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Dom Ballard

lambtiss

By lambtiss,
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lambtiss

lambtiss

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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. 

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Saint_clark

Saint_clark

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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. 

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lambtiss

lambtiss

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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. 

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SNSUN

SNSUN

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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.

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HarvSFC

HarvSFC

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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.

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Badger

Badger

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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 

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John B

John B

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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 

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lambtiss

lambtiss

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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. 

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trousers

trousers

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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
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The Kraken

The Kraken

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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.

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Saint86

Saint86

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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
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Turkish

Turkish

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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 

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Harry_SFC

Harry_SFC

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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. 

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egg

egg

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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. 

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Chez

Chez

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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.   

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david in sweden

david in sweden

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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
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Gingeletiss

Gingeletiss

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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.

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trousers

trousers

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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?. 

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