Luke Thomas

[MalletFox]

He was absolutely woeful today, arguably the worse performance I can recall him ever making tbh. 
 

I still think in general he’s a useful squad player, with the likes of Castagne, JJ & Ricky available I would expect Thomas’ game time to be limited. Be interesting to see what Brendan does next wkend for the Villa game as that would be Thomas’ next “natural” game given that Timmy & Ricky will presumably start against Everton on Weds.

[happy85]

4 minutes ago, moore_94 said:

Why does him not being attacking mean he wont make it?

 

Tyrick Mitchell who is as far from an attacking full back as it gets is being highly praised this season and has now picked up 2 caps for England

We planning to compete for top 6 each season 

 

You need decent attacking  full backs 

[StanSP]

12 minutes ago, happy85 said:

 

From his debut to now he hasn’t improved in a attacking sense at all. 
 

He can’t take people on with pace or skill and without that skill set not going to make it

Ahh so that's him screwed for life then because at 20 years old he can't attack fully yet. 

 

Fvcking hell. This place. 

[whetstonefox]

Let the boy develop, sure he’s going to have a few dips, he may or may not make it with us, but don’t cripple his confidence in games where in theory there is not too much riding on them. I’m sure the coaching staff and BR will know where he has to improve. Leave it to them. 

[Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot]

We are blessed at full back, let's be straight, we have JJ, Castagne and Ricardo who are all ahead of him and rightly so, but we also have Bertrand who we all know his level and he isn't going to get any better for us. Blow up his thread calling out how crap he is by all means, but that's not fashionable because he's out with an injury or long covid or whatever it is. He's a journeyman who is average at best and he's on our books, but people would rather call out a local lad who's 20 because he's had a below par game. It's offensive. 

[tom27111]

Just now, happy85 said:

We planning to compete for top 6 each season 

 

You need decent attacking  full backs 

I'd argue that Barnes, KDH and Thomas are one of the most exciting combinations to watch down the left.

[moore_94]

4 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Ahh so that's him screwed for life then because at 20 years old he can't attack fully yet. 

 

Fvcking hell. This place. 

I swear people forget he is literally the youngest player in the first team squad

 

Same people would have written off KDH if they had seen him at Thomas' age when he was still firmly stuck in the under 23s

Edited 17 April 2022 by moore_94

[Collymore]

4 minutes ago, Dames said:

However, he doesn’t deserve the stick he’s getting from some on here. 

Is it really stick though? People are just putting their opinions across and it seems like some people are overly sensitive. 

 

I'd imagine Thomas and Rodgers will be aware of the areas he needs to improve on (and there are a few). He's definitely behind Justin, Ricardo and Tim when all fit but he's still young and has bags of potential and he's certainly dependable in most situations and adds value to the squad in a depth sense. 

 

I was really surprised to see people a while back claiming he was player of the season so far, he has no way done anything to note to warrant that IMO and it does make me wonder how people come to conclusions and the criteria they work off. 

 

Anyhow, he's still young and will hopefully get physically stronger and grow in confidence. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot]

I can't wait for kdh to have a bad spell next season and see the same old morons call out how crap he is and how he was never really that good this season anyway and relegation threatened Premier league or championship is clearly his level and he'll never make it for us. Weird. 

[majaco]

Thomas is our fourth best full back.

 

For me, Justin is brilliant but had a poor game today.

 

Thomas is Improving.   Time will tell.

[CrispinLA in Texas]

2 minutes ago, moore_94 said:

I swear people forget he is literally the youngest player in the first team squad

 

Same people would have written off KDH if they had seen him at Thomas' age when he was still firmly stuck in the under 23s

Then it was a good thing that we sent KDH out on loan to Blackpool and Luton and he came back such an approved player

[Facecloth]

22 minutes ago, happy85 said:

 

From his debut to now he hasn’t improved in a attacking sense at all. 
 

He can’t take people on with pace or skill and without that skill set not going to make it

I've watched a few of his England U21 games and he was brilliant going forward. I think his style for us is down to the manager, he's following instructions. Managers like players who do what they asked to do. In the few instances where he is venturing forward he's linking really well with Barnes and KDH.

[sammy82]

1 minute ago, Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot said:

I can't wait for kdh to have a bad spell next season and see the same old morons call out how crap he is and how he was never really that good this season anyway and relegation threatened Premier league or championship is clearly his level and he'll never make it for us. Weird. 

100% that’s gonna happen, loads we’re on his back earlier in the season 

[StanSP]

5 minutes ago, Collymore said:

Is it really stick though? People are just putting their opinions across and it seems like some people are overly sensitive. 

Yes. It is stick. Stick in the way that people literally want him shipped off and away from the club, and act like he's been absolutely useless in the 59 apps he's made for us so far. 

 

So there's opinions, and downright delusion and berating of a player that still has some development to go through and isn't the perfect player. But to expect perfection at his age is naive in itself. 

 

Basically there's no real substance for some posters to slate him or lay into him so much. 

 

[Collymore]

6 minutes ago, moore_94 said:

I swear people forget he is literally the youngest player in the first team squad

 

Same people would have written off KDH if they had seen him at Thomas' age when he was still firmly stuck in the under 23s

But I don't get his logic - especially in the Premier League. It doesn't matter if he's 15 or 40, came from our academy or came from the moon,  if he's got one of the shirts he's up for review. If he plays well he'll get praise lavished on him, if he doesn't he'll get criticism. This is like it is with all the players. 

 

We just can't play him and ignore anything negative because he's young!

[The_Rorab]

I think it's readily apparent that a small minority of people have a weird agenda against him.

 

He's fine, likely not our best option when all players are available, but we can't play our best players every game with how congested our fixture list is, and he's definitely shown in flashes that he can be good enough for that role in the team.

 

He was bad today undoubtedly, as were a lot of the other players and definitely isn't the finished article yet, but at 20 has time to get there. He might not, but on the basis of his games so far, he definitely could. We definitely have bigger fish to fry in terms of squad composition than trying to upgrade on his position as backup LB.

 

He's definitely still a work in progress as you'd expect of his age, but calling him rubbish and saying he'll never make it here is a ridiculously reactionary take. Criticising his deficiencies and poor form is fair enough - I've done so in this post somewhat, but some of the hyperbole peddled against him is mad. 

Edited 17 April 2022 by The_Rorab

[Collymore]

7 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Yes. It is stick. Stick in the way that people literally want him shipped off and away from the club, and act like he's been absolutely useless in the 59 apps he's made for us so far. 

 

So there's opinions, and downright delusion and berating of a player that still has some development to go through and isn't the perfect player. But to expect perfection at his age is naive in itself. 

 

Basically there's no real substance for some posters to slate him or lay into him so much. 

 

...haven't people asked for him to go on loan like KDH did if he's going to play less now everyone's getting back to fitness? It's hardly shipping him off away from the club negatively like you're suggesting.  

Edited 17 April 2022 by Collymore

[Facecloth]

13 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Yes. It is stick. Stick in the way that people literally want him shipped off and away from the club, and act like he's been absolutely useless in the 59 apps he's made for us so far. 

 

So there's opinions, and downright delusion and berating of a player that still has some development to go through and isn't the perfect player. But to expect perfection at his age is naive in itself. 

 

Basically there's no real substance for some posters to slate him or lay into him so much. 

 

Exactly. Happy85 clearly has some kind of agenda, either Luke has shagged his missus or he's got a young relative in the youth squads that plays left back and he sees Luke as being in the way.

 

I think most of us level headed posters will know he has areas to improve on and will see moments in games where he's made errors, but also can see what he's doing well.

 

I think our biggest issue is the fact Tielemans seems like he's dialling it in atm and he's been on the beach for months. And today it was our keeper practically throwing the ball into his own net. Experienced players actually costing us goals and points. But no, it's a 20 year old left back that's the issue.

Edited 17 April 2022 by Facecloth

[Hamilton Fox]

As I said earlier , thought he was terrible today however he more than capable on a good day (see performance against Liverpool /Salah) just doesn’t have enough of those however he’s still very young and definitely worth having as a squad member. I would definitely play Justin as left back ahead of him though which would make him 3rd choice

[filbertway]

47 minutes ago, moore_94 said:

Progressive Passes Per 90 in the last 365 days:

 

Justin: 3.12

Castagne: 3.23

Thomas: 3.42

Pereira: 3.99

 

Expect to see you in the JJ and Castagne threads

Jesus those numbers are absymal all round considering all our attacks are supposed to go through the full backs. Really backs up how poor and clueless we look when trying to buiid attacks. 

[Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot]

2 minutes ago, Collymore said:

...haven't people asked for him to go on loan like KDH did if he's going to play less now everyone's getting back to fitness? It's hardly shipping him off away from the club negatively like you're suggesting.  

Problem with that is if we do get another injury crisis, which isn't a crazy thing to think, we'll be crying out for him. Much better to blood him in the first team squad even if he does only get 20 games a season. We need cover and Bertrand isn't up to it. 

[moore_94]

3 minutes ago, Collymore said:

But I don't get his logic - especially in the Premier League. It doesn't matter if he's 15 or 40, came from our academy or came from the moon,  if he's got one of the shirts he's up for review. If he plays well he'll get praise lavished on him, if he doesn't he'll get criticism. This is like it is with all the players. 

 

We just can't play him and ignore anything negative because he's young!

I don’t have an issue with genuine constructive criticism of his performances, it is when people start going down the line of completely writing him off and deciding his whole career is set and that he won’t make it, that is when I take issue.

 

But also when you give a complete overall opinion on a player of course you have to also take into consideration their age and experience. You aren’t going to judge for example Bertrand and Thomas exactly the same are you?

[alanf0x]

When I saw this topic as hot, I thought his Mrs had stitched him as per normal with a glass of wine and a packet of snus!! 

[StanSP]

5 minutes ago, Collymore said:

...haven't people asked for him to go on loan like KDH did if he's going to play less now everyone's getting back to fitness? It's hardly shipping him off away from the club negatively like you're suggesting.  

I think his development is better off suited here. I admit he has his shortcomings. But you have some posters here already writing him off saying he'll never be good enough! How is that fair? 

 

It's when people come in with baseless arguments about never being an attacking full back because he doesn't make enough progressive passes or have bags of assists to his name that gets me. They expect too much. 

Edited 17 April 2022 by StanSP

[Collymore]

1 minute ago, Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot said:

Problem with that is if we do get another injury crisis, which isn't a crazy thing to think, we'll be crying out for him. Much better to blood him in the first team squad even if he does only get 20 games a season. We need cover and Bertrand isn't up to it. 

I had actually forgotten that Bertrand existed.