Taylor Gardner-Hickman what is he good at?

[Henry]

He’s trying good at taking 3-4 touches, when 1 would do,  before releasing the ball.

[Malago]

 

[Malago]

In my opinion TGH is a talented, hardworking youngman who’s only going to get better.

[Kid in the Riot]

Pretty obvious Manning didn't want him but our Teknical dyrektor did. 

Back to the MA/LJ transfer bun-fight days. Joy. 

[Dr Balls]

I think he’s lost confidence as others have said, plus Manning is playing him in a holding role that I don’t think suits him.

With a different coach, I think he would suit playing as an attacking midfielder. If I wanted to go really radical and attacking, I would set us up as a 4-2-2-2, with Knight and TGH as the forward midfielders in front of James and Williams, with Conway and Wells as the front pair. Would definitely create more that way, but it’s not going to happen under “Mr Behaviours”.

[Davefevs]

3 minutes ago, Dr Balls said:

I think he’s lost confidence as others have said, plus Manning is playing him in a holding role that I don’t think suits him.

With a different coach, I think he would suit playing as an attacking midfielder. If I wanted to go really radical and attacking, I would set us up as a 4-2-2-2, with Knight and TGH as the forward midfielders in front of James and Williams, with Conway and Wells as the front pair. Would definitely create more that way, but it’s not going to happen under “Mr Behaviours”.

Yep, think he’s more of an 8 than a 6.

[Harry]

1 hour ago, Henry said:

He’s trying good at taking 3-4 touches, when 1 would do,  before releasing the ball.

Yes yes yes. 
That was the bit I forgot to add to my post earlier. 
He regularly takes 4, 5 or 6 touches before moving the ball on. 
Watch the best midfielders in this division, it’s all 1 or 2 touch. Occasionally 3. 
Generally the best CM’s in this league take 1 touch to control it and manoeuvre the ball where they want it, and the 2nd touch to pass. It keeps the play uptempo. 
TGH slows the game down like no CM I’ve seen before. When he does the 1 and 2 touch stuff he’s fine, but more often than not it’s 4,5 or 6 touches. 
It bugs the bloody hell out of me! 

[Major Isewater]

8 hours ago, Harry said:

Yes yes yes. 
That was the bit I forgot to add to my post earlier. 
He regularly takes 4, 5 or 6 touches before moving the ball on. 
Watch the best midfielders in this division, it’s all 1 or 2 touch. Occasionally 3. 
Generally the best CM’s in this league take 1 touch to control it and manoeuvre the ball where they want it, and the 2nd touch to pass. It keeps the play uptempo. 
TGH slows the game down like no CM I’ve seen before. When he does the 1 and 2 touch stuff he’s fine, but more often than not it’s 4,5 or 6 touches. 
It bugs the bloody hell out of me! 

Perhaps he’s under instruction to slow the game down and play the safe possession ball ? 
When he arrived he added positivity to our midfield and his set pieces were miles better than any other player. He was however criticised for his lack of consistency but this is his first full season as a first teamer so it’s to be expected. He’s not the finished product and he’s gone backwards under Manning ( like the majority of our lads) . I still think he’s a good footballer . 
 

[robinforlife2]

9 hours ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Pretty obvious Manning didn't want him but our Teknical dictator did. 

Back to the MA/LJ transfer bun-fight days. Joy. 

Changed that for you

[Numero Uno]

9 hours ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Pretty obvious Manning didn't want him but our Teknical dyrektor did. 

Back to the MA/LJ transfer bun-fight days. Joy. 

EXACTLY what I thought. Manning wasn't even picking him regularly when we signed him. It was a bit of a cowardly performance from him yesterday I'm afraid to say, allowing himself to be tightly marked up with no attempt to move into space (I've played enough football to recognise that like a flashing beacon) so he didn't have to receive the ball under press, really disappointing watching a young lad we've shelled a lot of cash out on do that. Just shows no backbone. Dickie was not impressed either, you could see that much (if you were watching).

[Harry]

30 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

Perhaps he’s under instruction to slow the game down and play the safe possession ball ? 
When he arrived he added positivity to our midfield and his set pieces were miles better than any other player. He was however criticised for his lack of consistency but this is his first full season as a first teamer so it’s to be expected. He’s not the finished product and he’s gone backwards under Manning ( like the majority of our lads) . I still think he’s a good footballer . 
 

It’s not instruction. That’s a terrible excuse. You can’t blame a manager for a player taking 6 touches to think about his next move. It also happened under the previous manager. It’s not instruction, it’s the players speed of thought. 

[bexhill reds]

40 minutes ago, Harry said:

It’s not instruction. That’s a terrible excuse. You can’t blame a manager for a player taking 6 touches to think about his next move. It also happened under the previous manager. It’s not instruction, it’s the players speed of thought. 

Disagree with this, he’s definitely regressed under whatever system is being imposed at present, it’s almost as if the spontaneity has been drilled out of the team. I see him as a player that can keep things ticking over with an eye for a pass, Manning has turned him into some sort of drone.

[The Bard]

9 hours ago, Harry said:

Yes yes yes. 
That was the bit I forgot to add to my post earlier. 
He regularly takes 4, 5 or 6 touches before moving the ball on. 
Watch the best midfielders in this division, it’s all 1 or 2 touch. Occasionally 3. 
Generally the best CM’s in this league take 1 touch to control it and manoeuvre the ball where they want it, and the 2nd touch to pass. It keeps the play uptempo. 
TGH slows the game down like no CM I’ve seen before. When he does the 1 and 2 touch stuff he’s fine, but more often than not it’s 4,5 or 6 touches. 
It bugs the bloody hell out of me! 

Basic coaching message 3 touch football. Control it  manipulate it, pass it.

[Red-Robbo]

In an ideal world, he'd be a sort of central midfield distributor type - spraying balls about upfield to others who carry much more goal threat than him.

He's definitely lost his mojo currently though. 

Probably our best dead-ball taker, but that says more about the rest if the side than it does TGH. 

[Firstyardleftinbed]

I don't know what position he played in youth football but he played most of his football for West Brom as a full back and still comes across to me as a right back learning to play centre mid. His touch is good and he can pass the ball but his awareness of what is around him isn't great, which (as others have said) leads to him taking too many touches and losing the opportunity to pass the ball forwards or drive with it. There's enough there for him to be a decent Championship centre mid in future but with his lack of any real stand out physical attributes I think that's about his ceiling. 

[Davefevs]

5 minutes ago, Firstyardleftinbed said:

I don't know what position he played in youth football but he played most of his football for West Brom as a full back and still comes across to me as a right back learning to play centre mid. His touch is good and he can pass the ball but his awareness of what is around him isn't great, which (as others have said) leads to him taking too many touches and losing the opportunity to pass the ball forwards or drive with it. There's enough there for him to be a decent Championship centre mid in future but with his lack of any real stand out physical attributes I think that's about his ceiling. 

Youth: right midfield / centre midfield

Senior (for WBA): predominantly in midfield, across the piece.  In 60 apps he played RB 8 times.

(source: Transfermarkt)

Edited March 11 by Davefevs

[Mr Popodopolous]

JKnight deeper with the energy, TGH higher and central?

No Bell could it be worth trying at least something like.. 

        Knight  Williams (James)

Sykes       TGH       Twine

                Conway

Or does Twine have to be central?

[Firstyardleftinbed]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

Youth: right midfield / centre midfield

Senior (for WBA): predominantly in midfield, across the piece.  In 60 apps he played RB 8 times.

(source: Transfermarkt)

I stand (slightly) corrected  Looking at Transfermarkt it seems like he only played CM 18 times within those 60 appearances and was scattered around a few other positions for the rest (youth career looks to be all right/left sided). 18 games isn't insignificant but I'd say he's definitely still learning and some of the positioning, awareness when receiving the ball etc doesn't look to come naturally to him. That can all be developed but will take a fair bit more game time and I'm not sure he will get that consistently with the CMs we have + the new ones coming in.

 

[mozo]

5 hours ago, Major Isewater said:

Perhaps he’s under instruction to slow the game down and play the safe possession ball ? 
When he arrived he added positivity to our midfield and his set pieces were miles better than any other player. He was however criticised for his lack of consistency but this is his first full season as a first teamer so it’s to be expected. He’s not the finished product and he’s gone backwards under Manning ( like the majority of our lads) . I still think he’s a good footballer . 
 

I don't think so for the following reason...

When our defenders are ponderous.... it can't be the instruction, because the midfielders are holding their hands out saying why didn't you pass to me.

Similarly, when TGH dallies, he often has a players showing for him that he doesn't pass to quick enough. 

The structure is there but the execution isn't in my opinion.

[Lorenzos Only Goal]

17 hours ago, formerly known as ivan said:

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

Couldn't have said it better.

[JP Hampton]

18 hours ago, Davefevs said:

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.

Agree. You don’t suddenly lose talent. He started well and was talked about on here in a positive way, so he definitely had something. I think along with several others it’s just not clicking for him at present, but that’s a common theme at present. 

[JP Hampton]

16 hours ago, Harry said:

Yes yes yes. 
That was the bit I forgot to add to my post earlier. 
He regularly takes 4, 5 or 6 touches before moving the ball on. 
Watch the best midfielders in this division, it’s all 1 or 2 touch. Occasionally 3. 
Generally the best CM’s in this league take 1 touch to control it and manoeuvre the ball where they want it, and the 2nd touch to pass. It keeps the play uptempo. 
TGH slows the game down like no CM I’ve seen before. When he does the 1 and 2 touch stuff he’s fine, but more often than not it’s 4,5 or 6 touches. 
It bugs the bloody hell out of me! 

There seems to be a few players guilty of that as part and parcel of this footballing style. Mehmeti far too many touches, even Dickie at times, but as said before I think we saw talent in TGH on arrival and some of the things he’s doing now he wasn’t doing originally. 
 Unfortunately it feels as though there’s a good few players who aren’t performing as they used to. 

[Harry]

3 hours ago, JP Hampton said:

There seems to be a few players guilty of that as part and parcel of this footballing style. Mehmeti far too many touches, even Dickie at times, but as said before I think we saw talent in TGH on arrival and some of the things he’s doing now he wasn’t doing originally. 
 Unfortunately it feels as though there’s a good few players who aren’t performing as they used to. 

I don’t think Dickie takes too many touches very often. He occasionally may have 3 or 4 when an immediate pass forward isn’t available and he thus shifts to the left for a pass to Pring or the right to Vyner. 
Re Mehmeti. Very different. He’s a winger. I’d expect wingers to take more touches of the ball as they are attempting to dribble and beat a man or create space. 
TGH takes too many touches for a CM.  It slows us down massively. CM’s at this level should be 1 or 2 touch, 3 at max. 
He did this under the previous manager too so it’s not instruction. This thread has been on my radar ever since he arrived but I didn’t want to ‘go early’ as it were. So when someone else has notified this too I now find it’s time for me to say my piece. It’s happened all season, it’s not a regression under the new manager.