He was never in the running mate. I have no doubt that if Kenwright was still calling the shots he would have been though.
Everton manager Ronald Koeman: "Of course I'm not happy about the result, because in cup football you don't get a second chance, but we did everything to score." Except put a striker on the pitch until the 83rd minute when you'd already been 2 goals behind for 9 minutes
A forward whose best position is on the left so he can cut inside, who hasn't scored in 11 appearances this season, and is notoriously poor at finishing and hold up play
So he isn't a forward? He is a forward who struggles? Is he a striker.....what defines a striker? He has made two appearances for Everton, who were the other nine with?
A striker is a forward who specialises in finishing chances. He played 7 times for West Ham, you know the team who actually own him, and twice for Ecuador.
Striker. Oxford Dictionary:player in a game such as football whose main purpose is to try to score goals rather than to prevent the opposingteam from scoring.
forward ˈfɔːwəd/ adverb 1. in the direction that one is facing or travelling; towards the front. "he started up the engine and the car moved forward" synonyms: ahead, forwards, onwards, onward, on, further "the traffic moved slowly forward" 2. onward so as to make progress. "the signing of the treaty is a big step forward" synonyms: moving forwards, moving ahead, onward, advancing, progressing, progressive "in a forward direction" adjective 1. directed or facing towards the front or the direction that one is facing or travelling. "forward flight" 2. relating to the future. "forward planning" synonyms: future, forward-looking, for the future, prospective "forward planning" noun 1. an attacking player in football, hockey, or other sports. 2. agreements to trade specified assets, typically currency, at a specified price at a certain future date. verb 1. send (a letter or email) on to a further destination. "my emails were forwarded to a friend" synonyms: send on, post on, redirect, readdress, pass on "my mother forwarded me your letter the day she received it" 2. help to advance (something); promote. "the scientists are forwarding the development of biotechnology" synonyms: advance, further, hasten, hurry along, expedite, accelerate, speed up, step up, aid, assist, help, foster,encourage, contribute to, promote, favour, support, back, give backing to, facilitate "my five months in England were used to forward my plans".........
Everton’s Oumar Niasse: ‘It’s really sad. I don’t think I deserve this’ https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/oct/11/everton-oumar-niasse-ronald-koeman-roberto-martinez The striker was signed for £13.5m towards the end of Roberto Martínez’s reign at Everton and is refusing to give up on his Premier League dream despite being left without a locker and training with the under-23s please log in to view this image Oumar Niasse was told by Ronald Koeman that he was not wanted at Everton after one 45-minute appearance in pre-season. The Senegal striker was stripped of his shirt number and he was ordered to train with the club’s under-23 squad. But it is a finer detail that shines a light on just how far the 26-year-old has fallen since what was a dream £13.5m transfer from Lokomotiv Moscow last February. “I’m in the dressing-room with the under-23s but I don’t have a locker,” Niasse says. “The other players have where they put their stuff but I don’t. I come with my bag and I just have a place that I know. I put my bag down, I train and after, I put everything in my car and go home.” There are many questions for Niasse as he sits down to talk at his house in the Manchester suburb of Worsley but there is one that practically screams at him. How has it come to this? When Niasse was signed by Koeman’s predecessor, Roberto Martínez, he had torn up the first half of the Russian league season. He became the third-most expensive signing in Everton’s history – behind Romelu Lukaku and Marouane Fellaini – although he would be bumped down to fourth when the club took Yannick Bolasie over the summer. The move has turned into a personal nightmare and the headline statistic is that Niasse has appeared for just 152 minutes across seven matches. There were initial fitness concerns. He had last played for Lokomotiv on 10 December, before the Russian winter break, while he had also undergone a wrist operation. His match fitness would deteriorate further as Martínez continued to overlook him – his first start did not come until 30 April in the home win over Bournemouth. It has been a vicious cycle. But the overriding impression was that Martínez realised he had signed a dud. There has been ridicule. Before this interview, an Everton-supporting friend suggests that the photo-shoot ought to feature a cow-field and a banjo, so that Niasse could test the veracity of the old saying. It reflects a perception of the player and things have got worse under Koeman. It is hard to ignore the feeling that the lack of a locker for Niasse is an attempt to humiliate him, or punish him, for his decision to stay on after the 1 September transfer deadline. “It’s sad, it’s really sad,” Niasse says. “And, to be honest, I think that I don’t deserve this. But what I can do is just keep my head and fight to change things. I’m not going to make a drama over this. I just deal with it. I know that it’s just one period.” Niasse is a fighter and he makes it perfectly clear that he intends to fire an upturn in his fortunes; to show his true levels to supporters in England – be that at Everton or another Premier League club, when the transfer window reopens in January. He wants it to be at Everton and he clings to the notion that he could yet force Koeman into a rethink of his opinion. Niasse’s self-belief is unshakeable. But what shines through is his humility and the complete lack of malice, particularly towards Koeman. Niasse played in the second half of Koeman’s first game in charge – the 1-0 friendly win over FK Jablonec on 16 July – and he thought that it did not go too badly. Forty-eight hours later, he was called into the manager’s office. “Koeman said: ‘You have to leave,’” Niasse says. “I couldn’t understand how that decision could have been made after 45 minutes but I just said: ‘OK, thank you.’ It’s his decision. He’s the manager. What can I do? I called my agent and he said that he would look into the opportunities for me. To be honest, I didn’t ask Koeman to explain his reasons. I just thought, even if I asked why, I would never understand. After just 45 minutes, you cannot say to me: ‘You are no good.’” Niasse has since had one further conversation with Koeman, which was when he learned of his demotion to the under-23s. “He changed everything,” Niasse says. “He took my shirt number and he told me I wasn’t allowed to be in the dressing room for the first team; that I wasn’t going to train with them. I had to go with the second team. “I said: ‘OK, no problem.’ When you say you don’t need a player, you don’t have to see him. I’ve just kept working in training. Even if I’m training with the under-23s, I give them the respect.” There are several occasions when Niasse attempts to explain away what has been a remarkable sequence of events as simply being “football” – as if the sport’s capacity to defy logic ought to be explanation enough. Everton had scouted Niasse at Lokomotiv; they watched him many times and he was no impulse buy. Other leading clubs in England and mainland Europe wanted him too but, after Everton had paid the money, they came to feel that he was not for them. Moreover, through the words and deeds of Martínez and Koeman, they have made it plain to Niasse’s potential suitors that they see little value in him. How is that £13.5m asset looking now? Football, eh? The saga says much about the modern Premier League, with its power plays and financial imperatives, and it reinforces the image of England’s top division as the place to be; a ticket to be seized and not relinquished. Niasse believes that he has been harshly treated but he has a good contract until 2020 and he is not blind to the bigger picture. A football career must be plotted with the utmost care. It is also interesting to consider Koeman’s position. He has made a judgment call, in good faith, on Niasse and it is one that, at the very least, represents a serious setback to the player’s career. He has backed him into a corner and yet the manager has been unable to make him blink. “It is all up to the player whether he doesn’t leave, I can’t understand it but that is normal,” Koeman said on 22 September. “Football players like to play football, that’s how I see it, and I explained to Niasse why he was not in my plans for the season.” Koeman is not in the best position to get too huffy about the situation. Niasse wants to play football but not just anywhere. He wants it to be at a club of his choice and he wants it to be in the Premier League. He had offers over the summer from Germany, Spain, Portugal and Turkey but there was never a decision for him to make over a Premier League move, despite interest from Crystal Palace, West Bromwich Albion and Hull City. “It’s not only about having opportunities and then, you’re going to leave,” Niasse says. “I always think about my career – to make good choices. Yes, I had opportunities but I wanted to play in the Premier League and it’s because I know I can do a lot of things in the Premier League. That’s why I am keeping my head, even if it’s hard now. “Anything can change. Koeman just wants the best for him and, in two months, if I can be the best for him, he will take me, because he doesn’t have any problem with me and I don’t have any problem with him. It’s football and bigger players than me have had this problem with their coaches. How many times did Real Madrid say they didn’t want Lassana Diarra and, at the end of the season, who was playing?” Niasse had it tougher, much tougher, at Lokomotiv, after his €6m transfer from the Turkish club, Akhisar Belediyespor, for whom he scored 15 goals and had seven assists in 2013-14. Niasse knew nobody in Moscow, he could not speak the language and the temperatures of -15C were brutal. There were also the depressing brushes with racism. “It’s very hard to be a black guy in Moscow,” Niasse says. “Even in the games, you can sometimes hear the fans doing some ****. I remember they did it to me. Away to CSKA Moscow [in September 2015], we had a penalty and I took it but all the fans were making these noises. It didn’t bother me. I scored the penalty. I didn’t say anything.” Niasse struggled desperately during his first season at Lokomotiv. The club had Roman Pavlyuchenko and Dame N’Doye up front and, after the latter moved to Hull in February 2015, they signed the Serbian Petar Skuletic to replace him. Niasse kicked his heels. Between 24 November 2014 and 18 April 2015, he did not appear for a single minute. But he was given a chance towards the end of the season and he responded by scoring the equaliser in the Russian Cup final against Kuban Krasnodar. Lokomotiv would win 3-1 after extra time. When the following season kicked off, Niasse caught fire. He scored 13 times and made 10 assists, before the Russian League broke for the winter. “People say Russia is not a strong league but you go to Moscow, with the weather, with the way that they play, with everything, and you’ll see that to play there is much more complicated. “If I did it in Russia, why can’t I do it in England? What happened in Moscow makes me know that I can turn it around here.” Niasse starred in Lokomotiv’s Europa League matches last season and it really is bizarre that he has gone from that kind of form to his current predicament of having to pick up the pieces with Everton Under-23s. Since 19 September, he has played four times for David Unsworth’s team, scoring goals against Arsenal and Manchester United. “I’m just thinking about what I have to do,” Niasse says. “If, at any time, Everton need me – for the 23s or the first-team – I will be there, because I work for Everton. They paid a lot of money for me and that’s why I feel I have to show something. People say what they think but they don’t know me in England. They have never seen me fit and playing. “I want to show myself in the Premier League and I hope it can be at Everton, because it’s the team that I’m feeling. Every weekend, I’m watching the games, I’m supporting the team, I’m behind them. I’m a blue. But, if I get the opportunity to show what I can do at another Premier League team, I will go and I will do it. You never know what can happen. This is football.”
