I'm sure Theo's right about the difference between Colwill and Mbete. Had Colwill not been at a club with a queue of centre backs in front of him you probably would never have got him. He would have been at least on the bench for half the Premier League at the start of last season.
Equally you are demonstrating that Mbete's problem is entirely in his head rather than with his ability. If he couldn't manage two minutes against Cardiff without looking likely to screw up, I'm 70 and you could put me on for 2 minutes against Cardiff and I'd be fine, because hey I've sweet FA to lose now. Once fear of failure takes over no-one from Ronaldo down to a little kid on debut for a junior school can show their true worth.
How Mbete fares in the ensuing weeks and months could change his life and that of his entire family. He knows that. He's just 19. These are his first REAL steps. You really need to cut him a bit of slack. He's under a lot of pressure. Sure, he needs to learn to deal with it. But you are called supporters for a reason and at the moment you are showing scant evidence of it. Somehow, you've declared him guilty of failing to support you. It's nothing to do with him that you've sent two good players out on loan, it's nothing to do with him that you lost one manager, replaced him with the easiest choice available and now are on the third coming, it's nothing to do with him that your attack has become toothless at a profit of £10 million, and it's nothing to do with him that some of your experienced players have been looking disillusioned. It may surprise you that he's struggling, but if you were designing an experiment to test the effect of a stressful environment on player performance, you'd be hard-pressed to create a more perfect model.
Maybe it is as simple as someone actually talking to the lad. You know actually finding out what the problem is rather than making random assumptions. Surely that is a less desperate solution than imagining that selecting a good ole guy who has scored is it 4 goals in 287 appearances and is rising 34 is going to be the answer to your prayers ........?
You have to remember that young players develop in an environment with tiny crowds. Players can hear everything their coaches shout. Your man will be used to hearing," Luke pick up your man, watch that runner, step up Luke, stepup!" And now he's hearing, "Mbete you arse-biscuit, get back to City and tell Pep you're shite!" No I just can't imagine why he'd be struggling.
Equally you are demonstrating that Mbete's problem is entirely in his head rather than with his ability. If he couldn't manage two minutes against Cardiff without looking likely to screw up, I'm 70 and you could put me on for 2 minutes against Cardiff and I'd be fine, because hey I've sweet FA to lose now. Once fear of failure takes over no-one from Ronaldo down to a little kid on debut for a junior school can show their true worth.
How Mbete fares in the ensuing weeks and months could change his life and that of his entire family. He knows that. He's just 19. These are his first REAL steps. You really need to cut him a bit of slack. He's under a lot of pressure. Sure, he needs to learn to deal with it. But you are called supporters for a reason and at the moment you are showing scant evidence of it. Somehow, you've declared him guilty of failing to support you. It's nothing to do with him that you've sent two good players out on loan, it's nothing to do with him that you lost one manager, replaced him with the easiest choice available and now are on the third coming, it's nothing to do with him that your attack has become toothless at a profit of £10 million, and it's nothing to do with him that some of your experienced players have been looking disillusioned. It may surprise you that he's struggling, but if you were designing an experiment to test the effect of a stressful environment on player performance, you'd be hard-pressed to create a more perfect model.
Maybe it is as simple as someone actually talking to the lad. You know actually finding out what the problem is rather than making random assumptions. Surely that is a less desperate solution than imagining that selecting a good ole guy who has scored is it 4 goals in 287 appearances and is rising 34 is going to be the answer to your prayers ........?
You have to remember that young players develop in an environment with tiny crowds. Players can hear everything their coaches shout. Your man will be used to hearing," Luke pick up your man, watch that runner, step up Luke, stepup!" And now he's hearing, "Mbete you arse-biscuit, get back to City and tell Pep you're shite!" No I just can't imagine why he'd be struggling.