9 games. 3 assists. 1 goal.

Lennon and Brady combined. 28 games. 2 assists. 1 goal.

Fair to say whos shirt it is. And its neither of the two who have 400 premier league games between them!!!!

The commentator said "he glides across the surface". He was correct and when a winger glides you know we've a good en.

He has the priceless knack of making major contributions even when having a quiet game.

Think we have a real gem in McNeil...................but keep it quiet!!

He’s terrible, can’t see why anyone would want to sign him. Zero ability.



Right they’ve stopped looking He’s a special player this lad. Ball retention is top top class for a player who likes to take men on, which he manages without a serious turn of pace. He’s our number 1 winger now - the one player we rely on to run at defenders and play that key pass. Once he develops on a physical level he’ll be our best player.

Reminds me of how Trevor Steven played and this lad has it all in front of him at Premier level

I’d be binning Brady and Lennon for definite this summer. One for fitness, the other because he’s not good enough.

I’d also be open to moving JBG on this summer if a good offer came in as his fitness record is becoming a serious concern, we just cannot rely on him.

McNeil is numero uno - he won’t be number 31 next season.

The real measure...6 Fantasy League points at £4.4m. Been on him for a few weeks now but...keep it quiet #itk

UTC!

Hardly ever gives the ball away and has final product, his crosses almost always find their way across the goalmouth or out for a corner. He also has a knack of drawing defenders towards him before effortlessly finding a team mate in space. I'm in my mid 30's and lead a happy family life but I think that I love him.

jedi_master wrote:I’d be binning Brady and Lennon for definite this summer. One for fitness, the other because he’s not good enough.

I’d also be open to moving JBG on this summer if a good offer came in as his fitness record is becoming a serious concern, we just cannot rely on him.

McNeil is numero uno - he won’t be number 31 next season.

You said this earlier. Why ship out Gudmundsson when he's played so much football for us? Not so much recently but is that good reason for him to be moved on - I guess he's played more games than Brady and Defour combined.

He’s absolutely class. Can’t wait to see a lot more of him, hopefully with us.

As for shipping out Brady and JBG.. not for me. Brady just needs a full and proper pre season and JBG has missed around 4/5 games - hardly injury prone.

cricketfieldclarets wrote:9 games. 3 assists. 1 goal.

Lennon and Brady combined. 28 games. 2 assists. 1 goal.

Fair to say whos shirt it is. And its neither of the two who have 400 premier league games between them!!!!

Good call James .but you have no creditable thing to say after your lies in the transfer window.just saying.i need to fill my my fav 4 up

He really has made a difference.

He carries the ball so well, can beat a man and cross a beauty of a ball.

taio wrote:You said this earlier. Why ship out Gudmundsson when he's played so much football for us? Not so much recently but is that good reason for him to be moved on - I guess he's played more games than Brady and Defour combined.

I rate JBG, I’ll make that clear first. He’s been a great signing and on form he’s a real threat and great to watch.

However, his niggly little injuries he keeps getting are a massive frustration. When we already have Brady struggling to come back from his cruciate and Lennon out with whatever it is he’s out with it’s put the JBG reliability more into the spotlight, for me.

It’s allowed McNeil to cement his place so there’s a huge positive to it but I would be really concerned starting next season with our specialist wide options being McNeil, JBG, Brady and Lennon. I cannot see there being many takers for Brady or Lennon and it just concerns me how unreliable the fitness of JBG is. We definitely need another winger in with a couple going out, for me.

jedi_master wrote:I rate JBG, I’ll make that clear first. He’s been a great signing and on form he’s a real threat and great to watch.

However, his niggly little injuries he keeps getting are a massive frustration. When we already have Brady struggling to come back from his cruciate and Lennon out with whatever it is he’s out with it’s put the JBG reliability more into the spotlight, for me.

It’s allowed McNeil to cement his place so there’s a huge positive to it but I would be really concerned starting next season with our specialist wide options being McNeil, JBG, Brady and Lennon. I cannot see there being many takers for Brady or Lennon and it just concerns me how unreliable the fitness of JBG is. We definitely need another winger in with a couple going out, for me.

no argument with much of that. But I would never consider shipping out 3 wingers in one window especially when that just leaves a 19 year old. JBG has done a good job for us.

I'm with Rileybobs on this. I'm 31 best wingers I've seen are wade elliot and super glen little ego to thus day remain two of my favourite clarets. But McNeil doing know at only 19 at a higher level. Think we got a new clarets legend on our hands here. UTC LLTV

Excuse the typing I'm a bit jolly UTC

Sorry Aaron but if you hadn’t been injured we’d be deep in the brown stuff

Longside4evr wrote:Reminds me of how Trevor Steven played and this lad has it all in front of him at Premier level

Exactly the comparison I made

He’s also got a shot on him. Can only improve and I hope it is with us.

Lennon will probably be going but JBG is better than Brady as a supplier and Brady is worth keeping for his versatility. One pacy, tricky, goal-scoring wideman it is then.

Longside4evr wrote:Reminds me of how Trevor Steven played and this lad has it all in front of him at Premier level

Not yet Trevor was controlling our midfield at 17 and could send a defender the wrong way without touching the ball. The best to come through we ever had and he’ll never be bettered.

What a find this season. It always looks like something will happen when he has the ball. Is there another one or two we can bring in from the U-23's of this ilk?

His contribution for the second goal was sensational. I honestly thought he was going to shoot but he saw the pass and got it spot on.

He’s playing with so much confidence right now and Long May it last.

His style and gait reminds me of Ryan Giggs when he was breaking through

Longside4evr wrote:Reminds me of how Trevor Steven played and this lad has it all in front of him at Premier level

There’s a similarity, no doubt.

His first touch is good - tick
His seems to mostly pick the right option - tick
He actually turns players and looks to take players on - tick
No afraid to shoot - tick
Takes a reasonable dead ball - tick
Plus he puts in a shift - tick

I could add a few more....
... oh and he is only 19 !

Not yet Trevor was controlling our midfield at 17 and could send a defender the wrong way without touching the ball. The best to come through we ever had and he’ll never be bettered.
In a bad team that had just won promotion from the 3rd to division one and yes he was a very good player and went on to do the business but only with us for one season in the second division before we were relegated but his class stood out
Were McNeil is doing it for us against the very top players Europe have to offer

Longside4evr wrote:Not yet Trevor was controlling our midfield at 17 and could send a defender the wrong way without touching the ball. The best to come through we ever had and he’ll never be bettered.
In a bad team that had just won promotion from the 3rd to division one and yes he was a very good player and went on to do the business but only with us for one season in the second division before we were relegated but his class stood out
Were McNeil is doing it for us against the very top players Europe have to offer

McNeil sent two Manchester United players the wrong way last week without touching the ball with a glorious shimmy when the ball came to him with his back to goal inside his own half. It was an outrageous show of class.

I wouldn't be worrying about what to do with Brady or JBG because of McNeil, by the way. I think today's assist was a good illustration of why I reckon he'll move inside before too long, probably to a number 10 position in which he could have a hugely positive influence on the way in which we retain the ball.

Very impressive young player. Jimmy Dunne seems to be coming along well too. Let's hope there's more to come!

"The commentator said "he glides across the surface". He was correct and when a winger glides you know we've a good en."

That commentator was spot on. The lad is good to watch, he looks a real player. You can see why he was at OT. The fact United let him go is because they have such a choice of young players. Their loss is our gain.

You tend to think he can become a really good player. He is apparently a sensible lad and I doubt whether the manager or our senior players would let him start thinking he's already the real deal. He needs to work, work and then work again. If he does that his future's bright.

I think he has a real chance of being called up for the U21 team for the forthcoming friendlies.

Reminds me of Leighton James. Just seems to be able hold no secrets, has no obvious pace, but just seems to skip, or more rather drift, past defenders. It's quite uncanny. Doubt his pulse ever gets above 80.

lrac wrote:Good call James .but you have no creditable thing to say after your lies in the transfer window.just saying.i need to fill my my fav 4 up

Really nice head injury he picked up, too. Knows his onions for a 19 year old. Smart, that.

Espia wrote:Reminds me of Leighton James. Just seems to be able hold no secrets, has no obvious pace, but just seems to skip, or more rather drift, past defenders. It's quite uncanny. Doubt his pulse ever gets above 80.

Exactly like super glen too

ecc wrote:
You can see why he was at OT.

Nah!

You can see why he's been with us for five years, and why the stupid belief that Dyche doesn't like 'flair' players, is a load of b0llocks.

The criticisms and possibly comparisons to Lennon and Brady are a little unfair. Rightly so, I think that the expectations on McNeil are a little less from Dyche, than they might be on the others.

It’s often been said that Dyche doesn’t let his wingers ‘play’ as much as we would like. McNeil perhaps has a little more freedom to do this, letting him focus on his strengths at this stage, with less expectation in terms of defensive duties.

Brady and Lennon are maybe hamstrung more by a greater expectation from a defensive perspective.

This isn’t to criticise McNeil in any way shape or form, he’s got huge potential and his performances to date have been fantastic (I agree with Spice that he may we’ll turn out to be a number 10).

To buy a player, performing as well as McNeil is right now, would surely have been way beyond our budget! Credit to whoever brought him in!!

DCWat wrote:The criticisms and possibly comparisons to Lennon and Brady are a little unfair. Rightly so, I think that the expectations on McNeil are a little less from Dyche, than they might be on the others.

It’s often been said that Dyche doesn’t let his wingers ‘play’ as much as we would like. McNeil perhaps has a little more freedom to do this, letting him focus on his strengths at this stage, with less expectation in terms of defensive duties.

Brady and Lennon are maybe hamstrung more by a greater expectation from a defensive perspective.

This isn’t to criticise McNeil in any way shape or form, he’s got huge potential and his performances to date have been fantastic (I agree with Spice that he may we’ll turn out to be a number 10).

To buy a player, performing as well as McNeil is right now, would surely have been way beyond our budget! Credit to whoever brought him in!!

He still does the defensive duties. He was hoofing the ball away in our defensive third all game today.

Did it from both flanks, too. There was a reason for that - he and Hendrick switching a few times - that I'm not seeing because I'm not a football manager, but he covered both Taylor and Bardsley brilliantly.

He has a special something that all really good footballers have...balance.

UTC!

Bin Ont Turf wrote:He still does the defensive duties. He was hoofing the ball away in our defensive third all game today.

I didn’t say that he doesn’t do the defensive duties, BOT. More that the expectation from a defensive perspective may be a little less, freeing him up to do more of what he does so well.

Absolutely delighted for him, he has settled in perfectly.

As a Dyche fan the thug that confuses me is how close he was to going to Cheltenham on loan.

That really worries me.

Burnleyareback2 wrote:Absolutely delighted for him, he has settled in perfectly.

As a Dyche fan the thug that confuses me is how close he was to going to Cheltenham on loan.

That really worries me.

Rumour has it he was going to Fleetwood ...

tim_noone wrote:Rumour has it he was going to Fleetwood ...

That doesn’t make it any better!

To be fair Harry Kane was farting about on loan and making up the numbers playing Europa League games until he forced his way into the Spurs side. Even under the best managers, players still have to prove they can play.

Spiral wrote:To be fair Harry Kane was farting about on loan and making up the numbers playing Europa League games until he forced his way into the Spurs side. Even under the best managers, players still have to prove they can play.

And Ali...

I’m still baffled as to why from his debut he was told to get the ball in early and yet none of the others can. It so clearly puts defenders at a disadvantage.

Worth at least 25m in today's crazy market, not that i'd ever consider selling.

After the Everton debacle that ruined Christmas, I was looking and chatting about positives with my wife from the season thus far. They were really in short supply. I told her the only bright light for me was McNeil's brief introduction. His rapid omission was equally puzzling. His reintroduction was almost forced on SD against WHU primary because of the injury situation and the fact something drastic had to happen. It's proving fruitful and my one hope is that SD starts believing more in giving these young lads a chance. As for McNeil, it's his jersey to lose now and as I've stated previously he's our best prospect since Trevor Steven.

Love him - joy to watch
Few better sights in football than watching a winger - especially a left footed one as they seem to have such natural balance.
He’s confident, brave (with the ball) and his decision making is great. Very often he is the catalyst / spark which gets us going in games as we have not been the fastest starters for a while.
Brooks at Bournemouth is quite rightly getting lots of plaudits this season but our Dwight looks just as good to me....what a find !

re: concerns about JBG

I personally think he offers a lot - capable of of good shot, can cross with left or right foot (always useful with Dyche's preference for inside out wingers), consistent performer IMO.

As for his injuries, it's not ideal but for a bit of perspective, according to the stats section on this site, for players in front of the defence (midfield and strikers), only Cork and Westwood have started more games.

re:McNeil

He truly is a joy to watch. Comments about him able to beat a man are bang on. It almost seems a thing of the past to have a tricky winger who can do that. When he's got a man in front of him I'm not instinctively shouting "someone give him an option!!" I hope he continues to play with such an air of freedom and confidence.