The Scott Wharton Conundrum

[JacknOry]

10 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

We also need to take into consideration where any attempts to strengthen the defence will leave him.

Going on past 'attempts' he is nailed on to start next season.

[Bigdoggsteel]

17 hours ago, Sparks Rover said:

He's our player, hes 22 now so he needs throwing in to see...maybe the cup game away at Brum that type of game....I just feel that he could be another o'Connell and tony has been wrong about young lads 

Ya, well he has gotten a few chances and it seems he is one that the club are keen to bring through. If we bring him back only to play in cup games though, I'm not sure he would get more than 1 game....

If we are in and around the play-offs, it's too risky I feel. If we were stuck, I would prefer Magloire to be given the chance. I think he would manage better with the physicality 

[Guest]

Only played a handful of games for us, scored in the cup against Crewe if I remember rightly a few years back, but Hope Akpan grabbed one in that game too so that says all we need to know about the quality of opposition.

[roversfan99]

31 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Ya, well he has gotten a few chances and it seems he is one that the club are keen to bring through. If we bring him back only to play in cup games though, I'm not sure he would get more than 1 game....

If we are in and around the play-offs, it's too risky I feel. If we were stuck, I would prefer Magloire to be given the chance. I think he would manage better with the physicality 

Did you see the 2 games that Magloire played last season? Physicality certainly didnt appear to be his strong suit, dont think he won a header and bullied at Hillsbrough.

[Bigdoggsteel]

1 hour ago, roversfan99 said:

Did you see the 2 games that Magloire played last season? Physicality certainly didnt appear to be his strong suit, dont think he won a header and bullied at Hillsbrough.

To be fair he is only 20 and he is bigger and faster than Wharton, who is 22. Maybe I should have used athleticism instead of physicality

He was up against Fletcher that day against Wednesday as well, he's a handful. A steep learning curve at this level. 

[Wegerleswiggle]

Scott Wharton League 2 player of the month.

[ben_the_beast]

I think Scott Wharton has really grasped his chance the last few games. I feel quite comfortable with him at the back. He looks like a defender who really likes defending which as silly as it sounds can be a rarity these days. He can tackle, looks positionally sound and can head a ball.

He's not the best on the ball but he can manage just fine. He and Lenihan played a lot of passes today. With Kaminski such a safe outlet with his feet I think that fills in for Tosins composure.

I don't have the dislike for William's like many seem too. But I'd still rather see Wharton at the back. 

[philipl]

I think it is really good we now have 4 very decent central defenders to select from when they are fit.

They each offer something different and you can see why over lapping central defenders Sheff U are reportedly interested in Lenihan. 

Hayden Carter currently is not of the standard we need- he is on the slow side and it was noticeable Barnsley pulled one back when they very effectively bypassed Carter in a way they hadn't been able to with Wharton.

I hope Wharton can play v Millwall but that looked like concussion and a mandatory seven days.

Scott Wharton in my eyes has in these few games unambiguously shown he is a very competent Championship central defender and this is another unexpected bonus from this most peculiar of seasons.

[Commondore]

I certainly prefer him to having someone like Paul Downing, Matt Kilgallon or Gordon Greer soaking up first team pay while effectively functioning as third/fourth choice centre back. Economically sound. 

[Mattyblue]

Looks well for going out on loan playing first team football for a couple of seasons against hard nosed forwards, a right of passage for many a young centre half - though some believed he ‘just wasn’t good enough’ for doing just that.

[Stuart]

If Ayala hadn’t got injured, Wharton wouldn’t have got a look in. I just hope he isn’t banished by TM as soon as Ayala is fit. If Wharton performs he should keep the shirt and Ayala should have to fight to be in contention.

My concern is that if you aren’t a Mowbray man then you don’t get as many chances.

[ben_the_beast]

3 hours ago, Stuart said:

If Ayala hadn’t got injured, Wharton wouldn’t have got a look in. I just hope he isn’t banished by TM as soon as Ayala is fit. If Wharton performs he should keep the shirt and Ayala should have to fight to be in contention.

My concern is that if you aren’t a Mowbray man then you don’t get as many chances.

Wharton is also a left footer whereas Ayala is right sided

[DaveyB]

Wharton has done ok, and certainly looks pretty solid defensively, but on the ball has looked incredibly shaky and, in my opinion, would rightly be behind Williams and Ayala for that reason. 

You could see yesterday, particularly in the first 30 minutes when Barnsley were really pressing us in our half, they stepped off and were happy for Scott to have the ball, knowing that he would either go back to Kaminsky or just punt it forward aimlessly (which he did a number of times and lost possession every time)
Compare that to Lenihan (who is not exactly a Tosin himself) who played a few decent balls in behind the Barnsley defence and almost got Armstrong away a couple of times. 

[Miker]

He was excellent against Barnsley and we were much weaker when he went off.

I feel he is someone that should be competing for the CB spot with Lenihan as they are quite similar ability. I don’t expect him to keep his spot for long once either Ayala or Williams are back in contention though. 

Given out injury record it’s good to have 4 reliable CBs to choose from now.

[unleaded]

He looks the part for me ... strong and slowly getting better & better .... Very Excited to see him mature and really stood out in the youth games and is now getting to that level once again in the Men’s League..... 

[rigger]

Until he has a bad game or injury, he should keep the shirt.

[Becurious]

What a blow for the young fella, Achilles heel injury.  They can be very tough to recover from.  I hope we see him in a rovers shirt again.

[Hannoverover]

Most underrated player in the team? After the Fulham disaster, Wharton returned for the first time since his injury. Playing every minute we have won 4 and drawn 1 game, conceding 2 goals.

 

[Bigdoggsteel]

3 hours ago, Hannoverover said:

Most underrated player in the team? After the Fulham disaster, Wharton returned for the first time since his injury. Playing every minute we have won 4 and drawn 1 game, conceding 2 goals.

 

Hes class. Big strong unit, but calm on the ball and the fact he is a lefty gives great balance. I think he's crucial

Its difficult to see Ayala win his place back. Imagine. 

[DE.]

26 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Hes class. Big strong unit, but calm on the ball and the fact he is a lefty gives great balance. I think he's crucial

Its difficult to see Ayala win his place back. Imagine. 

Ayala tends to take the winter off so probably not something Mowbray will have to worry about until February at least.

[simongarnerisgod]

i suspect he`ll be the next one to have scouts looking at him,he was class yesterday,the pne bully boys got **** all out of him

[booth]

Wharton’s a brilliant player and he’ll only get better with more matches. It’s like having a new signing.

[tomphil]

He's our modern day Andy Todd this lad it was evident yesterday that scum Ched Evans was out to rough him up and wind him up.  He soon realized he was on a loser and after he had some dished back to him turned his attention to Van Hecke instead.

What an absolute whopper he is but he's in good company at Preston.

[RoverCanada]

I've said it before, but I think the sheer unluckiest bit about last season was Wharton's achilles injury. Completely freak play too.

Sadly, Dack getting re-injured wasn't too surprising... I think Ayala's injury history gets a bit overplayed if you check his historical games played (a bit), but also not too surprising he was out so much (and just seemed a step behind when he did play, or at least clearly not suited to our overly possession-based approach last year).

That meant relying on a combination of Lenihan (solid), Williams (halfway out the door), Branthwaite (ok for a couple games, then lost it), THB (he was decent, but hard to ignore that our record was quite poor even when he took over for Branthwaite), and Johnson having to deputise a few times, while Carter was off on a good loan with Burton.

Having a combination of Lenihan, van Hecke, Wharton, and/or Ayala as our 3-at-the-back is looking invincible. van Hecke also starting to look like one we should look to buy at the end of his loan, if possible...

Edited December 5, 2021 by RoverCanada

[Bigdoggsteel]

1 minute ago, tomphil said:

He's our modern day Andy Todd this lad it was evident yesterday that scum Ched Evans was out to rough him up and wind him up.  He soon realized he was on a loser and after he had some dished back to him turned his attention to Van Hecke instead.

What an absolute whopper he is but he's in good company at Preston.

100% ,what a toe rag that guy is. 

I loved after the collision with Lenihan Brereton ran half the pitch to confront him. The hot headed latino that he is 

We have a some good hardy boys at the back this year and you need that to go anywhere in this league