Loanwatch 09-10

[rhroyal]

Evening guys. Just a quick update.

I went to Gillingham v Yeovil tonight, and I have to say Alex McCarthy looks like he will one day be a superb goalkeeper. He is very tall, which surprised me but I don't know why

In the first half, about 2 minutes before Gillingham scored (a penalty) he made a decent save from I think SImeon Jackson (who we should really try to sign; he's class). He also made a cracking double save and still got up again to catch the resulting cross-ball back. He always looked comfortable in the air, repeatedly coming for and claiming crosses.
In the second half he made one truly outstanding save to deny a Gillingham free-kick, diving at full-stretch to push the ball onto the post. The only mistake I saw him make all match was slipping over when taking a goal-kick, but it did rain an awful lot in Medway tonight and all the players were slipping over.

From what I saw tonight, we have a very good young goalkeeper on our books.

Alex is very highly rated and is a regular part of the England U-21 squad, for the record he is 6 foot 5 and given his form for Yeovil this season it is no wonder they are looking to extend his loan until the end of the season.

I also think, if he carries on improving at his current rate, he will actually be Reading's next no. 1 after Adam Federici.

From the Yeovil Western Morning News

YEOVIL Town boss Terry Skiverton has revealed that he is in talks with Reading to extend the loan of goalkeeper Alex McCarthy until the end of the season.

The 19-year-old has been in outstanding form for the Glovers and produced another man-of-the-match display at Gillingham on Tuesday.

McCarthy is one of the most highly rated young English goalkeepers and a regular in Stuart Pearce's Under-21 squad. His performances for the Glovers have attracted the attentions of other clubs and the Royals are also monitoring his development.

Skiverton is hopeful of retaining the Guildford-born stopper's services until May. "It's no secret that Alex is a great goalkeeper," he said. "Our scouting and recruitment of players has been good but we actually came across him by chance.

"He's really enhancing his reputation doing a fantastic job for us and there's a lot of people watching him. For us we're just glad we've got him week-in, week-out when he's performing so well. In the last two games I think he's been called upon more than in all the rest of the season so when we need him we know he's there for us.

"He's with us for the foreseeable future and we are talking to Reading all the time. His loan isn't up until January but I'm hopeful of extending that."

If he's that good, then I suspect we won't be able to keep him on our books.

If he's that good, how long until he gets ahead of Federici? We've got 2 very promising young keepers in my view.

[KC Royal]

Unfortunately there haven't been many players that have come through the ranks here that I've thought have had enough about them to make the grade. Henderson was one I praised, and I always thought Tyson would do alright for himself. I never thought the likes of Boucaud, Fashanu, Campbell or Hayes would ever be good enough either. They all got the sort of praise that Antonio is getting now. I did have high hopes for Alex Stanley, Matt Birnie and Johnny Mullins though, none of whom really proved me right.

Adam Lockwood is one who's progress is easy to forget. I'm not sure what the opinion of him was when he was here, but he's done well for himself since leaving us. When he left we were League 1 (or 2nd Division as it was then) and he's now playing for Donny in the Championship.

[KC Royal]

Wizard - I'm impressed you were willing to go to Gillingham given their ticket prices for league games. I certainly wouldn't, some of them are higher than ours!
Jackson is someone i've wanted us to sign since before we signed Rasiak, think i may have mentioned that on here before. He's often played up front on his own for Gillingham, and he did in their last game, so he'd be perfect for when we play 4-5-1 imo. I'm surprised Gillingham have received no bids for him.

On McCarthy: Went to the Gillingham-Burton cup game Saturday before last and the Gillingham manager, Mark Stimson, actually mentioned him in his programme notes. Wouldn't be surprised if Gillingham tried to sign him on loan at some point in the future, especially given that their current No 1, Simon Royce, is probably coming to the end of his career. "We created some decent chances but were thwarted by a decent young keeper in Alex McCarthy whose name I will certainly be making a note of. He kept the score down to 1-0 and he will certainly go on to bigger and better things"

I was amazed when McCarthy was called up to the England U21 squad. Calling someone up after only a handful of league games and who hadn't played above League 1 level didn't say say a lot about the keepers coming through at U21 level imo, but with all the praise he's been receiving this season i'm starting to see why. Knew very little about him before this season with him struggling to get in the reserve side. Is this his first loan spell anywhere? Though he's had work experience spells in the past hasn't he in non-league?

Davies got the winner for Wycombe and got the assist for the other goal.

He also set up both goals in Wycombe's shock 2-0 win at Millwall a couple of weeks before that. Thats now 4 goals and at least 3 assists in 10 games for Wycombe.

[Sun Tzu]

Amazing the McCarthy is probably our 4th choice keeper !

Has to be by far our strongest position.

And some question Sal Bibbo's credentials !!

[ZacNaloen]

Sal trains the Academy Keepers?

[Sun Tzu]

Sal trains the Academy Keepers?

I believe the keepers train together a lot and unless they have kept McCarthy in total isolation it's pretty likely he's had coaching from Bibbo.

And of course the 3 keepers who on the face of it are ahead of him aren't Academy players anyway....

[bagman]

Hamer came through the Academy, was here as a 16 year-old.

[Platypuss]

Amazing the McCarthy is probably our 4th choice keeper !

Has to be by far our strongest position.

So why is the worst one first choice?

[winchester_royal]

http://www.gillinghamfootballclub.com/page/NewsDetail/0,,10416~1906882,00.html

Academy 'keeper Simon Locke joins Gillingham on loan.

League One already?

[KC Royal]

http://www.gillinghamfootballclub.com/page/NewsDetail/0,,10416~1906882,00.html

Academy 'keeper Simon Locke joins Gillingham on loan.

League One already?

Came as a shock to me too! He was on the bench yesterday Almost feels as though they couldn't get McCarthy so took any goalie they could have from us! Not sure what the Gillingham youth keeper(s) think about this though! I doubt Gillingham know that much about him, he hasn't played for the reserves has he and our youth team wouldnt have played them either.

Elsewhere, Mooney won the first pen and set up the 3rd goal in Charlton's 4-4 draw at home to Millwall yesterday. Is Henry injured? He hasn't played for a couple of weeks.

[Hoop Blah]

Clubs spend a lot of time scouting the youth networks and talking to each other about who's about and quite decent. It seems quite a quick step up for the lad though.

As for Henry, he was injured a while back when he dropped out of the side. I presume he's still injured.

[SteveRoyal]

It'll be interesting to see where Henry, Davies, Antonio, etc. all stand in the pecking order in January with Rodgers' out.
I hope Davies is given another chance.

[Barry the bird boggler]

Bignall is back at the club due to injury

[UpNorth]

Mooney also crocked by the sound of it.

So both our loan strikers are coming back but there is no chance of them playing for Reading in the near future.

[Elmer Park]

Mooney is having a scan on his knee injury today I think. If it is a bad injury the timing for him couldn't be worse scuppering either a chance to get into the picture at Reading or of a possible permanent move in January. Let's hope it isn't as bad as they fear and that McDermott brings him in from the cold so he at least gets a chance to show what he can do for us.

[toppy]

Mooney is having a scan on his knee injury today I think. If it is a bad injury the timing for him couldn't be worse scuppering either a chance to get into the picture at Reading or of a possible permanent move in January. Let's hope it isn't as bad as they fear and that McDermott brings him in from the cold so he at least gets a chance to show what he can do for us.

I am guessing McD would have been one of the scouts who thought he would be a good signing

[Ian Royal]

It'll be interesting to see where Henry, Davies, Antonio, etc. all stand in the pecking order in January with Rodgers' out.
I hope Davies is given another chance.

Hell yes. Davies could do a job for us on the right where he could hurt teams with his pace. Better option than Kebe IMO and less lightweight. McAnuff can play left.

[The Rouge]

Spoke to a Wycombe fan the other day - fwiw he keeps saying Davies is the best player on the park and easily champ standard.

[yappy]

Would be good to see Davies back, even if its just to have him as an option on the bench. Knows where the goal is and can even fill in at right back, which is invaluable at the moment!

[Ian Royal]

Would be good to see Davies back, even if its just to have him as an option on the bench. Knows where the goal is and can even fill in at right back, which is invaluable at the moment!

Good point, putting him at right back wouldn't be a bad bet, then Tabb could be used where he's more effective.