Not scapegoating Seri - he's got great ability and is a massive improvement on what we had previously. But... He still scares me when he's on the ball. It's not just the suicide passes from the keeper that he's had to endure either. Various times last season he was caught in possession further up the field and we were punished for it. He's definitely got the attributes we need to succeed, but either due to instruction to focus on possession at all costs, or whether it's down to a lack of movement ahead of him, I don't think he's firing on all cylinders yet in terms of playmaking us into advanced positions. He got 1 goal and 2 assists in 37 appearances for us last season. I'm positive he was involved in us conceding more than that, even excluding the hospital passes he received from whoever was in goal in each of those instances. If you compare that to Tufan, he scores goals and provides options when we're advancing. He's bagged 8 now and has come really close on various other occasions, hitting the bar etc. He just seems to rattle defences and is excellent at transitioning us into attack. For Seri, I think if we can bring in wingers willing to stretch a defence, it'll give him the options he needs to flourish.
4 mistakes that led to goals, I believe. Not sure where I have that from or how you look it up, but I have it in my head.
The thing is Seri gets the ball in the most dangerous areas, so think it’s normal to worry slightly. Very rarely does he lose the ball. It’s just when he does it’s in a bad area so people focus on the 1/2 times out of 10 he misplaces it and then forget about all the perfect passes he makes. His ability to adjust his body to deal with a dodgy pass is second to none.
This is like people who criticise Bruno Fernandes for turning the ball over. The nature of that role is you're going to turn it over more than other roles..
Just had a look and it says he made two last season. Once at Cardiff away due to a very poor Baxter pass as Seri was being closed by their forwards. Once at Sunderland away by which 4/5 players after him also missed their opportunity to deal with it after he’d lost the ball. Mika’s role and City’s way of playing naturally puts him in positions by which he’s under pressure which could lead to goals. I think people very much under appreciate how lucky we are to have a player of his ability. He would walk into every team in this division.
I think he'll set his sights slightly above that and rightly so. I agree about his attitude but it would be folly to judge him on a season under a new boss who knew Morelos was on the way out of the door,froze him out,used him for cameo appearances and duly replaced him up front with the signing of Todd Cantwell. The last I heard of any semi serious 'rumours' surrounding his future was that Sean Dyche was casting an eye over him,previous to that Sevilla were showing more than a passing interest? Morelos still has a future in Football,he's still only 27 and with the right man management he'll show a decent Club his worth,pity our Club don't take a punt on him but 'if' he were to be snapped up by some or other Championship rival,I'd hazard a guess he'd be one of the leading scorers in the Championship.
Holiday time is here again. "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" "No son, relax, patience is a virtue you will come to appreciate. I need to stop the car for a second to check something out on my phone" "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" "Have we signed anyone yet? Have we signed anyone yet?................................................................................................................................... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
I think this is all true, but he does also have that habit of hanging onto it a bit too long and a bit too cockily, and eventually getting dispossessed. LR himself has criticised it, saying his problem is that he's so good at adjusting and turning on it that he gets over confident at times. But it's the level we're at; if we're going to have a player of Seri's quality prepared to play for us he's going to have some drawbacks.
He is a luxury player. That’s why he always plays Slater in there too and not Tufan imo. Simons looks to provide that bit extra protection deeper though, think we could see a real partnership grow there
HDM reporting we have abandoned attempts to sign Karl Darlow - Newcastle wanted £5 million. Liam moving on to other targets.