Dom Ballard

[Polaroid Saint]

Shame he is off to Reading. 

Be fine to see him getting minutes off the bench and continuing to blaze in the U21...

...I guess I just *fear* Reading is a bit toxic at the moment (and Selles). Although,maybe that's in the past? Quality set up otherwise (stadium, facilities etc) and just up the road. Recall at Christmas if he lights up League 0ne?

But I'd give him a chance here, with better experienced players to support him.

[John B]

1 hour ago, iansums said:

Could be off to Reading on loan, good move for him.

Yes I think he lives near there too 

[hypochondriac]

35 minutes ago, Polaroid Saint said:

Shame he is off to Reading. 

Be fine to see him getting minutes off the bench and continuing to blaze in the U21...

...I guess I just *fear* Reading is a bit toxic at the moment (and Selles). Although,maybe that's in the past? Quality set up otherwise (stadium, facilities etc) and just up the road. Recall at Christmas if he lights up League 0ne?

But I'd give him a chance here, with better experienced players to support him.

I am a bit sad that he isn't getting a chance here this year. I thought one of the only positives on relegation was being able to give someone like Ballard a chance. 

[SaintNewForest]

Just now, hypochondriac said:

I am a bit sad that he isn't getting a chance here this year. I thought one of the only positives on relegation was being able to give someone like Ballard a chance. 

Yep. Exactly this.

If we can't give them a chance now, when will we? The cynic in me would suggest if Ballard was signed from City this summer, he'd be straight in the 1st team ... 

[Saint_Ash]

He's a young lad doing well with youngsters. The championship is a tough league, it's be risky to just throw him in. Let's see how he does in a professional league in league one first. Great move for him.

[hypochondriac]

6 minutes ago, Saint_Ash said:

He's a young lad doing well with youngsters. The championship is a tough league, it's be risky to just throw him in. Let's see how he does in a professional league in league one first. Great move for him.

I know it's not entirely the same, but if Poch was in charge he'd be giving some of these young guys a chance. Surely we could afford to give someone as talented as Ballard a bit of game time? 

[Saint_Ash]

15 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

I know it's not entirely the same, but if Poch was in charge he'd be giving some of these young guys a chance. Surely we could afford to give someone as talented as Ballard a bit of game time? 

If we were still in the league cup then yes I can see it. We can't have it both ways in the league where we are wanting to be promoted so need the best players possible, complaining about the likes of Che leaving, to giving game time to a youth player, however talented, unless he's the next Wayne Rooney or Michael Owen, and I expect the club see that. 

I'm hoping as well as Stewart, we'll bring in another striker if Mara goes. 

Edited 31 August, 2023 by Saint_Ash

[hypochondriac]

1 minute ago, Saint_Ash said:

If we were still in the league cup then yes I can see it. We can't have it both ways in the league where we are wanting to be promoted so need the best players possible, complaining about the likes of Che leaving, to giving game time to a youth player, however talented, unless he's the next Wayne Rooney or Michael Owen, and I expect the club see that. 

I'm hoping as as Stewart, we'll bring in another striker if Mara goes. 

Yes so striking options could be 

Stewart 

New striker 

Ballard 

In that scenario he'd get plenty of game time off the bench. 

[Saint_Ash]

2 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Yes so striking options could be 

Stewart 

New striker 

Ballard 

In that scenario he'd get plenty of game time off the bench. 

I had to remind myself of the lead striker in our win against QPR. We never had one. I'm wondering if we go that way, three pacey players up front. We had AA, Edozie and SA-A with Alcaraz in there as well. Are we planning to attack with pace and mix it up? Obviously not when Stewart is fit. Don't advocate it myself but that's how we looked when we started, probs with AA further forward. 

[BotleySaint]

6 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

Yes so striking options could be 

Stewart 

New striker 

Ballard 

In that scenario he'd get plenty of game time off the bench. 

It only takes the main striker Stewart to get injured and we'd look very thin on the ground... Oh, hang on.

[hypochondriac]

20 minutes ago, BotleySaint said:

It only takes the main striker Stewart to get injured and we'd look very thin on the ground... Oh, hang on.

You hope the other new striker woild be good enough to guard against that. 

[John B]

7 hours ago, SaintNewForest said:

Yep. Exactly this.

If we can't give them a chance now, when will we? The cynic in me would suggest if Ballard was signed from City this summer, he'd be straight in the 1st team ... 

Or perhaps the club do not think he is good enough for the Championshiip as they see him all the time.

 

I will ask my daughter's brother-in-law who used to teach him at school including Football and is still in contact with him what Dom thinks of the move

[egg]

His loan seems to have been lined up even with us trying to find a home for Mara, so I doubt that it's conditional on incomings. Reading would be a good move for him. 

[Baird of the land]

Seems a good developmental move for him.

Hopefully we can get Stewart, plus 1 more to go along A.Armstrong as our options upfront.

[qwertyell]

Selles is playing 4-4-2, so Ballard could form a decent old school little and large partnership with Kelvin Unspellablename (whose younger brother is in our 21s) who has been going well for Reading.

Should be a good set up for him to get some men's football under his belt. I don't really think he can thrive as a lone striker - too small and lightweight as things stand. That's rarely been an effective combination for any striker since football widely abandoned two up in the early 2000s in favour of more physical lone strikers who can do a little bit of everything: hold up play, head, run in behind, get into wrestling matches.

Whether Ballard can buck the trend, time will tell - his career is just starting out. But he'd get swallowed up whole leading the line for us currently. Adam Armstrong barely gets a kick unless deployed in a deeper role. And he's an experienced campaigner at this level. 

 

[kitch]

9 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

Yes so striking options could be 

Stewart 

New striker 

Ballard 

In that scenario he'd get plenty of game time off the bench. 

Are you forgetting Arma there?

[Dman]

9 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

I know it's not entirely the same, but if Poch was in charge he'd be giving some of these young guys a chance. Surely we could afford to give someone as talented as Ballard a bit of game time? 

Its a bit of a tricky one. It'd be a huge risk to rely on him for any period of time so we need 2 seasoned professionals ahead of him and we only play 1 up top, so he's relying on a long term injury to get some game time realistically. 

I think sending him to Reading (with a recall clause) is sensible for us and him. 

[Dman]

3 minutes ago, kitch said:

Are you forgetting Arma there?

No one is forgetting him - He's isn't a number 9. We've seen that. 

[hypochondriac]

4 minutes ago, kitch said:

Are you forgetting Arma there?

Not a striker. 

[kitch]

4 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Not a striker. 

You see him more as a 10?

[kitch]

6 minutes ago, Dman said:

No one is forgetting him - He's isn't a number 9. We've seen that. 

He literally is no. 9 😆

 

(yeah I know what you meant!)

[washsaint]

Scored twice for Reading tonight + 2 assists.

Yet we persist with strikers who could not score in a brothel and are bereft of talent.

Yet another shameful decision by the club - why would any youngster stay at Saints when crap like tonight are always played?

Mind you, with this clown in charge he'd probably play Dom at CB

[BotleySaint]

He's still our player. The loan was the right move for him to get senior games. Can come back stronger. 

Edited 19 September, 2023 by BotleySaint

[benali-shorts]

It’s completely ridiculous that he’s not involved in our squad, given how utterly shit our strikers are. He’d be like a breath of fresh air compared to Che, Adam Armstrong, Mara. Terrible decision to not at least give him until Xmas here. 

[Saint86]

29 minutes ago, washsaint said:

Scored twice for Reading tonight + 2 assists.

Yet we persist with strikers who could not score in a brothel and are bereft of talent.

Yet another shameful decision by the club - why would any youngster stay at Saints when crap like tonight are always played?

Mind you, with this clown in charge he'd probably play Dom at CB

As has been said in another thread. I've also mused for a while that it's like we're run by a pompey fan... 

[Pilchards]

Like we sent Tella away for game experience. That went well as he returned and wanted out.

Ballard is probably thinking I’m not good enough to get in a team of misfiring shit prima donnas then fuck you!

[qwertyell]

1 hour ago, washsaint said:

Scored twice for Reading tonight + 2 assists.

Yet we persist with strikers who could not score in a brothel and are bereft of talent.

Yet another shameful decision by the club - why would any youngster stay at Saints when crap like tonight are always played?

Mind you, with this clown in charge he'd probably play Dom at CB

To be fair, the EFL trophy is basically u21 football - and we already know Ballard is good at that level.

He was sent to Reading to get experience in men's football. I didn't notice anyone starting a thread about him after the weekend in the senior side where he didn't get a kick for 50 minutes before being subbed.

Let him develop away from this shit show. Frankly, everyone's already gotten worse since the beginning of the season - he's better off out of it. 

Edited 19 September, 2023 by qwertyell

[Lighthouse]

2 hours ago, Pilchards said:

Like we sent Tella away for game experience. That went well as he returned and wanted out.

Ballard is probably thinking I’m not good enough to get in a team of misfiring shit prima donnas then fuck you!

Right, because if we hadn’t loaned him to Burnley, he never would have wanted to leave the Championship for Bauer Leverkusen? The Tella loan worked out great for us, a player who was basically useless and going nowhere became an in demand £20m asset in the space of one season.

As for Ballard, he scored against Exeter in a 9-0 win in the EFL trophy. That in no way equates to him being good enough to play Championship football.

[Sussex_saint]

9 hours ago, Pilchards said:

Like we sent Tella away for game experience. That went well as he returned and wanted out.

Ballard is probably thinking I’m not good enough to get in a team of misfiring shit prima donnas then fuck you!

To be fair, he did say in a daily echo interview he would want to stay at Southampton rather than go on loan. Maybe his position has changed over the last few weeks though

[SNSUN]

Signing Stewart and keeping Mara and Adams did mean loaning out Ballard was a decent decision in the end but for a while I was definitely annoyed by this decision. I think our attack will click at some point. More worrying is midfield for me.

If we have another season at this level which currently looks possible then hopefully Ballard can be a part of that with senior football behind him.

[spyinthesky]

It was a good decision to send Dom Ballard out on loan to Reading but for those arguing that Dom should have found a starting place in our first team, it seems even playing in League One is a challenge.
It seems he has been mainly used as a sub and has yet to score.
Despite this it is hoped the experience will really help his development and allow him to return as a more rounded player and become an integral part of the 1st team squad in the future.

[EBS1980]

9 minutes ago, spyinthesky said:

It was a good decision to send Dom Ballard out on loan to Reading but for those arguing that Dom should have found a starting place in our first team, it seems even playing in League One is a challenge.
It seems he has been mainly used as a sub and has yet to score.
Despite this it is hoped the experience will really help his development and allow him to return as a more rounded player and become an integral part of the 1st team squad in the future.

He has scored twice in the league and twice in the Cup for Reading.

[Saint86]

29 minutes ago, spyinthesky said:

It was a good decision to send Dom Ballard out on loan to Reading but for those arguing that Dom should have found a starting place in our first team, it seems even playing in League One is a challenge.
It seems he has been mainly used as a sub and has yet to score.
Despite this it is hoped the experience will really help his development and allow him to return as a more rounded player and become an integral part of the 1st team squad in the future.

Are you trolling - and why this post right now?

In all seriousness, firstly get your stats right, he is their 3rd highest scorer this year (https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/fc-reading/leistungsdaten/verein/1032) and a 10second google would have revealed that. He's done that from circa 400minutes and scored 1 less than Harvey Knibbs who basically has 3 times as many minutes. I think people also forget that Ballard suffered an ACL injury a year ago....

There is absolutely no reason why he couldn't have done a job for saints as an impact sub this year. Especially compared to the complete lack of impact Mara has had! We dominate possession and create lots of chances - what we've needed is someone with good movement in the box and decent finishing ability - which is 100% dom's skillset. 

Plus, lets not forget that he's playing in an awful reading side struggling under financial debts, points deductions(?) and recent transfer embargoes.

I don't have an issue loaning him out if its good for him and he develops (maybe the club decided it was a safe bet as well post ACL). But lets not for one second ignore the fact that we've got an interest in recouping some money on the likes of Mara and Adams (amongst others), and that combined bloat is 100% blocking pathways for our academy players. Dom should have been featuring for saints this season (I suspect he would have had without the ACL hanging over him) - He was the top scorer and one of the best players in one of the best u18s sides in the country and had plenty of suitors. And people can say what they want, but the club has lost its identity on the academy front - all this, "we've got a great crop of players" PR guff is exactly that if we don't give them their chance at this level.

 

 

Edited 8 November, 2023 by Saint86

[SNSUN]

2 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Are you trolling?

In all seriousness, firstly get your stats right, he is their 3rd highest scorer this year (https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/fc-reading/leistungsdaten/verein/1032) and a 10second google would have revealed that.

He's playing in an awful reading side struggling under financial debts, points deductions and recent transfer embargoes.

 

 

This. They are poor under Selles bar one big result in the EFL trophy and even with their points deduction they'd be adrift of safety. They may very well be in League Two next year, even if they do find a buyer. Their owner has Royally screwed them. I hope Ballard comes back a better player - we may need him next season if we don't go up.

[SaintNewForest]

48 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Are you trolling - and why this post right now?

In all seriousness, firstly get your stats right, he is their 3rd highest scorer this year (https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/fc-reading/leistungsdaten/verein/1032) and a 10second google would have revealed that. He's done that from circa 400minutes and scored 1 less than Harvey Knibbs who basically has 3 times as many minutes. I think people also forget that Ballard suffered an ACL injury a year ago....

There is absolutely no reason why he couldn't have done a job for saints as an impact sub this year. Especially compared to the complete lack of impact Mara has had! We dominate possession and create lots of chances - what we've needed is someone with good movement in the box and decent finishing ability - which is 100% dom's skillset. 

Plus, lets not forget that he's playing in an awful reading side struggling under financial debts, points deductions(?) and recent transfer embargoes.

I don't have an issue loaning him out if its good for him and he develops (maybe the club decided it was a safe bet as well post ACL). But lets not for one second ignore the fact that we've got an interest in recouping some money on the likes of Mara and Adams (amongst others), and that combined bloat is 100% blocking pathways for our academy players. Dom should have been featuring for saints this season (I suspect he would have had without the ACL hanging over him) - He was the top scorer and one of the best players in one of the best u18s sides in the country and had plenty of suitors. And people can say what they want, but the club has lost its identity on the academy front - all this, "we've got a great crop of players" PR guff is exactly that if we don't give them their chance at this level.

 

 

Think you're confusing Diamond Edwards with Dom Ballard.

 

Ballard was fit for all of last season and made a handful of 1st team appearances sprinkled throughout the season, Edwards did his ACL shortly after his first team debut At the start of last season and has barely been seen since.

[woodsaint1]

He would be a better option than Mara

[saintant]

On 19/09/2023 at 21:48, benali-shorts said:

It’s completely ridiculous that he’s not involved in our squad, given how utterly shit our strikers are. He’d be like a breath of fresh air compared to Che, Adam Armstrong, Mara. Terrible decision to not at least give him until Xmas here. 

You do realise how many goals and assists Adam Armstrong has this season don't you?

[benali-shorts]

I didn't then as that comment was two months ago and I didn't have a time machine handy - at that stage, all three were performing poorly (and two still are). I would have given him until Xmas here, particularly given Stewart's injury. 

[Saint86]

14 hours ago, SaintNewForest said:

Think you're confusing Diamond Edwards with Dom Ballard.

 

Ballard was fit for all of last season and made a handful of 1st team appearances sprinkled throughout the season, Edwards did his ACL shortly after his first team debut At the start of last season and has barely been seen since.

Ah yes, you're right on that front. I remember Ballard had knee injuries in pre season and equated the two (he missed the turkey trip for example because of this). I think the point i was making stays the same. He was out injured over the summer, and the club have preferred to send him out on loan rather than taking a chance on him being fit and settling into the first team - which given Che and Mara's performances is disappointing.

Edited 9 November, 2023 by Saint86

[Dusic]

The gap between U21 star and pro mens football is massive and I don't think he would have got many minutes here given the pressure to win and the fact we went out the EFL Cup so early.

Sure this loan will do him plenty of good and hopefully for him he will have a long pro career and not end up as another Seager, Hesketh etc who were excellent at youth level and couldn't translate it to the senior game.

He definitely has something about him and seems mentally strong.

Edited 9 November, 2023 by Dusic

[notnowcato]

4 hours ago, Saint86 said:

Ah yes, you're right on that front. I remember Ballard had knee injuries in pre season and equated the two (he missed the turkey trip for example because of this). I think the point i was making stays the same. He was out injured over the summer, and the club have preferred to send him out on loan rather than taking a chance on him being fit and settling into the first team - which given Che and Mara's performances is disappointing.

The decision to send Dom on loan was before Che's form bombed.  He's probably getting more minutes on loan than he would with us.

[Saint NL]

On 08/11/2023 at 22:22, woodsaint1 said:

He would be a better option than Mara

That's not hard now is it? 

[lambtiss]

Surely his goal scoring achievements, even at the tender age of 18 mean that he deserves his own thread. 

https://www.englandfootball.com/articles/2023/Nov/21/england-mens-u19-mexico-match-report-20232111

A hatrick for England U19s today just adding to his growing reputation. The chaotic mess that is Reading FC at the moment is arguably not the best place for him to be developing his potential. 

Looking forward to him scoring goals in a Saints first team shirt, which seems to be his inevitable destiny, hopefully sooner rather than later. 

[trousers]

On 22/11/2023 at 18:41, lambtiss said:

Surely his goal scoring achievements, even at the tender age of 18 mean that he deserves his own thread. 

Like one of these you mean...?

 

Edited 25 November, 2023 by trousers

[lambtiss]

Yes, very good work Trousers. I thought that there might be other threads somewhere but not having the will to page through a forum, just thought that a hattrick for England deserved highlighting. 

[Saint_clark]

Another Dom Ballard thread?

 

[lambtiss]

Great response chaps, celebrate a Southampton home grown lad scoring a hattrick or be cynical . Class.

[Saint_clark]

6 minutes ago, lambtiss said:

Great response chaps, celebrate a Southampton home grown lad scoring a hattrick or be cynical . Class.

I apologise MuttonMatt.

It's great to see, just hope there's a route to the first team for him especially as we may be back in the Prem when he comes back. 

[lambtiss]

4 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

I apologise MuttonMatt.

It's great to see, just hope there's a route to the first team for him especially as we may be back in the Prem when he comes back. 

😂

Yes, his goal scoring exploits are remarkable and he seems to score at every level. Hatrick for England at any level is something really special. 

[SNSUN]

It's been said before that many Saints youngsters have banged in goals at "lower levels" then never hit the heights in senior football. I hope Ballard isn't one of them. However if we go up this season I think he goes on loan for another year. Stay in the Championship and I would hope he would be one of our squad options next season alongside AA, Ross and A.N Other. The Reading loan will do him good IMO no matter how fruitcake they are right now.