Ballard on 16:57 - Sep 12 with 3012 views | cocklebreath | Have to say it seems a strange decision to loan him out. | |
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Ballard on 17:13 - Sep 12 with 3003 views | 1ASIN12 | We would have also spent anything between £10,000,000 to £15,000,000 on signing him . | | | |
Ballard on 17:14 - Sep 12 with 3000 views | 1885_SFC |
Ballard on 16:57 - Sep 12 by cocklebreath | Have to say it seems a strange decision to loan him out. |
especially to a club managed by Ruben Selles - who'll never play him. | |
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Ballard on 18:06 - Sep 12 with 2960 views | saint22 | didn't he also just captain england seems insane to loan him when others think highly of him | | | |
Ballard on 20:48 - Sep 12 with 2855 views | PatfromPoole | I couldn’t agree more with every single post on this thread. | |
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Ballard on 20:53 - Sep 12 with 2845 views | grumpy | Not picking Ballard is a poor reflection on our recent managers. | | | |
Ballard on 22:27 - Sep 12 with 2794 views | PatfromPoole | Selles will probably take him off in the 88th minute when Reading are chasing the game. | |
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Ballard on 22:41 - Sep 13 with 2648 views | PatfromPoole | I gather today that Reading have had another 3 points deducted. They are going to be needing Ballard’s goals….. | |
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Ballard on 23:17 - Sep 13 with 2629 views | Ron11 |
Ballard on 22:41 - Sep 13 by PatfromPoole | I gather today that Reading have had another 3 points deducted. They are going to be needing Ballard’s goals….. |
So are we | | | |
Ballard on 07:58 - Sep 14 with 2535 views | SalisburySaint |
Ballard on 23:17 - Sep 13 by Ron11 | So are we |
Sorry but have to disagree, at Man City he would have been loaned out too, like Liam Delap who was at Stoke last year currently at Hull City | | | |
Ballard on 09:33 - Sep 14 with 2485 views | grumpy |
Ballard on 07:58 - Sep 14 by SalisburySaint | Sorry but have to disagree, at Man City he would have been loaned out too, like Liam Delap who was at Stoke last year currently at Hull City |
But we are not Man City. | | | |
Ballard on 09:58 - Sep 14 with 2466 views | SalisburySaint |
Ballard on 09:33 - Sep 14 by grumpy | But we are not Man City. |
But original post suggests he’d be in Man City team, hence my response | | | |
Ballard on 10:30 - Sep 14 with 2441 views | dirk_doone |
Ballard on 09:58 - Sep 14 by SalisburySaint | But original post suggests he’d be in Man City team, hence my response |
No, it doesn't. It suggests he'd be playing for us. | |
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Ballard on 10:44 - Sep 14 with 2425 views | Butty101 | Didnt we want to pay 20mill for Liam Delap? In 27 champ games hes scored 5 goals. I dont know how man city hood wink other clubs into spending fortunes on the their youngsters. | |
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Ballard on 12:49 - Sep 14 with 2359 views | benalisbroom | Bizarre decision. Saw him come on at Cambridge last season - in just a few minutes he had their CB's looking like they were playing a game of whack-a-mole - they never seemed to know where he was, and he scored a goal. Can we honestly say that Sekou Mara is more ready to play than Ballard? | | | |
Ballard on 10:27 - Sep 15 with 2203 views | SaintNick |
Ballard on 12:49 - Sep 14 by benalisbroom | Bizarre decision. Saw him come on at Cambridge last season - in just a few minutes he had their CB's looking like they were playing a game of whack-a-mole - they never seemed to know where he was, and he scored a goal. Can we honestly say that Sekou Mara is more ready to play than Ballard? |
I said this in another thread, the essence is a goal against Cambridge is not the benchmark we need to set, there are a lot of strikers over the years that have scored goals in League cup games against lower league opposition but havent made it at first team level. Ballard has scored loads for the U21 side, but that is nowhere near the standard of the first team, U21 sides usually get beaten by League one & two sides in the EFL Trophy. He has played a total of two first team appearances in the league, both off the bench totalling 24 minutes, in neither did he do much and didn't score. He also has two cup appearances, 4 minutes against Grimsby and 15 minutes against Cambridge where he did manage a goal. Sekou Mara played 34 games for Bordeax (24 of them off the bench) scoring 7 goals, he has started 5 League games for Saints plus 23 from the bench and scored twice, maybe it is not a great track record, but he has played and scored regularly in the French top flight, so at least he has one. So I am not too sure that anyone can say that Ballard is better than Mara, the stats are not there to back that up, one has scored just once against a League One side in the final minute and the other has scored against Manchester City twice and also has a couple of assists to his name. Ballard could well be a talent, but he hasn't really shown that yet at first team level where hs has played just 43 minutes, that goal aside he showed little, but he was playing in a poor side some will use as an excuse, yes but so was Sekou Mara Ballard has gone to Reading to toughen up, Selles has seen him at first hand for a year, yet he still hasn't thought he was better than he already had there. | |
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Ballard on 12:31 - Sep 15 with 2182 views | Number_58 |
Ballard on 10:27 - Sep 15 by SaintNick | I said this in another thread, the essence is a goal against Cambridge is not the benchmark we need to set, there are a lot of strikers over the years that have scored goals in League cup games against lower league opposition but havent made it at first team level. Ballard has scored loads for the U21 side, but that is nowhere near the standard of the first team, U21 sides usually get beaten by League one & two sides in the EFL Trophy. He has played a total of two first team appearances in the league, both off the bench totalling 24 minutes, in neither did he do much and didn't score. He also has two cup appearances, 4 minutes against Grimsby and 15 minutes against Cambridge where he did manage a goal. Sekou Mara played 34 games for Bordeax (24 of them off the bench) scoring 7 goals, he has started 5 League games for Saints plus 23 from the bench and scored twice, maybe it is not a great track record, but he has played and scored regularly in the French top flight, so at least he has one. So I am not too sure that anyone can say that Ballard is better than Mara, the stats are not there to back that up, one has scored just once against a League One side in the final minute and the other has scored against Manchester City twice and also has a couple of assists to his name. Ballard could well be a talent, but he hasn't really shown that yet at first team level where hs has played just 43 minutes, that goal aside he showed little, but he was playing in a poor side some will use as an excuse, yes but so was Sekou Mara Ballard has gone to Reading to toughen up, Selles has seen him at first hand for a year, yet he still hasn't thought he was better than he already had there. |
Surely the point here is that Mara has been given loads of opportunities to impress and has failed virtually every time. The U21 league may indeed be a comparatively poor standard, but how will we ever know if Ballard is good enough at Championship level if he literally never gets picked? | | | |
Ballard on 13:07 - Sep 15 with 2166 views | Butty101 |
Ballard on 10:27 - Sep 15 by SaintNick | I said this in another thread, the essence is a goal against Cambridge is not the benchmark we need to set, there are a lot of strikers over the years that have scored goals in League cup games against lower league opposition but havent made it at first team level. Ballard has scored loads for the U21 side, but that is nowhere near the standard of the first team, U21 sides usually get beaten by League one & two sides in the EFL Trophy. He has played a total of two first team appearances in the league, both off the bench totalling 24 minutes, in neither did he do much and didn't score. He also has two cup appearances, 4 minutes against Grimsby and 15 minutes against Cambridge where he did manage a goal. Sekou Mara played 34 games for Bordeax (24 of them off the bench) scoring 7 goals, he has started 5 League games for Saints plus 23 from the bench and scored twice, maybe it is not a great track record, but he has played and scored regularly in the French top flight, so at least he has one. So I am not too sure that anyone can say that Ballard is better than Mara, the stats are not there to back that up, one has scored just once against a League One side in the final minute and the other has scored against Manchester City twice and also has a couple of assists to his name. Ballard could well be a talent, but he hasn't really shown that yet at first team level where hs has played just 43 minutes, that goal aside he showed little, but he was playing in a poor side some will use as an excuse, yes but so was Sekou Mara Ballard has gone to Reading to toughen up, Selles has seen him at first hand for a year, yet he still hasn't thought he was better than he already had there. |
The Cambridge game, Adam Armstrong ran around for 75 mins and never looked like scoring. Ballard is a poacher and deserves a chance. Other wise what’s the point of the U21. | |
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Ballard on 13:45 - Sep 15 with 2152 views | SonicBoom | I guess that the club know that U21 to first team is a huge step. Reading is seen as a halfway house. If he does well there then he will get a chance. | | | |
Ballard on 14:45 - Sep 15 with 2128 views | PatfromPoole |
Ballard on 13:45 - Sep 15 by SonicBoom | I guess that the club know that U21 to first team is a huge step. Reading is seen as a halfway house. If he does well there then he will get a chance. |
If he does do well at Reading, it will almost count double, given the know how of Spreadsheet Man Selles. | |
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Ballard on 13:09 - Nov 24 with 428 views | benalisbroom |
Ballard on 10:27 - Sep 15 by SaintNick | I said this in another thread, the essence is a goal against Cambridge is not the benchmark we need to set, there are a lot of strikers over the years that have scored goals in League cup games against lower league opposition but havent made it at first team level. Ballard has scored loads for the U21 side, but that is nowhere near the standard of the first team, U21 sides usually get beaten by League one & two sides in the EFL Trophy. He has played a total of two first team appearances in the league, both off the bench totalling 24 minutes, in neither did he do much and didn't score. He also has two cup appearances, 4 minutes against Grimsby and 15 minutes against Cambridge where he did manage a goal. Sekou Mara played 34 games for Bordeax (24 of them off the bench) scoring 7 goals, he has started 5 League games for Saints plus 23 from the bench and scored twice, maybe it is not a great track record, but he has played and scored regularly in the French top flight, so at least he has one. So I am not too sure that anyone can say that Ballard is better than Mara, the stats are not there to back that up, one has scored just once against a League One side in the final minute and the other has scored against Manchester City twice and also has a couple of assists to his name. Ballard could well be a talent, but he hasn't really shown that yet at first team level where hs has played just 43 minutes, that goal aside he showed little, but he was playing in a poor side some will use as an excuse, yes but so was Sekou Mara Ballard has gone to Reading to toughen up, Selles has seen him at first hand for a year, yet he still hasn't thought he was better than he already had there. |
It’s just a feeling based on seeing him at Cambridge that day, Nick - he looked absolutely deadly when he came. And you can’t argue with his goal scoring record at any level to date. At some point you have to prioritise talent over experience- something Russell hates doing. Same with Sam A, Ronnie Edwards, Juan Larios, possibly O’Brien too. Give them a start and even if we lose we as fans have something to be proud of. | | | |
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