Reminds me of when the skunks got Duff from Chelsea. Thought it was steal. Ended up being crap (Apart from putting them down in to the Championship, like.) Went to Fulham and started playing well again. Hope AJ is not going to be the same.
He has been ****e so far but he has undoubted quality. I hope we start going 442 with Saha and Fletcher give our wingers something to target in the box
Most players need 6/7 games when they move. We all know he's a lot better than he has shown so far. He'll come good. I'm more worried about Mclean, Larsson, Sess who have shown SFA this season and the fact that we persist with Colback in CM. The big problem is as said we need to be 442. If the ball is not pin point to Fletcher then we have no other player within 30 yards of their box. To have 1 goalscorer in 7 games is just hard to believe.
You don't just become a bad player overnight, AJ is suffering form a lack of fitness and will come good. He also needs help from the rest of the team, he can't do it by himself, the rest have to start performing as a team and then we'll see the best of him. Right now we are missing Catts big style and as good a deputy as he has been Gardner isn't as good as Bardo, we need CG in the middle with Catts.
I think part of AJ's problem has been McClean - Had McClean been the player he was last season this season then clubs wouldn't have been able to double up on them both - as it is, they only need double up on Johnson and McClean can be left to try to cut inside and then drop his shoulder and try to cross with a hope of winning a corner!! Sessegnon looked miles off the pace yesterday
AJ has suffered with having two players on him and at times yesterday if he had got through those two he two more behind hin. A winger needs space and so long as the likes of Sess and Mclean are not being seen as a threat then AJ will be maked out of games. If and when we have others playing at a level which means that other teams feel they need to mark them out as well he willnot get the space to operate. We also need to feed him when he is free. There was one piont in the second half where he made a great run to the wing and all it needed was for Gardner to see the run and play him in, but no a short ball to feet in the middle is what we got. You could see that AJ was frustratyed. For me I would look to put Bardo back in at left back move Rose to the wing play Saha up front,give Sess a rest and try Catts and Vaughan in the middle
sITTING IN A PUB IN cASTLE eden drinking every night isn't gonna help him get fit. Possibly the most over rated player ever, has not beat one premier league defender since we got him.
Thought that Newcastle marked him out of the game yesterday, they knew he likes to cut onto his left so brought another man over and gave him no room. Can still see glimpses in his performance though, his touch is very good. I'd like to see us lineup like this at Stoke Mig Bardo/OShea/Cuellar/Rose Larsson/Catts/Gardner/AJ Saha/Fletcher It's a good looking team and would mean we have an extremely strong bench.
If a team double marks any player then it leaves holes, holes that can be exploited by the rest of your team. Unfortunately we haven't been able to do that as the rest if the midfield have been well under par. A fully fit and up for it Sess would love to find a bit of space, problem is, he's not fully fit or up for it. Colback just doesn't have it and at the minute neither does McClean.
