Troy Parrott F Excelsior Rotterdam (loan from Spurs) b.2002

[ifk101]

.....

As a Spurs fan, I'd love to see TP fulfil his potential, but if he is to do so, imo it won't be by mollycoddling him, or making excuses for him, since physicality is an essential part of the game everywhere, not least, indeed especially, at the very top levels.

Would say it’s more an issue of playing in physical teams rather than playing against physical teams. Physical teams are structured and direct (last season’s PNE), Parrott is at his best when he is free to drift out of position, get on the ball, and play combinations. Obviously know little to nothing about Excelsior but would imagine given their lowly stature they’ll have a high focus on defensive structure rather than free flowing total football.

[EalingGreen]

Would say it’s more an issue of playing in physical teams rather than playing against physical teams. Physical teams are structured and direct (last season’s PNE), Parrott is at his best when he is free to drift out of position, get on the ball, and play combinations.

Don't you think that opposition teams will have spotted such things for themselves? Or do you imagine they have, just don't know how to counter it?

Fact is, the higher you go, the more savvy the opposition will be, and if that means teams closing off an opponent like TP by physical means, then that's what they'll do. And they'll do it better (i.e. tougher) than teams at a lower level.

Obviously know little to nothing about Excelsior but would imagine given their lowly stature they’ll have a high focus on defensive structure rather than free flowing total football.

All I know about Excelsior is what I've just googled:
1. They're the third team in a city of 664k i.e. one third that of Glasgow, for instance;
2. Other than promotion from the Dutch 2nd tier, they've never won a trophy;
3. Their stadium holds 4.5k (all seated);
4. Until TP arrived, their first team squad of 27, from several different countries, didn't have a single Senior international player, not even with one cap;
5. Their current Head Coach is Marinus Dijkhuizen, who was sacked by Brentford after just 9 games in charge. (Brentford are anything but a sacking club btw, but simply held their hands up and admitted he was the wrong appointment as soon as it became obvious).

As a club, I'd guess they're nearer eg Partick Thistle than Celtic/Rangers, never mind Ajax/PSV etc.

[Exgrad]

What an underwhelming move, to put it mildly. Average crowd last season, all though in second tier, was about 3,000 mark. Won't increase that much this season as ground only holds 4,500. Maybe an accurate guide on his standing in the game right now, but he has a lot more misses to his name than hits from his loans so far.

[ifk101]

Don't you think that opposition teams will have spotted such things for themselves? Or do you imagine they have, just don't know how to counter it?

No, not really. Doubtful the opposition were pinpointing Parrott as a danger and seeing his strengths based on his time at PNE tbf. He had a good second half of a season with MK Dons but otherwise hasn’t really taken to senior football, although his partnership with Obafemi showed promise for us.

All I know about Excelsior is what I've just googled:
1. They're the third team in a city of 664k i.e. one third that of Glasgow, for instance;
2. Other than promotion from the Dutch 2nd tier, they've never won a trophy;
3. Their stadium holds 4.5k (all seated);
4. Until TP arrived, their first team squad of 27, from several different countries, didn't have a single Senior international player, not even with one cap;
5. Their current Head Coach is Marinus Dijkhuizen, who was sacked by Brentford after just 9 games in charge. (Brentford are anything but a sacking club btw, but simply held their hands up and admitted he was the wrong appointment as soon as it became obvious).

As a club, I'd guess they're nearer eg Partick Thistle than Celtic/Rangers, never mind Ajax/PSV etc.

Maybe the move to Excelsior will afford him a “big fish/ small pond” benefit.

[John83]

There are positives too. The standard of his opponents will be high enough to be testing and to help him learn. It's a heavily scouted league, so he has a chance to earn a good move post-Spurs. He has an excellent chance to start routinely. It sounds like he'll have to adapt his game and broaden his skillset to succeed, which is healthy for a young player. He's done pretty respectably when given the chance and scored some goals for us in a time when we were very goalshy, but he hasn't done it yet at club level sufficiently so seeing him play at a decent level is the main thing right now. I don't really see any need to panic here.

[Razors left peg]

Well you're also suggesting a 21-year-old "should one of best players" in a seriously good league known for producing great players. Zlatan is an example of a 21-year-old who was one of the best players in the Dutch league. I think your hopes/expectations are way out here

I've explained what I meant, if youre too thick as usual to understand thats on you

[tetsujin1979]

I've explained what I meant, if youre too thick as usual to understand that on you

no personal insults RLP

[seanfhear]

There are positives too. The standard of his opponents will be high enough to be testing and to help him learn. It's a heavily scouted league, so he has a chance to earn a good move post-Spurs. He has an excellent chance to start routinely. It sounds like he'll have to adapt his game and broaden his skillset to succeed, which is healthy for a young player. He's done pretty respectably when given the chance and scored some goals for us in a time when we were very goalshy, but he hasn't done it yet at club level sufficiently so seeing him play at a decent level is the main thing right now. I don't really see any need to panic here.

Yeah, It could be a great education for Troy Parrott on so many levels ~ I hope it works out well for him.

[pineapple stu]

no personal insults RLP

Cheers; saves me reporting the post. No harm RLP, but when someone takes you up on something overly optimistic, it'd be better if you held your hand up every now and again rather than just go down the personal insult route.

Average crowd last season, all though in second tier, was about 3,000 mark.

They were in the top tier last season. Average crowd was 4,336 - pretty much near capacity every week in other words. Albeit a very small capacity of course.

[Trequartista20]

I believe they play on an artificial surface, which isn't ideal.

[Predator]

A fascinating mixture of responses to this move. I'm in the more optimistic camp, because I think he might thrive if given the responsibility to be the main man for the team. Parrott has shown his quality when playing for Ireland and has scored a few nice goals. This will be a new challenge for a relatively young player and there are lots of possibilities that might arise from a good year in Eredivisie. Perhaps he'll fall in love with the country and earn a move to a bigger club in that division, with the potential for European football...

[EalingGreen]

He's done pretty respectably when given the chance and scored some goals for us in a time when we were very goalshy,.

Parrott has shown his quality when playing for Ireland and has scored a few nice goals.

Can't speak for his general play, but four goals in 20 caps might seem ok for a youngster, until you look closer: i.e. two were against Andorra and one vs Lithuania (both friendlies), while the fourth, in a Nations League game vs Scotland, was over a year ago.

I must confess I'd kinda forgotten about him this last while - always plenty going on at Spurs! - but that tells its own story.

Anyhow, whenever it comes to rating teams/players, the one metric which correlates best with playing standards is wages. That is, the best players invariably go to, or remain with, the clubs who can pay the most. And last season, after getting promoted to the Eredivisie, Excelsior's average crowd was 3,036. I imagine they got sell-out 4.5k crowds against Ajax, Feyenoord, PSV and Sparta, if only with the help of away fans, meaning many of their other games must have been half-full.

So how much do you imagine they can afford to pay TP, on crowds which eg most EFL League Two clubs exceed, or even LOI PD teams? Sure, Spurs are doubtless subsidising his wages until his contract expires next summer, but in that context, why weren't bigger clubs after him?

Christ, the more I think about this, the more depressed I become - at one stage Spurs fans were hoping he'd be the successor to Harry Kane....

[Jd2793]

half the issue with parrott is that there is still a considerable amount of people out there who think hes an out and out goalscorer. he should have more than he does no getting away from that but hes no 20 goal a season man. not a top finisher and hes definitely stronger with his movement/passing than many give credit for.

[John83]

Can't speak for his general play, but four goals in 20 caps might seem ok for a youngster, until you look closer: i.e. two were against Andorra and one vs Lithuania (both friendlies), while the fourth, in a Nations League game vs Scotland, was over a year ago.

Sure, but let's compare him to the other forwards we've called up recently.
Idah 1 goal in 16 caps.
Obafemi 2 goals in 11 caps
Ferguson 2 goals in 6 caps
Johnston 1 goal in 4 caps
Ogbene 4 goals in 15 caps
Keane 0 goals in 4 caps
Cannon 0 goals, no caps, possibly defecting
Robinson 8 goals in 34 caps
Hogan 0 goals in 12 caps

That's it. Some of these guys are experienced, some are even younger than Parrott, but 4 goals in 20 caps for us is absoutely fine at this stage of his career.

I was bloody happy about that goal against Andorra. His more experienced, higher paid colleagues were making embarrassingly heavy work of scoring against literally a team of amateurs. People seem to love qualifying goalscoring records. Robbie Keane never scored from further out than the length of his mickey, and never against a team that could boast a professional centre half if you listened to half the ****e talked about him during his career. Nearly no one scores regularly against good teams. That's why they're good. At this rate, Parrott could play a hundred games for us, never score at a higher rate than that, and still make the top ten ROI goalscorers of all time. In fact, he'd be joint third on the list.

[elatedscum]

Can't speak for his general play, but four goals in 20 caps might seem ok for a youngster, until you look closer: i.e. two were against Andorra and one vs Lithuania (both friendlies), while the fourth, in a Nations League game vs Scotland, was over a year ago.

On the other hand, we were losing 1-0 to Andorra when he scored the equaliser and the goal to make it 2-1. The goal against Lithuania was a 97th minute winner and a quality goal. He scored the opening 1-0 goal against Scotland, which started off the win. So, in terms of impact on the matches, they were 4 crucial goals

[Eirambler]

I think the Parrott situation is definitely made a lot easier by the emergence of Ferguson. Parrott was once the great white hope of Irish football - while there were others coming through around that time he was seen as the best bet for an international quality striker by a mile. Now that role obviously falls to Ferguson, while Parrott these days sits behind Obafemi, Connolly, Idah and even Armstrong on the potentials list. So, he's probably our sixth best striker prospect under 23 now, and even that's with the assumption that Cannon sees his international future elsewhere.

So that hopefully takes the pressure off him a bit, and definitely makes his failure to establish himself to date easier for us to take as supporters of the team. What it also raises is the possibility that he could forge a perfectly decent career for himself as a support forward who isn't relied on for his goals.

But really he needs to have a good season with Excelsior first and foremost, if he doesn't he could find himself sliding down the divisions fairly swiftly.

[pineapple stu]

I wouldn't have him behind Idah or Connolly on the potential list in fairness. Also, I think club pressure trumps international pressure - so I don't think the fact that he's clearly behind Ferguson and Obafemi (who's drifting, but that's a different thread) at international level will really change things for him as a player looking to break through at club level

He got outshone by Cannon at Preston last year and maybe that's no bad thing, for a 21-year-old to be overshadowed by a younger teammate may hopefully be a bit of a wake up call

[DCWA]

More than a hint of Jack Byrne about the whole thing. Style of play, general career path and the obvious Eridivisie thing.

Shamrock Rovers for the 2025 LOI season it is for Troy.

[Predator]

Can't speak for his general play, but four goals in 20 caps might seem ok for a youngster, until you look closer: i.e. two were against Andorra and one vs Lithuania (both friendlies), while the fourth, in a Nations League game vs Scotland, was over a year ago.

No harm, but did you watch his games for Ireland where I said he has shown flashes of his quality? As others have pointed out, his scoring record at international level, such as it is, stacks up favourably against many of the other pretenders in the Ireland squad. His link-up play in the blitzing of Scotland was excellent and he has shown a knack for scoring different types of goals - headers, tap-ins, edge-of-the-box efforts. It's worth remembering too that many of his 20 caps have been from the bench, often late into the second half. I tend to suspect if he started more games - and had more time on the pitch - he'd have a few more goals, but we'll just have to wait and see. Why he doesn't start more is the big question. Different coaches appear to have had different ideas of him as a player and he has played across the forward line in a few different roles instead of becoming a specialist (like Ferguson is on track for, for example). In a sport where system players are now king, maybe Parrott doesn't fit as neatly. I don't know.

Anyway, I asked a Dutch friend who pays attention to the Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie about Excelsior. He said that they have exceeded expectations in recent seasons, performing better than most teams who have been tipped for relegation. He said they play nice football, which chimes what what Parrott himself said when outlining his attraction to the team.

[JR89]

No harm, but did you watch his games for Ireland where I said he has shown flashes of his quality? As others have pointed out, his scoring record at international level, such as it is, stacks up favourably against many of the other pretenders in the Ireland squad. His link-up play in the blitzing of Scotland was excellent and he has shown a knack for scoring different types of goals - headers, tap-ins, edge-of-the-box efforts. It's worth remembering too that many of his 20 caps have been from the bench, often late into the second half. I tend to suspect if he started more games - and had more time on the pitch - he'd have a few more goals, but we'll just have to wait and see. Why he doesn't start more is the big question. Different coaches appear to have had different ideas of him as a player and he has played across the forward line in a few different roles instead of becoming a specialist (like Ferguson is on track for, for example). In a sport where system players are now king, maybe Parrott doesn't fit as neatly. I don't know.

Anyway, I asked a Dutch friend who pays attention to the Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie about Excelsior. He said that they have exceeded expectations in recent seasons, performing better than most teams who have been tipped for relegation. He said they play nice football, which chimes what what Parrott himself said when outlining his attraction to the team.

Looked it up the other day and he's played 806mins in a green shirt. That's basically nine full games minutes wise. Think it was actually nine starts also in those 20 caps.