Over the past few days Mayuka has demonstrated that he is amazing off the pitch.... Lets hope he can prove he is as good on the pitch this season.... He just makes me laugh, what a lad...
Seems like a character and looks very settled now too. Lets hope he gets some game time soon and we can properly judge him
Does seem to be coming out of his shell....if he was ever in it. He must have done the firewalk twice because I'm sure he did it once carrying an arrow as a spear. Or have my eyes let me down again.
This preseason will be very important for him, like for all the players. This is the first real chance Mauricio has had to see the whole squad interacting with no real pressure. I know they had those few days in Barcelona just after he arrived but this somehow seems like a great time for Mayuka to step forward and seize his chance. If we aren't going to sign another striker, and I'm not convinced we are, we need him.
Very true Chilco. I wasn't convinced with what I saw briefly last season. A couple of flashes against Spurs and one burst of pace to win the penalty against Villa. I did unfortunately see him against Leeds down the middle as CF. It wasn't pretty but I'll ignore that as it was a poor side and a poor performance all round.
Was trying to forget that game. Apart from that rubbish South American player we have, everyone was poor that day.
We know he's got pace, and we know he can get into dangerous positions. On the few occasions he got the chance to do that last season, he didn't get any service. I had visions of the defence splitting pass from Ramirez being siezed on by Mayuka. Maybe this season...
Yep agree with that. Think he could be a huge impact player for us this season. Remember he's only 23 and it takes time to adjust to a new country. Both he and Gaston will be much more settled this season!
I do think as much as Mayuka wasn't ready for us we weren't ready for him, we just didn't know how to utilise him, in fact I can't think of that many defence-splittingly quick forwards we've had over the years. Even JRod we didn't get in behind the defence too much, frequently he would receive the ball and then have to do the work getting behind them himself, and in fact when Mayuka was at his best was against Spurs when he was picking the ball up midway into the opponents half and running at them. He was definitely out of his depth for a large amount of the time he was on the pitch (Must resist urge to re-post picture of him in the pool...), but he also has ability and could be a real change of pace (literally) for us going forwards if he can start to gel a bit. I have a feeling that he'll never bed in enough or get enough confidence to do so though, unfortunately.
Going to be really interesting to see how he pans out after all the pre-season work and bonding etc. I keep harking back to Mauricio's barely veiled comments about his application. He seems a 'good-time-guy' by the brief shots we see of him, let's hope he also has the mentality to knuckle down as well.
On Fifa13 he is ridiculous! Its almost like cheating playing him! anyway... He just makes me laugh and in my opinion he changed the spurs game at St Marys! Caulker and Gallas were dealing with Lambert soo well but they could not handle Mayuka. He came on for 5 minutes against Swans at the liberty and nearly scored from a half chance. He has not really been given a real chance yet. He come on against Villa and won us a pen. He is given the odd cameo and makes stuff happen. Im not saying he was particularly good last season but for what his role was last season he done his job.
Hard to judge someone till they get some decent game time to work themself in. Up to Mauricio to say if it's worth the risk. I agree he has a face that makes you smile and wish him well....loved his shark impression in the pool.