He was pretty gash last season, looked very uncomfortable with the ball at his feet, lost count how many times he kicked thin air instead of the ball, specially in front of goal. Missed a tonne of sitters, could barely control the ball, scuffed his passes etc... This season looks a completely different player. Confident, calm, comfortable. Knows his limits and plays within them, doesn't stop working, his footwork has actually been very good despite him still looking awkward with the ball at his feet with his gangly legs. He seems very happy and settled here too. Long was ****e, we overpaid for him and it's a miracle we recovered our outlay never mind made a profit! Incredible business on our part. To be honesty we'd still have been better off selling him even if we banked the cash and didn't replace him because that would at least have kept him off the pitch, instantly improving our team in doing so.
The problem is he dived at the wrong times, when he had a decent scoring chance, and the refs know him for the cheating little **** that he is and never gave him anything, and rightly so.
Jelavic's touch looks ten times better than last year and his fitness has really improved. Last year he came off the back of not really playing for Everton and you can see he really benefits from playing week in, week out here. I think him and Hernandez will work together as against Man City you saw them link up a bit. I didn't think Long and Jelavic really linked up they looked good individually but not really as a pair. Hernandez has great ability just shown by the few shots he had against West Ham but we don't play into his feet, he clearly likes it there but we don't do it. Personally i think when we realise what Hernandez likes and the type of balls he needs we will have a heck of a pairing upfront.
Agree. To get Diame and Robertson for not much more than half of what we got for Long was incredible business. Add Dawson and we got three top players who are making a huge difference for less than Long. We still have to see the best of Hernandez but there definitely is a real goal threat there. As for Jelly he has been brilliant. His attitude and work rate are like Elmos and just lift the rest of the team. And that overhead kick goal just exemplified what a technically talented striker he is. Could well have 15 goals for us this season. Another great Brucie signing.
I have to admit, I slated Jelly at one point, in the Wet Spam game I was screaming for SB to take him off, afterwards though I realised just how good he is at holding the ball up & doing the dirty work. His touch outside the box isn't great, but when it is, he's the dog's!
I still believe that our downfalls in the West Ham/ Newcastle game was taking him off. When he's playing he gives the opposition defenders so much hassle and stops them having time to pick a pass. When he's off we clear the ball straight to the opposition who can just start another attack straight away.
No. It's down to the fact that last season he had trained with Everton reserves/Juniors and hadn't played for 5 months. Regular football, a good rest then a proper pre season has done him the world of good
Well I think the difference since Long's departure is that Jelavic has been playing in a more forward role. Hopefully this will continue as he seems to be thriving in it. Seems obvious to play Jelavic as a foil for a lower centre of gravity, more natural poacher type player that Long probably mainly was, but hopefully Hernandez will find a way to work with Jelavic allowing both to fulfill their potential. Think both Long and Jelavic got a few goals in their first games then tailed off.... Lets hope it continues but not get carried away right now. I reckon a striker that gets approaching 15 goals a season is probably about all we can afford right now, barring the odd Michu style one off...
Quite a lot of posters on here said so at the time. Another thing that starts our opponents attacking again is our keeper hoofing the ball straight to them.
What did we pay for Jela? £7.5 million? Starting to look like another bargain. His finish yesterday was absolutely outstanding. Runing into space. Can't leave the defender but flummoxes him with the flick inside. Puts it into the bottom left corner with the outside of his right foot. If that'd been someone from a Big Club everyone would've been jizzing in their pants.
