Unbelievable

If his minutes per goal ratio from last season had continued through this season he'd have scored 40 goals in the Premier League alone. But then nobody on planet earth could have ever kept up the form Cisse had in his first half season here. I don't disagree that he's under performed this season (partly down to the team/pardew and partly down to himself), but lets not make too many comparisons with his first half season, because its totally unrealistic. That was in response to somebody claiming his chance conversion rate had 't significantly dropped.

Come here!

That's all good and well (and I would deny he hasn't been afforded the kind of opportunities last season as the one before, see my earlier post, he has just missed many more chances relative to 2011-2012), but with the players out our disposal (i.e. considering Ben Arfa has been injured for large parts of the season, and we have no left winger to speak off), how would you have set us up to play to his strengths? Another issue I have with Cisse being the lone forward, and again I am going over covered ground, is he doesn't relish a physical challenge at all, so unless he finds himself unmarked (and onside), having him just sit in the D as you suggested will not see him magically getting more chances by itself. Many of our problems are indeed tactical, but to deny the effects of injuries, an imbalanced squad and Cisse's own limitations is oversimplifying why Cisse hasn't been as effective this season as he should have been considering his obvious talent.

For reference, if his chance conversion rate had been the same as last season, based on number of shots taken, he would have scored 26 in the Premiership alone. Edit: probably more as this doesn't include shots taken in the last 4 games of the season.

Pretty damning tbh. Who would you replace him with? /genuinequestion I wouldn't replace him (unless we can get silly money, i.e. over 15 million), I would add to our striker options. I want him to stay, get his head and body in order and fire on all cylinders again next season. Just getting tired of people making excuses for him (didn't miss many chances, no service, played on the wing half a season, etc, etc).

I don't think it's a myth. Compare Cisse's first half season (disregard Sturridge as not relevant): http://cdn.eplindex.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/goals-for-papiss-and-sturridge.png To his first full season (updated up until april 27th 2013, i.e. after he last scored, so these stats will not have improved): http://cdn.eplindex.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Cisse-Vs-Sturridge-12-13-Creativity.png Every single (Premiership only) stat there indicates his chance conversion this year was well below par. Source: http://www.eplindex.com/31224/papiss-ciss-daniel-sturridge-battle-january-signings.html

Perhaps the thousands are being a bit naïve. Playing to Cisse’s strengths isn’t that simple a matter. The way I see it, at the top level, there’s a real problem with integrating a specialist finisher whose hold up and linking play isn’t that good. You can – a) Play him with more of a target man, but then you have two players who are both looking for the same advanced, central position, albeit for different reasons. b) Try a), but then ask one or the other to move into a secondary, withdrawn or wider role, but then you’re asking one of them to do something they’re not good at. That was the whole Ba / Cisse issue. c) Ask the finisher to play as an all-round striker, which is what we seem to be doing at the moment, but that isn’t working well. d) Don’t ask the finisher to do anything other than play on the shoulders of the CBs, and get the rest of the team to create chances for him. Trouble is, your system lacks the interchanging of positions that can help to open up a defence, and you can look a bit static. It can also feel like you’re playing with 10 men, particularly if you’re up against good opposition. Apart from all that, to make plan d) worthwhile, your finisher has to put away a high percentage of the chances that come his way, and personally I don’t think Cisse’s conversion rate is good enough for that. Exactly as I see it.

That looks like an awful policy, if you ask me. Ajax do the same.

Sigh.. Cisse wasn't shifted out wide to accomodate Ba playing centrally. They both played centrally for the best part of the first half of the season. Only when it became apparent Ba was scoring goals and Cisse wasn't, we briefly went to a lone forward, where Ba was understandably preferred to lead the line, considering his form up until that point. Rather than Cisse being dropped outright, he played a few matches out wide, which didn't work out for him, but was worth a try imho. Only once was Cisse playing out wide really unforgiveable, and this was to accomodate Shola playing centrally straight after Ba had left, where Pardew came out with some grade A bollocks about having prepared a game plan all week long, and Shola replacing Ba was the easier transition. That was the match in which we should have put our trust in Cisse to be our main man and step out of Ba's shadow, and Pardew fucked it up.

I wasn't saying he should get a bye, not sure what that would even mean. The general performance of the team is just a big factor in whether a striker scores goals or not. The reverse logic is that if the striker(s) score goals, results improve and confidence grows, leading to better general performances of the team.

Worra cunt..

I swear some people are going to have a mental breakdown this summer..

To be fair CD, Cisse does have certain strengths compared to other strikers, even very good ones. For example, I rate his ability for instinctive finishes, where he doesn’t have much time for decision making, very highly. Also, he’s not exactly afraid to try a speculative effort from long range, and is surprisingly good at hitting them well. That said, I don’t know how the players around him can change their game to provide this type of chance more often than not, other than getting the ball to him quickly from the wings, which admittedly we aren’t doing anywhere near enough. For me, the problem is not a lack of service, as I don’t think he gets fewer chances than other Premiership strikers, it’s a problem of lack of confidence and composure. The first can be remedied, although not easily, I’m not sure if the second can. Either way, for me neither of these major reservations I have with him are primarily a result of other players or Pardew/tactics letting him down more than Cisse just not being that kind of striker.

Brainwashing?

A clear dig at the knackers down the road that, if true..

Looking forward to this.

You wish

Same. That said, I always get confused about all the McSomething's they have. 15 million for someone who is barely noticeable in a Wigan side though..

McCarthy..? Can't say he's ever stood out when I've watched Wigan, which admittedly is as little as possible. What does everybody see in him?

Firstly Cisse is worth more than £20Mil - the guy is a 'proven' goal scorer in the Premiership and the goals he scores are utter class. When you think up until January Pardew had him playing out wide, to finish the year with 13 goals for the service he got was nothing sort of brilliant. If it wasn't for his goals we would be down. Which takes me to my next point - EVEN if you thought £20Mil was good for him, you need to take into account the loss to the club should the lack of his goals next year send us down. We cannot go into next season without 'at least' one striker who has proved he can score goals in this league. Cisse is clearly seriously under rated. At the end of last season before last when he was scoring goals from everywhere would you have said then £20Mil was a fair price? I am not convinced you would. We have one bad season and suddenly people become bad players? I would even throw Tiote in that bracket. We need to keep this squad together - it was this group of players who got us a whisker away from Champions League football. I am not saying they will again but it certainly shows the potential of the team. We need to be adding to it not selling any of our best players, whatever the price. Cause you never know if the replacement will be half as good. Just look at Ba - so far Gouffran is the only striker to come in. And lets be honest he is average at best. And the joke being? You, if you genuinely believe Cisse played out wide until January (when it was actually no more than a handful of games) and that 13 goals in 47 appearances in all competitions (8 in 36, or 1:4.5 in the Premiership) for a man of his ability constitutes in any way, shape or form a return that can be described as "nothing short of brilliant".

Weren't we after him in January? Bah, we're just doing their scouting for them.

If we sell Cisse in order to bring back Carroll I will be absolutely murdering people on this forum if Carroll flops. College Dropuout and Cronky will be high up on the list closely followed by TT and Unbelievable.

Firstly Cisse is worth more than £20Mil - the guy is a 'proven' goal scorer in the Premiership and the goals he scores are utter class. When you think up until January Pardew had him playing out wide, to finish the year with 13 goals for the service he got was nothing sort of brilliant. If it wasn't for his goals we would be down. Which takes me to my next point - EVEN if you thought £20Mil was good for him, you need to take into account the loss to the club should the lack of his goals next year send us down. We cannot go into next season without 'at least' one striker who has proved he can score goals in this league. Cisse is clearly seriously under rated. At the end of last season before last when he was scoring goals from everywhere would you have said then £20Mil was a fair price? I am not convinced you would. We have one bad season and suddenly people become bad players? I would even throw Tiote in that bracket. We need to keep this squad together - it was this group of players who got us a whisker away from Champions League football. I am not saying they will again but it certainly shows the potential of the team. We need to be adding to it not selling any of our best players, whatever the price. Cause you never know if the replacement will be half as good. Just look at Ba - so far Gouffran is the only striker to come in. And lets be honest he is average at best.