Hess or George. T

I dont think there was a midfielder in League Two who was better than Hess at hassling, breaking up play, disrupting the opposition. He always stood out for that , his passing game was limited but leaves a big hole in the other respect.

Such a bloody shame thinking about it the fact that we released Hessenthaler, would of been amazing to have kept him for 20/21. Im sure he would have stayed if things werent like they were. Look he prob sign for lg1 club by now

Hess isnt a Holloway type player, not in the least surprised he was released.

Quoted from AussieMariner

Agree - he also played 181 times for L1 Gillingham over 5 years before he joined us.

L1 Gillingham.. giants of English football .

Quoted from rancido

I would hardly describe a 26 year old footballer who has only been signed by 3 clubs as a "journeyman", especially as the first of those clubs, Chelsea, was where he developed through their youth system.

Ok maybe that’s not the most accurate description but you know what I mean . He’ll probably rack up about another 5 clubs in the lower / non leagues before he’s done and will qualify however

Quoted from louth_in_the_south

Ok maybe that’s not the most accurate description but you know what I mean . He’ll probably rack up about another 5 clubs in the lower / non leagues before he’s done and will qualify however

Won't most lower league footballers nowadays though?

It's not like 20 years ago where players would stay at clubs for longer. These days players are lucky if they get 2 or 3 years at the same club. And on the standard "journeyman" scale, you could call most players in L1/L2 a journeyman.

Quoted from louth_in_the_south

L1 Gillingham.. giants of English football .

Maybe but remind me what level we play at and how long is it since we played in L1?

Back to the original question, I don't really see any harm in comparing two players.  It's not as if we've got a glut of friendlies to over analyse at the minute is it...

I'm very much in the 'different type of players' camp, albeit that's from a quite limited knowledge of Williams.  In fact any knowledge I have of him is based on YouTube showreels.  But you can only go on what you know and from what I have seen/read from FGR fans, he's the complete opposite of Hessenthaler.

I dare say that since peak Disley, with very brief spells of having Jon Nolan and Jamey Osborne, we've not really had a midfield capable of driving forward from the middle of the park and making things happen.  Midfielders with that attribute are like rocking horse excrement at this level.  If we've got one, in my opinion, it's a potential game changer at this level.

That all said, it's all about balance at any level.  Whereas in previous years we've always had very similar midfielders, lads who will run all day and get stuck in, the lack of quality and creativity (also goals) is evident.  A successful midfield will always need someone who is prepared to do the dirty stuff and allow the better players to be effective further upfield.  For example, someone like Hess would have been perfect to that breaking up, stopping sides play and winning possession back - which in turn allows someone like Williams to concentrate his energy on being more attacking, creating chances and/or scoring goals.

I really liked Hess, I thought there was a period where he was absolutely peerless at what he did when he sat in front of that back four.  It's just a shame that it was largely wasted because he never had anyone alongside him capable of unpicking an opposition defence.  When Limbrick moved him further forward he wasn't anywhere near as effective and both his and our game suffered as a result.   If Hess did return, I wouldn't be in any way disappointed as I think he would compliment any team in this division.  But I genuinely think Holloway believes he can get better.

Quoted from louth_in_the_south

A player who’s played for Wales  at a major finals or a lower league journeyman . That’s a difficult one .

Or a proven favourite player v risk of one that might or might not turn out ok, yes agree its difficult

Quoted from Garth

Or a proven favourite player v risk of one that might or might not turn out ok, yes agree its difficult

favourite? Not in my book.....not going up with players like Hessentahler