Not Nineteen Forever

[Phileas Fogg]

Really interesting question. Tricky because they're different positions and very different styles of player.

One metric could be how far did we expect Abraham to go by age 25, and where do we expect Scott to be at the same age?

Abraham played at various Premier League clubs - with good scoring records at each, and is now doing pretty well for Roma. He's had a few England caps, and is a bit unlucky to be in the same era as a time when England tend to play 1 out and out centre forward, and have Harry Kane. 

I think one thing that will perhaps enable Scott to go further is his versatility. He's clearly more comfortable as an attacking minded midfielder, but can play a variety of positions. Abraham doesn't have that luxury, and is only really effective as a centre forward. In the modern game where systems are so fluid, and lots of teams play with a single centre forward, this will obviously favour Scott. 

Both have lots of natural ability, but in different ways. Scott is skilful, has great vision and dribbling whereas Abraham has that unteachable instinct for goalscoring. 

You could argue Abraham has benefitted from being at Chelsea, but this is entirely dependent on how you view it. If Scott was at Chelsea or a similar club, he'd have likely spent a couple of years out on loan as Abraham did - perhaps to better sides than us. Impossible to say whether this would have been better for his development than being a regular fixture in a middling championship club. 

By 25 - would we expect Scott to have played more games in the Prem and/or for higher ranked clubs than Abraham with more than 11 England caps? If I had to make a call one way of the other, I'd probably say yes. Some of that though will be by virtue of his comparative versatility. 

Really good question - lots to consider.

[richwwtk]

22 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

One of the really random things that’s stuck in my head is that Ms Whittaker is married to 80’s/90’s rap/dance star “Rebel MC”. Street Tuff was a hell of a tune.

Leilani Dowling, also of P3 fame, is now a conspiracy theorist.

(Scott)

It always makes me feel slightly uncomfortable when people talk about Maria Whittaker. I can still remember the big build up in The Sun to her 16th birthday. They would have full page photo shoots of her in swimsuits etc with stories about how she was 15 so couldn't yet go topless, along with 'only 6 days to go' type stories. Then on her 16th birthday they splashed her all over Page 3.

It seemed questionable to me at the time ( I was only 17/18 myself!), and they definitely wouldn't be able to do it now.

P.S. Back on topic - I think Alex Scott is the better player at 19, Tammy was an amazing goalscorer and didn't have too much else to his game, but who needs it when you're like him?

Edited February 15, 2023 by richwwtk

[Super]

25 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

One of the really random things that’s stuck in my head is that Ms Whittaker is married to 80’s/90’s rap/dance star “Rebel MC”. Street Tuff was a hell of a tune.

Leilani Dowling, also of P3 fame, is now a conspiracy theorist.

(Scott)

Is he a Yankee no I'm a Londoner! Great tune.

[redsince1994]

35 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

One of the really random things that’s stuck in my head is that Ms Whittaker is married to 80’s/90’s rap/dance star “Rebel MC”. Street Tuff was a hell of a tune.

Leilani Dowling, also of P3 fame, is now a conspiracy theorist.

(Scott)

Top tune!

Now goes by "Congo Natty" and was instrumental in popularising jungle music in the mid 90s

[Bris Red]

2 hours ago, Super said:

Completely agree with this. Scott is doing it at a much lower level but def has the potential to be a very good Premier League player. Too early to have debates like this really.

Agreed. There is nothing to say that Scott does step up to the Premier League to a lower or upper mid table club and has the same sort of trajectory that Bobby Reid has had.
Bobby has done really well in the Prem but he isn’t a world beater at that level, a very solid performer but in reality is still a way off ever playing for a top 4 side. Scott could follow the same sort of path IMO.

Edited February 15, 2023 by Bris Red

[Super]

9 minutes ago, Bris Red said:

Agreed. There is nothing to say that Scott does step up to the Premier League to a lower or upper mid table club and has the same sort of trajectory that Bobby Reid has had.
Bobby has done really well in the Prem but he isn’t a world beater at that level, a very solid performer but in reality is still a way off ever playing for a top 4 side. Scott could follow the same sort of path IMO.

Agree with this. Reid has actually surprised me a little bit as he seems to be one of the first names on the teamsheet for Fulham. The last thing Scott wants to do is be like a Djed Spence going to a big club and not playing.