Niall Ennis

[Tricky]

2 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

 

 

so this is what Superbad's McLovin is up to these days

[chaddyrovers]

18 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

I'm not a fan of one or two of the data points used, we need to remember it's just stats based off comfortably the best season of his career (could be a purple patch) and it's only League One....but, I feel a bit more confident about Ennis after watching that. To regularly rank in the top 10 (sometimes top 3) for his position in his league on a range of important metrics is encouraging.

On a free, presumably fairly low wages (this would be the kicker for me, if he's on 10k p/w or something like that then it's a big risk) and on a 4 year deal with a 1 year option, still quite young at 24 but has some experience...you can't really argue with that business. Sealed nice and early to give him time to adjust to the playing style, manager and his teammates. I'm not going to say I'm expecting immediate fireworks, and I can't say I want to risk him being our main man up top out the gate, we still need someone who has shown they can smash them in at this sort of level. But on the face of it, he seems a decent squad addition to compete for a regular goalscoring role.

The proof, as always, will be in the pudding. With him still having room for growth and perhaps needing time to adapt to the level, as well as with it being expensive to permanently buy established Championship strikers, I'd think a loan is our best bet of reliable goals in the middle. Cannon or Archer are the two firepower options (see what I did there?) I'd prefer in this regard, then we get a season to see if Ennis can deliver for us.

I think he can get between 6 to 10 goals next season would be good in his first season here and I would still like another main striker here to be our 15 to 20 goals striker. Its a low risk signing but someone who seems to fit our playing style already

[DeeCee]

The Argyle fans I've been talking to over the w/e reckon he's got potential to play in the prem - if he can stay injury free. So no news there tbh.

[Upside Down]

Weren't his injuries proper injuries though rather than wear and tear?

[roversfan99]

Apparently Ennis made 38 appearances but only completed 90 minutes 3 times. He often was taken off and regularly had little niggles.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

20 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Apparently Ennis made 38 appearances but only completed 90 minutes 3 times. He often was taken off and regularly had little niggles.

Well there’s a place going begging in the treatment room now Ayala has clocked out.

[chaddyrovers]

37 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Apparently Ennis made 38 appearances but only completed 90 minutes 3 times. He often was taken off and regularly had little niggles.

He made 45 appearances last season..

[bluebruce]

1 hour ago, roversfan99 said:

Apparently Ennis made 38 appearances but only completed 90 minutes 3 times. He often was taken off and regularly had little niggles.

I'd have been more concerned about that under Mowbray than I am under JDT. Seems more likely to only put players on the pitch when they're genuinely ready. Seen the benefits with JRC.

[roversfan99]

58 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

I'd have been more concerned about that under Mowbray than I am under JDT. Seems more likely to only put players on the pitch when they're genuinely ready. Seen the benefits with JRC.

The concern is more that if he becomes a really important member of the side, that if history repeats itself, he may then miss gametime that we dont want him to miss.

Plymouth fans are pretty universal in questioning his injury record. That doesn't seem to come from bitterness as otherwise they have been incredibly positive about his ability, they seem to rate him much higher as an all round striker than Hardie who scored more goals.

You look at the 38 league appearances and think, what are they talking about, but it seems that he only finished 3 or 4 games that he started, he had 19 sub appearances and he only played 44% of league minutes available. Lets hope that isnt the case here as with no money, I suspect that there will be a big onus on him considering the alternative is Gallagher who is very average and himself quite prone to injury.

[bluebruce]

31 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

The concern is more that if he becomes a really important member of the side, that if history repeats itself, he may then miss gametime that we dont want him to miss.

Plymouth fans are pretty universal in questioning his injury record. That doesn't seem to come from bitterness as otherwise they have been incredibly positive about his ability, they seem to rate him much higher as an all round striker than Hardie who scored more goals.

You look at the 38 league appearances and think, what are they talking about, but it seems that he only finished 3 or 4 games that he started, he had 19 sub appearances and he only played 44% of league minutes available. Lets hope that isnt the case here as with no money, I suspect that there will be a big onus on him considering the alternative is Gallagher who is very average and himself quite prone to injury.

If he becomes a really important member of the side, he'll be a good signing and one I'll be happy we've made.

What I'm saying though is I have some faith in JDT and his team to manage the player's fitness better, and hopefully that will be enough. If he kept getting lots of niggly injuries at Plymouth, but still played a lot of games, yet wasn't staying fit enough to complete many of them, it suggests to me that something is wrong on their training pitch, or that he was being rushed in when he wasn't ready.

[Upside Down]

On 03/06/2023 at 12:54, bluebruce said:

If he becomes a really important member of the side, he'll be a good signing and one I'll be happy we've made.

What I'm saying though is I have some faith in JDT and his team to manage the player's fitness better, and hopefully that will be enough. If he kept getting lots of niggly injuries at Plymouth, but still played a lot of games, yet wasn't staying fit enough to complete many of them, it suggests to me that something is wrong on their training pitch, or that he was being rushed in when he wasn't ready.

That's probably what has happened.

If he's their top striker then they'd want him back asap after an injury.

They needed every point they could get last season, given the ridiculous amount of points second and third got.

[Dreams of 1995]

And in those 44% of minutes he bagged a lot of goals and assists

[Sweaty Gussets]

On 03/06/2023 at 01:19, roversfan99 said:

The concern is more that if he becomes a really important member of the side, that if history repeats itself, he may then miss gametime that we dont want him to miss.

Plymouth fans are pretty universal in questioning his injury record. That doesn't seem to come from bitterness as otherwise they have been incredibly positive about his ability, they seem to rate him much higher as an all round striker than Hardie who scored more goals.

You look at the 38 league appearances and think, what are they talking about, but it seems that he only finished 3 or 4 games that he started, he had 19 sub appearances and he only played 44% of league minutes available. Lets hope that isnt the case here as with no money, I suspect that there will be a big onus on him considering the alternative is Gallagher who is very average and himself quite prone to injury.

Dack credited JDT with getting him fitter. JRC has reaped the benefits. It's not time to panic yet regarding Ennis.

Also, as the window doesn't shut for another 2 months we might well sign another striker. 

[Upside Down]

Hopefully he can hold up the ball. We really need someone to do that.

[Armchair supporter supremo]

On 30/05/2023 at 15:08, Tricky said:

so this is what Superbad's McLovin is up to these days

Haha yeah, bless the guy but flippin hell the presentation is awful and makes it really hard for me to watch for more than a few minutes. Somebody with some content creating skills could really do with helping the guy out a little 

[LeftWinger]

21 hours ago, Upside Down said:

Hopefully he can hold up the ball. We really need someone to do that.

I read some comments on their forum and retention of the ball in difficult areas was something they rated him very highly at. 

[philipl]

Beginning to get excited about seeing this lad.

Rumours of excessive boozing are just rumours so far as I am concerned but JDT just caught himself from besmirching Plymouth when explaining Ennis absence from the Austria tour.

In essence, Rovers fitness regime is dramatically more demanding than Plymouth's.

If Ennis achieved the goals and assists of last season, how good will he be when properly fit?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

11 minutes ago, philipl said:

Beginning to get excited about seeing this lad.

Rumours of excessive boozing are just rumours so far as I am concerned but JDT just caught himself from besmirching Plymouth when explaining Ennis absence from the Austria tour.

In essence, Rovers fitness regime is dramatically more demanding than Plymouth's.

If Ennis achieved the goals and assists of last season, how good will he be when properly fit?

We didn’t look any fitter than the Accy lads on Saturday.

[Displaced Rover]

48 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

We didn’t look any fitter than the Accy lads on Saturday.

Accy had about 8 trialists all running around like headless chickens, scything down our players, trying to make a name for themselves (especially in second game). They'll never get another chance to play a team like Rovers in their careers in all likelihood. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

2 minutes ago, Displaced Rover said:

Accy had about 8 trialists all running around like headless chickens, scything down our players, trying to make a name for themselves (especially in second game). They'll never get another chance to play a team like Rovers in their careers in all likelihood. 

Or train at facilities like ours.

[philipl]

1 hour ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

We didn’t look any fitter than the Accy lads on Saturday.

Many on this board commented last season that Rovers were markedly fitter than under Mowbray.

If you had posted a comment like this on August 6th after the WBA game I would be really worried but after two 60 minute kick abouts against Stanley at the beginning of July...

[Mike E]

5 minutes ago, philipl said:

Many on this board commented last season that Rovers were markedly fitter than under Mowbray.

If you had posted a comment like this on August 6th after the WBA game I would be really worried but after two 60 minute kick abouts against Stanley at the beginning of July...

As much as I complained about the tactical choice to use as few subs as possible, the fact that so many of our players lasted 90 minutes so often is testament to JDT and the fitness regime, as is the fact we (I believe?) used the fewest number of players in the Championship across the whole season while doing so.

Edited July 11, 2023 by Mike E

[roversfan99]

Hit us towards the end. The points dried up and we kept conceding late.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

We need Strikers who are fit and ready to hit the ground running..our front line is bereft.

[PilgrimKenny]

Hi All, 

Argyle fan in peace, it's interesting to read your thoughts on Niall Ennis and what he'll bring to your team. From my perspective, I couldn't really see what he brought to Argyle until Steven Schumacher took over. He joined us in Jan 2020 on a permanent deal from Wolves with good praise about him but for me, whilst he played the majority of the games that season scored 6 in 24 appearances which when you take into consideration our form at the time was good going. We were optimistic about the future for him.

Then in opener v Rotherham, he pulled up with his Hamstring in the warm up and this kept him out until December 2021 where he only managed 4 in 28 in all competitions. This was also at the time Steve Schumacher took over from Ryan Lowe and we didn't change our tactics when Lowe departed, so my comment about about not seeing what he brought to the team made sense. I'd also point out here that we've had 2 or 3 head physio's in Ennis' time at the club which may have some impact on his recovery. 

This season under Steven Schumacher, I've really rated Niall Ennis with what he has brought to the team with his direct running, his ability to hold up the ball and his determination we've seen a different animal but I also think this is down to SS managing him well as part of his rotation policy. He made 19 starts and appeared 19 times as a sub and undoubtedly had his best season and got his deserved move to Rovers. His form in the last 6 games for us was incredible and got us over the line with promotion but let's not forget that you will often see terrible ball control with it bouncing off his foot more often than not, snap shots no where near the goal. Selfishness which in the championship you can't afford. 

I read a comment here that Rover's training regime is better than Argyle's, that remains to be seen. Last year our team never gave up and found an extra gear in the last 20 minutes of games with a staggering 24 goals scored, compared to Rovers 15. Our defence also only conceded 11 in the last 20 minutes whereas Rovers conceded 17. I think Niall Ennis is one of the those players where if you keep him fit, he will do you well. For me it's all about how you manage him. If JDT expects 90 minutes every week, you're not going to get that based on the evidence I've seen in the last 2 and a half years with us. 

I'm not going to speculate on his leisure activities as everyone's free to do what they want in their downtime. Am I disappointed that he didn't re-sign with us? I'm undecided. In Ennis you will have a player who, when fit, will give you his all. But on the flip side, I'm also not too bothered about him leaving as I believe there is a better calibre of striker out there, it's just finding the bugger. 

Anyway, I wish you all the best for the upcoming season (not against us) and it will be interesting to keep on eye on Niall's progress. 

Kenny

 

Edited July 11, 2023 by PilgrimKenny