Mitrovic is among several leading goal scorers at present. On Sunday he was denied a hat trick when Joe Hart tipped an angled shot on to the post.,but there is more to his game than scoring goals,first of all he has curbed the indiscipline that was a feature of his time at Newcastle second - his work rate is a good as any player we have but - most important of all - we play to his strengths. We have signed some potentially decent players this summer - Schurrie,,Anguissa,and Seri but I believe that the best of the lot could be an Argentinian lad called Luciano Vietto he has a decent engine and a good footballing brain,take a look at the pass he made for Mitro's second goal. You will be hearing a lot about this lad.
He best playing in and around the 6 yard box and getting good service for tap ins and poacher-like goals. I dont think his build up play and hold-up play is all that and I reckon that is more what Rafa wants for this team at the moment. I saw a couple of Fulham games after he went there last season and I would hold fire on thinking he's a changed man temperament-wise.
Quite simply, doesn’t suit Rafas tactics (nor does Rondon to be fair) and he does get sent off for stupid things. Rafa doesn’t like that. Surprised GLS suggesting he’s lazy I have to admit. I never saw that issue, always worked his socks off from what I’ve seen at us, Fulham or Serbia. I think he clearly can follow orders too looking at Serbia and Fulham where he plays very different roles effectively. I just think some players and managers are like oil and water. Rafa has never liked penalty box strikers. He likes runners and forwards who stretch teams.
Lazy is the wrong word - more that he had very little game management and atrocious finishing, from what I saw. He'd chase well, but pointlessly then not be available for an out-ball. He's ok at hovering around the penalty box. Check the stats - he's missed about 10 chances, scored 3. Fair play to Fulham setting him up, but they could get the same return from Joselu. He's not a runner, he's ok at holding it up but misses that awareness. And nobody has any idea whether he's just a **** in training or behind the scenes. Got to trust Rafa and just let it lie.
When Mitrovic was at Newcastle I imagine that he was demotivated by Rafa - who I believe, is an autocrat. Now it seems that Lascelles had the temerity to suggest that going for a five man defence against Chelsea was the wrong approach,and for that he was dropped - yes,Rafa is the manager but is 'my way or the highway' the right approach? now it appears that this debate has become a festering sore,reports in today's press have Lascelles and Ritchie scrapping over Rafa's tactics. Players have different ways of responding to tactics that they don't agree with. Mitrovic at Newcastle appeared to down tools in training,and his disciplinary antics on the field of play are a matter of record,however his record since joining us do not support his behaviour when at Newcastle. He has drawn three yellows and no red cards,which suggests that he is maturing as a player. You are right when you say that he is not a lazy player - forget about the two goals that he scored on Sunday,they were handed to him on a plate. What we saw was a demonstration of good old centre forward play. In Tarkowski and Mee Burnley had two big units,and the pair of them together could not handle Mitrovic. Lascelles clearly is passionate about Newcastle and is not afraid to make his feelings and opinions felt,his altercation with Ritchie follows a similar incident involving Mo Diame last season.Whereas Mitrovic was prepared to go into a sulk when he did not get his way,Lascelles is prepared to show an aggressive attitude - which do you prefer?
Actualluy it should be the managers way or **** off. Take a look at Haidara who played down his immense talents so he didn't make our other players look inferior - in the end Rafa had to say to him "on yer bike son"
Rafa has always been ruthless (look at the way he got rid of most of Liverpool's championship team), and players know with him that if they have to take their chance when they get it. Rafa was clearly pissed off with Mitro at the end of his first season (ie getting pointless sent off vs Spurs in the last game of the season), and used him sparingly in the Champ. He gave him a chance when we got back into the Prem and the first thing he did was get a pointless suspension again from his twattery at West Ham. Mitro is a player who needs to build his confidence through playing regularly, and with a tough manager like Rafa, he's already had his fill of chances. Hopefully he's learnt from this and won't do much more stupid **** at Fulham, cos when he actually plays regularly, he clearly has big potential.
