What's going on there then? Whatever you think about him or how you rate him, he's clearly our best striker by a huge margin. Why aren't we playing him? Is something up?
He needs a partner ,he and Diomande looked decent when they were both on the pitch together. yesterday
He told Phelan that he doesn't like playing upfront on his own so Phelan dropped him for the talented goalscoring machine Keane.
i want to see mbokani and hernandez upfront together or is phelan going to consistently use one upfront?
He'll be at Villa in January. Who would want to stay after seeing that ****ing clown picked before him
The chances of Villa signing him must be close to nil. They signed McCormack and Kodija in the end to go along with Gestede and Ayew. I think he looked interested yesterday, worked hard and held the ball up well. This was before Diomande even came on the pitch. He clearly prefers playing with another striker, but how often last year was he by himself? Quite often, and he managed 20 goals. He may prefer playing upfront with another striker, but he is still our best striker on his own as well. He should start every game ahead of Keane, who I feel sorry for as he clearly isn't ready to play in the PL.
If he doesn't like playing up front by himself, then create a tactic that means he doesn't have to. There's no reason for him to be out of the team right now.
I don't give a ****, all this garbage from Phelan about playing Keane up top instead of Abel because the latter doesn't like to play as a lone striker is the biggest load of ****e that I've heard come out of his mouth. To play a 3 in 50 Championship striker in place of one that is a current international for Uruguay, and one that only a few weeks ago was valued at £20M, is the height of ridiculous and ****ing unforgivable, especially given the fact that Keane was garbage at Bournemouth a week earlier. Anyone that still has any faith in Phelan being able to turn this around is a complete and utter mug!
Looking at Phelan's comments on Abel from before the Stoke game, it's clear why he hasn't been playing: "Abel is a member of the squad and whether he starts a game or comes on as a sub, I would expect him to be ready for the challenge and take that opportunity," said Phelan. "All players want to be in the team but we're trying to create a culture here of hard work, effort and determination, bringing all those ingredients out on the football field. "Abel is a player that likes probably to play up top with other players, he needs the involvement of other players around him. "At the moment we've gone with one striker and it seemed to work really well. We lost (Dieumerci) Mbokani, who did that job extremely well, and we need to find a way of integrating Abel back into that system." Now Abel has history with not always putting in a shift. Bruce hinted last season that he had a similar issue with him. He also has history of moping when he's not an automatic pick which again is hinted at by the first quote. Against Stoke he came on, put a shift in and has now earned his place. If he'd started, that would have basically told him that he doesn't need to work hard to keep his place because we're so desperate. Rewarding him for having a paddy would not have been the right thing to do. Phelan's comments after the game were more positive, but also touched on the one up front issue: "He looked hungry, his attitude was good," said Phelan. "I would say he grasped the moment. "What we're looking for from Abel is that consistency. Everyone expects Hull City can play 4-4-2 and take on Liverpool, Manchester United and all these teams. "I think we have to be reasonable in our assessment. I think if we play three at the back (as City finished on Saturday), then two up front is an option." I'm going to say it, it's not popular to drop a striker who's scored goals before, but he hasn't been doing this season and that was because of his attitude. Phelan has made him work hard again, he'll obviously get back in the team now and hopefully he'll remember this and keep the hard work up to keep his place. It's good man management. Ferguson and Mourinho aren't afraid to drop big names to make them earn their place and it's absolutely the right thing to do. I also find his comments on the formation interesting. It's nothing new because Bruce used to say it too, and Bruce pioneered the solution of playing 3-5-2 to allow two up front without leaving the midfield light. It doesn't always work but it looks the best thing for us at the current time. Dunno what we'll do at Bristol City, but it seems likely we'll play 3-5-2 again soon and Hernandez will be up front with probably Diomande. All I'm trying to explain here, is that there is reason behind these things and it's not always as simple as just playing the striker who's scored the most goals before, or playing the formation that looks the most attacking on paper. We don't always understand these things but we should give whoever our manager is a bit more of a chance, especially under our current circumstances, rather than turning on him to the extent we've seen this weekend only two games after he's got the job. Apart from anything else, it makes us look like right silly bastards as a fanbase. Don't we all laugh at Sunderland fans who every year blame a different manager for their problems. We're becoming the same as them.
Hard work effort and determination are three attributes missing all over the field not just in the number 9 shirt.
I don't agree. I think people just say that whenever their team loses, which is a shame. People like Meyler, Livermore, Davies, Dawson would never not put a shift in.
I don't dispute the alleged Hernandez 'attitude' issue but I've particularly picked out these points. 1. Appreciate the desire for the work ethic etc but not at the expense of points. 2. Agree, just like in the games where we've picked up points. 3. When did this work really well?
Obviously his point there is that a lack of effort won't get us any points. Presumably he means the first two games when it worked well.
