Think it's about time we start this thread if there isn't one already. Has to be given a chance given the way we are playing, and the way he is playing and scoring. For the most part Shankland came about when McGinn and Hayes were in form and Rooney was banging them in, tough to give him playing time and patience, certainly not the case now. Did Shankland find his level or will we never know??

 

Since we don't have the creative attacking mid we are crying out for surely it's worth going to 4-4-2 with Anderson up with Cosgrove and two central mids from Ojo, Ferguson, and Bryson? It means change and adaptation from DM. Surely Anderson should be given the playing time and patience we gave big Sam last year.

I think that if we had just waited before snapping up Main, then we could have happily kept May plugging away for a month and then given Anderson an opportunity. I think Anderson is still very raw, but he's just as good an option as Main. If he can get a good loan at a high end championship club then that might be better for his development than sitting on our bench.

Yep have to agree, far better off getting game time at a decent Championship club than the odd 10 minutes or so if he stays with us. He's too good for reserve fitba' now but just not quite ready to play first team football yet. Dundee might be interested given that Wright did well for them last season but if not then going back to Dunfermline wouldn't be the worst place to head. Get him out for the full season and hopefully next summer we get a palyer back ready to push for a first team spot (conversely if he does badly then we know he probably isn't cut out to play at the top level)

How do we know he’s not good enough for the first team? Based on performances neither are many of our first team players. Shankland was never given that opportunity of extended time like Cosgrove and McKenna lucked out. He was below average at Ayr and if it wasn’t for a shitey team performance at Motherwell he may never have been given a chance. I honestly don’t think the plan was to play Ferguson as much as we do but he got a lucky break too with us not having anyone else!

Personally, I'd make sure we had someone that could provide him with service before putting him in the first team.  Don't want his confidence being shot and DM has a history of fucking it up.  A loan to a top end champ club would be my preference (until Jan) then bring him back and see what he's made of.

Unfortunately, as we only play with one direct Striker, Anderson will likely never be given a start ahead of the Cosgrove's or Main's. He quite simply doesn't have the physique required to play up front in a Derek McInnes team, due to McInnes' " Style " of Football.

 

Main apparently set 2 of Anderson's goals up yesterday, played really well by all accounts, but Anderson is afforded the opportunities he gets because he has a physical partner beside him. I reckon Anderson would be very successful alongside Cosgrove, Sam does a lot of work that goes completely unnoticed, because nine times out of ten, it doesn't come to fruition simply because he's up there himself, but if you threw an Anderson beside him, even James Wilson, we'd probably reap some sort of reward.

 

I agree there's little else he can do in the reserves, he's done enough to merit an opportunity but he won't get it for the reasons stated above, quite sad, really.

 

McInnes has ditched the sort of " Attacking Intent " we used to show, probably in his 1st 2-3 seasons, and that's probably down to the personnel, he appears to be in favour of old fashioned tactics now and as a result, we're far too predictable, have very little bite in attack and as everyone can clearly see, create very little opportunities from open play. Whenever we've hit a poor bit of form and results are poor, he always digs out a result that would appear to paper over cracks, my concern this time around is, McKenna will be used as the reason, his transfer request unsettled us etc... etc... Well, a transfer request doesn't affect a managers game plan in any way shape or form, nor does it affect how we approach a game, so I am not having that.

 

Back to Anderson briefly, as I said in the threads this time last season, the boy is clearly the best finisher we have at the club, the most natural finisher, so it's really up to McInnes to find a way to fit that into our 11, but, he'd rather play with 2 sitting midfielders, even at home, so I won't be holding my breath for young Bruce, which is a shame, I think he'll have a fairly decent career in the game, will certainly score goals wherever he ends up, but hopefully it's here, with us.

Anderson needs to improve his physique if he is going to make it , maybe a season long loan might improve him further, i just dont think he will get a proper chance due to the way DM wants play or he will play him out of position

It's frustrating, as the best time to bring through guys like Anderson was a few years back (he was too young, obviously). We had a good, solid squad at the time and had the space, quality and usually the big enough lead to get our youth players playing large parts of games without too much deficit in the wider team. Now, Anderson would be coming in to an unsettled squad and first time, be being moved about across the front positions and have very little leadership behind him to steer him through games. It's nae exactly a good environment for a youngster. I think Anderson in the squad would be best for the team as I think we'll find out that Main is pap and Anderson will offer slightly more. However, I think he'll get ground down by the ten minute appearances and being asked to play out wide and forget his role as finisher. I think what is best for Anderson is that he avoids that conundrum by going out on loan. The question is whether we want to look after our team or our young player? I think the long term benefits would be greater giving him a year elsewhere.