Paul Mullin

[bale-droed]

The debate is over. Get him in the squad. Anyone who attends Wrexham games or Has seen play him live over the few seasons knew he was good enough now the rest of you do. His off the ball work and positioning creates space for other attackers. When he went off Coventry were far more stable at the back despite being a man down .
.
Played a huge part in the first and second goal and the penalty was never a doubt. The second goal only happened because his positioning was perfect. If the cross was correct he’d of headed it in. He’s far more likely to score goals v Armenia and Latvia than Harris, Roberts even Dan James.

[dai]

Only snag is that he doesn't meet the policy of picking unestablished players over 25........

[talyfan]

Kieffer Moore, James Lawrence, Adam Davies, Will Vaulks and Wes Burns all made their debuts at 25+ years of age.

[insertname]

How many of those were under Page though?

[iot]

Jan 8, 2023 2:20:12 GMT bale-droed said:

The debate is over. Get him in the squad. Anyone who attends Wrexham games or Has seen play him live over the few seasons knew he was good enough now the rest of you do. His off the ball work and positioning creates space for other attackers. When he went off Coventry were far more stable at the back despite being a man down .
.
Played a huge part in the first and second goal and the penalty was never a doubt. The second goal only happened because his positioning was perfect. If the cross was correct he’d of headed it in. He’s far more likely to score goals v Armenia and Latvia than Harris, Roberts even Dan James.

Couldn't see the game yesterday, so just watched it back now. I know we can all get carried away with the euphoria after such massive results, but to say 'The debate is over. Get him in the squad.' based on his performance yesterday is laughable. Don't get me wrong, he looked quite bright, there were a couple of very nice touches, he ran the channels intelligently, and he took his penalty well. Going against that, he was fairly quiet for the most part, only managed to get on the end of one opportunity (aside from the penalty) where he found himself in a bit of space in the box and struck his shot well enough, although straight at the keeper. Also lost the ball a few times. In fact, the commentators on S4C were saying how quiet he had been when he scored his penalty. He was Wrexham's third or fourth best player, a decent 6.5-7/10 performance. It wasn't prime Messi.

I've watched Wrexham quite a bit - probably 4 or 5 live games last season and the extended highlights after every game this and last season. To be fair, Mullin has looked a cut above in most games, but no, I don't think he's done nearly enough to show he deserves a call up. He's taken the decisions he has with his career which is his prerogative, but there are consequences to those decisions. The likes of Aaron Collins are far more deserving of a call-up. 

[bale-droed]

I’m not basing it on yesterday. I’m
Debating it on all the times I’ve seen him live. Didn’t look out of place yesterday v a championship defence. The guys audacious and fuck me Wales needs a bit of that

[allezlesrouges]

To be fair, I don't think we should be basing a call up on one game either way. But I think yesterday does end the debate of "should we consider calling up a National League player?"

Previous people have suggested the level he plays at should mean we completely rule him out. Yet in an away game against Championship opposition yesterday Wrexham won missing a few through injury as well. So you can say you think Mullin was a 6.5/10 but Wrexham were punching well above their weight, which means even a decent performance at that level indicates someone like Mullin is around the required level we are looking at

I agree with the previous posts, without him Wrexham struggled a lot more. That's quite telling. Again not saying we should definitely call him up based on this, but this performance tells me we definitely shouldn't be ruling him out, and actually we should be considering him

[allezlesrouges]

His off the ball work was brilliant as well, pressed really well from the front again top opposition

[marsvolta]

Jan 8, 2023 8:58:21 GMT dai said:

Only snag is that he doesn't meet the policy of picking unestablished players over 25........

It’s not so much a policy, it’s more the fact that our players are usually identified by us way before they are 25 and are brought into the squad then.

We have shown that we are prepared to select the very few who don’t show early promise but show promise later in their careers
.
The problem is, the ones who have come into this category,like James Lawrence, Vaulks,Tom King and Burns, haven’t really pulled up many trees.

The only example I can think of where this has worked recently is Keiffer Moore. Yes, the temptation is to try and unearth the next Keiffer but we’ve had way more success by putting our faith in youngsters like we have been doing.

[jimexotic]

I think Paul Mullin needs to score a hat-trick against Man City to convince some that he's worth a look over Mark Harris, let's hope that Wrexham get them next.

[iot]

Jan 8, 2023 12:31:19 GMT bale-droed said:

I’m not basing it on yesterday. I’m
Debating it on all the times I’ve seen him live. Didn’t look out of place yesterday v a championship defence. The guys audacious and fuck me Wales needs a bit of that

I know, neither were my comments based only on yesterday's game as I said. Just wanted to respond to you saying 'the debate is over' as though his performance yesterday put it beyond doubt. 

Not sure that more audacity is the main thing we need. We all know how much audacious stuff Rambo attempts and the shit he gets for it when it doesn't come off. 

[iot]

'I think yesterday does end the debate of "should we consider calling up a National League player?"'

Disagree. OTJ highlighted in his commentary how the main difference between the tiers of English football is consistency. So, in my view, we should back the players that are performing consistently at higher levels or have been consistently good for us at international level. As I said, he's taken the decision to play at that level, and there are consequences to that. Players like Aaron Collins are far more deserving. 

[iot]

Jan 8, 2023 13:24:13 GMT jimexotic said:

I think Paul Mullin needs to score a hat-trick against Man City to convince some that he's worth a look over Mark Harris, let's hope that Wrexham get them next.

Not at all. The main thing he needed to do if he had serious international aspirations would be to have chosen a L1 / Championship club over a NL one, and then show he can perform consistently at that level. That's hardly controversial. It's not just a shoot-out between him and Mark Harris. Aaron Collins has been one of the best players in L1 this season. Tom Lawrence was very good playing at a much higher level too. Both are younger than Mullin

[allezlesrouges]

Jan 8, 2023 13:30:26 GMT iot said:

Jan 8, 2023 12:52:34 GMT allezlesrouges said:

'I think yesterday does end the debate of "should we consider calling up a National League player?"'

Disagree. OTJ highlighted in his commentary how the main difference between the tiers of English football is consistency. So, in my view, we should back the players that are performing consistently at higher levels or have been consistently good for us at international level. As I said, he's taken the decision to play at that level, and there are consequences to that. Players like Aaron Collins are far more deserving. 

But for me that's not enough of a reason to blanket disregard a player at that level. Yesterday showed that on their day a National League team can go toe-to-toe with a Championship team. Mullin has been consistent for several seasons now, and then performs well against a Champ team at his first opportunity, these are all indicators that we shouldn't blanket ignore

[marsvolta]

Jan 8, 2023 13:24:13 GMT jimexotic said:

I think Paul Mullin needs to score a hat-trick against Man City to convince some that he's worth a look over Mark Harris, let's hope that Wrexham get them next.

Interestingly, the reason many claim that Bradshaw should be selected is due to the fact that he’s playing regularly in the championship. Yet, players who are playing regularly in the Championship like like Harris are the first ones to be in the firing line.

[insertname]

It's quite simple: If Bradshaw had Harris's goal return, then no-one would be suggesting he gets called up.

As it is, I think you're also over-stating the strength of feeling for Bradshaw. He's popped up with a couple of goals recently but most are aware that a) it's probably not the start of something and b) he isn't going to get called up no matter what he does. The logic is just that if you're going to call up the now 24 year old Harris then you might as well look at Bradshaw/Mullins/Collins who offer just as much but with the prospect of actually scoring a goal too.

[marsvolta]

I don’t feel I’m overstating the support for Bradshaw. He’s got about a 20 page thread (possibly the biggest for a player with so few caps) which is mostly people calling for him to be called up whenever he’s scores a few goals,then it goes quiet for a few weeks when he stops scoring.

[insertname]

How many strikers have Wales had who have scored goals at championship level (27 in 118 is a better record than most) and yet not won any caps off the back of it? I think that's a big reason why it has got to 20 pages! Bradshaw, in that sense, is as rare as rocking horse crap. But I don't think anyone is losing any sleep over it if he doesn't get called up because as I've already said most know it's not good enough for Page and 27 in 118 is still not earth shattering...but it's better than any other Wales striker at that level, Roberts and Harris (who have won caps very recently) for starters.

Edit: Also can I just point out that you're pointing out how much chat there is about Bradshaw yet it was you who has taken this thread off-topic by making it about Bradshaw I look forwards to seeing these posts moved to the Bradshaw thread by the mods!

[CrackityJones]

‘The Bradshaw effect’

Fully expect him to crop up in the Jack Vale thread before the day is out

[marsvolta]

The Bradshaw comment on this thread was in direct response to someone suggesting Mullin being selected in front of another championship regular, Mark Harris. Discussing alternatives to Mullin is still on topic.

As far as Roberts and Harris being selected ahead of Bradshaw, Harris has a similar amount of caps to how many Bradshaw had at the same age, whether he adds considerable amount to those caps by the time he’s Bradshaw’s age is anyones guess. My personal guess is that he won’t.

Also, most of Roberts’ caps were when he was in the Premier League, not the championship.

My personal thoughts are that neither Harris, Mullin, Bradshaw nor Roberts are going to be a prolific striker for us so we need to dig someone up from somewhere.
In the meantime , Harris is (just about) the best option until we find an alternative.

[insertname]

It depends how you define prolific. It's pretty clear Harris and Roberts aren't and they have been given the chance to prove it. No-one else really has under Page. If Mullin or someone else could score every handful of games that would be a justifiable return for me, so long as they didn't weaken other areas of the side at the same time. There is no stand out candidate for an alternative/under-study for Moore (maybe Collins, in terms of numbers) and we don't score loads from other areas of the pitch so this creates a problem where even a half decent striker is the solution. I don't think Mullin can be ruled out from that yet and after yesterday I think he has a stronger case to be given a chance at some point.

[fiveattheback]

Are you saying Harris has been given the chance to be prolific for Wales under Page?  He's got 5 caps and never started a game

[insertname]

He’s been given a chance to score a goal and he hasn’t offered much in that department.

5 caps is way more chance than Bradshaw’s been given!

[fiveattheback]

It's only two more caps, Harris isn't guaranteed a squad spot either he's been dropped previously.  I could be just as harsh to Bradshaw and say why should we call up a striker who didn't manage a goal against Panama and China?

Bradshaw was in most squads from after Euro 2016 until the 2020 qualifiers, they've had plenty of opportunities to see him and have obviously decided he's not good enough.  I do wonder if his refusal to join up with the 21s hurt his senior prospects

[marsvolta]

He was called up loads of times after he refused to play for the u21s so I don’t think there’s a problem there.

[insertname]

Jan 8, 2023 21:35:42 GMT fiveattheback said:

Jan 8, 2023 21:04:47 GMT insertname said:

He’s been given a chance to score a goal and he hasn’t offered much in that department.

5 caps is way more chance than Bradshaw’s been given!

It's only two more caps, Harris isn't guaranteed a squad spot either he's been dropped previously.  I could be just as harsh to Bradshaw and say why should we call up a striker who didn't manage a goal against Panama and China?

Bradshaw was in most squads from after Euro 2016 until the 2020 qualifiers, they've had plenty of opportunities to see him and have obviously decided he's not good enough.  I do wonder if his refusal to join up with the 21s hurt his senior prospects

Maybe so, but if so then he must be really bad to be behind Roberts and Harris in the pecking order. I’d be surprised if he is that bad given that he has scored goals at Championship level (at a very modest rate, admittedly)

[conwy10]

Wrexham fan here. I would have actually said no to Mullin before the Coventry match, but he is a really influential player who just loves to make his mark on matches. Sheffield United up next to prove it again. I'd rather Mullin to some of the others we've tried who seem terrified to make a mistake.

[welwyn]

Jan 7, 2023 19:16:22 GMT jimexotic said:

Jan 7, 2023 19:04:08 GMT insertname said:

The question I'm wondering is whether he would look out of place against, say, Latvia

If he was Latvian and playing for them he'd cause us trouble, there is a touch of Marian Pahars about him!

That is a very good comparison. I always rated Pahars. Annoying little player.

[jimexotic]

Scored again yesterday, another penalty, 24 goals in 28 games now.

[erasedcitizen]

Another chance to catch him in action against top opposition.