Pollock

Quoted from pontoonlew

Pollock is a fantastic defender for his age and for some reason came in for stick from fans as soon as he got injured. There's absolutely no denying his ability, calm on the ball, strong as an ox and will run through walls for you.

Unfortunately for him, you cannot teach somebody pace and he needs a good few yards of that to make it in the PL. What'll likely happen is he'd go to Watford, learn a lot more about positional awareness and will become a decent Championship defender.

Can't get my head around the fans saying 'you're welcome to him', there are many players from last season who deserve stick from fans, Pollock isn't one of them.

Think you're overegging the pudding a bit lew - imho most fans are just disappointed/surprised that he's gone backwards in the last 12 months. it's with that in mind that I think I'd 'take the money and run'

i wonder whether he could do with a change of scene himself, i can imagine as a 19 year old he must be psychologically battered and bruised by the Fenty/Holloway years

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

You don’t need great pace at CB. It helps but it’s not essential. Look how many years Thug Ramos has survived for Real and Spain with the speed of a lethargic cart horse. People like Jack Charlton, Chris Nichol, Steve Bruce, John Terry … were never really quick. It’s about football brain and positioning more than anything and passing ability comes next.

For a large part of his career Ramos has been one of the fastest defenders in the world  

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

You don’t need great pace at CB. It helps but it’s not essential. Look how many years Thug Ramos has survived for Real and Spain with the speed of a lethargic cart horse. People like Jack Charlton, Chris Nichol, Steve Bruce, John Terry … were never really quick. It’s about football brain and positioning more than anything and passing ability comes next.

Agree with this to a certain extent, the problem with a CB lacking pace is that you can't pair them with someone also lacking pace so a CB with pace is quite a valuable commodity. The example that I always think of is our first season down in The Conference, when Steve McNulty absolutely bossed it all season but then in the playoffs I think they had an injury crisis and had to play Sean Gregan next to him who was also well slow and Wimbldeon ripped them apart in both matches by deploying Kaid Mohammed who was an average player at best at that level. You're right though, there are plenty of centre backs that do very well without pace so maybe I'm being overly harsh saying he won't ever make it to the Prem on that basis alone.

Unfortunately for him, you cannot teach somebody pace and he needs a good few yards of that to make it in the PL. What'll likely happen is he'd go to Watford, learn a lot more about positional awareness and will become a decent Championship defender.



I think that with the right training you can increase your speed. When I played I significantly increased my speed - it is a matter of "teaching" you how to run properly to suit your size and weight

Every prem CB has loads of pace do they ? positioning is more important , and that can be taught ... injury clearly hampered him , and the confidence drained out of him . Would love to see him stay , playing at full confidence in a winning side ... could have his pick of teams then further up the leagues . Sell him and loan him back maybe 🤷🏻‍♂️.

The problem with a centre back who lacks pace is that the opposition will target him. Sure , experience will improve his positioning sense but that only comes with time and it can be demoralising for a player if he is frequently " left for dead " and his fellow defenders have to constantly cover for him. If Watford come in with a decent offer for Pollock then I think we should cash in on him. I also believe that a season or two under Hurst and with a decent centre back to guide him then Pollock could improve here and become a very valuable asset in the future.

Already looking forward to seeing him play against Messi during his 22/23 Granada loan spell.

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

You don’t need great pace at CB. It helps but it’s not essential. Look how many years Thug Ramos has survived for Real and Spain with the speed of a lethargic cart horse. People like Jack Charlton, Chris Nichol, Steve Bruce, John Terry … were never really quick. It’s about football brain and positioning more than anything and passing ability comes next.

Lord Futcher wasn't particularly blessed with pace either!

Whilst you can’t learn to be lighting fast you can certainly improve your acceleration and overall speed.

Frank Lampard was told he was going to be released as a youngster as he was too slow. After training was finished he set up his own sprint drills and saw enough of an improvement to keep his place in squad. Clearly he was never Usain Bolt be he was quick enough to cope.

I never saw sweat on Bobby Moore's shirt, and he handled the likes of Pele and Eusebio by superb positioning and brillant timing of his tackles !!