It's good to see him enjoying his football and scoring regularly. There may be something in playing players to their strength rather than putting them in holes that will never suit them? Gnonto was back training yesterday as I was at Thorp Arch but no idea how far away he is from playing.
Never thought joffy was shyte doc, just didn’t think he suited our way of playing.. under successive managers. Feel the same about Piroe to some degree despite his goals last season. I’m really pleased he’s doing well, maybe championship is his level or maybe he can kick on from here.
True dat… he’s not someone who beats players in 1v1s but he’s quick over a few yards and can change direction quickly to create space. I’ve always liked him and thought he was one of our better players in the first few games before he got injured. Okafor adds some extra physicality and 1v1 threat in that position but Gnonto is tidier in possession At a time where we’re lamenting our wide options I wouldn’t be cashing in.
I think Okafor is real quality, unfortunately I can’t see him playing more than a few games in a row without getting injured.
Yep, his injury record is the concern. If we can get him going then he will probably be our 'creative' player and also our top scorer. Leeds have backed their medical team massively with the players signed. So far it hasn't been too bad but yeah, Okafor would keep us up if fully fit and firing all season. Hes a very good player. Farke has to keep the weight off him and also keep his feet on the ground.
Personally I really wanted Joffy to succeed here and at one time I thought he was going to. He never got a run in the team for whatever reason but always seemed like a decent lad and that he wanted to give his all for the shirt. Good luck to the lad
Newly promoted teams last season - 12 wins between them Newly promoted teams this season - 11 so far between them
He reminds me of Firpo, he was very ‘delicate’ but ‘seemed’ (to me) to remain injury free if he could get a decent run going, the injuries seemed to occur more often after a break, when he missed playing for a couple of weeks
He needs managing correctly. Alot of his injuries at Milan hopefully came from him gaining too much weight during his absence with a broken foot. When he came back he suffered with multiple muscle injuries and muscle fatigue. It was only when they sent him out on loan to Napoli under disciplinarian Conte that he finally got his weight back down to where it was at Salzburg. If we can keep him on a tight leash then that might work in our (and his) favour and we get more games from him.
I agree with Emu on Okafor as he if fit will create damage as well as score. I just wonder why we never took Spurs up on their Solomon loan offer as he would be a freebie except wages and we know what he can do. The club refused the offer.
For me Gnoto has shown he isn’t good enough, looked decent in a few PL games and was our 3rd choice winger in the championship. He’s not been consistent enough and if he was good enough he’d have got in over Solomon and James last year. If it allows us to get 2 players over the line in Jan with him/Meslier going and we can get 25-30m for him in January then it’s worth doing. He’s our 4/5th choice starting winger atm and if you can get that sort of money for a squad player you get it done. If we can bring in Wilson for 9m it seems a no brainer. Then another player for 20-30m in the forward line it’s surely a win win.
I kind of get that we were maybe overloaded with left wingers if we took both of them but I’d have had Manor back regardless. Re Okafor’s health… he brought his own sprint trainer in as he recognised that the physicality of this league required the ability for multiple sprints with no drop off. ‘Apparently’ he did this off his own bat but with the clubs blessing … if true it’s a positive that someone is looking to gain a fitness edge. I took some comfort in this as I reconciled him missing two weeks with toothache previously
I agree with most of that. He’s been underwhelming for quite a while. One snag though is if he isn’t good enough for a team in lower reaches of pl why would Anyone pay 20 or 30m for him. I can’t see it happening
Very true but he has had good spells and someone could see him as good potential which would still be true due to what we’ve seen of him and his age. I just don’t think from what we’ve seen if someone does offer that kind of money we can’t refuse it as we need the quality now, not later.
Would you be happy to see us paying that kind of money for him if he wasn't already with us. Not sure I would, There's got to be far better out there for similar money. Hope he manages to step it up a level with us. We know he can score goals
Re Gnonto. Someone mentioned the other day that it sometimes takes players until their mid-twenties to hit their peak. Gnonto is still young but has some very good attributes which gives him an excellent chance of doing really well in the PL. He has shown he can do it at this level but he needs to find some consistency. No good doing it in 20 minute spells every other game.
I think it depends what you expect from players. Okafor has some x factor... driving powerful runs that get defenders backpedalling. It catches the eye and you can see him unsettling defences - I've been impressed by what he brings to the team even if it doesn't always come off. Gnonto doesn't have that and isn't a 1v1 trickster. He's not going to single handedly change a game for you. But he is in my view a lively cog in a machine, great in those, sharp pass and move situations but more dependent on the quality of those around him to be on the same wavelength. That said i thought he was one of our liveliest players against Everton, he was one of very few players I thought against Arsenal who looked like he had premier league touch, could receive the ball under high pressure and lay it off... his team mates didn't have that sadly, so it was wasted. Agree on the consistency point... but to some degree that's wingers full stop unfortunately. I do get why people think he's not quite at the level we need, there is definitly an end product question mark with him. We all have our favourites I guess, there are some who give Tanaka free passes for the number of anonymous games and regular errors he makes (I like him but he has everything to prove at this level). There are some who seek every opportunity to lament the departure of Largie off the back of a few cameos in dead rubbers. I guess i've always somehow wanted Gnonto to succeed so maybe i look for the positives. If there's truth in the high sell on clause you also have to seriously question whether you're going to be able to replace with better.
