Tony Mowbray has again explained the absence of Max Thompson, who turns 21 in February - making him older that Bennette, Ba, Amad, and Michut. The gaffer admitted that there must be a balance between giving youngsters an opportunity and throwing them to the wolves...
CONTEXT
“You have to put it into context. I’ve been here for five or six weeks now, and Max has probably trained with us half-a-dozen times and I’ve seen him play against Middlesbrough away at Bishop Auckland."
IS HE THE ANSWER?
“The days he’s trained with us, he’s done alright. But I don’t see a technician or a footballer with really clever skills. I see a really hard-working, honest kid, really, who will run. The other thing I’d say is that from the existing staff that have been working here, it’s not been driven back to me that this kid is the answer."
NEED TO SEE MORE
“He trains with us when we need extra numbers, but I need to see more of him than just the game against Middlesbrough at Bishop Auckland. There’ll be opportunities to do that, but I need to see it with my eyes. It’s no good relying on hearsay.”
UNDER-21 GROUP
“He’s been given a chance to play in the Premier League, why is he not in and around our training group every day? Why isn’t he a first-team squad player like Abdoullah Ba, Amad Diallo and Jewison Bennette?’ He isn’t with us every day, he’s with his peers at Under-21s age."
PROTECT HIM
“He hasn’t been thrust in front of me, and the reality is that on the days he’s trained with us, I’ve not been coming in saying, ‘Who’s that kid up front?’ So, you have to work out whether it’s the right or wrong thing to throw a young boy in with very little experience and expect him to do it. Then, if he doesn’t do it, everybody tells him he’s terrible. I think we have to protect young footballers until you think they’re ready to be exposed to the harshness of professional football at first-team level.”
