Joelinton... The Positives

I've seen plenty of reaction on social media regarding this lad not being worth £40 million, and maybe they'll all be proven right, but I think there are certainly a few positives from his first tastes of premier league football.

It's difficult for any striker in our team to score because the team don't create many chances, so the major requirement is contribution to link-up play to get us further up the pitch. To that end he looked really good in pre-season, and he's looked ok so far in the league. He's strong, has a decent first touch and mixes it fairly well with the strapping centre backs you face in the prem.

I've also noticed he has got a bit of subtlety to his movements, which culminated in the header he missed against Norwich. He bought himself a yard and that's important for scoring goals.

Any other positives people have seen?

 

None.

 

Brazilian Joselu?

 

Or Riviere

 

The thing is lads, I am watching Perez right now. £30 million, and he's basically a coward on the ball. When he's near the area he would rather ease it off to the right back than drive into the box or cross himself.

He also goes and stands way too close to a) his team-mate in possession and b) an opposition player. He actively seeks out that situation for some reason. His sole role should be linking up with the striker and trying to nick a yard on the defender.

 

He’ll bring a fair amount of trade to hairdressers in the area.

 

Omg he was ****ing crap.

 

He has nice hair.

 

Honestly, I think he's a bit crap. I think a lot of people were surprised at the price. Ashley sees a possible £100m player, another little gamble. The daft fat prick can't understand that you need training facilities and a decent manager to make a £40m player into a £100m player.

 

This is the real flaw.

 

Think he's isolated up top and it doesn't seem fair for him to take the flak. There does seem to be a clear idea that he would replace Rondon in Rafa's system, which Bruce is complicit in blindly going along with. Rondon could hold up the ball so well it negated the fact the rest of the team were so far away from him initially. What worries me about this season is that is not Joelinton, he justifiably looks out of his depth. He's potentially a good player but is not going to score a lot and is not going to do well up top, on his own, with a heap of expectation on his shoulders.

The scary thing is we need Bruce to luck out on a formation that takes the pressure off him. 442 would suit I reckon, but we have only Muto who could play with him right now so probably solves little.

Basically looks an OK player but will have his time here ruined by this time under Bruce knocking his confidence. He's not worth 40 million though and I'd have rather 16 mill on Rondon and the rest on someone else. He and Saint-maxim have the same agent so that's incredibly coincidental scouting or something fishy is going on. Remember, he's effectively been here since February as confirmed by the club.

 

don't we still own Gayle?

I mean; he could slot right next to him.

 

Yes but currently injured. I think of him more than Carroll when I think of a front two. I've always liked Gayle and think he looked fair good considering his **** season in the prem. Linked up well and still had chances. You can't score the amount he has in the champ and not be able to score at some point in the prem.

 

We could have Messi up top but football is a team game and we need a manager capable of galvanising and organising a team.

Brice is not that man.

How can anyone take orders and view as credible a manager who has won **** all?

They could with Rafa because he’s won most things so has a track record to instil some respect.

Bruce is a Championship manager, in charge of a relegation guaranteed team at a division 3 club.

 

Tbf none of our players have won **** all and the majority of managers in the league have won **** all.

If that is a metric of respect we could literally only hire a few managers across the globe.

 

He's not had the greatest of support around him or a whole lot of crosses/through balls to feed from.

It's the overall formation that's an issue or the playes we are using in it.
We need more pace out wide to give an out let the play the counter attack, to this end we are missing Yedlin, for all his defensive issues he is quick and gies that outlet.
The wing backs and midfield players need to break forward more to give us numbers against oppositions defence, Manquillo/Richie aren't the paciest of wing-backs and the 3 we've used in the middle are not going to be breaking forward to support. We have Joelinton up top with no one around him, for all of Almiron's pace and determination, he's yet to deliver an end product, starting to remind me of Lua-Lua, great with the ball and exciting to watch but that's it.

I'm hoping to see Muto or Saint-Maximin with Almiron supporting Joelinton, with a compact midfield of 2, which appeared to work well for us last season.

 

Like Rafa?

 

T

T

T


T

 

Made this point on Twatter the other day...

The lad is a 1 goal in 4 game striker as his previous record everywhere he's been shows. It is to early to judge him as he is young, coming to a new league and will get better BUT...

...you could have had 2 Rondon's plus £8m change to spend elsewhere for the same price and Rondon you know what you are getting. I don't/didn't fap my self dry over Rondon - he did OK nothing more but we know what we would get - somewhere around 10 goals and someone who can bring others into the game. Then you look at the £40m deal for Joelinton, it is bad business however you slice it!

 

We did hire Rafa, he decided to leave though a few months ago. Didn't you know?