Baptism of fire but young loan lads will learn, says Maamria
DINO Maamria says he is sure loanees Quevin Castro and Tyler Onyango will have learned a lot from their baptism of fire in League One football – and backs them to come good for Burton Albion.
Castro, 21 next week, and Onyango, not 20 until next March, are on loan from West Bromwich Albion and Everton respectively.
They have played senior football before joining Burton. Castro has one Carabao Cup start for the Baggies (a 6-0 beating at home to Arsenal) and two Championship substitute appearances, while Onyango has three very late substitute appearances and a fourth in which he got 25 minutes.
In those, they would both have been eased in to relatively experienced teams but starting with new team-mates in the often frantic intensity of League One is a different matter altogether.
Both started in the 3-0 defeat to Wycombe Wanderers on the opening day, Castro playing 57 minutes and Onyango 72, then Castro came off the bench to replace Onyango after 62 minutes of the 4-0 home defeat to Bristol Rovers on Saturday.
Onyango impressed the most in the first game, while Castro had some good moments as the Brewers tried to salvage some respectability in the second half against Rovers, with the game already effectively lost.
Assistant manager Maamria knows that throwing them both straight in immediately was not ideal but also points out that Daniel Jebbison was not an instant hit when he arrived on loan last season either – Jebbison scored the first of his nine goals in his loan spell from Sheffield United in his fourth appearance.
“We’ve discussed that in all ways in our meeting rooms,” said Maamria.
“Normally, when you have these players, you feed them in gently, into a settled team.
“They have come in at a difficult time when we have had to put them straight into the team.
“I’m sure they are both going to be good players but it will be a matter of time.
“Everton rate Tyler very highly and I’m sure he will play a lot of football.
“We put him in at Wycombe after playing under-23 games and we know that those are low intensity.
“He would have had a lot of learning from that game, with the way Wycombe play. He will have had a lot of learning to do from Saturday’s game as well.
“And what he will be learning is that the game is a lot more high intensity here. The games are a lot more competitive and he won’t get the same time on the ball as he has had.
“Quevin the same. He’s direct, quick and has good feet. He has all the attributes of a wide player who can cause problems. We’ve seen those things in training already.
“Again, it was a tough start for him at Wycombe, when we conceded two goals in 15 minutes. He didn’t get as much service as we wanted him to.
“I thought when he came on for the second half on Saturday, he did better. Slowly, slowly, they will get better.”
It is the nature of the beast that clubs like Burton are a testing ground for young players from higher divisions. If they turn out to have significant success with the clubs they are sent to, that is something of a bonus.
“When Daniel Jebbison came here, it took him a while to get going as well,” added Maamria.
“Those clubs send us these players to make them better. They know they’re not ready yet and they’re here to learn with us and make mistakes with us. These kids learn all the time and I’m sure they will be fantastic players for us.”