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[Ijb1989]

Afternoon all,

PNE fan here - hope you don't mind me popping up?!

I wanted to see how you feel Ethan Walker has looked since joining you recently? I saw a post in the 21st December Match Thread that looked as though opinion is divided on him and I notice he's been an unused sub since. Has he failed to live up to his billing, or are we of the opinion there's a player in there?

All the best for the rest of the season - your recent form looks very strong indeed

[One Foot in the Grave]

There's definitely a player in there, as evidenced by the delightful through ball that set up Jordan Hulme's goal in the Trophy replay against Farsley. However, he doesn't play to the sort of pattern that our management team set up. I'm sure that's being worked on in training, and hopefully he'll have a role to play for us before too long. Most importantly, he needs to work on his tracking back when we're defending.

[cheshire cat]

Just my opinion but I saw his last game. I think he has found it difficult to fit in. It's never easy for any new arrival. We play one touch football and each player knows what the others are going to do and how to play. The rest of the team didn't seem to want to give the ball to Ethan willingly, it seemed to go to the opposite wing more often. This resulted in Ethan moving to a more central position which gave the opposition right back acres of space. This was exploited and almost cost us the game. The other issue I noticed was he wasn't putting challenges in on the opposition. I don't recall him making a tackle. Allegedly he was put on the bench because he had a bug and then his replacement played well.

He'll be back on the pitch on Saturday because the guy that replaced him starts a three game ban. He might get a game tonight. I hope he has a better game whenever he gets the chance. If he does we'll get behind him because our squad hasn't got a lot of depth at the moment.

[Ijb1989]

Thanks a lot for the responses - interesting reading. I think it's often underestimated just how hard the transition to men's football can be - especially by some players. I always thought he was well built for a 16 yr old but now at 17 I think he's maybe coming up a bit short at times. That said, gritting your teeth and putting in the hard yards in tracking back shouldn't be dependant on size.

I really do hope he kicks on now and gets some more minutes under his belt - the experience will do him no end of good & should stand him in good stead for the future as long as he learns his trade quickly.

[Steve from Sale]

Played the last 15 minutes today and did ok in the limited time he got. Put Tom Peers through with a fine pass and caused a melee in the Blyth penalty area with it, and some desperate defending! Needs more game time and a chance to make a further name for himself, as my colleagues say, may get more chances now that Max Harrop is out for three games with a ban.

[Ijb1989]

Yeah I saw he'd come on - pleased to see he was given some gametime. Was he tracking back in the 15 mins you saw? Seems to have his feet on the ground so I'd hope he's taken feedback on about his shortcomings in previous games.

[Alty Dave]

Ethan did track back, perhaps needs to press a bit more. He'll learn.

[Steve from Sale]

To be honest, that is twice from memory that he has opened up a defence with a killer pass. The first one led to a goal from Jordan Hulme, the 2nd one led to a melee in Blyth's box. There's no doubt he can cause problems for opposing defences, but his real problem is that he is part of a very strong team and is finding it difficult for a shoe-in. If he can work his way into the team, he is more than capable of holding his place and making a name for himself. He needs to understand you really have to fight for your place here. We have JJ on the wing, and also Tom Peers on the left. Jordan up front and Josh Hancock just behind him. All are presently in-form players. He needs to be patient and grab his opportunity when it arises. His time will come I am sure.   

[cheshire cat]

15 minutes is not a lot of time to show what you can do but it all looked good last night.
With 5 wins on the bounce the manager isn't likely to change the team until he has to so it's a case of grasping the chance when it comes.

[B. 4D]

I believe he is enjoying his time at Alty