My dad was very critical of him. He said he is no Barkley or Rooney-which he's not. You can see physically he's not at their level for a starting point. In many ways thats part of the problem though. You are probably comparing him to Englands best post war player, who was at or about that level the moment he stepped onto the pitch at 16 (it was akin to watching a peak Gasgoigne). You also have Ross Barkley, who while not quite at that level, was himself also head and shoulders above most 19 year olds at the time (and ultimately hasn't really improved the weaknesses in his game at all-namely decision making). I do think though, they have given us a somewhat false sense of what a young player looks like coming through.
He didn't get into the game yesterday, however he was no worse than Iwobi. I know that soiunds an odd comparison to make, as Iwobi was poor, but Iwobi is a 30m footballer. The truth us they were given a very difficult job to do. They had to constantly be aware of tucking in without the ball, and at times with the ball. This is counter intuitive for wider players, particularly one like Gordon who's strengths are carrying the ball and getting further up the pitch.
Unlike Iwobi, who had Gomes and Milner to deal with, Gordon had one of the best in the business in an attacking sense to try and neutralise on that side in Arnold. And you know what. I think he did ok. In open play, Arnold didn't do a great deal and in truth probably less when Sigurdsson came on.
There were a couple of moments, where he got the ball, dropped a should and carried it, which you can see is his strength and he put one nice ball through. The issue was, really he only had a couple of opportunities to show that, and you' hope in other games which will be easier there will be more opportunities. There was one where he took a couple of Liverpool players out of the game but then needed to get his pass away. He didn't and then lost possession. That's the key difference stepping up from the 23's, or even training. You hold it one touch too many and it you lose the ball.
I saw Don Hutchinson talk about Ross Barkley and he said the first pass you see, make it. I think it's a good mantra for midfield players. Don't try and beat too many players, if you see a pass, play the pass.
In all honesty I thought it was an odd game to start him. I felt Bernard would have probably suited the role better, and unleashing Gordon for the last 20 minutes as the game opened up may have been better. You think of the joy we were getting and it may have really suited him. It's a big vote of confidence in him though, that he started over Sigurdsson and Bernard and shows he's well thought of. He's likely to get more opportunities and hopefully can show a little something in those games going the other way.
