Taylor Gardner-Hickman what is he good at?

[Vyners second son]

I'm by no means saying drop him, I'm glad we brought him. But what does he excel at and provide to the team? I know he does something, just can't put my finger on what. 

[RollsRoyce]

So why are you glad we signed him? You could answer your own question. 

[GrahamC]

He’s struggling.

Seems unable to impose himself on games & if we had more options in centre mid then no way would he still be starting.

Neat & tidy footballer but no goal threat & lacking confidence of late.

He was a relatively big outlay for someone who looks to be more like a squad player by the week.

[sunningdalered]

The short answer is not much. Don't expect him to be a regular starter when our new midfield dynamo's come on stream. Brings a bit of energy, that's all IMO. 

[Pezo]

I thought he was one of the better players today, but like the OP I can't figure out what he did. A bit like I use to view Skuse.

[Loosey Boy]

I’m sure he’s looking forward to his return to The Hawthorns next Saturday.

Seems to have less of an impact as the weeks progress though…..

[petehinton]

7 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

He’s struggling.

Seems unable to impose himself on games & if we had more options in centre mid then no way would he still be starting.

Neat & tidy footballer but no goal threat & lacking confidence of late.

He was a relatively big outlay for someone who looks to be more like a squad player by the week.

A player signed for a manager that definitely wouldn’t have wanted him if he wasn’t already in the door, and in no way fits the style of CM he wants to have. 

£1.7m all in, wasn’t it?

Brilliant stuff. 

[Bris Red]

 

1 hour ago, sunningdalered said:

The short answer is not much. Don't expect him to be a regular starter when our new midfield dynamo's come on stream. Brings a bit of energy, that's all IMO. 

As you said he brings energy and certainly is neat and tidy but isn't going to IMO propel us into the top 6. All in all he is fairly average at this level for me, a decent squad player but he isn't anything more.

It was unfortunately the sort of signings that we limited Pearson to bringing in though, with very little money to spend Pearson had little choice but to bring in the likes of Cornick and TGH when we needed more bodies in the building.

I can absolutely guarantee we would have seen a completely different pedigree of signing if Pearson was allowed to truly bring in the players he wanted/knew we needed to reach the top six but wasn't permitted too by the powers that be because of the financial constraints placed upon him..

Edited March 10 by Bris Red

[formerly known as ivan]

Another example of a player who has regressed under the Manning regime…

[The Original OTIB]

Not good today, better as an attacking mid for me, not comfortable holding and doing the dirty stuff. Good footballer though.

[mozo]

Just now, GrahamC said:

He’s struggling.

Seems unable to impose himself on games & if we had more options in centre mid then no way would he still be starting.

Neat & tidy footballer but no goal threat & lacking confidence of late.

He was a relatively big outlay for someone who looks to be more like a squad player by the week.

He's struggling, but tbf he's only a yound lad, and way off being an experienced pro at this level. Going through a losing streak and the boos and everything must be bloody hard for him. 

I know I'm like a broken record, but it's another example of how our squad has limitations, and I don't see why people expect consistent quality from this side. So many of this group are still finding their feet at this level, and it's nuts that we are now so reliant on players like Sykes and Knight to create goals. With young pup Bell injured, we've got not choice but to home Mehmeti can adapt quickly. It's not ideal.

[phantom]

23 minutes ago, petehinton said:

A player signed for a manager that definitely wouldn’t have wanted him if he wasn’t already in the door, and in no way fits the style of CM he wants to have. 

£1.7m all in, wasn’t it?

Brilliant stuff. 

Spot on, and sadly this goes for many of the squad we currently have 

[The Original OTIB]

3 minutes ago, phantom said:

Spot on, and sadly this goes for many of the squad we currently have 

A very good passer, decent pace, good engine, so disagree.

Edited March 10 by The Original OTIB

[RedEyez]

The necessity to keep Matty James around for another year or so appears to be getting greater after each game he misses. We have absolutely no midfield control without him.

When James is fit, it should be him, Williams and Knight competing for the CM spots. TGH to compete with Twine for the CAM role imo. 

[Super]

Another non creative midfielder to add to the others. 

[Harry]

As @Davefevs will know from our WhatsApp chats, I’m not a big fan of TGH. 
He’s a player with decent technique but I don’t see much more than that. 
He’s not very quick. He doesn’t tackle well (he’s often easily manoeuvred past and resorts to attempting to grab or pull or soft fouls). He often switches off in terms of defensive positioning (there’s been a few goals conceded from this lately). He gives the ball away very easily too often - there’s been a few incidents lately where he’s not played the easy pass in an attacking position and the opposition have broken away and had a chance or a goal). 
His set pieces are kind of okayish. Not brilliant but acceptable. 
He occasionally sees a good forward pass but it’s all too rare and he’s mostly just a very ‘safe’ passer. 
 

Think about this - West Brom were willing to pretty much swap a 22 year old academy product for a 34 year old ageing Weimann. 
I think there were some who suggested that West Brom sold because they needed the money - but what’s £1.3m? They could have made that sort of money up in numerous different ways. 
Ultimately, Corberan plays a high tempo style and TGH simply didn’t fit. Corberan was happy to sell. 
I personally don’t see TGH as a regular in any other top 12 team in this league. Sorry. I think we could have spent that money better. 
He’s not a ‘bad’ player by any means, but he is rather ineffective and just very ‘meh’. 

[Major Isewater]

3 minutes ago, Harry said:

As @Davefevs will know from our WhatsApp chats, I’m not a big fan of TGH. 
He’s a player with decent technique but I don’t see much more than that. 
He’s not very quick. He doesn’t tackle well (he’s often easily manoeuvred past and resorts to attempting to grab or pull or soft fouls). He often switches off in terms of defensive positioning (there’s been a few goals conceded from this lately). He gives the ball away very easily too often - there’s been a few incidents lately where he’s not played the easy pass in an attacking position and the opposition have broken away and had a chance or a goal). 
His set pieces are kind of okayish. Not brilliant but acceptable. 
He occasionally sees a good forward pass but it’s all too rare and he’s mostly just a very ‘safe’ passer. 
 

Think about this - West Brom were willing to pretty much swap a 22 year old academy product for a 34 year old ageing Weimann. 
I think there were some who suggested that West Brom sold because they needed the money - but what’s £1.3m? They could have made that sort of money up in numerous different ways. 
Ultimately, Corberan plays a high tempo style and TGH simply didn’t fit. Corberan was happy to sell. 
I personally don’t see TGH as a regular in any other top 12 team in this league. Sorry. I think we could have spent that money better. 
He’s not a ‘bad’ player by any means, but he is rather ineffective and just very ‘meh’. 

He has potential but he’s still very inexperienced at this level and the new coach has clearly changed his game and not for the better. 

[RedEyez]

5 minutes ago, Harry said:

As @Davefevs will know from our WhatsApp chats, I’m not a big fan of TGH. 
He’s a player with decent technique but I don’t see much more than that. 
He’s not very quick. He doesn’t tackle well (he’s often easily manoeuvred past and resorts to attempting to grab or pull or soft fouls). He often switches off in terms of defensive positioning (there’s been a few goals conceded from this lately). He gives the ball away very easily too often - there’s been a few incidents lately where he’s not played the easy pass in an attacking position and the opposition have broken away and had a chance or a goal). 
His set pieces are kind of okayish. Not brilliant but acceptable. 
He occasionally sees a good forward pass but it’s all too rare and he’s mostly just a very ‘safe’ passer. 
 

Think about this - West Brom were willing to pretty much swap a 22 year old academy product for a 34 year old ageing Weimann. 
I think there were some who suggested that West Brom sold because they needed the money - but what’s £1.3m? They could have made that sort of money up in numerous different ways. 
Ultimately, Corberan plays a high tempo style and TGH simply didn’t fit. Corberan was happy to sell. 
I personally don’t see TGH as a regular in any other top 12 team in this league. Sorry. I think we could have spent that money better. 
He’s not a ‘bad’ player by any means, but he is rather ineffective and just very ‘meh’. 

Completely agree. Doesn’t get anywhere near the starting 11 when everyone is fit. 

[Harry]

2 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

He has potential but he’s still very inexperienced at this level and the new coach has clearly changed his game and not for the better. 

I don’t think he was very good under the old one either. 
But that’s just my opinion. 

[mozo]

17 minutes ago, Harry said:

As @Davefevs will know from our WhatsApp chats, I’m not a big fan of TGH. 
He’s a player with decent technique but I don’t see much more than that. 
He’s not very quick. He doesn’t tackle well (he’s often easily manoeuvred past and resorts to attempting to grab or pull or soft fouls). He often switches off in terms of defensive positioning (there’s been a few goals conceded from this lately). He gives the ball away very easily too often - there’s been a few incidents lately where he’s not played the easy pass in an attacking position and the opposition have broken away and had a chance or a goal). 
His set pieces are kind of okayish. Not brilliant but acceptable. 
He occasionally sees a good forward pass but it’s all too rare and he’s mostly just a very ‘safe’ passer. 
 

Think about this - West Brom were willing to pretty much swap a 22 year old academy product for a 34 year old ageing Weimann. 
I think there were some who suggested that West Brom sold because they needed the money - but what’s £1.3m? They could have made that sort of money up in numerous different ways. 
Ultimately, Corberan plays a high tempo style and TGH simply didn’t fit. Corberan was happy to sell. 
I personally don’t see TGH as a regular in any other top 12 team in this league. Sorry. I think we could have spent that money better. 
He’s not a ‘bad’ player by any means, but he is rather ineffective and just very ‘meh’. 

And we've only got Andy King as an alternative at the moment

[GrahamC]

1 hour ago, petehinton said:

A player signed for a manager that definitely wouldn’t have wanted him if he wasn’t already in the door, and in no way fits the style of CM he wants to have. 

£1.7m all in, wasn’t it?

Brilliant stuff. 

Manning benched him a few times after he took over & went for a James/Williams combination.

I actually thought there was a possibility in January he might have ended the loan & used the money to bring in his own man, but he didn’t.

We seem to have ended up picking him by default because James is injured but let’s see if he’s a starter when Bird arrives & maybe another midfielder replaces those out of contract.

@Harry Weimann is still only 32 mate & with an assist today he’s proved a very shrewd short term pick up by Corveran, 2 goals & 2 assists in his 9 games for WBA.

Edited March 10 by GrahamC

[CityGill]

I was going to post last week, but since TGH’s permanent move he seems a lot less attacking.

When he was signed (under Pearson) he would receive the ball in midfield and look for a forward pass; or he would drive into space.

Since signing, and under Manning, he seems to receive the ball and his first thought seems to be to turn and pass back to defence. It’s a shame, because when we signed him permanently, I was excited. I saw him as the slightly more attacking of the midfield two. The player to receive the ball from defence and look to bring is forward.

As others have said, he is still young, but I’d like to see a bit more bravery both in attack and defending.

[redkev]

Another club in the bag player for me 

[JP Hampton]

32 minutes ago, Harry said:

As @Davefevs will know from our WhatsApp chats, I’m not a big fan of TGH. 
He’s a player with decent technique but I don’t see much more than that. 
He’s not very quick. He doesn’t tackle well (he’s often easily manoeuvred past and resorts to attempting to grab or pull or soft fouls). He often switches off in terms of defensive positioning (there’s been a few goals conceded from this lately). He gives the ball away very easily too often - there’s been a few incidents lately where he’s not played the easy pass in an attacking position and the opposition have broken away and had a chance or a goal). 
His set pieces are kind of okayish. Not brilliant but acceptable. 
He occasionally sees a good forward pass but it’s all too rare and he’s mostly just a very ‘safe’ passer. 
 

Think about this - West Brom were willing to pretty much swap a 22 year old academy product for a 34 year old ageing Weimann. 
I think there were some who suggested that West Brom sold because they needed the money - but what’s £1.3m? They could have made that sort of money up in numerous different ways. 
Ultimately, Corberan plays a high tempo style and TGH simply didn’t fit. Corberan was happy to sell. 
I personally don’t see TGH as a regular in any other top 12 team in this league. Sorry. I think we could have spent that money better. 
He’s not a ‘bad’ player by any means, but he is rather ineffective and just very ‘meh’. 

 I may be mistaken but I thought he showed promise in the first games he played for us? There was certainly a lot of comment about him here and I’m sure he’s dipped a lot lately. 
 Even he’s started doing the back passing now, that frustrated fans so much.

   It just feels at the moment that there’s no one who you think, ah well at least we’ve got so and so who’ll come on and make a difference and I for one felt that about him in the beginning. 

[Engvall’s Splinter]

Not overly convinced Manning wanted him, so was incredibly surprised we rushed the transfer through. A lot of money for us on a player who doesn’t improve us - another like for liker. I hope Manning does want him as otherwise it’s a Tinnion signing. 

[RedRock]

I asked a few weeks back what he brings to the team. I still don’t know.

Even more worrying is that under Manning’s tenure it became permanent.  I don’t think he fits Manning’s style of play at all and has become less and less effective as the weeks roll by.

Yet another expensive punt by our elite transfer department and a further addition to their long list of ‘not good enough’s’ by the looks of things. 

The 2023 January window was appalling, the 2024 little better. 
 
We will never progress with the current first team talent identification set up.

[bexhill reds]

35 minutes ago, CityGill said:

I was going to post last week, but since TGH’s permanent move he seems a lot less attacking.

When he was signed (under Pearson) he would receive the ball in midfield and look for a forward pass; or he would drive into space.

Since signing, and under Manning, he seems to receive the ball and his first thought seems to be to turn and pass back to defence. It’s a shame, because when we signed him permanently, I was excited. I saw him as the slightly more attacking of the midfield two. The player to receive the ball from defence and look to bring is forward.

As others have said, he is still young, but I’d like to see a bit more bravery both in attack and defending.

I think he’s stymied by Mannings way of playing, the majority of City players receiving the ball tend to look to play backward , I guess because the are looking for the “trigger”, I don’t think this is anything to do with bravery more being over coached. Add TGH to the ever growing list of players who have regressed under super coach.

[Davefevs]

I think he’s lost confidence, simple as.  Harry and I disagree on him, that’s fine.  Does the way we are currently playing suit him?  No, it doesn’t suit any of our players really.

[Sir Geoff]

2 hours ago, petehinton said:

A player signed for a manager that definitely wouldn’t have wanted him if he wasn’t already in the door, and in no way fits the style of CM he wants to have. 

£1.7m all in, wasn’t it?

Brilliant stuff. 

Wasn't it an option to buy, which means Manning must have given the deal the green light. I was surprised the deal was done hastily in Jan. Never worth 1.75 million imo.

 

[Simon bristol]

Clearly a talented lad, i would say hes closer to twine in style than knight is, perhaps moving him further forward would suit him more. Like others have said though, no one is exactly prospering at this point