoSalah said:

Perhaps but again (and this is not a dig direfted at your post either), when we have a young player breaking through we apparently have a better or more talented one in our youth set up/out on loan when things go south or talk of interest from other teams.

Mount breaks into the team half a year later, Conor Gallagher is all of a sudden much better/talented. 

Gilmour breaks into the first team set up, moving into the first team training ground, has a great game v Liverpool, linked with City, then we have someone more talented in the youth set up.

I have seen Lewis Bates and he does look like he could be a good player but I do think if these guys (him and Conor) were truely more talented theyd be in the first team squad 100%, thats my genuine view on it. Frank has shown he isnt afraid to give minutes or squad places to academy boys so there has to be a reason why if they are more talented that they arent in the squad. I do think its due to the fact they arent quite as talented or ready to the same degree the others are. Even Conte took Hudson-Odoi and gave him his debut because it was obvious he was more talented than many others and closer to being ready than many others in the set up. 

It will be interesting to see next season what Franks view on some of the younger guys out on loan ie Ampadu, Gallagher as well as Castillo, Sterling and Chalobah too maybe but I dont think any bar Ampadu will have a huge chanve of being in there next season. More so now he can sign players, I dont think hes going to throw these guys aside in the longrun but he knows ae need more proven quality in some areas to be more competitive.

I understand that your comments are a general statement of your views, rather than a specific reaction to what I've said, but I'd like to respond to some of the things you've talked about.

First, and absolutely foremost, I have no issue with people telling me I've got it wrong. Like all of us, I do get frustrated if people choose to be aggressive about their disagreement because that tends spiral into a slanging match and I'm no good at those. Obviously no insults in your post and I enjoyed reading it.

On Mason: My view when he played youth football was that there were elements of his play which would not transfer to senior level. I thought he did well enough at Vitesse to earn a preseason with Mauricio so was disappointed it didn't happen. My view when he joined the squad was, and remains, that he has not yet proved himself.

On Connor. I never believed I was watching a future first teamer when I saw him play development football so if/when he makes it here Connor will be one whose quality I failed to spot as a junior. For me, for now, he has it all to prove.

On Billy and Lewis Bate. The first post I ever made about Billy (before we signed him) was to say that I thought we had more talented youth players already. I have however gone out of my way to reiterate the fact that more talented does not necessarily mean better. As for Lewis, I remain confident of my opinion about that comparison. His movements are crisper, his touch is tighter, his body control is sharper, and his manipulation of the ball when dribbling is more incisive. In addition, like Billy, his passing is forward looking and he likes putting his foot in.

Where I disagree with you about Lewis is the idea that, if all this were true, it would put him ahead of Billy already. As I've taken trouble to state in several posts, talent is only one factor. SFL likes to remind people that he felt there were more talented scholars than him in the West Ham youth side. None of us have ever heard of any of them. I'm eager to see how Lewis progresses but he has more developing to do so, for now, he is rightly behind Billy.

On Ethan. I've previously said I don't think he has top four quality so, since I hope we will restablish ourselves at that level, I think Ethan faces a tough road.

[!Hazard! 3,394]

11 hours ago, MoroccanBlue said:

Investing in talented youth players could save a club a fortune in the long run. 

Exactly. Who cares about a wage budget if our net spend on transfers is near zero

[Jase 43,479]

1 hour ago, !Hazard! said:

Exactly. Who cares about a wage budget if our net spend on transfers is near zero

The financial account does...

If we are going to start giving big contract to talented youth players but who haven't actually made it, then we better as hell make sure they go on to fulfill their talent. Otherwise, well...LOL!

[Fulham Broadway 17,306]

Good lad, even if he does look like Billy Casper

[chippy 342]

13 hours ago, Strike said:

Part of this is because Reece came in and took Billy's position. Billy was attacking more often after that. 

I think he is a good fit for the CDM position but I also want a senior like Jorginho around even next season and expectations to be tempered for a bit. All this Sky Sports praise is getting overboard. 

Yes, a vvery encouraging start but they hype is OTT and Keane saying Billy already looks world class was way OTT.  Remember how things went tits up  for Mceachran and Kakuta, so best to not get too carried away too quickly.

[Tomo 21,751]

37 minutes ago, chippy said:

.  Remember how things went tits up  for Mceachran and Kakuta, 

Kakuta wasn't even that good and McEachran was talented but passive. Put it this way, his little brother is better than he was, however he's not on our radar regarding first team promotion while Josh was considered our next big hope. Aswell as that demonstrating just how much our academy has improved it also shows just how desperate we were for a talent to come through.

Now we've actually got a score of elite prospects coming through the ranks there's no need to pretend whoever today's versions of Kakuta and Bamford are something they're not.