Current Player #39 Gatlin O'Donkor

I can't honestly say his omission from the match day squad surprised me. Apart from a couple of decent 'keep it the corner' cameos, he's done very little to force his way into the team. I'd like to see Perkins play for longer on Tuesday - he looked OK in the short time he was on today.
 
ZeroTheHero said:
I can't honestly say his omission from the match day squad surprised me. Apart from a couple of decent 'keep it the corner' cameos, he's done very little to force his way into the team. I'd like to see Perkins play for longer on Tuesday - he looked OK in the short time he was on today.
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It's interesting. I was listening to an Arsenal youth coach talk about Saka. He basically said he was physically a lot stronger than a lot of the boys at youth level and they weren't able to be sure whether he excelled at youth level due to this strength or if he was technically superior. He said they didn't know the answer until his late teens i.e he had superior technical ability and this was when they knew he would make it. If it was just down to strength then he wouldn't have as others would have caught up. I can see GoD was a lot physically stronger than many of his peers and I guess now we will find out if it was that strength that made him stand out or whether he is technically up there.
 
ZeroTheHero said:
I can't honestly say his omission from the match day squad surprised me. Apart from a couple of decent 'keep it the corner' cameos, he's done very little to force his way into the team. I'd like to see Perkins play for longer on Tuesday - he looked OK in the short time he was on today.
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Except that Perkins will be most likely going back on Jan 1st
 
He needs a loan to play every week he has only just turned 19 I do believe the raw attributes are their pace, power and a good finisher through the age levels. He was a cheat code in the fa youth cup last year even against championship and Prem opposition. The current situation is stunting his development
 
Obstructed view said:
Except that Perkins will be most likely going back on Jan 1st
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If our club, Leeds or the player himself are to get anything at all out of this loan, then giving him a go (another go!) On Tuesday might be a start at least. If we can get Perkins up to speed, even if we use him off the bench, he could be useful. If that's only until January, so be it.
 
Obstructed view said:
He needs a loan to play every week he has only just turned 19 I do believe the raw attributes are their pace, power and a good finisher through the age levels. He was a cheat code in the fa youth cup last year even against championship and Prem opposition. The current situation is stunting his development
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Is he a good finisher? He scored plenty at youth level when I imagine he was able to physically bully pretty much anyone he came up against but I've seen nothing at senior level to suggest he's a good finisher, I caught some flak for suggesting last season that his finishing was costing us points but stand by it, although at the same time we had no real other options. He was missing pretty presentable chances most weeks.

Completely agree that he needs a loan and I'd be looking for a National League move for him, I don't think he has enough about him currently to force his way into many League Two sides, he needs plenty of regular minutes and ideally a team who will give him chances so he can get used to finishing when it needs to be done quicker. He's got all the physical attributes and his all round game isn't too shabby but it's not at the level we need right now, trying to run the ball to the corner for 10 minutes will be doing nothing for his development medium to long term and it's not even helping us in the short term as I don't think he's done it effectively since August. Regular game time in proper matches where he's actually trying to score rather than hold out for time is needed if he's going to fulfill his potential.
 
Would O’Donkor benefit from a stint at Oxford City! Wouldn’t have to move, probably knows a lot of their players/set-up and hopefully help City stay in the league. Hopefully winners all round.
 
Joey said:
Is he a good finisher? He scored plenty at youth level when I imagine he was able to physically bully pretty much anyone he came up against but I've seen nothing at senior level to suggest he's a good finisher, I caught some flak for suggesting last season that his finishing was costing us points but stand by it, although at the same time we had no real other options. He was missing pretty presentable chances most weeks.

Completely agree that he needs a loan and I'd be looking for a National League move for him, I don't think he has enough about him currently to force his way into many League Two sides, he needs plenty of regular minutes and ideally a team who will give him chances so he can get used to finishing when it needs to be done quicker. He's got all the physical attributes and his all round game isn't too shabby but it's not at the level we need right now, trying to run the ball to the corner for 10 minutes will be doing nothing for his development medium to long term and it's not even helping us in the short term as I don't think he's done it effectively since August. Regular game time in proper matches where he's actually trying to score rather than hold out for time is needed if he's going to fulfill his potential.
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Plenty of GO'Ds goals at youth level were nothing to do with outmuscling opponents and all to do with skill/composure.

Also, he has baulked up considerably in the last 18 months, he wasn't always as strong as he is now.
 
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Looks like Manning is being consistent..

GOD was in front of Perkins, then has a poor cameo or 2 off the bench. Perkins keeps his head down, and ends up on the bench in the FAC ahead of GOD. As an outsider looking in it appears to be good management.

If we signed 2 forwards in January then GOD should go out on loan. I still think he has shown something, but it’s too early to judge and it would be great to see how he performs week in week out In Conference or poss div 2 (maybe bottom half div 2?)
 
Upthecowboys said:
Looks like Manning is being consistent..

GOD was in front of Perkins, then has a poor cameo or 2 off the bench. Perkins keeps his head down, and ends up on the bench in the FAC ahead of GOD. As an outsider looking in it appears to be good management.

If we signed 2 forwards in January then GOD should go out on loan. I still think he has shown something, but it’s too early to judge and it would be great to see how he performs week in week out In Conference or poss div 2 (maybe bottom half div 2?)
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I'm not sure it's all performance related, Manning said he wasn't pleased with GOD in training on Friday, implying attitude, which looks to have cost him.

I wasn't at the game yesterday but I can't imagine Perkins offers less than GOD has recently, hopefully he takes his chance now. GOD definitely needs a loan, as I said above I don't think League Two would be particularly productive as he needs to be playing and I'm not sure he's at that level yet. There's a big difference in being a nuisance for an hour in a few games in League One, especially when you're a local lad with the goodwill of the fans, and being ready to lead the line week in week out. If he's still here for the second half of the season we risk his development really stalling and I'm not sure playing 50% of minutes in the league below will be a huge amount better.
 
Upthecowboys said:
Looks like Manning is being consistent..

GOD was in front of Perkins, then has a poor cameo or 2 off the bench. Perkins keeps his head down, and ends up on the bench in the FAC ahead of GOD. As an outsider looking in it appears to be good management.

If we signed 2 forwards in January then GOD should go out on loan. I still think he has shown something, but it’s too early to judge and it would be great to see how he performs week in week out In Conference or poss div 2 (maybe bottom half div 2?)
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Except that he is our asset and Perkins is Leeds asset.
 
Upthecowboys said:
Looks like Manning is being consistent..

GOD was in front of Perkins, then has a poor cameo or 2 off the bench. Perkins keeps his head down, and ends up on the bench in the FAC ahead of GOD. As an outsider looking in it appears to be good management.

If we signed 2 forwards in January then GOD should go out on loan. I still think he has shown something, but it’s too early to judge and it would be great to see how he performs week in week out In Conference or poss div 2 (maybe bottom half div 2?)
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GOD can’t score when he’s playing up front for a top league one team. Why would he be more successful playing at the wrong end of league two?
 
TailsWeWin said:
GOD can’t score when he’s playing up front for a top league one team. Why would he be more successful playing at the wrong end of league two?
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He needs to go to a playoff chasing NL side. Somewhere he can potentially be a regular starter for a team that is winning fairly regularly. I’m not convinced he would even start for one of the top 3/4 clubs at that level. Barnet have Gary Hooper as their backup / sub striker, for example, and he ain’t getting in ahead of him, let alone their main man Kabamba.
 
TailsWeWin said:
GOD can’t score when he’s playing up front for a top league one team. Why would he be more successful playing at the wrong end of league two?
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Fair point..

Just can’t see a top div 2 side giving him a chance, that’s the angle I was coming from.
 
RyanioBirdio said:
He needs to go to a playoff chasing NL side. Somewhere he can potentially be a regular starter for a team that is winning fairly regularly. I’m not convinced he would even start for one of the top 3/4 clubs at that level. Barnet have Gary Hooper as their backup / sub striker, for example, and he ain’t getting in ahead of him, let alone their main man Kabamba.
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I watched Bromley v Blackpool on the telly, their strikers couldn’t score either but I don’t think he’d get into their first team.
 
Pleasing to see the penny dropping among fans on players like O’Donkor and a handful of others. Not suggesting we want to be picking every player apart but it suggests a shift in standards and people now starting to recognise us as a club that isn’t content with sneaking in to the top 8 and operating as some sort of development centre that puts sentiment ahead of success. We’re slowly phasing out the mentality of being pleased with a draw if O’Donkor and Goodrham got good game time. This is healthy progress that we’re seeing where all players, regardless of age and ability, are being held to account for their contributions towards winning every week.

O’Donkor is (until recently) our second choice striker and therefore there isn’t any slack to cut him. He’s important and needs to contribute more than he has. It’s proven too much too soon for him so far and that’s OK, but we must park any sentiment and move on to somebody else. That doesn’t mean trampling on his development, it means try something else for him while we better ourselves in pursuit of going up.
 
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