The performances of the team and the organisation from the boss is seriously putting a warm glow into all of us, which is properly enriching us all. We love Rafa, and I am pretty confident that he thinks a hell of lot of us. The fans down in Oakwell tonight were in a special place to witness us take our chance of taking top of the league. My question is ... What does Mitro have to do to get on the pitch? He's got it all to prove but he isn't getting a sniff. Gayle is looking so much the part mind. He really is at the top of his game. And it was just brilliant for Ritchie to come back into the team and set up two goals. I think so much of that fella. It's been a superb few days, and we have got to keep this totally professional stance going. In Rafa we trust. HWTL.
This is my concern also. The ove of the English game is crazy fast now and it's even faster in the premiership.
I think it is all down to the formation. In Rafa's formation he likes to have one man as the tip of the spear and that man is Gayle. He clearly sees Diame or Ayoze as a better link up man that Mitro. Fair play to Mitro though, his attitude has been spot in. I have blind faith in everything Rafa does as he is getting the results to back up his judgement.
Very heavy reliance on Gayle atm, I'd like to see more regular goal scorers, i.e. Gouff, Richie, Shelvey and Mitro scoring more. Last time Carroll and Lovenkrands were an awesome combination and ripped the division apart, we can't rely solely on Gayle.
We've had a lot of goals coming from other parts of the pitch. Not Gayle's fault he's scoring for fun. There has to be a good reason why in a squad whose manager's middle name is rotation, Mitro is not getting game time.
Mitro will get his chance, Gayle seems to be out for a month or two each season with muscle injuries, hasn't managed over 25 games a season bar when he played on loan at Bishop Stotford in 2011/12. Equally though he hasn't scored more than 10 goals in a season since then either and he's already on 11 this year so....
He is not suited to Rafa's style of play. That much is obvious. You only have to look at how he used Crouch.
All day long. It's a tactical thing; we use inverted wingers, CF plays off the shoulder and crosses are almost entirely done from setplays because we draw so many fouls playing the way we do. At that point, a big CF is pointless because we push the two CB's up.
Gayle played 55 games in 11/12 and 49 in 12/13, injuries only in the Prem really. Could be similar to Carroll, who was consistently fit and destroying teams in the Champ, then constantly crocked in the Prem. A strike partner would mean he has to exert himself less though, also I'm sure him and Mitro can form a good partnership - at the end of the Norwich game Mitro was freeing up loads of space for Gayle, plus the winning goal in that match was great play between the 2 of them, Mitro outmuscled the Norwich defenders to head down to Gayle who then weaved through them and scored the winner.
...although I keep forgetting we still have Murphy to come in, is Rafa seeing him as a strike partner to Gayle and Mitro to just be on the bench? Maybe.
Mitro was bought as a striker, strikers score goals, Mitro can't score therefore not much use, lacks pace, doesn't seem to position well and is a bit volatile, might be ok in other European leagues but not in the Championship and defo not in the PL, January window offload and look for a decent strike partner for Gayle.
He scored 9 in the Premier League last season in his first season in England in a **** team. He can absolutely score. His conversion ratio could be better tbf.. I can see both Mitrovic and Gayle being back up to a better striker who would need to come in if we were promoted. They give different options up front though and that's what you want. It seems like Gayle won't get a strike partner under Rafa, if will be an ACM that plays behind him although I would agree we need better than Perez and Diame in the Premier League.
I reckon Mitro would get a boatload at this level given the chance. I'd be surprised if he gets that chance His record in Belgium certainly suggests he can score goals at just below the top level. The championship is not better than the Belgian top flight in my eyes, if it is the difference is minimal. He scored 44 goals in 90 games. As a young lad that is decent going.
We definitely seemed a lot more threatening vs Norwich when Mitro and he looks like he can pull his weight at this level more than Perez. If Gayle is having an off day, Mitro alongside him will give us more options. I guess his temperament is a reason he's not getting starts, Rafa obviously marked his card at the end of last season after the Spurs red, and he's not helping his case by getting booked as soon as he comes on against Norwich, shame cos he made a difference in that game.
2 of his goals were penalties, 9 goals is hardly good and one of the reasons why we were relegated is simply the fact that we did not score enough goals, Mitro delivered 30 shots on target for the whole season and missed 8 bang on chances, he lacks pace and doesn't make up for this with his positioning or thought, it's all very well being optimistic about him but he is not going to be good enough. Final point when you say **** team he was one of the **** players.
I think there's a lot more to Mitro's game than *just* goals, i.e. physical presence, talking out defenders and making space for other striker's like Gayle. For such a young striker, I think his total was a decent return after being thrust straight into the Premiership. He's definitely still developing, and making him the main striker last season was asking a lot. He's clearly going to get better and could be huge in this league....the fact he is a complete nutter is clearly holding him back though.
Emile Heskey Shola Ameobi Victor Anichebe You do realise you've just lumped Mitro in with these ****ehawks using that phrase?
Mitro would score more than Gayle if he had the same amount of pitch time I genuinely believe that, he is a beast, reminds me of Diego Costa who isn't the fastest player in the world either, but still manages to get loads of goals. Mitro's scoring record for his age is phenomenal, he needs to be patient and seize his chance when given