What’s next for Stephen Kelly?

We could have used 5 subs last night but you knew we would only make one last night. Kelly should have come on for Arfield as he didn't look 100% fit to me and was poor.
 
playing games sometimes at Hearts/Hibs (no guarantee how often he’d play, he could end up being a bench-warmer there) or remaining with our coaching staff?
Arguments for & against, personally I’d keep him with the group and try and develop him ourselves.
 
Blue Willie said:
We could have used 5 subs last night but you knew we would only make one last night. Kelly should have come on for Arfield as he didn't look 100% fit to me and was poor.
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Aribo was only midfielder that got pass marks lastnight I thought Hagi had a nightmare . Kelly should’ve got some game time
 
Theknight said:
I think it's very clear that with the exception of Patterson the manager just doesn't trust the youth players at the club. That was an energy sapping night tonight but you just knew the only sub used would be Itten unless he was forced to make an injury change. Maybe loan him out again but what's the point really, he'll end up like Barjonas staying here a year too long.
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I agree with you on this and I know Patterson had his COVID issues at the time but Patterson was forced on Gerrard because Balogun was so poor in his 2 games he played at right back. Had Tav not got his injury as well I wonder where we would be in terms of Patterson as well.

I get Arfield missed some pre season so needs minutes to catch up but last night and Malmo away he was done around 70th mark but they seem intent on running him into the ground. I know Kelly isn't a direct replacement for Arfield but he could have easily came on last night or in Malmo and do a job. I would just loan him out somewhere as the 5 sub rule going has killed any chance he has of getting minutes.
 
Whats up doc said:
I said this during the game, with all due respect to Alashkert, if he’s not trusted to come on vs 10 man team that were lower spfl level after they’ve been running about for 60 minutes what chance does he have. Would be as well just loaning him out tbh.
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Exactly. I’d go further and say if he can’t be trusted to play against that gross for 30munutes when his team mates are done then why is he in our squad?

Or should we just blame the coaches?
 
"Just bring him on for Arfield" - do people not understand midfielders do different things? From the little I've seen of him he's more of a Davis/Jack type player.
 
He'll be sent out on loan.

Failing that he'll sit in the stands most weeks.

Shame because the boy looks decent.
 
Airfield has a year left on his deal, Kelly should be taking majority of his minutes. Arfield over this pre season and start to the league campaign has showed he’s an aging player. Unfortunately Gerrard just doesn’t seem to really trust our youth players, in the end this will work against us when we don’t have home grown players to register for Europe when the likes of arfield and McGregor most likely retire at the end of the season. Our midfield so far this season has hardly played well and I’ll bet even thought lundstram looks like a diddy so far, he’ll come in and be automatically in front of Kelly in the pecking order, when that shouldn’t be the case.
 
TN8 said:
"Just bring him on for Arfield" - do people not understand midfielders do different things? From the little I've seen of him he's more of a Davis/Jack type player.
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And Tbf Ryan jack plays on the right hand side of our midfield three more than he does in the middle. He plays that position miles better than arfield actually.
 
DazRFC94 said:
If Kelly can run it would’ve been an improvement on Arfield in that second half.
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I don’t understand why people try look into tactics massively when your playing a team that most championship level clubs would give a game. And like you said if he can run and pass would have been an improvement. Or do you need to be pep guardiola to beat 10 man alashkert ffs.
 
I think Kamara will go in this transfer window . I suspect we will get another player but a different style in and Kelly will be given his chance this season.
 
Such is the pressure of managing this club it's extremely difficult to bed in even stand out youth players with any game time. Even in the cups, managers will always err on the side of caution and field as close to " the finished article" as is at their disposal. Has always been the case.
 
Blue Bill said:
Who would u drop in our midfield to play Kelly . I cant see him starting infront of Davis or Kamara . It’s going to be a long season he will get some game time at somepoint he looks to be a decent talent it’s just difficult to see him starting games
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If they think he's good enough Davis should be rested every now and again so he gets experience. Davis probably won't be here next season and if they think Kelly's good enough we should be making sure we get him as much minutes as we can.
 
Jaws said:
Kelly will get game time this season. Last night wasn’t the right time to blood youngsters. Imagine he makes an error that leads to the goal that could’ve put us out?
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Possible...but on the flip side, what does he learn if introduced only if we are 4 or 5 nill up?
That was absolute dross we were playing last night. We need to freshen the team up sometimes. We can't continue to have these undroppable roles / positions. 2 players for every position but only prepared to play 1 ?Performance needs to dictate the subs roles at times. If they are not performing....use the subs.
 
cooprfc said:
Possibly not but he is a Davis type and, as such, it's him who is keeping him out the side. And rightly so.

In terms of Gerrard trusting the youngsters, he rightly has no qualms about playing the ones good enough which is key as Patterson and Bassey will testify. Yes Bassey wasn't technically ours but he is young and has basically displaced one of our key performers from.last season.

Guys like McCrorie and Middleton were also played plenty. The reality is that none of the guys who Gerrard didn't play have shown him that he was wrong.
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Except he hasn't. Borna returned from the Euros clearly still carrying a knock. Bassey absolutely has not displaced him. If the gaffer actually thought Bassey was the first choice left back we'd be trying to punt Borna before the window closes.
 
Studio microphone
SD: For a lot of the young lads they have impressed at training, Stephen Kelly has been great since the first day and I really like him on the ball - he has a big career ahead of himself.


Steve Davis on Kelly above.
I would take the opinion of the guy who is keeping me out of the team above the opinion of some on FF.
 
Wilkinsvolley said:
This whole season is probably going to be affected by covid as more and more people are getting back to normal, more and more are catching covid. It was only last week people were saying we should punt Tav because we’ve got Patterson or what’s the point of Patterson when we’ve got Tav. We have plenty games to play and we’ll need a big squad to cope with any eventualities.
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it’s a really good point regarding covid, all teams are going to be hit by it so a good squad size is sensible
 
I know we all like to think management knows best and most of the time they do but this time Gerrard and co got it wrong.

We were playing in blistering heat and it was obvious from 60 minutes onward that Davis and Arfield were absolutely knackered. We have Celtic on Sunday and all we've done is knacker Davis for Sunday. Kelly should have been on to rest Davis and bring energy to the midfield.


On Kelly's future we should be loaning him out tbh. If we was going to get 15-20 games this season I'd probably keep him here but he isn't. Today we were missing Lundstrom, Jack and Bacuna, while having Aribo out wide. What chance does Kelly have when all of those are back? He is barely given 10 minutes against Dunfermline, let alone trusted to come in against a 10 man Armenian pub team.
 
The problem is Kelly is very much suited to us, his use of the ball, his game management, reads the game very well, So he might not fit any very well with other Scottish teams.
He’s far more suited to us than say Ali mccann, Lewis Ferguson type players
 
reyna12 said:
Honestly, really like Arfield and hate to criticise him after his contributions over last couple of years but…

if Kelly can’t get at least 40 minutes today with him playing so badly it is probably in his best interests to move on.
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Kelly can't play the same position as Arfield though.

He's a deep sitting playmaker, like Steven Davis.

Arfield wasn't great last night, but he was probably still our best midfielder and twice put Morelos clean through for very straightforward chances to score.
 
MearnsUnionist said:
Kelly can't play the same position as Arfield though.

He's a deep sitting playmaker, like Steven Davis.

Arfield wasn't great last night, but he was probably still our best midfielder and twice put Morelos clean through for very straightforward chances to score.
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He’s not always been a deep playmaker though, he was very much an attacking 8 all the way through the system

It was Ayr Utd who started playing him deeper
 
There was a period of the 2nd half when we looked a little ragged. I thought Kelly would have been a good sub in order to hold possession and take the sting out of the game.
 
Kelly has never been a deep lying midfielder he always played 10 or 8 he obviously can play deep because he is so comfy on the ball and hardly gives it away …but Kelly is in the top 3 for the fittest in the 1st team so stamina also isn’t a problem and a bit of energy was needed last night
 
Davis namechecked him in his press conference the day, said he has a massive future in the game.
 
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