General Sykes

LeftSideBoy

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I think it's only fair that after his recent form, Mark Sykes should get his own thread.

In my opinion, he has been our most improved player this season - along with Sam Long. I hope he continues to develop like this because we have a serious baller on our hands!

To kick it off, here is a reminder of his turn against Newcastle. Filth...

 
He's clearly made physical improvements, and seems stronger than earlier in the season.

He's always had the talent and potential, and is now becoming more consistent, and having more of an influence on games, and I think he's gonna become a major asset

Thank god he didn't go out on loan!
 
He's clearly made physical improvements, and seems stronger than earlier in the season.

He's always had the talent and potential, and is now becoming more consistent, and having more of an influence on games, and I think he's gonna become a major asset

Thank god he didn't go out on loan!
I hope he stays with us next season and continues to develop. I know that he recently mentioned Oxford as a "club that is open to selling players" but he could become a massive part of our team over the next few seasons as Henry winds down - if that ever happens.
 
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I hope he stays with us next season and continues to develop. I know that he recently mentioned Oxford as a "club that is open to selling players" but he could become a massive part of our team over the next few seasons as Henry winds down - if that ever happens.

Yep, definitely similar to Henry. I suspect he will be learning quite a bit from Henry and if he isn't then he should be.
 
We seem to be very good at succession planning. Nelson leaves and Dickie steps up. We also have Moore more than good enough to replace Mous, with Atkinson and Jones hopefully next in line.

Baptiste leaves and Sykes is ready to step into that more central role, although I think the comparison with Henry is even more accurate. Playing on the right, but able to come inside and control the game as well as pushing up into the no.10 role.

As @MJB said, we can also hope that Malachi Napa is also being developed to take the next step in his career when he returns. It will also be interesting to see how Lopes and others will push on in the next season or two.

Maybe we haven't recruited as much as we wanted because we have players more than good enough to replace those we lose.
 
We seem to be very good at succession planning. Nelson leaves and Dickie steps up. We also have Moore more than good enough to replace Mous, with Atkinson and Jones hopefully next in line.

Baptiste leaves and Sykes is ready to step into that more central role, although I think the comparison with Henry is even more accurate. Playing on the right, but able to come inside and control the game as well as pushing up into the no.10 role.

As @MJB said, we can also hope that Malachi Napa is also being developed to take the next step in his career when he returns. It will also be interesting to see how Lopes and others will push on in the next season or two.

Maybe we haven't recruited as much as we wanted because we have players more than good enough to replace those we lose.
Couldnt agree more. Despite all of the doom and gloom from fans after the sale of Baptiste and Fosu, I dont think we have missed them in the games since then. I actually think Sykes is a far more consistent performer than Baptiste - despite his moments of brilliance, he was patchy and would often go missing in games.
 
That’s two from two good buys for we’ve had from the Northern Irish League. Hopefully we’re looking at a few others from there for the summer.

The model relies on finding those bargains. We’ve picked up one in the winter with Rob Atkinson joining us.
 
Great player. Bringing more goals into his game is one area he will want to improve. Downside to his up turn in form is we will almost certainly lose him to the International matches.
 
Great player. Bringing more goals into his game is one area he will want to improve. Downside to his up turn in form is we will almost certainly lose him to the International matches.
Fortunately, our midfield is absolutely stacked so we have cover when he is called up. If he could add goals to his game, we would be unstoppable! Exciting times for Mark
 
Getting stronger by the game. RCM is his best position. And too think we were trying to shift him to League2 on loan only six months ago ?
 
Getting stronger by the game. RCM is his best position. And too think we were trying to shift him to League2 on loan only six months ago ?
It sounds like he has put an awful effort in and the coaching team have done a lot of good as well.
Was poor in the first part of the season (other than West Ham) but has improved significantly over the past few weeks and that's great news
 
To be honest, i think the 'loan' was perhaps the carrot to get him to push himself harder in training and show the talent that KR and FAZ obviously knew he had same with Agyei i feel. Most of his interviews and quotes mention hard work in training. Perhaps he took a while to adjust from part-time to full-time football
 
He is getting better all the time, I would say he is much better on the right side of midfield and seems to have got a good partnership going with Sam Long.
 
To be honest, i think the 'loan' was perhaps the carrot to get him to push himself harder in training and show the talent that KR and FAZ obviously knew he had same with Agyei i feel. Most of his interviews and quotes mention hard work in training. Perhaps he took a while to adjust from part-time to full-time football
I would say so and he said last week that Mous tells him in training that he needs to score more, so they obviously think he has the ability.
 
I really like Sykes. I rated him last season but he has gone up another couple of notches recently. The threat of a loan may have been a kick up the backside but he has real talent make no mistake. He can make something happen and if he scores a bit more often he'll be one hell of an asset.
 
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