Yeah, I noticed that - especially Maja!! He just let the bloke run past him for the 2nd goal - no attempt to chase and tackle him - AWFUL!! Hope JR is reading the riot act!!! Bart
Maja was pretty feeble all game. Outmuscled all the time and disappeared entirely when we went down to ten men and his service became more difficult.
I'm starting to get the impression he is merely taking advantage of being in a decent team at this level and not all he's cracked up to be. Though to be fair he's still young. If a 6 million bid came in for him it would certainly be worth considering. Particularly if wyke makes a full recovery in time for January and we have somebody else lined up
I highlighted Maja's lack of effort without the ball after the Morecambe game, he does a lot of ball watching and said if you take away his goal tally he offers very little else to the team. I know it's a bit harsh to criticise the kid who is in double figures goals wise but Jack has consistently said he's not the complete deal yet but he does need a rocket up his backside.
I'm starting to think that he's letting the recent positive attention go to his head a bit, Ross won't stand for it though. If his heart's not in it he won't play him.
I've wondered that too. It's certainly a possibility. The thing is though, he might be lazy, his game might be a bit incomplete, but he's scoring goals. And that's what counts.
His finishing is top notch the way he makes room when he's inside the box and finds the corners. His finish against Peterborough was outstanding. It's not like all his goals are being set up on a plate for him.
As long as he's still making the effort to make runs and make himself available then I'm happy for him to only contribute goals but if he's slouching about like a moody teenager then he should be dropped imo. Start of the season he looked great, his hold up play had come on leaps and bounds and with the goals too he was looking like a really useful player but he seems to have regressed. I should add that I haven't seen a full game either in person or on tv for a while now so I'm just going off what I'm reading on here.
I also think people are forgetting that he is still only 19 and at that age players are more suspect to burning out and going in and out of form.
100% this. People are talking about him like he’s a seasoned pro. He is young. He is not perfect. He is still delevloping. Yet he is banging the goals in for us. I just don’t understand all the criticism thrown at a young player of ours who is looking very promising.
That's the Sunderland way, unfortunately. Agree with every word, if he keeps progressing the way he is he'll be a premier league standard striker. He's a natural finisher.
Very true. He's a premier league quality finisher and that's the most important thing, room for improvement in other areas but that's stating the obvious for a teenager.
I would like to add my thanks for all the good work put in by RTB on these match threads. It is a huge contribution to the site and very much appreciated. NB a brilliant match report on Salut Sunderland if anyone is interested.
Exactly. Complaining that people are running past him, bugs me. He's a 19 year old striker playing his first full season, there's no way he's going to be a complete player, yet. He's scoring a goal every 123mins, that's the best in the division. That is incredible.
What would people rather have? A striker that gets stuck in but never scores or one that floats around but always appears in the right place to tuck the goals away? I know which one wins you games. I can't see Wyke scoring at the same rate as Maja (his best is 15 in a season) and Sinclair isn't doing it. Maja's all round game can be worked on but neither of our other centre forwards are going to be as prolific.
I am a big fan of Maja, yes he looks out of his depth tracking back, but thats not his game, he would be better suited to remaining up front than operating deep imo. Last year, pre season when he made his first appearance he scored some amazing goals, remarkably, he has yet come up with anything better but when he does, we will have a player on our hands, hopefully.
Absolutely - he's missed a few sitters this season but he's only 19!! I watch top internationals miss sitters too. He's got 11 goals. He looked very lazy for their second goal IMO. The lad got past him far too easily - but he's a young lad and was in an unfamiliar spot on the pitch. Had Gooch been there he probably wouldn't have got past. He's a striker who was helping out the backline. I thought he could've done better but I'm not going to lambast him and say he doesn't want to be here just because of it
Never fails to me amaze me how sets of fans from all clubs can go from nothing but praise for a player, to lambasting them. Think we all have short memories in football
I don't think that pointing out his deficiencies is having a go or being overly critical. Yes he's got us lots of goals for a young lad and long may that continue, but Jack Ross admits himself that Josh has a lot to learn and I would think that most on here would agree as does Josh himself. Jack noticed on Saturday that he would get more from the experienced McGuire in the situation we were in and once again the manager was proved right. At 19 he's on a massive learning curve and is doing better than I bet even he dreamed he would, but I don't see a lot wrong in highlighting what he could improve on as I'm sure his manager already has on the training ground.
