Ryan Leonard

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

I'm curious about our pre-seasons & what they entail because they seem to be a cure all. Are they magical? We have three players on our books in Evans, Leonard & Holmes who as far as I can tell, are professional full time athletes and have been for at least 6 years each. As part of this role, they train daily, they take part in u23 and 1st team games and they have their diets monitored & controlled. In the cases of Leonard & Holmes, they may have been subject to a different professional regime prior to joining us, but they've been doing the 'right' thing for nearly four months/sixteen weeks now. In a couple of weeks, they'll stop doing this and basically go to somewhere warm & sandy and booze. They'll then come back and start pre-season, which will last about 6 weeks and involve trying to get players back in shape & playing the likes of Sheffield fc, stocksbridge & Scarborough in 75% paced friendly games. At the end of this process, when the players may or may not be any better than they were this season, people will be saying "They need a full season in them before you can judge them". :)
 



Nicolaus_Copernicus said:
I'm curious about our pre-seasons & what they entail because they seem to be a cure all. Are they magical? We have three players on our books in Evans, Leonard & Holmes who as far as I can tell, are professional full time athletes and have been for at least 6 years each. As part of this role, they train daily, they take part in u23 and 1st team games and they have their diets monitored & controlled. In the cases of Leonard & Holmes, they may have been subject to a different professional regime prior to joining us, but they've been doing the 'right' thing for nearly four months/sixteen weeks now. In a couple of weeks, they'll stop doing this and basically go to somewhere warm & sandy and booze. They'll then come back and start pre-season, which will last about 6 weeks and involve trying to get players back in shape & playing the likes of Sheffield fc, stocksbridge & Scarborough in 75% paced friendly games. At the end of this process, when the players may or may not be any better than they were this season, people will be saying "They need a full season in them before you can judge them". :)
Click to expand...

I'd expect any of them needing to improve their condition to begin the hard work well before pre season starts. Coutts is in for a difficult summer for example! I'd like L.Evans and Lundstram to work hard on their fitness and athleticism too.

With Leonard I think it's more of a case of adjusting to the Championship than improving his fitness, which is already a strength of his. He needs to play games. Hopefully he starts the last two of the season.
 
Said this before but the step up from League one to Championship is huge and is going to get bigger as more quality drops down from the Premier League.

The surprise is probably how many from last seasons League one squad have actually made a decent fist of life in this division this season.
 
Rootshallbloke said:
Lenny's main talents revolve around tackling, chasing down opposition players and an abilty to do it all for 90 minutes. He is strong in the air and when he's in the mood he has a pretty good shot on him. If Wilder was hoping that he would develop devastating passing skills then he got that wrong. Obviously he can pass a ball, he is a professional footballer, but it was never his major attribute.
Click to expand...

Leonards been brought in for this exact reason, Wilder has mentioned it many times before. He's a different option who breaks up play and takes the pressure off of better passers like Fleck/Coutts/Lundstram/Evans. I think the slower start is down partly to this. Every time I've seen him play (barring once at CB) he's been in this role in a midfield 3. It's hardly one where you can demonstrate skill and it's also a tactic we tend use against teams likely to dominate Midfield so naturally you expect us to be on the back foot there.

All that said I think his eventual position will be RCB of our back 3 as he has looked the most capable there. Basham (our current player there) is good but gets nosebleeds when he bombs forward (something our left and right CBs do a lot in our system). Leonards got enough of an eye for getting up and pace to potentially be a big improvement on this.
 
Nicolaus_Copernicus said:
I'm curious about our pre-seasons & what they entail because they seem to be a cure all. Are they magical? We have three players on our books in Evans, Leonard & Holmes who as far as I can tell, are professional full time athletes and have been for at least 6 years each. As part of this role, they train daily, they take part in u23 and 1st team games and they have their diets monitored & controlled. In the cases of Leonard & Holmes, they may have been subject to a different professional regime prior to joining us, but they've been doing the 'right' thing for nearly four months/sixteen weeks now. In a couple of weeks, they'll stop doing this and basically go to somewhere warm & sandy and booze. They'll then come back and start pre-season, which will last about 6 weeks and involve trying to get players back in shape & playing the likes of Sheffield fc, stocksbridge & Scarborough in 75% paced friendly games. At the end of this process, when the players may or may not be any better than they were this season, people will be saying "They need a full season in them before you can judge them". :)
Click to expand...
All fair comments. I think there may be a psychological element pre-season of being part of something new rather than trying to fit into something already in progress. Also, I think that having had the Summer to sort out their living arrangements, and become more settled, helps.
 
LJBlade said:
I can't.

Wilder wouldn't have chased him for so long just to send him back after a handful of games.
Click to expand...

If i had chased a bird for months and months and she turned out to be crap in the sack i would want to get rid.

To me he was judged on how he performed at Lg 1 level and Wilder and co hoped that Lendog would be a hit,Wilders moto was he will only sign players that will IMPROVE the team and have value,now that cant happen with every player he signs there will always be some duds,Lendog is not the only dud that has come in btw.
 
Ricky said:
I'd expect any of them needing to improve their condition to begin the hard work well before pre season starts. Coutts is in for a difficult summer for example! I'd like L.Evans and Lundstram to work hard on their fitness and athleticism too.

With Leonard I think it's more of a case of adjusting to the Championship than improving his fitness, which is already a strength of his. He needs to play games. Hopefully he starts the last two of the season.
Click to expand...
Definitely agree on Evans and Lundstram. Both look like there is weight they could lose which can only help
 
ChipButtyBlade said:
If i had chased a bird for months and months and she turned out to be crap in the sack i would want to get rid.

To me he was judged on how he performed at Lg 1 level and Wilder and co hoped that Lendog would be a hit,Wilders moto was he will only sign players that will IMPROVE the team and have value,now that cant happen with every player he signs there will always be some duds,Lendog is not the only dud that has come in btw.
Click to expand...

But the point is that he hasn’t been here long enough for anyone to come to the conclusion that he isn’t good enough.

Wilder wouldn’t chase him for so long and then let him move on without giving him the chance to show if he’s good enough or not
 



Rootshallbloke said:
Lenny's main talents revolve around tackling, chasing down opposition players and an abilty to do it all for 90 minutes. He is strong in the air and when he's in the mood he has a pretty good shot on him. If Wilder was hoping that he would develop devastating passing skills then he got that wrong. Obviously he can pass a ball, he is a professional footballer, but it was never his major attribute.
Click to expand...
Sounds like “unseen work” to me!

He’s the new Dean Hammond obviously.
 
A full preseason is a prolonged block of time working on shape, roles, technique, fitness and how your teammates play. Coming in in January is always difficult as you’re picking up a new system either in a game scenario or within a couple of training sessions which aren’t focusing on specific tactics for the upcoming Saturday or Tuesday. Plus settling in out of work, etc. I’m more surprised people think pre-season doesn’t make a difference.

I think Leonard will make a quality centre half or more orthodox right back. He’ll also be alright in a centre midfield pair.
 
LJBlade said:
But the point is that he hasn’t been here long enough for anyone to come to the conclusion that he isn’t good enough.

Wilder wouldn’t chase him for so long and then let him move on without giving him the chance to show if he’s good enough or not
Click to expand...

Ive no idea why Wilder would chase Lendog and Sherlock for so long and then when signed decide to basically leave them out of the team,all i can summise is that Wilder did not see what he hoped he would see in them,on the training ground and the odd appearance on the pitch.

Does anyone really think ( i dont mean hope ) that any of these three Holmes,Leonard,Lundstram as a group of three would get in the team in place of Duffy,Fleck,Coutts,for us to to progress to the higher level we have to replace Duffy,Fleck,Coutts with better players not players we "hope" will be better,i'm not even hopefull that Coutts will return to anywhere near his standard of last autumn,remember when he signed he was getting over a long term injury and in his first season he was rubbish.

If all we had for midfield to choose from was Evans,Holmes,Leonard,Lundstram,you know where we would be headed same place Barnsley are going.

One of em might prove me wrong after they have had this "magical preseason" we'll just have to wait and see.
 
ChipButtyBlade said:
Ive no idea why Wilder would chase Lendog and Sherlock for so long and then when signed decide to basically leave them out of the team,all i can summise is that Wilder did not see what he hoped he would see in them,on the training ground and the odd appearance on the pitch.

Does anyone really think ( i dont mean hope ) that any of these three Holmes,Leonard,Lundstram as a group of three would get in the team in place of Duffy,Fleck,Coutts,for us to to progress to the higher level we have to replace Duffy,Fleck,Coutts with better players not players we "hope" will be better,i'm not even hopefull that Coutts will return to anywhere near his standard of last autumn,remember when he signed he was getting over a long term injury and in his first season he was rubbish.

If all we had for midfield to choose from was Evans,Holmes,Leonard,Lundstram,you know where we would be headed same place Barnsley are going.

One of em might prove me wrong after they have had this "magical preseason" we'll just have to wait and see.
Click to expand...

Did you write Coutts off after a similar short period of time?
 
LJBlade said:
Did you write Coutts off after a similar short period of time?
Click to expand...

Coutts in his first season was a major scapegoat on here i recall,dont forget that Coutts dropped down from the Championship to Lg1 and he struggled,but that for me was down to his previous injury and lack of game fitness,he had the ability no doubt he just required sharpening up,also dont forget he was originally one of the players that was on Wilders exit list.
 
Rodley said:
A full preseason is a prolonged block of time working on shape, roles, technique, fitness and how your teammates play. Coming in in January is always difficult as you’re picking up a new system either in a game scenario or within a couple of training sessions which aren’t focusing on specific tactics for the upcoming Saturday or Tuesday. Plus settling in out of work, etc. I’m more surprised people think pre-season doesn’t make a difference.

I think Leonard will make a quality centre half or more orthodox right back. He’ll also be alright in a centre midfield pair.
Click to expand...

I shudder to think what Mitrovic, Grabban, McBurnie and Wilson (Hull) are capable of with a good pre-season in them. ;)
 
It's a shame it hasn't worked out for you with lenny.

It' worked quite well for us.

We got some much needed cash and unearthed the best youth team player I've seen in my 25 years following the club.

Dru Yearwood is the best player in our squad at 18. Future prem player for sure.
 
Shrimperama said:
It's a shame it hasn't worked out for you with lenny.

It' worked quite well for us.

We got some much needed cash and unearthed the best youth team player I've seen in my 25 years following the club.

Dru Yearwood is the best player in our squad at 18. Future prem player for sure.
Click to expand...
And your Shrimps compatriate further back in this thread #59 says Yearwood is pants,you won't be having our pants down again.
 
Worked out perfectly for Southend. They did very well just to get 700k for him with 6 months left on his deal, without the bonus of having someone like Yearwood come through to replace him.

Has to go down as a mistake from Wilder because we've done nothing to justify spending that on him in January instead of waiting to take him on a free this summer.
 
Shrimperama said:
It's a shame it hasn't worked out for you with lenny.

It' worked quite well for us.

We got some much needed cash and unearthed the best youth team player I've seen in my 25 years following the club.

Dru Yearwood is the best player in our squad at 18. Future prem player for sure.
Click to expand...
You sound almost pleased he's not hit the ground running( you rated him highly ?).
Expect him to get more opportunity next season as its been a difficult 2ND half to the season for us with no blame attached to him
 
Ricky said:
Has to go down as a mistake from Wilder because we've done nothing to justify spending that on him in January instead of waiting to take him on a free this summer.
Click to expand...

You live and learn. CW obviously expected him to play a major part or he wouldn't have paid. He won't get every signing right as Sir Red Nose, Jose and Wenger don't.

What is done is done, and it is all about making the best of Lenny for next year. CW has more than enough credit in the bank with most of us, to back his judgement.
 
Don't worry we will have sold him and Holmes to Sunderland and their new manager.:D
 
ChipButtyBlade said:
And your Shrimps compatriate further back in this thread #59 says Yearwood is pants,you won't be having our pants down again.
Click to expand...
I can't think of anything more disturbing than having your pants down mate. As for Yearwood, if he continues to develop as he is now then he's definitely going places. Obviously I played down his qualities because I know that Wilder reads this board when looking for inspiration and and spiritual uplifting. I just didn't want him dribbling too much or for too long over Yearwood like he did for Lenny. Ron says thanks for the Lenny money by the way.
 



Rootshallbloke said:
I can't think of anything more disturbing than having your pants down mate. As for Yearwood, if he continues to develop as he is now then he's definitely going places. Obviously I played down his qualities because I know that Wilder reads this board when looking for inspiration and and spiritual uplifting. I just didn't want him dribbling too much or for too long over Yearwood like he did for Lenny. Ron says thanks for the Lenny money by the way.
Click to expand...

Does he still do a good Harold Wilson impression?

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Deadbat
United 2 Wednesday 1 - report/ratings
Replies
29
Views
3K
Keen Blade
Keen Blade
Deadbat
Season Review / School Report 24/25: Part 1 - Summary/Stats
Replies
7
Views
2K
Iffy Onuora's Shiny Head
Iffy Onuora's Shiny Head
Balham
State of the squad: now and at the end of the window
Replies
18
Views
3K
SGBlade
S
Deadbat
Season Review / School Report 24/25: Part 6 - Attack
Replies
4
Views
1K
Deadbat
Deadbat
Balham
Where are they now? United 2-1 Man City, 2008 FA Cup 4th round
Replies
16
Views
3K
sufc323
sufc323

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

Back
Top Bottom