After one good goal against the mighty Wrexham, certain people on here have him down as figuring on a quite regular basis in the first team squad next season, mainly because he's right sided and that's an area we are short in (despite having the best right sided player in the League bar none).
From I've seen of him in the Youth Cup games last year, I'm not convinced he's quite ready for 1st team action yet, certainly not in any important games anyway. I suppose people would use the example of Aaron Lennon in terms of how a young raw talent who plays wide should be given a chance if the abilitiy's there but I for one would be surprised to see him get a run out this season in anything other than the Carling Cup.
Yes I know there's "potential" there (as Houllier might have said). Infact he probably would have gone onto claim that he was "the new Mcmanaman" in terms of his style. In terms of positives, I like his pace, the directness to his play and the way he's willing to run at players, in an age where the art of dribbling is slowly being eroded from the game. As his goal showed the other day, he certainly doesn't lack confidence either. He's got the confidence of youth but also some of the rawness that goes with it aswell.
However you have to admit that playing well against reserve team defenders is a million miles away from playing in the Premiership against defenders of a much higher calibre week in week out. I just wonder how he would cope with that. For me, the one major weakness that I see in his game at the moment is his delivery of the ball - his crossing seems weak and its almost as if he can't quiet get enough power into the cross. Infact if you're talking about power and end product, it seems to me that Adam Hammil on the other wing is more productive and physically developed, but we'd never mention him in the same breath as we've got an abundance of left sided players in the squad at the moment.
I'd also be curious to know where the coaching staff think his best position is going to be. I certainly hope that the weakness in his crossing is just due to his youth rather than any inherent flaw (like McManaman who was never able to either cross or learn to cross a ball). I just wonder whether the coaching staff see Anderson developing into a central role as a forward rather than as a winger. Having said that, Marc Overmars springs to mind as a hugely effective winger who was never particularly good as crossing a ball.
I'd like to see Anderson get a few appearances as a substitute this coming season but I just wonder whether Adam Hammill is closer to the 1st team subs bench than Anderson?
Thoughts?
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