Players good and bad come and go, yet Mason still sticks around and I'm struggling to see why. For a striker his record is shambolic. He emerged the same time as will Hughes 7/8 years ago who has since played several seasons in the championship and is now in his 2nd/3rd season I believe in the premier league? Mason still struggles to get in our starting line up 7 years on!! and when he does, he simply does not score enough, or at all for that matter. I think the best thing would be for us to move him on asap. Thoughts ? 

He aint a striker 

Ok sorry, forward. Point still absolutely remains.

He barely starts and I’d guess he’s on low wages. I’d be concerned if he was first choice all the time. 

He loves Derby, so probably happier than most pros to be on the bench.

Although Bennett has been around for a long time, he's been hampered by injuries and not having a run in the side in his preferred position. To be honest, I'm not sure what that is but, almost like everyone else, it's probably as a number 10 off the main striker.

But whether we're talking about Mason Bennett or anyone else, any club strives to replace their players with better ones.

Brian Clough used to say "if I can sign a better centre half than Roy McFarland then I will do".

The problem is it's hard to turn over players as we're seeing at Derby now. We still haven't moved out all of the deadwood from previous managers' transfer mistakes. And we don't have the cash to bring in quality replacements.

Lampard benefitted hugely by his three loanees but those were so short term.

A longer term, more sustainable path would be to develop players through the academy. Sadly, it seems, the majority of our supporters will not have the patience for that.

So, we need investment. I'm sure Mel is hoping that Rooney can improve his publicity rating and attract the big foreign money. Then maybe we can buy our way to the Premier League like Wolves and Stoke....ooh.

Edited August 27, 20195 yr by IslandExile

Think one thing he needs to do is decide upon his best position. At the moment he’s alternating between the wing and up front too much to really grow into either role. He’ll become a jack of all trades master of mine type player if he doesn’t choose one or the other to focus on. It’s difficult to tell Where he’s best suited atm, but his goal record is poor, no doubt about that. He’s a pretty solid player in general play, but he does certainly lack any sort of real quality and end product. That said, a lot of people judge Him very harshly because he’s been around a while- but he made the first team at 15! That means despite it being a long time, he’s still Been developing and growing as a player for this time, it would have been very harsh for us to bin him without giving him a chance to reach his potential! So no, I think we’ve been correct in keeping him around for this length of time to let him grow. That’s not to mention he’s done a decent job for the team when called upon, particulary last season- albeit I think he’s only an impact sub quality. You still need those in your squad though! I also think its very harsh to compare him to Hughes. Hughes was a very special academy graduate who went above and beyond what a player from that academy era would have been expected to- he’s made the top flight for goodness sake! Bennett’s been a pretty damn decent academy graduate in his impact on the first team for me. 

However, I am going to contradict myself here and say maybe it will be time for him to go either in January or the end of the season. Not to “bin him off ASAP” because he’s still a decent player, but he is now 23 so perhaps the time has come to move on if he wants a more regular role. We need to improve our wide area, but we’ll need bodies out to be able to do that.

In this division, he's a great option off the bench. He's obviously hard working in training, which inadvertently makes everyone work harder. As a striker, he doesn't have the technique or the presence. I'd have liked Martin there tonight.

He’s simply not good enough, and we’re blinkered because “he’s one of our own”. 

5 hours ago, Saturn5 said:

He aint a striker 

He played there last night by all accounts 

i know what your saying and I agree but cocu and Lampard seems him as a stand in centre forward for us. As soon as I saw that line up last night it just said defeat all over it, no goals in it, no attacking momentum 

I love the lad but mason Bennett isn’t going to spearhead us to glory in any completion and it worries me that cocu thought he could 

4 hours ago, Ambitious said:

In this division, he's a great option off the bench. He's obviously hard working in training, which inadvertently makes everyone work harder. As a striker, he doesn't have the technique or the presence. I'd have liked Martin there tonight.

Agree re Martin

re Bennett 

He’s craig Fagan, quick and hard working and can make something happen .... sometimes if our lucks  in ... in terms of the front line he’s a jack of all trades master of none 

doesn’t score goals and isn’t a wide player that’s going to get u assists 

handy option off the bench at this level and probably happy enough being that anymore and we need to start looking at what we actually aim to achieve 

5 hours ago, Millenniumram said:

Think one thing he needs to do is decide upon his best position. At the moment he’s alternating between the wing and up front too much to really grow into either role. He’ll become a jack of all trades master of mine type player if he doesn’t choose one or the other to focus on. It’s difficult to tell Where he’s best suited atm, but his goal record is poor, no doubt about that. He’s a pretty solid player in general play, but he does certainly lack any sort of real quality and end product. That said, a lot of people judge Him very harshly because he’s been around a while- but he made the first team at 15! That means despite it being a long time, he’s still Been developing and growing as a player for this time, it would have been very harsh for us to bin him without giving him a chance to reach his potential! So no, I think we’ve been correct in keeping him around for this length of time to let him grow. That’s not to mention he’s done a decent job for the team when called upon, particulary last season- albeit I think he’s only an impact sub quality. You still need those in your squad though! I also think its very harsh to compare him to Hughes. Hughes was a very special academy graduate who went above and beyond what a player from that academy era would have been expected to- he’s made the top flight for goodness sake! Bennett’s been a pretty damn decent academy graduate in his impact on the first team for me. 

However, I am going to contradict myself here and say maybe it will be time for him to go either in January or the end of the season. Not to “bin him off ASAP” because he’s still a decent player, but he is now 23 so perhaps the time has come to move on if he wants a more regular role. We need to improve our wide area, but we’ll need bodies out to be able to do that.

Maybe he knows his best position, but doesn't get played there enough? He doesn't pick where he plays.

A move to Chelsea might be the best for all parties.

Not good enough for the Championship,must be on low wages or he would of been gone by now

mason bennett lacks threat at as a no9 but do have another no9 somewhere, and another player still to arrive.

he is a decent understudy  and play a number of positions. He does need to add a few more goals to his game though - agreed. 

You'd only pick him up at centre forward if you weren't fussed about winning. 

I remember when B4 said adout him scoring 20goals this season and i said if he did I'd run Notts naked with a Derby scarf on... sadly the lad is all power, no guile, no composure, just wham bam thank u mam, what he does is sooo hit and miss, and sadly for us and him its mainly miss. I have no clue about his best position, need a mind like Peter Taylor to work that out.

8 hours ago, Sam_DCFC_1994 said:

Players good and bad come and go, yet Mason still sticks around and I'm struggling to see why. For a striker his record is shambolic. He emerged the same time as will Hughes 7/8 years ago who has since played several seasons in the championship and is now in his 2nd/3rd season I believe in the premier league? Mason still struggles to get in our starting line up 7 years on!! and when he does, he simply does not score enough, or at all for that matter. I think the best thing would be for us to move him on asap. Thoughts ? 

Our last 3 managers have thought he was good enough to keep around

And comparing him to Hughes just isn't fair - Hughes is a class above

9 hours ago, IslandExile said:

Although Bennett has been around for a long time, he's been hampered by injuries and not having a run in the side in his preferred position. To be honest, I'm not sure what that is but, almost like everyone else, it's probably as a number 10 off the main striker.

But whether we're talking about Mason Bennett or anyone else, any club strives to replace their players with better ones.

Brian Clough used to say "if I can sign a better centre half than Roy McFarland then I will do".

The problem is it's hard to turn over players as we're seeing at Derby now. We still haven't moved out all of the deadwood from previous managers' transfer mistakes. And we don't have the cash to bring in quality replacements.

Lampard benefitted hugely by his three loanees but those were so short term.

A longer term, more sustainable path would be to develop players through the academy. Sadly, it seems, the majority of our supporters will not have the patience for that.

So, we need investment. I'm sure Mel is hoping that Rooney can improve his publicity rating and attract the big foreign money. Then maybe we can buy our way to the Premier League like Wolves and Stoke....ooh.

I agree with you, which is funny as last year and previous years plenty of fans were banging on because we weren't using the youth enough.

Can't have it both ways

He needs to play on the wing or up top with another forward. 3 goals and 4 assists last season in just 1258 minutes of league football shows he is a useful squad player. Wilson's minutes per goal contribution was only 6 minutes better than Bennett's, and the only other player better was Marriott.

Just now, Ghost of Clough said:

Wilson's minutes per goal contribution was only 6 minutes better than Bennett's, and the only other player better was Marriott.

See this is where stats don't tell the whole story.

Why didn't Bennett play more often then Wilson then?

A decent squad player. Can contribute. Not a starter.