Shea Lacey | 2026/27 Performances

I don’t know if the best option isn’t to loan him out. He looks ready to kick on but we probably can’t give him any meaningful minutes and him playing about an hour every month isn’t going to do him any good.
 
VanGaalyTime said:
Exactly. He and Amad together against low blocks are going to cause havoc. It's why I think we need one of them to play left wing.
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I like them together, too. I doubt we'll see either play together much at all in the actual season, though. Maybe in the early FA/League Cup games or if others are missing.
 
manutddjw said:
I don’t know if the best option isn’t to loan him out. He looks ready to kick on but we probably can’t give him any meaningful minutes and him playing about an hour every month isn’t going to do him any good.
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He’ll get meaningful minutes - we need the attacking depth for competing on four fronts. One of our issues last season was having so few attacking options off the bench. Lacey will help with that.
 
Glad he’s been playing well. Mbeumo and Amad had a period of being off it last season. Knowing Lacey can come in and challenge should mitigate the poor form those two could have down the road
 
Lacy is looking on course, but he’s still a season away from commanding a regular place on the first team bench.
That’s not to knock the lad. The talent is plainly there to see, but at times he does a good impression of being Antony, but with more skill.
He needs time to continue his physical development and develop more composure when shooting opportunities come up.
 
He is a versatile talent that has shown he is more capable than cutting inside right and shooting as someone mentioned earlier in the thread. Can play both centrally and wide left if needed as he did in youth football before although admittedly rarely later on. Glad we have a manager that seems willing to create avenues for young players.
 
He’s probably licking his lips at Mbeumo scoring goals as the main ST. Means he only as Amad to compete with on the right. He knows he ain’t getting the AM role unless Bruno is being rested. The competition should also wake up the lights of Amad… who needs a big season himself. He should be showing a lot more numbers with G/A now
 
I think he’s better on the wing. I could be a bit harsh, but positionally it didn’t look like he knew where to drift into when he was at 10 in the first half.
 
He should be a regular sub. I think that - and training every day with the first team - is going to be better for his development than playing in Championship. If he went to the Championship, we should be given guarantees he is actually going to be a starter.
 
I'm starting to see the potential with him, I think he can do bits for us this season. Loan him in Jan if minutes looking limited.
 
Didn't do much but held width and kept the ball. Already a better standard than Dorgu. Keep this up and hopefully he'll get more minutes.

We actually need players than can make space and at least control the ball. Anything above that is a bonus considering how loose the starters were.
 
criticalanalysis said:
Didn't do much but held width and kept the ball. Already a better standard than Dorgu. Keep this up and hopefully he'll get more minutes.

We actually need players than can make space and at least control the ball. Anything above that is a bonus considering how loose the starters were.
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That's what kills us when Amad isn't available. It's fine having Dorgu or Mbeumo making runs and stretching the play if we have someone like Lacey or Amad as well as they can make the ball stick and we have something to build off. But Cunha's not a 9 and if Bruno's off his game then Mbeumo and Dorgu just don't offer the right balance in our forward line.
 
Zumbi said:
That's what kills us when Amad isn't available. It's fine having Dorgu or Mbeumo making runs and stretching the play if we have someone like Lacey or Amad as well as they can make the ball stick and we have something to build off. But Cunha's not a 9 and if Bruno's off his game then Mbeumo and Dorgu just don't offer the right balance in our forward line.
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Yes, it's why I find the comments of 'Amad didn't do much, seems to be another resting on his laurel, needs moving on' etc frustrating. There's some truth to it, in that he can do more in the final third (with his quality) but him playing more conservatively is much due to good game IQ. I don't want him doing more hero ball when others are playing hot potato. He's a defacto midfielder at times with his ball retention and decision making, which reflects very poorly on his teammates IMO.
 
criticalanalysis said:
Yes, it's why I find the comments of 'Amad didn't do much, seems to be another resting on his laurel, needs moving on' etc frustrating. There's some truth to it, in that he can do more in the final third (with his quality) but him playing more conservatively is much due to good game IQ. I don't want him doing more hero ball when others are playing hot potato. He's a defacto midfielder at times with his ball retention and decision making, which reflects very poorly on his teammates IMO.
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Yeah, agreed. The only issue I have with Amad is that his productivity dropped off a cliff last season after doing well with G/A the season before. At times he was unlucky, at times he didn't have his shooting boots, and sometimes he either dithered or got the weight of his final pass wrong. But that happens with young attackers and I back him to regain some of that productivity and hit a purple patch again (always worth remembering that some forwards don't really find that consistency until their mid to late 20s). But even when things aren't clicking in the final third he's still our most intelligent presser off the ball and he can actually look after it in possession, taking the sting out of the chaos ball by carrying it a bit or linking well with others. In contrast, one thing I like about Dorgu and Mbeumo is that they can add balance by being direct and making runs. One of Dorgu's best attributes is that he looks to make those runs into the back post (like he did today, one of his goals against City etc), which we need a bit of because for too long we've just sucked at attacking the box. But too much of that and we don't have enough nous to make things happen and we become too predictable. And today just wasn't the right balance. Mbeumo up top, Cunha left and Dorgu right or Mbeumo up top, Cunha left and Lacey right would have all been better options I reckon.
 
Zumbi said:
Yeah, agreed. The only issue I have with Amad is that his productivity dropped off a cliff last season after doing well with G/A the season before. At times he was unlucky, at times he didn't have his shooting boots, and sometimes he either dithered or got the weight of his final pass wrong. But that happens with young attackers and I back him to regain some of that productivity and hit a purple patch again (always worth remembering that some forwards don't really find that consistency until their mid to late 20s). But even when things aren't clicking in the final third he's still our most intelligent presser off the ball and he can actually look after it in possession, taking the sting out of the chaos ball by carrying it a bit or linking well with others. In contrast, one thing I like about Dorgu and Mbeumo is that they can add balance by being direct and making runs. One of Dorgu's best attributes is that he looks to make those runs into the back post (like he did today, one of his goals against City etc), which we need a bit of because for too long we've just sucked at attacking the box. But too much of that and we don't have enough nous to make things happen and we become too predictable. And today just wasn't the right balance. Mbeumo up top, Cunha left and Dorgu right or Mbeumo up top, Cunha left and Lacey right would have all been better options I reckon.
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Yeah the balance wasn't right and that's on Carrick. He's got to learn really quickly about profiles and the strengths and weaknesses of his players. Unfortunately, having players that do better work off the ball than on it has been a big issue of ours and I just hope he doesn't fall into this trap of needing to play the 'big hitters' because they get goals and assists. I mean, I get it, those things helps win games but it's becomes a net negative and you begin from a low starting point if you have players like Dorgu who hardly contribute to a cohesive playing experience. Such a poor game today, sigh.
 
criticalanalysis said:
Yeah the balance wasn't right and that's on Carrick. He's got to learn really quickly about profiles and the strengths and weaknesses of his players. Unfortunately, having players that do better work off the ball than on it has been a big issue of ours and I just hope he doesn't fall into this trap of needing to play the 'big hitters' because they get goals and assists. I mean, I get it, those things helps win games but it's becomes a net negative and you begin from a low starting point if you have players like Dorgu who hardly contribute to a cohesive playing experience. Such a poor game today, sigh.
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Yep, he's got a lot to figure out. Right now we don't know our best backline, midfield, or forward line, let alone which midfield works best with which attack etc. He'll have more games to figure it out this season, but he needs to start getting results whilst he does so. He'll also need to figure out how best to rotate.
 
With the Amad injury this gives Lacey the chance when he gets subbed on. Hope he takes it.
 
roseguy64 said:
With the Amad injury this gives Lacey the chance when he gets subbed on. Hope he takes it.
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You would imagine he'll still find it hard to get on with Sesko and Dorgu waiting in the wings but he's already too good for u23 so I feel like we need to play him a good bit more this season or loan him. He's not going to learn anything doing another season of reserve football
 
He looks like a really good player to me, just seems to have ‘it’. I hope we give him plenty of minutes this season.
 
I was hoping he would get some minutes after our 4th or 5th goal went in yesterday. I know our next game isn't for another 7 days, but I doubt there'll be many better opportunities to sub him on than when we're comfortably beating a newly promoted team at home.
 
He needs to be given minutes, we will reap rewards after this season. He's our most exciting prospect right now and Carrick can be the one who he grows under. Just dont be afraid to put him on when we're 4 up ffs!
 
He needs more upper body strength to handle the demands of the PL. He's very slight and given how physically powerful most premier league teams are now we'd be really carrying him in many games and it's a very tough league to do that. A loan would make more sense maybe in a less physical league, even the championship would probably be tough.

Some saying give him 15 mins in games like yesterday but it's not really going to develop him, it's admitting he's not ready for th first team because the only opportunities come when the game is done. I bet he gets a move in January because opportunities will be limited for him.
 
Scotty Doesn't Know said:
I was hoping he would get some minutes after our 4th or 5th goal went in yesterday. I know our next game isn't for another 7 days, but I doubt there'll be many better opportunities to sub him on than when we're comfortably beating a newly promoted team at home.
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Lots of senior players needing minutes at the minute. I hope that's the reason anyway.
 
He's not very slight, has already bulked up quite a lot.
 
He'll get cameos between now and December but when we hit the business end of the season I can see him loaned out in January and having a pretty successful spell as he's clearly a good footballer, although I suspect he's more of an AM at the highest level.
 
maximus419 said:
He needs more upper body strength to handle the demands of the PL. He's very slight and given how physically powerful most premier league teams are now we'd be really carrying him in many games and it's a very tough league to do that. A loan would make more sense maybe in a less physical league, even the championship would probably be tough.

Some saying give him 15 mins in games like yesterday but it's not really going to develop him, it's admitting he's not ready for th first team because the only opportunities come when the game is done. I bet he gets a move in January because opportunities will be limited for him.
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I'm not sure. I think training with the first team every week will help a lot - that's a big step up from u21s. It's tough to give everyone enough minutes early season when everyone's working on fitness and there's only one game a week. Once our schedule picks up though and other players need a rest or get injured, I think there will be opportunities for him.
 
DJ_21 said:
Hope he gets game time in the carabao cup
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You would think Amad and Sesko will be back so at least 2 or 3 of those slots from yday will be gone to Dorgu Sesko and Amad if you're needing to give game time and fitness to players. A few sub minutes in the league cup really isn't going to be enough to move the needle for him this season. He needs to really start playing the senior game and pushing to see what his true level is. Can he stay fit? Was the red card a one off? These are things we need to find out more about. I'm not saying loan him out now but yeah by January unless we have an injury crisis I think he'll end up going out for a few months to sharpen him up
 
Injured or just not fancied?

Would've expected him over Zirkzee on the bench. Unless we're being silly and picking Zirkzee to avoid a bad look after we denied his loan to Everton.
 
DOTA said:
Injured or just not fancied?

Would've expected him over Zirkzee on the bench. Unless we're being silly and picking Zirkzee to avoid a bad look after we denied his loan to Everton.
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He played a u21 game recently so he's probably rested, almost scored a hattrick.

Slightly concerning because we think he might not be able to help. Even for 20 minutes closer to the end of the end of the game when we inevitably chase the result, he'd be a brilliant player to bring on. We dont have a player like this on bench. Surely he offers more or something completely different than Dorgu, especially while Amad is out.
 
DOTA said:
Injured or just not fancied?

Would've expected him over Zirkzee on the bench. Unless we're being silly and picking Zirkzee to avoid a bad look after we denied his loan to Everton.
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His time will come, we have a pretty easy midweek fixture he might be involved in, injuries and resting will start after the international break. Just needs to bide his time and make an impact when he gets a chance.
 
flameinthesun said:
His time will come, we have a pretty easy midweek fixture he might be involved in, injuries and resting will start after the international break. Just needs to bide his time and make an impact when he gets a chance.
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Think he's on bench today had Zirkzee gone on loan
 
flameinthesun said:
His time will come, we have a pretty easy midweek fixture he might be involved in, injuries and resting will start after the international break. Just needs to bide his time and make an impact when he gets a chance.
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Unless he plays another U21 game, in which case, we can all say, "Ah, but he played for the U21s, that's why he's not playing."
 
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