Chris Hutchings says he’s never seen anyone quite like midfielder Jay Emmanuel-Thomas. The Blues assistant boss says the summer signing from Arsenal has made significant progress this season but still has plenty to learn.

Asked which other player the 21-year-old reminds him of, Hutchings said he’s one of a kind: “I’ve never seen anyone like him!

“He’s got all the tools but it’s his first season. He’s come from Arsenal who play a totally different way to playing in the Championship and Arsenal have a specific way of playing, a bit like Barcelona.

“He’s had to adjust to that, adjust to where we want him to play, how we want him to play and his workload off the ball.

“At Arsenal, even in the reserves and at youth level, they’ve got great kids and good players at that level and they play when they’re on the ball because they’ve got great quality all around the team.

“Sometimes we have to play off the ball and he’s got to adapt and learn, and credit to him he’s done that and he’s still showing these flashes of genius that he has in his locker.

“We’ve got to get that on a consistent basis. We’re asking a lot of him and he’s asking a lot of himself now and he’s come to the fore. It’s about how consistent can he be.”

Hutchings says he and the rest of the management team are working on the youngster’s tendency to lose concentration: “He’s so unpredictable, he does things at ease and at will, but at times he will switch off, so we have to keep barking at him, ‘Get back in’, ‘Close down there’, do this, do that.

“He probably gets fed up of us shouting at him, to be honest. But we encourage as well. When he does good things, we’re the first to applaud him.”

Hutchings says the £1.5 million signing from the Gunners has got fitter as the season has progressed: “We paid a lot of money for him and we’ll be the first to admit that we didn’t feel he was as fit as what he should have been or what we would have liked

“And he’s worked hard on that and he’s improved. At first I think he was like a greyhound. A greyhound has a race and he’s knackered and he can’t run another one because he doesn’t have the stamina.

“Now he’s got that stamina, he can do it again and again. He can be stronger and the more knowledge he picks up, the more we can help him to become a better player.

“He’s got to keep his feet firmly on the ground and work hard and we’ll be the first to make sure he does that.”

The assistant boss says the Londoner has the potential to show Arsenal that they were wrong to let him move on: “That will be seen in later times. Whether he can do that is down to us to get the best out of him and his desire to see how far he wants to go and how far he wants to bounce back to get to the top, hopefully with this football club.

“He’s still got a lot to learn. He knows that and we know that, but he’s doing OK at the moment.”

Meanwhile, Emmanual-Thomas and other members of the Town squad are taking part in a photo and film shoot in next season's new kit this afternoon. The club will reveal the two new strips in April.

Photo: Action Images

blueoff added 09:13 - Mar 13 Roger RamJET , hero of our Nation
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Sindre94 added 09:14 - Mar 13 Emmanuel Thomas runs down the wing for me dududududududu! Great player, he could be key for us next year
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roytheboy added 09:27 - Mar 13 An interesting and exciting player when he is on the ball, takes a good powerful shot as well, I'm pleased that he plays for us and can see his improvement and efforts in each game he plays.
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Kentish_Tractor added 09:28 - Mar 13 I've always considered JET as a poor-man's Balotelli. Capable of magic, but only when he's interested. To me he just seems dozy.
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nitroblue1970 added 09:28 - Mar 13 Hutchins your hilarious.."arsenal are a bit like Barcelona" thats like saying dog sh*t is a bit like caviar!
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legoman added 09:35 - Mar 13 He stays up to late developing his music career. Needs some early nights, then his concentration levels will be fine.
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Michael11 added 09:35 - Mar 13 Hopefully he ends the season with a bit of form and goes into next year with a full pre-season behind him to hit the ground running, think we just need a keeper and two or three defenders to be real contenders next year!
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naa added 09:37 - Mar 13 Nitro: firstly arsenal are only 1 point off third so calling them dogsh*t seems rather harsh but hutchings point was about the style of play, not the quality of the team, and it was a valid comparison if you ask me
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blueprint added 09:52 - Mar 13 I actually fear we may lose him in the summer if his improvement in form continues .
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nitroblue1970 added 10:11 - Mar 13 naa ...I agree..i didnt ask you... in my opinion Arsenals style of play is nothing like Barcelonas....Barcelona have flair, speed, skill and world class players. Arsenal sold their best players to man city to make a few quid.
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Surco72 added 10:19 - Mar 13 Nitro .. Hutchings says Arsenal have a specific way of playing ,in the fact they like to get the ball down ,pass ,pass ,pass and counter attack quickly ,the same way Barcelona do .He didnt say they were as good as them . Do you have difficulty understanding basic English or were you just trying to find any point to try and have a dig at the club ? Think Jet has been handled well this year ,he is a match winning talent who will never run all day but shows flashes that entertain .Next season could be a huge year for him

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RetroBlue added 10:43 - Mar 13 blueprint: That very thought has also stared to enter my head over recent weeks. Premiership Club WILL come sniffing round him Im sure. If we dont get in or around that top 6 next season we can kiss talent like him goodbye!
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alfromcol added 10:47 - Mar 13 nitroblue1970 Have you ever tasted caviar??
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DanLyles added 11:01 - Mar 13 I believe Arsenal were nicknamed 'Barca Lite' by the Spanish media. Barca are obviously a superior outfit, the best side I've seen play anyway (I'm only 27 though), so being likened to them at all is a compliment. I know the comparison came about during their Champions League tie against each other last year and may have been perceived as somewhat derogatory, but the fact is Wenger has installed an ethos at Arsenal (at all levels) of playing attractive, fast paced passing football with a real emphasis on maintaining possession. Barcelona are obviously better than Arsenal at doing this, and do play with a different system (not out and out striker like RVP), but surely it was obvious what Hutchings was getting at. The Championship is not the most attractive league and somebody with JET's strengths and weaknesses was always going to take time to adjust.

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MattinLondon added 11:08 - Mar 13 “At Arsenal, even in the reserves and at youth level, they've got great kids and good players at that level and they play when they're on the ball because they've got great quality all around the team. I thought the aim of all of the Academys was that young players were comfortable on the ball.
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DanLyles added 11:31 - Mar 13 It was great to hear Gareth Southgate last week wax lyrical about playing the Barca way (total football installed by Johan Cruyff at La Masia) as he is the FA's Head of Elite Football Development and be heavily involved with the national football centre at Burton.
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PJ_Needs_Duncan added 11:46 - Mar 13 Arsenal beat Barca last season didn't they?
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nitroblue1970 added 11:56 - Mar 13 Surco...my grasp of English may be rudimentary but I get by, however it appears to have improved over the last few years helped no doubt by reading the incisive, witty, well structured thought provoking comments from such football luminaries as yourself. Of course your unswerving ability to state the obvious is well known and becoming legendary in some bars and internet cafe's in the area. I'm off now to polish my season ticket so I will leave you to continue your 24 hour trolling through the TWTD posts. Afromocol...yes I have, there was a party in my mouth! It was Spanish Caviar, from Barcelona probably?

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Big_Foot_Blue added 12:10 - Mar 13 PJ Need duncan, I believe they drew 2-2 in the first leg and then lost 4-0 or 4-1 at the nou camp where Messi got 4
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s6blue added 12:14 - Mar 13 still needs to sort the barnet out
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buryblue77 added 12:53 - Mar 13 @Nitro I would say that Arsenal play a similar way to Barcelona, pass and move football and if you happened to watch Arsenal beat Newcastle last night their style of play is quite similar to that of Barca (who I watch most weekends when they're on TV) so I can't agree with you on that front but everyone's entitled to their opinion in my view (must say though, I was amused at your comeback to Surco....) because that's what these sites are all about, surely! As for JET, he is someone very different and if anyone saw Sindre's blog about needing a favourite player JET has the ability to become a Town legend. The coaching staff have definitely been able to get something out of him, as when he first came in, apart from his obvious skill I did wonder what we'd spent £1.5m on. It seems that whilst he knew how to kick a ball, he didn't know how to play a team game of football, something which PJ and co have done very well in addressing, but still have some to go.

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whymark4lazio0 added 13:14 - Mar 13 "Arsenal have a specific way of playing, a bit like Barcelona." “He's had to adjust to that, adjust to where we want him to play, how we want him to play and his workload off the ball." Personally I'd like us to play like Barcelona- if Swansea can do it, so can we!
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MattinLondon added 13:24 - Mar 13 whymark4lazio0 Agree with you...under Burley we played open attractive football and now we are playing more of a passing style. Its just a question of getting the right players in from all over Europe and the lower leagues...rather than buying donkeys
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nitroblue1970 added 13:33 - Mar 13 Cheers buryblue....i agree that is what these sites are about....theres far to much doom and gloom in the world as it is.....it was just a feeble attempt at a bit of comedy really, I do actually like Arsenal and Barca for that matter, they were the first European team I watched at Portman road in 1978 in the Cup winners cup. I've also toured the Nou Camp and found references to town in their football museum, although the connection between the 2 clubs is obvious....obviously!

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buryblue77 added 13:54 - Mar 13 Nitro, I envy you for having seen barca at our place. Something which I doubt we'll be seeing again soon unless Mr. Evans can use his business acumen/contacts to arrange a friendly at our place. Thinking about it, didn't we once play a similar brand of football, (to the bset of our ability) under Burley in '90's/00's, something which we were known for on one of the best pitches in the country?

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