Zak Lovelace

Would love to see him develop and start for us, time will tell if circumstances allow it - striker has always been hard for us to blood youth prospects.
 
Just my opinion if we don't get this lad involved in the 1st team in some way his head will be turned by a team elsewhere
And to anyone who says hees too young
That old saying
If you're good enough
You're old enough
 
Ferdinand Willem said:
Just my opinion if we don't get this lad involved in the 1st team in some way his head will be turned by a team elsewhere
And to anyone who says hees too young
That old saying
If you're good enough
You're old enough
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Do you honestly think Beale believes the boy is good enough and is deliberately not playing him?

A guy who has his level of experience and reputation in youth development is worthy of some trust here. He had no issue taking a risk with Devine when he could have shifted other, more experienced players around to fill those gaps.

If Lovelace shows he's good enough in training, he'll be involved. My belief is that it's just a little early for him.
 
strider said:
Do you honestly think Beale believes the boy is good enough and is deliberately not playing him?

A guy who has his level of experience and reputation in youth development is worthy of some trust here. He had no issue taking a risk with Devine when he could have shifted other, more experienced players around to fill those gaps.

If Lovelace shows he's good enough in training, he'll be involved. My belief is that it's just a little early for him.
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Beale can only go with what the other coaches tell him.. unless he sees him every game.. but from what I'm being told by guys who watch him week n week out hees prob ready for the bench atleast
 
strider said:
This is where people seem to go a bit awry, isn't it?

Čolak would look like an absolute superstar at the level Lovelace is playing at just now. That's no slight on Lovelace at all.
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You always come on with your much better understawnin routine but even if what you say is true you have no way of knowing or being sure he wouldnt grab a place in the side and do very well.

I like Colak and Sakala but it wont be a total shock if hes as good or even better, we only find out by giving them a chance and with the league over i dont see what is to lose.

You say trust the manager but no manager gets everything right all the time.
 
Ferdinand Willem said:
Beale can only go with what the other coaches tell him.. unless he sees him every game.. but from what I'm being told by guys who watch him week n week out hees prob ready for the bench atleast
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Only thing I'd say there is that Beale has pretty much told us that performances in the B team games won't be how he judges these boys.
 
strider said:
This is where people seem to go a bit awry, isn't it?

Čolak would look like an absolute superstar at the level Lovelace is playing at just now. That's no slight on Lovelace at all.
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Colak has done well for us in his first season got us qualified for the Champions League and had 17 goals all with a few months out.

We wouldn't be spending money in the summer or be in the position we are without his goals.
 
Club Deck Craig said:
We’d play Steven Davis on one leg before giving prospects a decent chance!
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Aye but don’t worry mate, theres plenty on here happy to report that given another 3 or 4 year careful nurturing Leon King and Zak Lovelace should be ready to sit on the bench in a cup match against Motherwell.

We play in basically the worst league in Europe, our best youths should be able to get in any other SPFL first team except Celtics or what’s the point in it all?
 
Ferdinand Willem said:
Beale can only go with what the other coaches tell him.. unless he sees him every game.. but from what I'm being told by guys who watch him week n week out hees prob ready for the bench atleast
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Beale has said training with the first-team is the most important part of the week for these young players, not playing for the B-team, and that is their best chance of impressing the manager. The level the B-team play at is so far away from the level we play at, those were Beale's words. So Beale will not be relying on what other coaches tell him, he will be judging him by how he does when he trains with the first-team.
 
Maida Vale Bear said:
He had game time from the bench last season at Millwall. That's the Championship and outside of filth games it's easily a higher level than the rest of the shit in our league.
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It's worth noting that the game time amounted to 24 minutes over 5 sub appearances according to Transfermarkt, and 3 of those 5 appearances were under a minute at the end of a game.

Rumours at the time were that Millwall were trying to use that to persuade him to stay there.
 
Jacko55 said:
Aye but don’t worry mate, theres plenty on here happy to report that given another 3 or 4 year careful nurturing Leon King and Zak Lovelace should be ready to sit on the bench in a cup match against Motherwell.

We play in basically the worst league in Europe, our best youths should be able to get in any other SPFL first team except Celtics or what’s the point in it all?
Click to expand...

Our best youths right now are King, Lowry and Devine. All three could play in the Premiership up here on loan deals, but we've not went down that road. Beale suggested that sort of move wouldn't benefit our players.

Our league is nowhere near the worst in Europe, as an aside, even if we're only considering top leagues in each country.
 
strider said:
Our best youths right now are King, Lowry and Devine. All three could play in the Premiership up here on loan deals, but we've not went down that road. Beale suggested that sort of move wouldn't benefit our players.

Our league is nowhere near the worst in Europe, as an aside, even if we're only considering top leagues in each country.
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It is the worst league in Europe and if you think Devine, King and Lorrie can play in the SPFL right now you are dreaming.

Adam Devine is literally 20 years old next week. This is exactly what I’m saying, he isn’t even a youth player if he’s leaving his teens and he’s still nowhere near playing for Rangers. He looks about 9 stone wet through. Lowry is 20 in the summer and he looks about 6 stone wet though. King was woefully out of his depth this year and that’s why he’s been nowhere near a first team since Beale and Goldson came back in. Far too many of our “prospects” have played a dozen games before their 20s, it’s not quick enough and it’s nowhere near good enough considering the time and money spent on it all.

You dont like Endrick as an example? What about VinI jr, Rodrigo, Camavinga? All had 100 proffesional games out of their teams. When they buy Bellingham that will be half the team under 21 all with more proffesional games than Michael Stewart’s whole career.

If you’re good enough you’re old enough and our league is absolutely atrocious so if these boys aren’t good enough at 20 it’s pointless.
 
cooperman said:
think him and Thompson Ishaka are the ones that have a high chance of making the first team in the non too distant future fingers crossed, there's also a young kid called Alex Yiga 16-year-old midfielder we flew in for a trail from Uganda, meant to be a real talent

https://twitter.com/x/status/1617801925205889024

here's hoping youngsters will save us a fortune in the future
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Don’t think we signed Ishaka did we?
 
TPP said:
I’ve said a few times but can’t believe he’s not been on the bench for us a few times. I think he’d offer a lot more than colak in certain games.
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You reckon being good, at best, in the fifth tier, at best, equates to being good enough for our first team?
 
tazzabear said:
You reckon being good, at best, in the fifth tier, at best, equates to being good enough for our first team?
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I reckon as you put it being a good footballer with the right mentality equates being good enough for a place on our bench. before his breakthrough I said Lowry could play a big role on the bench and start to get more first team exposure rather than Sands for example.

I also didn’t think King was good enough for our first team and just couldn’t get he was being pushed so hard up. Yet here we are.

I reckon Lovelace would make a better impact than the likes of matondo, yeah.
 
All IMHO :))
I watch him regularly in the B team games.
He is very young.
He has a good physique and a lot of pace.
He has scored some great goals at B team level.
He can go missing in games and is a bit erratic.
He needs to learn how to avoid being caught offside.
He definitely has potential but has a way to go.
Loads to learn about being a team player.
 
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strider said:
It's worth noting that the game time amounted to 24 minutes over 5 sub appearances according to Transfermarkt, and 3 of those 5 appearances were under a minute at the end of a game.

Rumours at the time were that Millwall were trying to use that to persuade him to stay there.
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Point taken, but it was last year and a year is a long time. When we signed him it should have been with a view to give him some minutes to assist with his development. I'd suggest his year with us will have set him back in development.
 
Looking at the players the English youth bring through I suspect the U17s is a decent level certainly sounds positive.
Lovelace looks like the promising player Juan Alegria was tipped to be...
 
We have never been great at taking a punt at youngsters with regards to the first team. The last one was probably Barry. However the track record of the ones we never gave a shot to hasn’t been great. Our biggest problem is finding them in the first place.
 
55andnomore10 said:
We have never been great at taking a punt at youngsters with regards to the first team. The last one was probably Barry. However the track record of the ones we never gave a shot to hasn’t been great. Our biggest problem is finding them in the first place.
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Yes, Patterson only came in due to Tavs injury, Bassey only came in as GVB rated him we do not really play young players.
 
PrivateAye72 said:
He's literally just 17 years old. He's got 12 goals in 25 appearances for the B team in the Lowland leauge. A great prospect, especially if he gets a good loan move next season. The notion that he could deliver more than Wright and Colak right now is insane.

If anyone mentions Derek Johnstone playing at 16 is there a sort of cyber dunce cap we can put on them?
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Not sure if sending him out on loan to some Scottish team with a brain dead manager that prefers big carthorses lumping it up the park, will be the way forward for the boy. Probably set him back instead. Before you know it the fans on here will be saying he looks pish.
 
Ferdinand Willem said:
Just my opinion if we don't get this lad involved in the 1st team in some way his head will be turned by a team elsewhere
And to anyone who says hees too young
That old saying
If you're good enough
You're old enough
Click to expand...
But is he good enough? Would the manager not have a good idea on his progress and when it’s right for him to be given a chance in the first team?
 
ReconRobstar said:
Looking at the players the English youth bring through I suspect the U17s is a decent level certainly sounds positive.
Lovelace looks like the promising player Juan Alegria was tipped to be...
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Christ. Checked to see how Alegria was getting on. Recalled in January and not been seen since
 
I’ve seen quite a bit of Lovelace in B Team games.

First thing I will say is can we stop with the guy is a tank what a physique he has. This was before our match v Liverpool. We do not have a Zlatan Ibrahimović waiting on the sidelines. He is literally the smallest in the back row of this picture.

img-b-team.png



In our team the likes of Robbie Ure, Johnly Efeko, Alex Kpakpé to name a few dwarf him. Arron Lyall is stockier. So maybe he had the physique of a 19 year old at 15 but he is now up against equally as developed youngsters.

He is a talented boy but is still developing as a football player.
 
Anoldranger said:
But is he good enough? Would the manager not have a good idea on his progress and when it’s right for him to be given a chance in the first team?
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Only one way to find out.

I dont really get the point of going on about the manager making the decisions, it would be a pretty quiet website if every debate started and ended with well whatever the club feels is correct.

He probably is waiting till the league is over to give the lad, and one or two others a game, which you can understand he has to keep winning but also has to be thinking about next season.

I always think finding a right good striker can be more difficult than any other position, they cost the most money and usually make their way to the top leagues, all the more reason to look at a youth player as you never know he might just surprise everyone.
 
Angrybluebear said:
I’ve seen quite a bit of Lovelace in B Team games.

First thing I will say is can we stop with the guy is a tank what a physique he has. This was before our match v Liverpool. We do not have a Zlatan Ibrahimović waiting on the sidelines. He is literally the smallest in the back row of this picture.

img-b-team.png



In our team the likes of Robbie Ure, Johnly Efeko, Alex Kpakpé to name a few dwarf him. Arron Lyall is stockier. So maybe he had the physique of a 19 year old at 15 but he is now up against equally as developed youngsters.

He is a talented boy but is still developing as a football player.
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So if he the smallest in the back row does that make him the tallest in the front or are we not sure because they are all crouching tigers about to be unleashed
 
The man with no name said:
So if he the smallest in the back row does that make him the tallest in the front or are we not sure because they are all crouching tigers about to be unleashed
Click to expand...
Angrybluebear said:
I’ve seen quite a bit of Lovelace in B Team games.

First thing I will say is can we stop with the guy is a tank what a physique he has. This was before our match v Liverpool. We do not have a Zlatan Ibrahimović waiting on the sidelines. He is literally the smallest in the back row of this picture.

img-b-team.png



In our team the likes of Robbie Ure, Johnly Efeko, Alex Kpakpé to name a few dwarf him. Arron Lyall is stockier. So maybe he had the physique of a 19 year old at 15 but he is now up against equally as developed youngsters.

He is a talented boy but is still developing as a football player.
Click to expand...
Also forgot to ask is he taller than Ridvan because he needs to develop according to quite a few psychopaths on here
 
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