Player watch: Josh Onomah

Hercules said:

Onomah is class! Simple as!

We need to be bold enough to play him in his preferred position (CM). Like we were bold in spending 30m on Sissoko, and playing him there. I know who is the better player to me. Winks is a Stevie Perryman type player in some ways, SP was one of my favourites. Perryman functioned brilliantly because of the more creative players around him.

Before Josh signed up for us, I can assure you chavs, citeh, yanited, Dortmund for starters were extremely keen, courting him. Pep rates him as one of the best youngsters in our game. How do i know that? One of my footballing connections.

Say what anyone wants to knock him as not showing it at non-football educated teams like Villa is off their heads. I played at a very decent level, and trained with pro-clubs back in the day. I remember helping a friend out under a bogus name, without my club finding out. I would play give and go balls, run into positions, or channels, and they were lost, I would play a cross field ball for the player to run into. I would then anticipate him getting there, receive. I would tell the striker to drop off, and the No.10 (wasn’t called that then) to run, and I would then fill in for him. My vision was brilliant, and executed.

What happened next, the receiving player was in a totally different wave length. Ofcourse I started getting bollocked by all and sundry, including the manager. Surprisingly a retired pro was passing by, standing next to the manager, and gave him a mouthful, telling him he needs to learn the game, and he saw what I was doing, and the players were not coached right. After that (in that game) I just stood there doing the very simple thing.

After the game that ex pro came over to me, asking my age (20) invited me down to train for a week at a certain pro club. The manager said had I been 2 years younger he would sign me up.

Didn’t mean to go this way, but hopefully my message has come across.

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He's got the goods (my views on his 'beast potential' widely aired), but, and I'll say this again, if he really wants to crack the 1st team he has to learn to concentrate more/be more aware (more consistently) and track back with intention and determination and muck in.

For me, that's his main challenge. He needs to round off his game.

If Josh's mates are reading this, tell Josh I luv 'im and he's gonna be a yuge player. Must work very hard, though.

thinktank said:

He's got the goods (my views on his 'beast potential' widely aired), but, and I'll say this again, if he really wants to crack the 1st team he has to learn to concentrate more/be more aware (more consistently) and track back with intention and determination and muck in.

For me, that's his main challenge. He needs to round off his game.

If Josh's mates are reading this, tell Josh I luv 'im and he's gonna be a yuge player. Must work very hard, though.

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You will work hard etc, when you feel the manager will trust you more. I personally feel, as much as I love Poch, he has a flaw with our youngsters. They won’t tell him to his face, just start looking elsewhere, and a few are already. Who do you blame then? Fergie and Wenger are masters at this. Poch certainly isn’t.

Also to caveat a few things, I know this thread is coming across as one of those, when the player goes they turn into Messi. No one believes Josh is currently the GOAT no one believes Josh will come in straight away and set the world alight, the reason for the desperation, is because those who have watched him regularly are growing anxious that the best midfielder they've seen in our academy over the last 20 years could leave without even getting one chance in his favourite position. It is basically unanimous for people who have watched him grow up. Unless you believe that anyone who watches youth football suddenly loses their ability to judge a player. Of course I' like him to get a run of games but other than against Monaco (I correct myself) 2/3 years ago where he looked really good he hasn't played as a CM since. I know he has areas of his game he needs to improve, he;s an academy player, of course he will, I know 'playing against kids isn't the same as playing against adults' no one is stupid. I know he needs to work hard in training and not just expect chances on a plate. No one has ever suggested that but there is plenty to suggest they are working hard.

He will have trying times, he will go through slumps, etc, but he doesn't get where he is in CM if he is a complete liability. Coaches will see this, why would the u20s play a liability in CM. He could do more but it feels like people just expect us to concede 2 goals a game all errors from him. We've sen Bentaleb misplace passed, Dier, Walker has volleyed the ball across his own back line and headed a through ball to the opposition. They will make mistakes. I don't want to have Onomah leave and think what could have been, then someone see him play for Preston and go, 'see we told you he was no good'. All I care about is Spurs and want the best for us and think he would help.

And hey if he got his chance and he stunk the place out, then fair enough, he will go down along with Dos Santos, Bojan, Depay and other quality players who had loads of potential and struggled to fill it. It's part of football but I'd rather play him and find out. 2 of the best 5/6 players I've seen in our academy have left with zero chances. One has got a chance luckily, and is World Class and the other 3 are still here, we should be trying to give those with the most ability a chance to prove it

Hercules said:

You will work hard etc, when you feel the manager will trust you more. I personally feel, as much as I love Poch, he has a flaw with our youngsters. They won’t tell him to his face, just start looking elsewhere, and a few are already. Who do you blame then? Fergie and Wenger are masters at this. Poch certainly isn’t.

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Josh has needed to add what I posted above to his game from the first time I saw him tbf.

I agree that Poch should have given him more opportunities/minutes to fight his way into the squad, but that should only make you more hungry when you do get a chance tbh.

If poch sees a raw hunger in him, like Winks showed, he'd make much more of an impression on him.

Needs to think about adopting a much more aggressive approach to his game imo.

Can be a bit 'floaty'.

I think that's what will lift his whole game, and his viability to poch.

IGSpur said:

Also to caveat a few things, I know this thread is coming across as one of those, when the player goes they turn into Messi. No one believes Josh is currently the GOAT no one believes Josh will come in straight away and set the world alight, the reason for the desperation, is because those who have watched him regularly are growing anxious that the best midfielder they've seen in our academy over the last 20 years could leave without even getting one chance in his favourite position. It is basically unanimous for people who have watched him grow up. Unless you believe that anyone who watches youth football suddenly loses their ability to judge a player. Of course I' like him to get a run of games but other than against Monaco (I correct myself) 2/3 years ago where he looked really good he hasn't played as a CM since. I know he has areas of his game he needs to improve, he;s an academy player, of course he will, I know 'playing against kids isn't the same as playing against adults' no one is stupid. I know he needs to work hard in training and not just expect chances on a plate. No one has ever suggested that but there is plenty to suggest they are working hard.

He will have trying times, he will go through slumps, etc, but he doesn't get where he is in CM if he is a complete liability. Coaches will see this, why would the u20s play a liability in CM. He could do more but it feels like people just expect us to concede 2 goals a game all errors from him. We've sen Bentaleb misplace passed, Dier, Walker has volleyed the ball across his own back line and headed a through ball to the opposition. They will make mistakes. I don't want to have Onomah leave and think what could have been, then someone see him play for Preston and go, 'see we told you he was no good'. All I care about is Spurs and want the best for us and think he would help.

And hey if he got his chance and he stunk the place out, then fair enough, he will go down along with Dos Santos, Bojan, Depay and other quality players who had loads of potential and struggled to fill it. It's part of football but I'd rather play him and find out. 2 of the best 5/6 players I've seen in our academy have left with zero chances. One has got a chance luckily, and is World Class and the other 3 are still here, we should be trying to give those with the most ability a chance to prove it

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Haha, that tickled me. Memories.

https://www.villatalk.com/topic/16668-josh-onomah/?page=36

I rate Onomah it just scares me when he is getting reviews like this.

Watching Josh play in his age group for England he just looks superior, physically, positionally, and he picks people out with vision.

Saw him in the league cup game at Anfield last season and he looked like a kid who couldn't trap a bag of cement.

It's not just a position thing, is it?

I'd love to see him get a run next preseason, and play his way into the four vying for the two dm slots. He could save us a fortune, and appears to have a lot more in the tank than Winks, who does have his limitations despite what the romantics say.

I'd keep Dembele too and use the budget instead to bring another forward in, unless of course a Pjanic or Kovacic popped up as a possibility, haha.

thinktank said:

Josh has needed to add what I posted above to his game from the first time I saw him tbf.

I agree that Poch should have given him more opportunities/minutes to fight his way into the squad, but that should only make you more hungry when you do get a chance tbh.

If poch sees a raw hunger in him, like Winks showed, he'd make much more of an impression.

Needs to think about adopting a much more aggressive approach to he game imo.

Can be a bit 'floaty'.

I think that's what will lift his whole game, and his viability to poch.

Click to expand...

So much I cannot disclose on here. All I will say is Winks never stopped moaning, and getting on everyone’s nerves, to put it mildly.

Josh has always been the calming influence amongst his age group. I think it is totally unfair to criticise Josh one iota. Speaking to s certain regular Sky pundit the other day, they said ‘You have players, and then players...Josh is one of them’. You do not want him bring the hod-carrier. Thus is where he would of excelled under Bilky Nick, Burkinshaw, and Pleat of 89.

Fergie use to say ‘Give Becks the ball, I want him to use it to destroy and create. I don’t want him tracking back, but that will come when he understands his team mates, and me. I need him to feel that I trust him’.

There is the key. And I know for a fact to me that McDermott is stressing to Poch how to get the best out of him, and let him feel the manager trusts and loves him’. Let him feel that, and then you will see the player we all know is in there.

bat-chain said:

https://www.villatalk.com/topic/16668-josh-onomah/?page=36

I rate Onomah it just scares me when he is getting reviews like this.

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Here's one on a certain Harry Kane

https://www.foxestalk.co.uk/topic/87080-harry-kane/?tab=comments#comment-2541616

Stop paying so much attention to what fans say.

Wrong loan for him, it looks like. Villa are shithouses to a man.

tiger666 said:

Here's one on a certain Harry Kane

https://www.foxestalk.co.uk/topic/87080-harry-kane/?tab=comments#comment-2541616

Stop paying so much attention to what fans say.

Click to expand...

That's comedy gold

Hercules said:

Onomah is class! Simple as!

We need to be bold enough to play him in his preferred position (CM). Like we were bold in spending 30m on Sissoko, and playing him there. I know who is the better player to me. Winks is a Stevie Perryman type player in some ways, SP was one of my favourites. Perryman functioned brilliantly because of the more creative players around him.

Before Josh signed up for us, I can assure you chavs, citeh, yanited, Dortmund for starters were extremely keen, courting him. Pep rates him as one of the best youngsters in our game. How do i know that? One of my footballing connections.

Say what anyone wants to knock him as not showing it at non-football educated teams like Villa is off their heads. I played at a very decent level, and trained with pro-clubs back in the day. I remember helping a friend out under a bogus name, without my club finding out. I would play give and go balls, run into positions, or channels, and they were lost, I would play a cross field ball for the player to run into. I would then anticipate him getting there, receive. I would tell the striker to drop off, and the No.10 (wasn’t called that then) to run, and I would then fill in for him. My vision was brilliant, and executed.

What happened next, the receiving player was in a totally different wave length. Ofcourse I started getting bollocked by all and sundry, including the manager. Surprisingly a retired pro was passing by, standing next to the manager, and gave him a mouthful, telling him he needs to learn the game, and he saw what I was doing, and the players were not coached right. After that (in that game) I just stood there doing the very simple thing.

After the game that ex pro came over to me, asking my age (20) invited me down to train for a week at a certain pro club. The manager said had I been 2 years younger he would sign me up.

Didn’t mean to go this way, but hopefully my message has come across.

Click to expand...

Another one for r/thathappened.

Hoddle_Ledge said:

That's comedy gold

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They still make comments like that these days, even if he bangs in a hat trick in a game not involving them. Irrational fuckers.

Hoddle_Ledge said:

That's comedy gold

Click to expand...

Mate, we had plenty of our own claiming that Kane would never play higher than the Championship.

Basically, most fans haven’t got a Scooby.

Hercules said:

Onomah is class! Simple as!

We need to be bold enough to play him in his preferred position (CM). Like we were bold in spending 30m on Sissoko, and playing him there. I know who is the better player to me. Winks is a Stevie Perryman type player in some ways, SP was one of my favourites. Perryman functioned brilliantly because of the more creative players around him.

Before Josh signed up for us, I can assure you chavs, citeh, yanited, Dortmund for starters were extremely keen, courting him. Pep rates him as one of the best youngsters in our game. How do i know that? One of my footballing connections.

Say what anyone wants to knock him as not showing it at non-football educated teams like Villa is off their heads. I played at a very decent level, and trained with pro-clubs back in the day. I remember helping a friend out under a bogus name, without my club finding out. I would play give and go balls, run into positions, or channels, and they were lost, I would play a cross field ball for the player to run into. I would then anticipate him getting there, receive. I would tell the striker to drop off, and the No.10 (wasn’t called that then) to run, and I would then fill in for him. My vision was brilliant, and executed.

What happened next, the receiving player was in a totally different wave length. Ofcourse I started getting bollocked by all and sundry, including the manager. Surprisingly a retired pro was passing by, standing next to the manager, and gave him a mouthful, telling him he needs to learn the game, and he saw what I was doing, and the players were not coached right. After that (in that game) I just stood there doing the very simple thing.

After the game that ex pro came over to me, asking my age (20) invited me down to train for a week at a certain pro club. The manager said had I been 2 years younger he would sign me up.

Didn’t mean to go this way, but hopefully my message has come across.

Click to expand...

This post is Trump-esque. You can’t call your own vision brilliant - even I don’t do that and I’m the king of swaz Bill

Hercules said:

So much I cannot disclose on here. All I will say is Winks never stopped moaning, and getting on everyone’s nerves, to put it mildly.

Josh has always been the calming influence amongst his age group. I think it is totally unfair to criticise Josh one iota. Speaking to s certain regular Sky pundit the other day, they said ‘You have players, and then players...Josh is one of them’. You do not want him bring the hod-carrier. Thus is where he would of excelled under Bilky Nick, Burkinshaw, and Pleat of 89.

Fergie use to say ‘Give Becks the ball, I want him to use it to destroy and create. I don’t want him tracking back, but that will come when he understands his team mates, and me. I need him to feel that I trust him’.

There is the key. And I know for a fact to me that McDermott is stressing to Poch how to get the best out of him, and let him feel the manager trusts and loves him’. Let him feel that, and then you will see the player we all know is in there.

Click to expand...

Winks was on The Lane programme recently and admitted he was a moaner. Josh is a different character. We will need to persevere with him just like United have done with Lingard. He is 25 now and is just establishing himself as a first choice.
Steve Perryman was my favourite player. You could say that the creative players flourished because of him being in the team. He always performed in the big away games at United Leeds Pool Everton while the likes of Peters and Hoddle hardly ever did. Chiv used to last 10 mins at Anfield till Tommy Smith kicked him up in the air. Never seen again.

Spurrific said:

This post is Trump-esque. You can’t call your own vision brilliant - even I don’t do that and I’m the king of swaz Bill

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Stating a point matey

Hercules said:

Onomah is class! Simple as!

We need to be bold enough to play him in his preferred position (CM). Like we were bold in spending 30m on Sissoko, and playing him there. I know who is the better player to me. Winks is a Stevie Perryman type player in some ways, SP was one of my favourites. Perryman functioned brilliantly because of the more creative players around him.

Before Josh signed up for us, I can assure you chavs, citeh, yanited, Dortmund for starters were extremely keen, courting him. Pep rates him as one of the best youngsters in our game. How do i know that? One of my footballing connections.

Say what anyone wants to knock him as not showing it at non-football educated teams like Villa is off their heads. I played at a very decent level, and trained with pro-clubs back in the day. I remember helping a friend out under a bogus name, without my club finding out. I would play give and go balls, run into positions, or channels, and they were lost, I would play a cross field ball for the player to run into. I would then anticipate him getting there, receive. I would tell the striker to drop off, and the No.10 (wasn’t called that then) to run, and I would then fill in for him. My vision was brilliant, and executed.

What happened next, the receiving player was in a totally different wave length. Ofcourse I started getting bollocked by all and sundry, including the manager. Surprisingly a retired pro was passing by, standing next to the manager, and gave him a mouthful, telling him he needs to learn the game, and he saw what I was doing, and the players were not coached right. After that (in that game) I just stood there doing the very simple thing.

After the game that ex pro came over to me, asking my age (20) invited me down to train for a week at a certain pro club. The manager said had I been 2 years younger he would sign me up.

Didn’t mean to go this way, but hopefully my message has come across.

Click to expand...

Never go full Trump.

EDIT: Beaten to it by @Spurrific.

coys200 said:

Imo the one crucial thing Onomah lacks in his game is intensity. He may have all the technical ability in the world. But for a CM he is just too laid back for me. People compare him to dembele, but dembele will get stuck in, Ive never seen that from josh. I think that’s the big difference between him and winks and even someone like Skipp who’s coming through. You can see Skipp has got that extra edge. The only CMs that can get away without having that intensity are the truly great like pirlo xavi who’s pure technical ability make aggression redundant. Even apart from winks in the next couple years josh will have competition from TOB Skipp Paris Maghoma. They can’t all make it.

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I get what you are saying about intensity, Onomah has a very relaxed demeanour, it's just how he is, and there are times when you do want him to be a bit more dynamic, but sometimes it can be deceptive. But to say he won't get stuck in is wrong, I think defensively, he's actually better than Winks, especially when played in a more 4/6 type role, he positions himself better and will get a leg in and win the ball more than Winks, it's just that Winks tears about more than Onomah does and invariably looks busier.

It's like watching Pogba and Herrera say, you watch them and think Herrera's doing loads more than Pogba, then you look at the stats and you realise Pogba's touched the ball about 20 times more than Herrara, he just doesn't look as busy doing it.

Hercules said:

So much I cannot disclose on here. All I will say is Winks never stopped moaning, and getting on everyone’s nerves, to put it mildly.

Josh has always been the calming influence amongst his age group. I think it is totally unfair to criticise Josh one iota. Speaking to s certain regular Sky pundit the other day, they said ‘You have players, and then players...Josh is one of them’. You do not want him bring the hod-carrier. Thus is where he would of excelled under Bilky Nick, Burkinshaw, and Pleat of 89.

Fergie use to say ‘Give Becks the ball, I want him to use it to destroy and create. I don’t want him tracking back, but that will come when he understands his team mates, and me. I need him to feel that I trust him’.

There is the key. And I know for a fact to me that McDermott is stressing to Poch how to get the best out of him, and let him feel the manager trusts and loves him’. Let him feel that, and then you will see the player we all know is in there.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that. Get the sense that Poch trusts McDermott a lot and that this opinion will be hugely influential....hope so anyway!