Thetownend.com

Nice piece on Matt Smith on theathletic

https://theathletic.com/2189625/2020/11/10/matt-smith-swindon-arsenal-rabona/

Willing to bet he is called back in january and sent somewhere else

Think I'd mute STFC Twitter for a day or three if that happened, would be apocalyptic.

I don't see why, he is after all getting lots of game time. Did Arsenal send him to us in the expectancy we would be playing free flowing top of the league football? Putting him in a bottom half fight will often help the playing even more instead of being carried along.

Exactly this.

He in my opinion is good enough for a higher level. Wouodnt surprised me if he was recalled and loaned to.a higher division

ditto.

I'm famously shit at picking players that have gone on to a much higher level - Alzte looked handy but never thought he'd go higher than championship. Stevens.. etc..

But Smith looks class. And he's only got 9 league starts. Reminds me of when we had Carrick on loan, just got something about him. Time will tell if I've jinxed him.

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

You lot are a larf.

Stop trying to persuade Mikel to take him back.

Face it, we've been had and we're stuck with Matt Smith for the season.

What a great prospect he is and as already posted he resembles a young Michael Carrick and if he stays injury free he could end up playing at the highest level.

He will play at the highest level. Said this at day one. You could tell from the first game for us the lad has other level talent.

The Youth Dev Coach at Arsenal I was talking to in pre season made unflinching comments about how good Matt Smith was even when he was 12. Guaranteed to play at the top and likely for Arsenal eventually. Will go on loan to Champ club next season.

Was he the same one that described BOO as the next Ashley Cole? Any academy coach knows there are no guarantees in youth football

I am sure he will do well. Of course, not all reach those heights - Daniel Boateng also springs to mind.

I would agree if we were talking about a 15 year old

Fair point, I think we can all see Matt Smith has got something about him, and there's clearly more there than potential

Matt Smith is light years ahead of boateng and ormonde ottewill. Comfortably our POTY so far

YTD MoM stats bear this out: 5 MoMs vs no more than 1 for any other player, and 23% of all votes cast to date.

He's the second coming of John Moncur.  He will play plenty of games at the top level. FACT!

He defends better than Moncur ever did but his range of passing is similar to his, a more all round midfielder.

Not that I'm aware PaulD. I got talking to the fella via a photography forum as he wanted to know if he had dust on his lens or on the body (enthralling stuff, I know). I noticed his profile was an image of Arsenal winning the FA Cup and casually asked "What do you know abut Matt Smith?" He mentioned the above and how long Smith had been at Arsenal and that he had worked with him, as he was a Development Coach. I was a bit dubious, and in a DM, he offered to refer me his notes on Smith and his progress at that time. I duly did and was convinced we had obtained a player that will very much be playing in the Premier League.

You're correct though, football is a strange game and things change fast but bar a severe injury, and his progress in this squad to date I see no reason why he won't go on to have personal success in his career.

FACT or not. He's a great young player and is developing well in a squad that is in a state of flux. Massive kudos to him; showing maturity too and it can't be the easiest or best environment currently.

It seems it's not just us that have been noticing Matt Smith this season (unfortunately)
https://www.planetfootball.com/trending/forget-mesut-ozil-arsenal-have-their-new-pre-assist-king-on-loan-at-swindon/

interesting post bamboo.

thankfully the rocket blower worked on getting the dust off my sensor this time.

oh, and about Smith too

 :D

Rocket blowers are alright but they can just push the dust around. Dust on the sensor is never great (scratchy scratchy easy easy). If the spots keep appearing it's well worth taking to a shop to get cleaned properly. Especially against the trade of of either buying a new body or constantly having to edit the spots out of your images (I've been there and it's not fun).

As for Smith, yep. Think we all know he is a great talent. I wonder what we're paying him or if it's getting soaked up in the much mooted comment by RW, regarding development fee negation. ie the more he plays, the more gets chipped off the loan fee.