Watched EFL MOTD last night. The studio team managed to say something about both sides in each game, except ours. Not a mention of City while Cardiff got plenty!
Played like he was 37......Actually that's a bit OTT, but unless he was carrying a knock he had little pace. Perhaps he was carrying an injury which is why he got pulled.
Yet Slater had the bigger impact on our attacking game. He had one off the post and set Christie up for the winner.
Fair enough, but Koren was with us three years, Tufan has only been here a few months. I agree that he looks very fed up at times, but other times he looks like he can't wait to get stuck in. I think he'll be with us next year either way, like I said before this is the first chance at first team football he's had for years. Unless of course he has a stellar end to the campaign and gets sold. In which case, thems the breaks.
On Koren's debut at Milwall we lost 4-0 and he was still one of the brightest players on the pitch and it was instantly clear we had a gem. He didn't need 6 months much less 3 years to show his class.
I think he'll be gone either way in summer, I think he would have gone in Jan if we'd got a serious offer. Some players are cut out for and or can adapt to English football, I'm just not sure tufan can or more importantly wants to put the required effort it to become a decent player In England. He talent/potential is obviously there. But as I've said, I just don't think he wants it enough. I'm more then happy to be and hope I am proved wrong
But he didn't do that every game, that's my point. With players like that, it's never a question of ability or potential, it's about consistency. These kinds of players won't do much in the way of stand out moments for periods of a game, until they produce a match winning pass or wonder strike. Compare that with Seri, who seems to be involved in everything good we do at the moment and is rarely off the ball or slumping his head. He went through a tricky patch earlier in the season, but since then we've seen a much more consistent output from him.
He scored 7 goals and had 8 assists in his first season with us, I'd call that reasonably consistent.
Tufan has shown his class though. He’s the most talented midfielder we have after Seri. I was sceptical when we signed him because of his season at Watford but a lot of the criticism he gets is really unfair.
And he had 5 goals in his first 26 apps compared to Tufan’s 4. Think people are having a bit of rose-tinted glasses regarding Koren and unfairly critical of Tufan.
Except I remember the love for Koren being almost universal among fans. He certainly wasn't as divisive as Tufan. Unless of course that's my version of rose-tinted specs!