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Dom Ballard

Saint Garrett

By Saint Garrett
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HarvSFC

HarvSFC

Posted
Posted

His scoring record definitely catches the eye and my heart says he deserves a squad role in our team at the moment. However, my head then reminds me that there are plenty of players who have scored for fun at the younger level and then struggled to make it as a professional. Most recently, Ryan Seager. Sekou Mara also dropped down to the Under-21s once and banged in four goals, giving us a better insight into the levels they play at each week.

Agreed, that I don't think Reading was the right move, though. A club in a state off the pitch with a manager who doesn't really value attacking football, or attacking players.

Badger

Badger

Posted
Posted
36 minutes ago, lambtiss said:

😂

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. 

I agree with you that’s it’s a tremendous achievement. Didn’t do MLT’s England career any good though 

John B

John B

Posted
Posted
28 minutes ago, HarvSFC said:

His scoring record definitely catches the eye and my heart says he deserves a squad role in our team at the moment. However, my head then reminds me that there are plenty of players who have scored for fun at the younger level and then struggled to make it as a professional. Most recently, Ryan Seager. Sekou Mara also dropped down to the Under-21s once and banged in four goals, giving us a better insight into the levels they play at each week.

Agreed, that I don't think Reading was the right move, though. A club in a state off the pitch with a manager who doesn't really value attacking football, or attacking players.

Reading is his local club his family home is nearby so why not Reading 

  • Like 1
lambtiss

lambtiss

Posted
Posted
17 minutes ago, Badger said:

I agree with you that’s it’s a tremendous achievement. Didn’t do MLT’s England career any good though 

Matt was tragically overlooked for England in my opinion. It was once said that if he had elected to play for France they would have built a team around him. 

Ex Lion Tamer

Ex Lion Tamer

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, lambtiss said:

Matt was tragically overlooked for England in my opinion. It was once said that if he had elected to play for France they would have built a team around him. 

They only gave Ginola 17 caps so who knows how they'd have treated Matt

trousers

trousers

Posted
Posted (edited)
18 minutes ago, SaintNewForest said:

Stretchered off today. Nasty looking injury and suspected ACL.

 

Gutted for him.

Yeah, bugger. After a long line of academy strikers/attacking midfielders that have failed to capitalize on their early potential over the last decade of do (e.g. Ryan Seager, Josh Sims), Dom looked like he could actually break through into the first team. Hope this doesn't end up being one of those injuries that he never fully recovers from... :(

Edited by trousers
Holmes_and_Watson

Holmes_and_Watson

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, SaintNewForest said:

Stretchered off today. Nasty looking injury and suspected ACL.

 

Gutted for him.

Oh no. I heard they'd won and clicked here looking forward to seeing that he'd got a winner. Can only hope it's not as bad as feared, and a speedy and fully recovery if it is. 😞

The Kraken

The Kraken

Posted
Posted
12 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

Oh no. I heard they'd won and clicked here looking forward to seeing that he'd got a winner. Can only hope it's not as bad as feared, and a speedy and fully recovery if it is. 😞

He was stretchered off while on the oxygen. It certainly sounds very bad.

Saint86

Saint86

Posted
Posted (edited)

Well, if it is an ACL, in all likelihood it will be the end of his top level career prospects. Terrible terrible news.

Edit, looks grim indeed (circa 10-20 seconds in), possible over extension / twist of the knee? Nice little move by him as well tbf.



 

Edited by Saint86
AlexLaw76

AlexLaw76

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Well, if it is an ACL, in all likelihood it will be the end of his top level career prospects. Terrible terrible news.

did he have a top level career?

Turkish

Turkish

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, SaintNewForest said:

 

Not sure if this is a better outcome than an ACL or not, but either way a serious injury at a crucial time.

Truly gutted for him.

 

Sad news, ACL injuries always seem worse as so many used to be career ending don’t know much about this but snapped tendons and a most of the season out is terrible for a young player. We do seem to get more than our share of long term injuries to promising young players which is unfortunate 

Harry_SFC

Harry_SFC

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Turkish said:

Sad news, ACL injuries always seem worse as so many used to be career ending don’t know much about this but snapped tendons and a most of the season out is terrible for a young player. We do seem to get more than our share of long term injuries to promising young players which is unfortunate 

Same injury Forster had and he was out for around 11 months. It's a much rarer injury than an ACL and the recovery time is normally slightly longer. Terrible news for the lad. 

  • Sad 1
egg

egg

Posted
Posted

That's an awful injury for the poor lad. I've had patella tendonitis (the injury that ended Owen Hargreaves career) and it was horrendous, so I can't imagine what a break would be like. It'll be a tough road back for him and I wish him well. 

  • Like 1
Master Bates

Master Bates

Posted
Posted (edited)
19 minutes ago, SaintNewForest said:

Good to see people are reading the thread :mcinnes:

Came up an hour ago as breaking news from Reading.

But yes, I didnt read the whole thread again.

Edited by Master Bates
Master Bates

Master Bates

Posted
Posted
55 minutes ago, Turkish said:

In a rush to be first to deliver the breaking news on here quite often people ignore the fact the news has already broken 

I have learned my lesson and will duly stop posting.

  • Haha 2
  • Sad 1
Chez

Chez

Posted
Posted
On 22/11/2023 at 20:28, lambtiss said:

Matt was tragically overlooked for England in my opinion. It was once said that if he had elected to play for France they would have built a team around him. 

Matt had two brilliant seasons in 1989-91 playing out wide. Not sure the French side was blessed with fabulous wingers during those couple of years. Ginola started to emerge in 1990. Pascal Vahirua played a fair bit around that time. Not sure there was much talk about MLT playing for his country at that time though, despite his exciting performances for us. 

1993-95 was obviously when MLT was in his pomp and tearing up the Prem. Not exactly the best era for the France National side, but in 1995 they did have Djorkeff and Zidane as attacking midfielders (although the latter was only just emerging) and Cantana, Ginola and Dugarry further forward. So Houllier/Aime Jacquet may well have shown him more faith and provided more opportunities.   

david in sweden

david in sweden

Posted
Posted (edited)
17 hours ago, Turkish said:

Sad news, ACL injuries always seem worse as so many used to be career ending don’t know much about this but snapped tendons and a most of the season out is terrible for a young player. We do seem to get more than our share of long term injuries to promising young players which is unfortunate 

I know what you mean, but the mere fact that we place teenagers on loan with L1/ L2  / League / National League clubs means that they are getting  

far more strenuous activity and tougher physical contact which stresses young bodies that are still developing physically.

In this case I think it was an accidental fall, but seemed reminiscent of Livramento's injury way back then, and also Broja who suffered a major injury

after he returned to Stamford Bridge,  and now it seems that Lavia has also suffered an injury problem in the short time since leaving us.

Another example of the difficulty of U21 level players stepping up and failing to meet the demands of " the man's game" . 

Edited by david in sweden
Gingeletiss

Gingeletiss

Posted
Posted
On 23/11/2023 at 04:28, lambtiss said:

Matt was tragically overlooked for England in my opinion. It was once said that if he had elected to play for France they would have built a team around him. 

Pele said, that MLT was the only England player, who would get into the Brazilian team.

  • Like 2
notnowcato

notnowcato

Posted
Posted

Having had the same injury, I can confirm it ruined my prospects of a top level playing career. 
The reconstruction surgery stopped the patella from popping but it’s difficult to get the realignment right without fucking the cartilage, well it was back then. 

trousers

trousers

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 29/11/2023 at 04:44, Turkish said:

We do seem to get more than our share of long term injuries to promising young players which is unfortunate 

I have the same gut feel... we do appear to be more unlucky than most teams with career affecting injuries on our younger players... I wonder if the stats back up this perception?. 

Edited by trousers
  • 9 months later...
CSA96

CSA96

Posted
Posted
31 minutes ago, BotleySaint said:

I must have missed it earlier, but I see Dom is back playing and on loan to Blackpool. 1 goal in 3 appearances so far.

Hopefully the change of manager (Neil Critchley out; Steve Bruce in) doesn't affect him negatively...

  • Like 1
SaintNewForest

SaintNewForest

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, CSA96 said:

Hopefully the change of manager (Neil Critchley out; Steve Bruce in) doesn't affect him negatively...

Seeing as one of the main reasons he went to Blackpool was Neil Critchley, it's a bit of a blow. 

  • 3 weeks later...
Saint Fan CaM

Saint Fan CaM

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, Bob60 said:

Looks like the poor lad is out injured again and might need shoulder surgery.

Yeah mentioned by Russ in the Bournemouth presser. They’re making a decision on whether he returns to Saints for rehab or stays at Blackburn. I’m probably wrong, but it seems players we loan out get injured all too easily and I wonder if that’s because of their conditioning (or lack of it) when at Saints. Hope Dom gets back fit asap…best of luck to the lad.

Edited by Saint Fan CaM
david in sweden

david in sweden

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

Yeah mentioned by Russ in the Bournemouth presser. They’re making a decision on whether he returns to Saints for rehab or stays at Blackburn.

I’m probably wrong, but it seems players we loan out get injured all too easily and I wonder if that’s because of their conditioning (or lack of it) when at Saints.

Hope Dom gets back fit asap…best of luck to the lad.

1) I think that he should  return for surgery and rehab. He is our player and been with the club for some years.  For a teenager to sit out a long rehab. period  

before getting back to fitness is bad enough, but doing so whilst around a lot of (albeit) "friendly strangers"  at  Blackpool might be psychologically stressful.

Our medical staff have a good reputation and being surrounded by familiar faces and clubmates would surely make a positive contribution to his recovery. 

2) Loan players getting injured. This is an ongoing problem for many clubs. Nowadays many teenagers at Academy level have just stepped up from

schoolboy football and games are deliberately " low key " compared to the "men's game".  Loan-outs are good experience - if they survive the season. 

Down in L1 / L2  they meet former top pro's, a few "has-beens" and a bunch of young local "wannabees".  I'm not sure  if his injury was from a foul, or

just bad luck (?), but he was similarly injured when at Reading after a freak accident. Young bodies need to be toughed up quickly, but any lad

who hasn't made his mark by (say) 21 , (or at least got some senior game time)  may well have one foot out of the door when his contract runs out. 

 

At the end of the day, footballing success at a young age counts for little when players have to move up to the big league and don't get the lucky breaks.

Personal note: in the early 1970's I met ..Terry Spinner - an apprentice with Saints who broke all age-related records by scoring 150 goals in a season

at schoolboy level, and whilst playing for England Schoolboys, scored a hat-trick in an international (in Germany)... in front of 60,000 people. 

He debuted for Saints Reserves at the age of 16, alongside some senior players of the time and scored over 50 goals in the following 4 seasons .

Terry did eventually get a couple of outings for the first team, in part because our regular CF at the time was (one ) Ron Davies.

Sadly at the age of 20, his time had come ..and gone.   Mick Channon was in full flight as a goalscorer, and the young Bobby Stokes had by now

become a first team regular, and additionally manager Lawrie McMenemy had signed... a seasoned striker ...by the name of ....Peter Osgood. 

Terry was released before moving on to Walsall where his luck in the pro-game finally ran out, and he played out his career in non-league football.

 

  • 1 month later...
disconnect

disconnect

Posted
Posted

Good to see. England under 19s? Wa surprised to see he was still 19, seems he's been on the scene about 4 years! 

Looks like he has only scored one goal on his loan, however, hopefully this will bring a few more as he gains more minutes. 

coalman

coalman

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, spyinthesky said:

Surprised to see that Dom is back fit again.

Should have passed the ball to a fellow player.

Not the RussBall way, I'm afraid

If they'd cycled through ball back to their keeper they could have drawn out the Polish defence and then hit them by surprise.

  • Like 1
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