Nathan Thomas

Mapperley, darling wrote:

just need hairy and dane and ricks in on this and its atd's 'time of the month' (sorry for mentioning 'that time' ladies - see, marriage teaches you how to give in gracefully)   

Great post there mapperly you giant knob-end.

Anyway. Erm, is Thomas still a great player? He wasn't that good yesterday. Ran into cul-de-sacs and even struggled to take a throw in. I'd be surprised if we kept him.

Most people called for Thomas and Harvey to start. They did and it was a disaster.

hairy j wrote:

Mapperley, darling wrote:

just need hairy and dane and ricks in on this and its atd's 'time of the month' (sorry for mentioning 'that time' ladies - see, marriage teaches you how to give in gracefully)   

Great post there mapperly you giant knob-end.

Anyway. Erm, is Thomas still a great player? He wasn't that good yesterday. Ran into cul-de-sacs and even struggled to take a throw in. I'd be surprised if we kept him.

If we threw him on the scraphead I'd be amazed.

He has so much talent and natural ability, he just needs professional coaching from a club which has a long term vision for him.

He is still a teenager, don't forget. Hourihane was nowhere near as good as he is now aged 19 with 5 appearances.  All of the young players require patience, and the likes of Thomas, Harvey, Purrington, Young, Lecointe, River Allen and Ryan Lane will need a fair bit of patience for a few years to come yet.

When you contemplate that Thomas is younger than the likes of Isaac Vassell coming out of our youth system, yet clearly a much more advanced player - and as plenty have said, if Thomas was treated as a young teenage lad who has been with us since a boy, like Vassell, then he would be offered all the support and adulation he wanted. The constant singing of his name, like Tyler Harvey gets - an arm around the shoulder, like Vassell gets.

But instead because he has developed elsewhere he is expected to be the finished article - and expected to shred wings on his own (playing a defensive position).

He is still very young player, prone to inconsistency and poor performances. if Adnan Januzaj has a few shockers for Manchester United before the end of the season, I doubt they will be getting rid of him either. He has shown perfectly well what he is capable of in isolated appearances, but sadly for Thomas, at backwaters like Newport County, if you didn't witness him first hand you don't have the chance to watch him on your skyplussed MOTD.

Sheridan has claimed an ability to nurture talent & get them to realise potential.

pepsipete wrote:

Most people called for Thomas and Harvey to start.  They did and it was a disaster.

True dat.

Trouble is 'most people' don't know their 'arris from their elbow when it comes to player development, squad dynamic and team shape. It's why we employ a manager, he's supposed to know about these things and takes a holistic view on proceedings.

He got it wrong on sat'dy as the formation wasn't working and he couldn't/wouldn't change it. The fact we're in the top ten however and we still (theoretically, personally I think it went with Exeter) have something to play for at the business end of April shows that over the course of the season he's got it right more often than he's got it wrong.

That'll do for me, the season has been a 'success', a step forwards. This summer and the decisions he makes on recruitment/retention will be key, hopefully, again, he'll get more right than he gets wrong.

Haven't seen enough of Nathan Thomas myself to tell if he's the real deal or more in the Calvin Plummer mould of 'flash in the pan' glimpses of what could be..........but never transpire.

Offer him a 2 year deal, he'll have a big part to play next season, particularly if Shez reverts to 442/4411 for home games.

Way too much optimism for an ATD thread. Has he won the balloon door award yet?

Nathan Thomas. Our hopes are in your hands. Fail us not!

Jesus, I feel like Freathy.

Thomas showed exactly what he was about again on Saturday,  replaced Banton and proceeded to attack his defender at will.

Nowhere near the finished article but he is our most exciting player by some distance. I would be absolutely devastated if we didn't tie him down to a proper contract soon. He makes watching Argyle worth it when he drives forward with the ball glued to his left foot. We won't replace his menacing presence on the flank easily, so please let's believe and invest some time and faith in this kid!

2 year deal NOW please Sheridan.

ejh wrote:

I will be absolutely devastated if we don't tie him down to a proper contract soon.

hyperblole.

Bloody chuffed he got his contract offer. He could go on to great things - hopefully he will either drag Argyle up with him, or make the club a fortune in the process.

He could be the next Luke Young.   

Just the type of player Argyle will need next season. They'll be plenty of teams coming to HP set up for a draw.

Still hasn't signed yet mind. He had the bollocks to turn down a contract offer from Sunderland for first team football at Darlington, and he was pretty vociferous in telling supporters what he thought of Sheridan starting an unfit Banton over him for so long.

I can only imagine he doesn't sugarcoat his forthright opinions in Sheridan's presence.

Hopefully the impressions he made at Mansfield at home, and Newport and Portsmouth away will be enough for him to commit to a few years down here. I think a significant portion of fans have agreed Thomas was unfairly treated this season, and deserved more time on the pitch from Sheridan - who as has been seen with Young, can be quite stubborn and cold hearted in his approach to the younger players.

Will Thomas get a fair crack of the whip with a strengthened Argyle next season, with the better players Sheridan is trying to sign, or is he better off looking for a 50 game season with a bottom half/Conference club that is excited about his talent and wants to see him 'express himself'.

I will be happier when he has definitely put pen to paper.

ejh wrote:

Still hasn't signed yet mind. He had the bollocks to turn down a contract offer from Sunderland for first team football at Darlington, and he was pretty vociferous in telling supporters what he thought of Sheridan starting an unfit Banton over him for so long.

I can only imagine he doesn't sugarcoat his forthright opinions in Sheridan's presence.

Hopefully the impressions he made at Mansfield at home, and Newport and Portsmouth away will be enough for him to commit to a few years down here. I think a significant portion of fans have agreed Thomas was unfairly treated this season, and deserved more time on the pitch from Sheridan - who as has been seen with Young, can be quite stubborn and cold hearted in his approach to the younger players.

Will Thomas get a fair crack of the whip with a strengthened Argyle next season, with the better players Sheridan is trying to sign, or is he better off looking for a 50 game season with a bottom half/Conference club that is excited about his talent and wants to see him 'express himself'.

I will be happier when he has definitely put pen to paper.  

Come on its professional football not Sunday league FFS!

The only thing that makes certain he'll sign is the fact that he's continued to favourite and retweet every tweet from fans saying they're looking forward to seeing him again next season.

Don't think he'd do that if he wasn't fairly sure on putting pen to paper. These kind of things get delayed for all sorts of reasons. Holidays, minor haggling, practicalities, agent details, all sorts. I think it's an inevitability that he'll sign the thing at some point. The one that my gut is still nervy about is Reid.

Iggy wrote:

ejh wrote:

Still hasn't signed yet mind. He had the bollocks to turn down a contract offer from Sunderland for first team football at Darlington, and he was pretty vociferous in telling supporters what he thought of Sheridan starting an unfit Banton over him for so long.

I can only imagine he doesn't sugarcoat his forthright opinions in Sheridan's presence.

Hopefully the impressions he made at Mansfield at home, and Newport and Portsmouth away will be enough for him to commit to a few years down here. I think a significant portion of fans have agreed Thomas was unfairly treated this season, and deserved more time on the pitch from Sheridan - who as has been seen with Young, can be quite stubborn and cold hearted in his approach to the younger players.

Will Thomas get a fair crack of the whip with a strengthened Argyle next season, with the better players Sheridan is trying to sign, or is he better off looking for a 50 game season with a bottom half/Conference club that is excited about his talent and wants to see him 'express himself'.

I will be happier when he has definitely put pen to paper.  

Come on its professional football not Sunday league FFS!

Exactly.At the end of every season,"cold hearted" managers at pro clubs show the door to hundreds of young players who never even get near a first team.Young Mr Thomas has been offered an opportunity beyond the fate of the unlucky ones and he should be looking to impress sufficiently to book a regular team spot next season after a tough pre season rather than blow his chance and write pages of irrelevant,whingeing twaddle on Twatter or whatever it's called.All i've seen of him so far is a shuffle against Mansfield [admittedly a superb shuffle] and an anonymous game against Oxford,so very difficult to judge.All i can say is that other young players such as Hourihane and Nelson didn't seem to suffer from a lack of TLC from the manager last season,maybe there's a moral there.

Iggy wrote:

ejh wrote:

Still hasn't signed yet mind. He had the bollocks to turn down a contract offer from Sunderland for first team football at Darlington, and he was pretty vociferous in telling supporters what he thought of Sheridan starting an unfit Banton over him for so long.

I can only imagine he doesn't sugarcoat his forthright opinions in Sheridan's presence.

Hopefully the impressions he made at Mansfield at home, and Newport and Portsmouth away will be enough for him to commit to a few years down here. I think a significant portion of fans have agreed Thomas was unfairly treated this season, and deserved more time on the pitch from Sheridan - who as has been seen with Young, can be quite stubborn and cold hearted in his approach to the younger players.

Will Thomas get a fair crack of the whip with a strengthened Argyle next season, with the better players Sheridan is trying to sign, or is he better off looking for a 50 game season with a bottom half/Conference club that is excited about his talent and wants to see him 'express himself'.

I will be happier when he has definitely put pen to paper.  

Come on its professional football not Sunday league FFS!

Exactly my point, encourage players when they play well and give them another opportunity, instead of picking the players whose Dads are bigger than you.

I don't think the results towards the end of the season suggest Sheridan's approach was spot on? Criticising the team after each loss etc. The players had visibly lost a lot of confidence in the last 8 -10 games.

maybe he tried the nice guy approach and got defeat in return, then he tried to run them down to inspire them to victory by priving him wrong and all he got was defeat.

defeatist attitude runs through the core of the club and its fans.
the 'plymouth mentality' its called.

nathan thomas has a couple of good touches and fans are 'devasted' if he doesnt sign a contract.
embarrassing.

Only saw him play twice and both times as sub, Hardly set the World alight but I would like too see more of him next season, He does seem to have something about him but I'm prepared to trust Sheridan's judgement 100%

Elias wrote:

nathan thomas has a couple of good touches and fans are 'devasted' if he doesnt sign a contract.
embarrassing.

Keep the faith and believe in the Wearside Wizard     

Next season he will be obliterating defences with his pace and skill, hopefully for Argyle   

extraordinary

Wearside Wizard :-D Brilliant