Taken this from sky sports from an article about Ryan Sessegnon.

Incredible the impact McNeil has had. Fourth in Europe for assists.

Not sure what the assists per minute are but he must be even higher up the list.

There is no teenager in La Liga or Serie A with four assists.

Sancho - 12 assists in 1534 minutes (23 apps Bundesliga) - 128 minutes per assist
Sessegnon - 5 assists in 1505 minutes (24 apps Premier League) - 301 minutes per assist
Diaby - 5 assists in 735 minutes (17 apps Ligue One) - 147 minutes per assist
McNeil - 4 assists in 769 minutes (10 apps Premier League) - 192 minutes per assist

Source : Transfermarkt

Not bothered about a second rate German league

Spike wrote:Not bothered about a second rate German league

Fulham are basically Championship already and the French league is crap, so essentially Dwight is the best teenager in Europe

His reception, when subbed on Saturday, says it all. The lad must be walking on clouds at the moment.

Well done all concerned.

Congratulations Dwight!

And he is still driving around in his Merc A class, Vauxhall Vectra, or whatever it is.

keeping it real.

wow the lad has definitely improved the spectator enjoyment of our matches as well.
really refreshing to see such raw talent

If Lennon, Brady and JBG had not have had injuries, would he be playing? I wonder.

Vino blanco wrote:If Lennon, Brady and JBG had not have had injuries, would he be playing? I wonder.

Probably not, I have watched several young players in the past who given the chance may or may not have had a similar impact.

Some players may have made it at this level when perhaps their talents didn’t fit lower league playing styles.

It’s great to watch and I hope he just gets better and better.

And when the time comes hopefully we £50-60 million for our dry powder cupboard.

Vino blanco wrote:If Lennon, Brady and JBG had not have had injuries, would he be playing? I wonder.

It has certainly helped push him into the side, although when he came in JBG also played, but he was getting closer and closer to being included. I think without the injuries there would have been more sub appearances than starts but he was always going to be given that opportunity.

I said this the other week but the highest praise I can pay him is that I’ve actually forgotten he’s the young kid in the team when I’m watching him.

Vino blanco wrote:If Lennon, Brady and JBG had not have had injuries, would he be playing? I wonder.

Almost certainly not, but given the form of the side at the time it was still a ballsy move to put McNeil in there instead of shoe-horning Taylor in there or going back to 5 at the back

I agree CT, you don’t see him as the new kid on the block.

He certainly does not play like a shrinking violet .

Long may it continue

Lowbankclaret wrote:I agree CT, you don’t see him as the new kid on the block.

He certainly does not play like a shrinking violet .

Long may it continue

Youthful enthusiasm and naivety coupled with his talent and confidence. He will have a dip in form at some point and he will be left out too but he’s earned his right to be alongside the other wide men who are all full internationals.

Agreed, let’s hope it’s a very short dip in form.

steve1264b wrote:

skysports-ryan-sessegnon-fulham_4589431.jpg

Taken this from sky sports from an article about Ryan Sessegnon.

Incredible the impact McNeil has had. Fourth in Europe for assists.

Not sure what the assists per minute are but he must be even higher up the list.

There is no teenager in La Liga or Serie A with four assists.

Thats not McNeil is it?

I think there's a massive element of underestimating Dyche here. He's had McNeil involved from the summer. It might be that his chance was accelerated by injuries, but it's equally likely that the reason we didn't break our necks to strengthen out wide in the summer was that Dyche wanted to leave space in the squad for McNeil to grow into.

Dyche sees McNeil not only in youth and development games, but in training against the first teamers. He's also a top quality coach. I think there's every chance that he was seeing what we're seeing now several months ago in training (and perhaps his performance against old pros in training is the differential from the other promising-looking kids who never got their chance).

ClaretTony wrote:
I said this the other week but the highest praise I can pay him is that I’ve actually forgotten he’s the young kid in the team when I’m watching him.

I can remember him in the United home game dribbling through Pogba and Fellaini in centre of the pitch and knowing we had someone special.

At times in that game our senior players were looking to get the ball to him as much as possible in hope he’d create something for us. That showed me how much his teammates thought of him too, to trust the young lad so much in an occasion such as that against those players.

Teams will be working him out now so the next phase will be interesting. Hendrick has put a real shift in on the wing and the return of JBG and Brady has really opened the options up for us.
The biggest compliment is that Brady in particular will have to work really hard to dislodge him.

If Dwight McNeil had been a January addition, a dynamic, 19 year old left winger signed from Serie A (McNeilio) for £20m, we would all be raving about how we've found a gem and he was worth every penny as he will be worth a fortune in the future.

He's definitely got his chance through default due to injuries to more senior wide players but he hasn't half taken it. Even when he has a quiet(ish) game he still has the odd moment of brilliance whether it be a run, cross, shot etc whilst still working hard for the team.

Well done to him.

MACCA wrote:And he is still driving around in his Merc A class, Vauxhall Vectra, or whatever it is.

keeping it real.

I'd be pretty chuffed with either of those cars. Especially if I was 19.

I think his biggest task is to get fully match fit, he looks like he is struggling after about 70 minutes.
But that will come SD will make sure of that.

steve1264b wrote:Teams will be working him out now so the next phase will be interesting. Hendrick has put a real shift in on the wing and the return of JBG and Brady has really opened the options up for us.
The biggest compliment is that Brady in particular will have to work really hard to dislodge him.

Had his discussion with a mate recently about him being found out.

He said that teams will work him out now and him being so one footed will stop him being a true “amazing” player.
I said that Mahrez (not comparing McNeil to Mahrez as a player) has made a career of running at a player and cutting inside, everybody knows it’s coming but he is still unreal at doing it again and again - it’s the rawness of his movements that allow him to do it though.

With McNeil, I think it’s tough to actually work him out as he varies his game so much - too many players are known for a certain skill set whereas McNeil mixes it up constantly. This also makes him so exciting to watch in my eyes - he’ll pick an easy pass when he has room to run at a defender himself yet at times will run at 2 defenders and ignore the pass. He will cut the ball back/inside as well as drive to the byline for a cross in but also play those balls across the box from before the byline.

IMO he is probably one of the hardest players to work out bar being heavily reliant on his left foot yet.

The one criticism I had of him was his lightweight attempts at defending but even that seemed to change against Spurs - I never thought he’d give a freekick away for stopping a player by just running into him as he’s always looked more of a player who’ll niggle rather than go at a man. Also his tackling/pressure in the corners against their RB was great to watch. I didn’t think this side of his game would be added to so soon or at all as he is a prospect we have for going forward but game by game I can see new skills already being added to armoury - and he’s only played 10 games in the prem.

The worst thing for him now would be an injury which is possible with his style of attacking. Probably why Dyche pulls him off at the tiring stage of games to protect him from that.

Doh doh doh doh doh doh doh x3
We've got McNeil on the left
The Burnley crest proudly on his chest
McNeil, you're dynamite
Made of steal, yeah that's our Dwight

Dwight McNeil, you're defense is a mess
Dwight McNeil, we must confess
Dwight McNeil, we'll let you know
McNeil, we love you so

Doh doh doh doh doh doh doh x3

shortened down the verse but it works a treat

It's pretty much been confirmed he was off on loan in January so he wouldnt have featured if not for injuries.
Had he gone on loan, we might have never seen him break through.

Strange one- the inclusion of him in the pre season suggested Dyche knew there was a player in there though. I remember him scoring a left footed half volley (not sure who against) and remember thinking he looked a talent as well as good centrally.

Foulthrow wrote:I'd be pretty chuffed with either of those cars. Especially if I was 19.

But usually footballers, especially young ones dont live like traditional 19 year olds.

Lets hope Dwight is as grounded as he comes across.
Certainly seems to have his head scrwed on.

MACCA wrote:But usually footballers, especially young ones dont live like traditional 19 year olds.

Lets hope Dwight is as grounded as he comes across.
Certainly seems to have his head scrwed on.

Think a lot of those young players are surrounded by other players that like flaunting their wealth.

It’s another testament to the club as he won’t be surrounded by primadonnas who make him feel like he has to show off.

Conroy92 wrote:It's pretty much been confirmed he was off on loan in January so he wouldnt have featured if not for injuries.
Had he gone on loan, we might have never seen him break through.

Strange one- the inclusion of him in the pre season suggested Dyche knew there was a player in there though. I remember him scoring a left footed half volley (not sure who against) and remember thinking he looked a talent as well as good centrally.

Dyche is very (maybe overly) protective of his youngsters IMO and I think part of this is wanting to nurture them slowly into the 1st team squad and partly down to him being slightly risk averse and preferring to stick with the tried and tested.

Not necessarily a criticism as it is understandable with what is at stake for the club.

Conroy92 wrote:It's pretty much been confirmed he was off on loan in January so he wouldnt have featured if not for injuries.
Had he gone on loan, we might have never seen him break through.

Strange one- the inclusion of him in the pre season suggested Dyche knew there was a player in there though. I remember him scoring a left footed half volley (not sure who against) and remember thinking he looked a talent as well as good centrally.

Has it? That's news to me. All I heard about a loan was some comment from Duff that he was hoping to take him on loan but that his chances were extinguished when McNeil burst into our team. I've not seen or heard anything from the Burnley end.

Again, I reckon this does Dyche a huge disservice. It is as likely as anything else that the reason Dyche didn't bend over backwards to sign a wide player last August is because he was already perfectly confident that McNeil was up to the grade if he had to throw him in.

At the end of the day, it was a combination of a couple of injuries but the fact we didn't sign cover in that position last August that gave him his chance. It seems to me astonishing that so many people are keen to forget the second part of that equation, and to be so grudging in giving Dyche credit for having the confidence to give McNeil his chance.

Maybe you took something wrong from my comments, I'm not trying to do Dyche any disservice. That was the point of my second paragraph that explained Dyche had seen something in McNeil, I tried to recognise that.

However, Im not for one second buying that McNeil's inclusion was a tactical masterstroke, it's like you said injury's and lack of cover have played the key part in him getting game time.

What exactly do you disagree with?!

Loads of players get their chance through accident. Kane wasnt tipped for greatness until spurs didnt have a striker. Rashfords entry into first team football was ushered in early due to an injury during the warm ups.

When he was picked it was a surprise.

Conroy92 wrote:Maybe you took something wrong from my comments, I'm not trying to do Dyche any disservice. That was the point of my second paragraph that explained Dyche had seen something in McNeil, I tried to recognise that.

However, Im not for one second buying that McNeil's inclusion was a tactical masterstroke, it's like you said injury's and lack of cover have played the key part in him getting game time.

What exactly do you disagree with?!

But the lack of cover appears now to be deliberate. That's the point. Or to put it another way, what we all thought was a lack of cover was in fact a reflection of the fact Dyche had already decided that McNeil was ready to be part of his first team squad. He was the cover.

So where we disagree is that I think the evidence (including Dyches own comments) suggests McNeil's elevation is largely down up astute management from Dyche. It might have come at the precise moment it did because of circumstances, but the opportunity arose because of a belief from the management McNeil was ready to contribute as and when those circumstances arose.

steve1264b wrote:Loads of players get their chance through accident. Kane wasnt tipped for greatness until spurs didnt have a striker. Rashfords entry into first team football was ushered in early due to an injury during the warm ups.

When he was picked it was a surprise.

And didn't Gareth Bale get his chance on the left wing because of injury?

MACCA wrote:And he is still driving around in his Merc A class, Vauxhall Vectra, or whatever it is.

keeping it real.

He’s going to be a very wealthy individual. Hopefully he keeps the work ethic up and isn’t distracted by the pound signs. The way he has adapted to premier league football, and significantly maintained that level for a good few games now, is remarkable.

He appears fearless.

An absolute highlight of the season seeing him burst onto the scene.

I clearly cursed him. Sorry.

claretspice wrote:
"So where we disagree is that I think the evidence (including Dyches own comments) suggests McNeil's elevation is largely down up astute management from Dyche. It might have come at the precise moment it did because of circumstances, but the opportunity arose because of a belief from the management McNeil was ready to contribute as and when those circumstances arose.

Then yes- we do disagree. I believe Dyche knew there was a player in there, but certainly dont think we were planning on using McNeil, YET. This is not the reason we did not make signings, unless you think the same can be said for Benson?

Conroy92 wrote:Then yes- we do disagree. I believe Dyche knew there was a player in there, but certainly dont think we were planning on using McNeil, YET. This is not the reason we did not make signings, unless you think the same can be said for Benson?

To my knowledge, Benson has not started any games for Burnley yet, nor even come off the bench. McNeil made his debut last season, played a pretty full part in pre season and has been involved in the first team since August.

The two aren't remotely comparable.

Neither of us can prove our point either way, but I'm going to take our manager at face value with his comments indicating that McNeil is part of the first team squad on merit. He's been making those comments since the summer.

claretspice wrote:To my knowledge, Benson has not started any games for Burnley yet, nor even come off the bench. McNeil made his debut last season, played a pretty full part in pre season and has been involved in the first team since August.

The two aren't remotely comparable.

Neither of us can prove our point either way, but I'm going to take our manager at face value with his comments indicating that McNeil is part of the first team squad on merit. He's been making those comments since the summer.

I think playing him in that 2nd leg vs in Europa showed that he was seen as a good attacking threat (considering we needed a result) but how good competitively at that level was unknown. He surprised quite a few that night and has grown from it and had a bit of an off night last night - I think the fact he hasn’t done much wrong as is still very much a luxury player in our framework outlined his below par performance last night when obviously targeted as a threat by Newcastle.

I think claretspice has been smoking spice if you think we didn't sign anyone coz of McNeil. Yes Dyche knew he had ability but no way on earth did he think he would hit the ground running like he has done. Do you think Dyche would put that much pressure on the young lad coz I certainly dont.

DomBFC1882 wrote:I think claretspice has been smoking spice if you think we didn't sign anyone coz of McNeil. Yes Dyche knew he had ability but no way on earth did he think he would hit the ground running like he has done. Do you think Dyche would put that much pressure on the young lad coz I certainly dont.

Not sure I've suggested that. I've said that Dyche presumably thought he was ready to be used as fourth choice winger, and deserves some praise for the fact he didn't clog up McNeil's route to the first team. The fact he's proved very quickly to be better than 4th choice winger is a bonus.

I agree with you there claretspice and it's a good job he did hit the ground running as so many young lads get a chance and if they dont hit the ground running they end up fading away. McNeil and kane are prime examples as mentioned on this thread

DomBFC1882 wrote:I think claretspice has been smoking spice if you think we didn't sign anyone coz of McNeil. Yes Dyche knew he had ability but no way on earth did he think he would hit the ground running like he has done. Do you think Dyche would put that much pressure on the young lad coz I certainly dont.

I don’t think he suggested that - at the start of the season we had Lennon, Brady, Walters, JBG, Hendrick who could all play our wide ahead of McNeil. We also have played Defour there and Barnes has also covered there if really needed.

I think that was a reason for not strengthening out wide and knowing McNeil was available as a bit part player who has proven himself to be more than capable of filling in.

At the start of the season we wouldn’t have known so many wide players would not be able to play.

bfccrazy wrote:I don’t think he suggested that - at the start of the season we had Lennon, Brady, Walters, JBG, Hendrick who could all play our wide ahead of McNeil. We also have played Defour there and Barnes has also covered there if really needed.

I think that was a reason for not strengthening out wide and knowing McNeil was available as a bit part player who has proven himself to be more than capable of filling in.

At the start of the season we wouldn’t have known so many wide players would not be able to play.

I'm thinking of centre midfield being strengthened not out wide. As Walter's said the other day hes a centre mid is McNeil but it so happens hes been put out wide and done a superb job which has surprised everyone. Either way hes a top player and Dyche deserves huge credit putting his faith in him week in and week out. Just a shame to seen him look shattered early on yesterday which is understandable I suppose given the minutes hes played and the intensity of the league and the way we play