Got to agree with that. George is a good player but as of yet not head and shoulders and certainly not a match to the hype of the article.
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Recency bias applies to everything in football. When things are going well the manager "is the next Jimmy Sirrel", we've got the best owners ever, the loudest fans, never seen so many new young supporters etc. etc. When it's going bad, Sirrel would "turn in his grave", players not fit to wear the shirt, worst atmosphere ever, an ageing fanbase that's dying out.... and so on.
You need the perspective of at least 5 years to make fair comparisons and to put it all into proper context.
Yates didn't really do anything on the ball. Yates just put his head on people's boot and got them sent off. Look at the start of that season, we played against 10 men in more matches than I can remember. Abbott is technically a much better player than Yates, Yates was just either very brave or very dumb
I agree Abbott is one of the first names on the team sheet but he didn?t start as a wing back, he?s played there once, against Chesterfield.
I think he?s a very good player and will play well above league 2.
For me he?s not at the level of Yates/Grealish yet, but at the end of the season, who knows?!
Yes, they can't get past the "Tottenham'' part of it.
An example that comes to mind is Tom Cleverley, because he came up from Man Utd youth he got picked for England (fell way short), then got a contract at Everton, before soon after finding his real level at Watford in the Championship.
You can never be sure, but my take is that George is definitely NOT a L2 player. But not necessarily a Premiership player either, I'd say no worse than a really a good Championship player in a couple of years' time. That means we're lucky to have him now, and why, based on his all round game, he's by the far the best of the central midfielders we have. MP, Robbo, Hinchy won't be threatening the Championship any time soon.
Yates had one elite level skill - his physicality and combativeness. If the rest of his game is OK, that one thing he does in the top percentile allowed him to become a Prem player.
Same with Ruben. We know he has dubious consistency and pace, but he's a top percentile creative passer so Oxford pick him to start every game (almost) in the Championship, and other clubs will be lining up to give him a shot after that
Yates was absolutely excellent whilst he was at Notts. We would have gone up automatically had he not been recalled, I have zero doubt in that. He was so influential.
Abbott has had a solid start and looks a very good prospect but if he got recalled in Jan, it would not have the impact losing Yates did.
And, as per the article, if anyone thinks he is anywhere near as good as Grealish then they are crazy.
The thing about Abbott is he?s only 18 and not the biggest build but to come in and adapt so quickly I think indicates he will play very high up. I get the point about Yates leaving and yes it?s true but he was so invaluable because he had to compete for endless second balls due to is playing constant hoofball, in this style of play he wouldn?t have shone half as much.