Dibling and Meghoma

[gammon cheeks]

Watching these two last night was so impressed.  Dibling so strong and majestic at times reminds of a young Le tissier !  Meghoma excellent up and down the wing . Russell Martin and his coaching staff deserve a lot of credit on how some of these young players are developing to be honest.

[Bad Wolf]

Dibling reminds me of Grealish when he runs with the ball. 

[Chez]

1 hour ago, gammon cheeks said:

Watching these two last night was so impressed.  Dibling so strong and majestic at times reminds of a young Le tissier !  Meghoma excellent up and down the wing . Russell Martin and his coaching staff deserve a lot of credit on how some of these young players are developing to be honest.

I have to say I really like the look of Dibling. Good feet and he's big strong lad, which enables him to hold his own at this level already.  My only concern is that he appears to have the pace of Le Tissier in his later years and not when Matt burst onto the scene as a winger. That's a shame. If he had that pace, we might have a potential £100m player of our own on our hands.

If, when you say "coaching staff", that extends to the academy coaches, then I agree, as they are the ones most responsible for developing these young players.

 

[woodsaint1]

1 hour ago, Bad Wolf said:

Dibling reminds me of Grealish when he runs with the ball. 

Its the socks isnt it 😂

[saintant]

32 minutes ago, Chez said:

I have to say I really like the look of Dibling. Good feet and he's big strong lad, which enables him to hold his own at this level already.  My only concern is that he appears to have the pace of Le Tissier in his later years and not when Matt burst onto the scene as a winger. That's a shame. If he had that pace, we might have a potential £100m player of our own on our hands.

If, when you say "coaching staff", that extends to the academy coaches, then I agree, as they are the ones most responsible for developing these young players.

 

 

33 minutes ago, Chez said:

I have to say I really like the look of Dibling. Good feet and he's big strong lad, which enables him to hold his own at this level already.  My only concern is that he appears to have the pace of Le Tissier in his later years and not when Matt burst onto the scene as a winger. That's a shame. If he had that pace, we might have a potential £100m player of our own on our hands.

If, when you say "coaching staff", that extends to the academy coaches, then I agree, as they are the ones most responsible for developing these young players.

 

A few on here are likening him to Grealish who is a great player but not blessed with searing pace. Most of the really great players rely on skill rather than pace - accept that if you have both that is even better but Dibling seems to have the skills in his tool box to make up for any lack of pace.

[Harry_SFC]

Granted Meghoma hasn't necessarily been tested against any great wingers yet but he hasn't really put a foot wrong in all 3 games. He looks very solid. 

[Dman]

If we fail to go up (which I think will happen) I want to see a load more from these 2 next season. 

The fear is, we go up and neither will get a look in. 

[The Cat]

Dibling could be the most exciting academy player for a good while. I've heard so much good stuff about him over the past few years from a few parents of kids who played for Saints Youth.

My favourite was when Saints rocked up to a tournament a few years ago and representatives of other clubs were waiting for the Saints coach to arrive to see if he was there.

One chap from Man Utd was happy because he said they had a full back that no one could dribble past, that he bosses every winger he plays against and they wanted to see him against Dibling.

Halfway through the first half Dibling had roasted the full back numerous times and by half time had scored a hat trick.

 

[SuperSAINT]

13 minutes ago, The Cat said:

Dibling could be the most exciting academy player for a good while. I've heard so much good stuff about him over the past few years from a few parents of kids who played for Saints Youth.

My favourite was when Saints rocked up to a tournament a few years ago and representatives of other clubs were waiting for the Saints coach to arrive to see if he was there.

One chap from Man Utd was happy because he said they had a full back that no one could dribble past, that he bosses every winger he plays against and they wanted to see him against Dibling.

Halfway through the first half Dibling had roasted the full back numerous times and by half time had scored a hat trick.

 

He & JJM were lethal.  Apparently they always had to play a year up. 

[ErwinK1961]

6 hours ago, Chez said:

I have to say I really like the look of Dibling. Good feet and he's big strong lad, which enables him to hold his own at this level already.  My only concern is that he appears to have the pace of Le Tissier in his later years and not when Matt burst onto the scene as a winger. That's a shame. If he had that pace, we might have a potential £100m player of our own on our hands.

If, when you say "coaching staff", that extends to the academy coaches, then I agree, as they are the ones most responsible for developing these young players.

 

Think that’s a bit harsh on his pace. Seemed to look just fine for the second goal last night. Plus I’d rather he was pacy with the ball at his feet

[HarvSFC]

Could Meghoma be another Shaw for us if we get promoted? 

Young talent from the academy replaces struggling defensive full-back and doesn’t look out of place. 

Edited February 7 by HarvSFC

[SaintsFan86]

Worth mentioning too that Nico Lawrence has been brought into be 4th CB.

Sadly I don't think we will see him play much if at all.. but food for thought for next season.

Highly regarded from his stint at Torquay and his minimal game time at Colchester. 

[Turkish]

19 hours ago, Bad Wolf said:

Dibling reminds me of Grealish when he runs with the ball. 

Also wears tiny shin pads 

[Saint86]

11 hours ago, HarvSFC said:

Could Meghoma be another Shaw for us if we get promoted? 

Young talent from the academy replaces struggling defensive full-back and doesn’t look out of place. 

Meghoma isn't really from our academy. We signed him from Tottenham in 2022. Don't get me wrong, its great to see us developing and playing young talent, but lets not do what fans of bigger clubs do and start citing saints youngsters as their academy products. Would be like Chelsea saying JJM was from their academy, or Brighton trying to do similar with Doyle!

[wild-saint]

19 hours ago, Chez said:

I have to say I really like the look of Dibling. Good feet and he's big strong lad, which enables him to hold his own at this level already.  My only concern is that he appears to have the pace of Le Tissier in his later years and not when Matt burst onto the scene as a winger. That's a shame. If he had that pace, we might have a potential £100m player of our own on our hands.

If, when you say "coaching staff", that extends to the academy coaches, then I agree, as they are the ones most responsible for developing these young players.

 

and he would be gone within 12 months

[Fabrice Fernandes no.1 fan]

12 hours ago, HarvSFC said:

Could Meghoma be another Shaw for us if we get promoted? 

Young talent from the academy replaces struggling defensive full-back and doesn’t look out of place. 

The raw talent definitely seems to be there, both times I've seen Meghoma play I've been impressed with the burst of pace he still has late in the game. Doesn't seem to tire

[SaintNewForest]

49 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Meghoma isn't really from our academy. We signed him from Tottenham in 2022. Don't get me wrong, its great to see us developing and playing young talent, but lets not do what fans of bigger clubs do and start citing saints youngsters as their academy products. Would be like Chelsea saying JJM was from their academy, or Brighton trying to do similar with Doyle!

 

Well, he is. He was signed on scholarship terms (thats the key for me), and he's played in our academy ... it is possible for players to be part of more than one academy. They don't have to have been here since the age of 8 to count as an academy graduate. 

Doyle & JJM - they both went straight to their respective teams on professional terms, so bit more of a grey area but it wouldn't upset me too much if their fans did that, knowing that they've finished off their development in their academy sides. Bit of a moot point though; neither of them will ever play for those teams.  

Edited February 8 by SaintNewForest

[SuperSAINT]

53 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Meghoma isn't really from our academy. We signed him from Tottenham in 2022. Don't get me wrong, its great to see us developing and playing young talent, but lets not do what fans of bigger clubs do and start citing saints youngsters as their academy products. Would be like Chelsea saying JJM was from their academy, or Brighton trying to do similar with Doyle!

He was a Chelsea before he joined here, but take your point  

[Chez]

21 hours ago, Dman said:

If we fail to go up (which I think will happen) I want to see a load more from these 2 next season. 

The fear is, we go up and neither will get a look in. 

I wonder if they might really need a full season of playing every week - in the championship - before they are ready to cope with the Prem? The jump up is massive. Doing that without a huge amount of games, especially against the better quality championship sides is asking a lot.  Both players look talented. Maybe they can do a Shaw, but possibly a season out on loan would help them more than the odd few minutes here and there next season.  

[igsey]

Was Dibling the one who moved to Chelsea and then came back almost immediately because he realised he'd never get a look in?

[Badger]

11 minutes ago, igsey said:

Was Dibling the one who moved to Chelsea and then came back almost immediately because he realised he'd never get a look in?

He did return from Chelsea, but reasons for it have not been made known as far as I’m aware. 

[Chez]

15 hours ago, ErwinK1961 said:

Think that’s a bit harsh on his pace. Seemed to look just fine for the second goal last night. Plus I’d rather he was pacy with the ball at his feet

You are saying he is quick enough? That's great. The Watford game was the first time I've seen him at senior level and he wasn't involved in the play a lot, so perhaps I was mistaken. Pace is not everything of course. MLT and Sir Rickie both proved that. If he can beat players, create space and provide end product at the top level then we have a proper player on our hands.

I'm excited from what I have seen so far. I like Ballard a lot too. I know youngsters often get overhyped, but there might actually be two or three that can become proper Premiership players.     

[Chez]

6 minutes ago, Badger said:

He did return from Chelsea, but reasons for it have not been made known as far as I’m aware. 

I was told that Dibling was a pretty reserved and quiet kind of guy. Southampton was actually the ideal environment for him and he was perhaps not best suited for upping sticks, but the offer from Chelsea was too good to say no. The academy at Chelsea was full of top quality England youth players that all know each other very well. Lots of extravert types. Dibling became a small fish in a big pond. I don't think he got game time immediately and that made it quite difficult to settle in. A shame for him, but bloody great news for us as we got him back.

[Saint86]

2 hours ago, SuperSAINT said:

He was a Chelsea before he joined here, but take your point  

Hah! Fair, although we signed him as like a 10-11 year old though, which is a bit different to signing him and putting him in the first team a year later and claiming he's an club made academy player 😅

Or put another way, Spurs signed Bale at 17, it would be a bit of a cheek if they'd been calling him their academy player.

Edited February 8 by Saint86

[Badger]

4 hours ago, Saint86 said:

Or put another way, Spurs signed Bale at 17, it would be a bit of a cheek if they'd been calling him their academy player.

It was ‘Arry who discovered Bale, and turned ‘im into a top top player.

Theo’s anuvver one.Top, top player. 

[verlaine1979]

Dibling's run for the second reminded me of Tino - not particularly tricky, but very close control and surprising strength to hold off whoever is trying to keep up.

[SaintNewForest]

6 hours ago, Saint86 said:

Hah! Fair, although we signed him as like a 10-11 year old though, which is a bit different to signing him and putting him in the first team a year later and claiming he's an club made academy player 😅

Or put another way, Spurs signed Bale at 17, it would be a bit of a cheek if they'd been calling him their academy player.

Like I said above. Bale was signed on professional terms for their first team... not an academy scholarship. That's the key difference. Meghoma was signed on an academy scholarship. 

[Tauro]

Nearly every time Dibling got the ball in the first half, he made something happen. His first touch is fantastic, one of the best I've seen in years, creates himself some much time and space through it. Coupled with his ability to turn on a sixpence, he's a nightmare for defenders when. Receiving the ball back to goal. First time I've seen him play and I can certainly see that he's got something about him.

 

Meghoma again was fantastic. Played like an experienced lb. Stands his man up well, good in the tackle and let very little get past him or into the box - very much like Ashley Cole was. Great at going outside his man, definitely some learning and development for him with decision making going forwards. Think he'll be a top player. 

[Dusic]

Both are well known within their age group and obviously followed by other clubs so need to continue giving them game time to show a genuine pathway.

Difficult as all our games til end of the season are "big games" but sure there will be times when they can feature.

[egg]

2 hours ago, verlaine1979 said:

Dibling's run for the second reminded me of Tino - not particularly tricky, but very close control and surprising strength to hold off whoever is trying to keep up.

Ditto. What impressed me as much was his dropping to the RB position, starting the move, making a lovely run, almost demanding the ball, then checking his run slightly ready to receive. The kid can play. 

[suewhistle]

Yes, I was impressed on Tuesday too. Dibling's previous game he wasn't quite there but you could still see the quality, Tuesday was a real step up. Meghoma's had a little more game time but again you can see improvement. It'll be interesting to see them against a better team than Watford.

[bugenhagen]

14 hours ago, Turkish said:

Also wears tiny shin pads 

Nah, just blessed with long legs 😉

[rooney]

Sam Awo-Awayho? can be grouped with these 2 also as very good potential.

[Pwoite]

Do we have a potential ‘golden generation’? Dibbling, Meghoma, SAA, Bragg, Lawrence, Ballard, never mind some potentially outstanding U17s….. or will some or all flatter to deceive and become Ryan Seagers?
 

I was talking with someone who is close to the Liverpool academy, and their approach, despite the size of the club, is very similar to ours, in that they take on around a dozen kids each year, and develop them individually to play the way the first team does, and teach them how to handle themselves in the public eye. This is in contrast to the football farms of youngsters at Manchester City, Chelsea, Man United or Arsenal. No doubt someone will produce a study of the relative successes of the two differing approaches, perhaps comparing the costs per first team appearance or something. We certainly appear to have got it right in recent years, after a decade, nearly, where our famed academy had come off the rails, whether through organic growth or acquisition as is the case with SAA and Meghoma.

Potentially exciting times.