Aleksandar Mitrović

[joeyt]

Weren't they all on the pitch at the end against Norwich?

 

Gayle, Mitrovic, Ritchie and Atsu, with Shelvey and Hayden. Certainly helped us when we needed goals

 

Can't have been can they? Gouff scored?

Atsu came on for Dummett though

[54]

Weren't they all on the pitch at the end against Norwich?

 

Gayle, Mitrovic, Ritchie and Atsu, with Shelvey and Hayden. Certainly helped us when we needed goals

 

Can't have been can they? Gouff scored?

Atsu came on for Dummett, and we had all of them on the pitch.

[54]

Fuck.

[Foluwashola]

I can understand why people don't like him oh field either in style or temperament but for a foreigner moving to city he clearly gets it and that's not something to be scoffed at.

 

Pig sick of seeing hapless mercenaries come through the door. Mitro can be frustrating at times when he goes overly radge but at least he gives his all. For that reason I can never dislike him.

[lovejoy]

Big chance for him tomorrow. Let's hope he grabs it.

[TRon]

Big chance for him tomorrow. Let's hope he grabs it.

 

Big test as well. There'll be a lot more pressure and after Tuesday, Preston will make plans to deal with him better. Not to mention they'll have their first team players back.

[Ikon]

Ooh Gayle is out i just heard..

[Stottie]

It looks like PNE play four at the back at home with Wright and Clarke at CH.

Wright started on Tuesday, and Clarke came on at HT, so Mitro scored against their first teamers in the cup game.

Let's hope he can do it again.

[ohmelads]

Think he deserves his chance. Been unlucky with Gayle's form. In form for club and country and knows he must perform to keep Gayle out, he'll be fired up as he was on Tuesday.

[HawK]

Why does he need a kick up the arse though? His attitude's been spot on for ages.

 

With regards to application in match situations, rather than raw commitment. I've always advocated Mitrovic being on the teamsheet for what he brings in terms of commitment, but I don't think he's playing near where he's capable of. He needs to temper that infectious passion with some proper decision making and composure and some time on the bench will hopefully make him realise there's more to being a top footballer than what he's doing at the moment. Being on the team sheet every week with no competition for his place with as young as he is and the obvious faults he has was probably not right for him (PL last year), and he doesn't seem to have the ability to carry the increasing arrogance it would bring.

 

TLDR; Don't get me wrong I'm a big Mitrovic fan, I just think he needs some time out for some self reflection. In Rafa I trust.

 

Came back with a bang and looked much more the striker that we want him to be than the striker he was.

[Guest]

Who'd have thought that a promising 22 year old striker in his second season in a different country might start showing his worth? Thought the way he was written off and slagged off was a joke tbh.

[Dontooner]

His attiude is brillant but needs to add more to his game.

He could convert more headers into goals, or make more space for people.

 

He is quite static most of the time need to use his body and mind better in order to mold himself into a good CF(Shearer was a brainy type not all brawn)

[Klaus]

He looked quicker and sharper the other night imo, probably something rafa had him working on.

[DJ_NUFC]

Who'd have thought that a promising 22 year old striker in his second season in a different country might start showing his worth? Thought the way he was written off and slagged off was a joke tbh.

 

The hindsight hooligans are out in force in this thread.

[joeyt]

Hindsight hooligans

[DJ_NUFC]

I was being purposely facetious with that one, the alliteration was too good to pass up. No offence, Optimistic Nut. I like you as a poster.

[Ndegwa]

Mitrovic was pleased, then, to push his claims with two goals against Preston North End in the League Cup on Tuesday.

 

“It was good night for me,” he commented. “It was a long time since I started a game so I was happy to start and to get two goals. They were nice goals.

 

“I could have had one or two more but it doesn’t matter. My job is to score and create goals, I am happy.

 

“It’s not been easy for me as a striker because you have Dwight Gayle who is scoring every game. I say I love Dwight, I like him a lot as a person and as a player. I will keep going and that’s all I keep saying.

 

“I am working hard. If you are a good player you have to push yourself until you get your chance. I am doing that. I hope that when I get my next chance I will score and do well again.”

 

“This is the reason I came to this great club,” said Mitrovic of the fans’ reaction. “It’s unbelievable, especially when you score here. My heart is full for this club, I couldn’t be happier when I score goals for these fans and this club.

 

“When you hear the whole stadium sing your name it really is unbelievable. I have heard them sing ‘Mitro’s on Fire’ and it really is unbelievable. I have not felt like this for a long time.

 

“I had really good fans behind me at a really big club like Anderlecht and Partizan as well. But here you get 52,000, when you were a boy you dream about things like this.

 

“I have scored goals for Partizan, Anderlecht and now here, all three clubs are amazing. But when 52,000 people sing your name you have to be on the pitch to feel this. It is unbelievable.”

 

“Matt was down to take it first,” Mitrovic said of the spot kick. “I asked him if I could try to score. It was nothing. It was Matt. I just fancied my chance.

 

“He scored a good penalty. It was nothing. As long as we are scoring goals it doesn’t matter who scores.”

 

Love the bloke. He's got a long way to go and seems to enjoy practically assaulting his team mates in celebrations but his attitude is spot on. He's not technically the greatest player in the world but I can envisage him scoring plenty with the right service. Love the line about Dwight  seems to have a good rapport with the players/staff at the club and of course loves the fans.

[DJ_NUFC]

Mitrovic was pleased, then, to push his claims with two goals against Preston North End in the League Cup on Tuesday.

 

“It was good night for me,” he commented. “It was a long time since I started a game so I was happy to start and to get two goals. They were nice goals.

 

“I could have had one or two more but it doesn’t matter. My job is to score and create goals, I am happy.

 

“It’s not been easy for me as a striker because you have Dwight Gayle who is scoring every game. I say I love Dwight, I like him a lot as a person and as a player. I will keep going and that’s all I keep saying.

 

“I am working hard. If you are a good player you have to push yourself until you get your chance. I am doing that. I hope that when I get my next chance I will score and do well again.”

 

“This is the reason I came to this great club,” said Mitrovic of the fans’ reaction. “It’s unbelievable, especially when you score here. My heart is full for this club, I couldn’t be happier when I score goals for these fans and this club.

 

“When you hear the whole stadium sing your name it really is unbelievable. I have heard them sing ‘Mitro’s on Fire’ and it really is unbelievable. I have not felt like this for a long time.

 

“I had really good fans behind me at a really big club like Anderlecht and Partizan as well. But here you get 52,000, when you were a boy you dream about things like this.

 

“I have scored goals for Partizan, Anderlecht and now here, all three clubs are amazing. But when 52,000 people sing your name you have to be on the pitch to feel this. It is unbelievable.”

 

“Matt was down to take it first,” Mitrovic said of the spot kick. “I asked him if I could try to score. It was nothing. It was Matt. I just fancied my chance.

 

“He scored a good penalty. It was nothing. As long as we are scoring goals it doesn’t matter who scores.”

 

Love the bloke. He's got a long way to go and seems to enjoy practically assaulting his team mates in celebrations but his attitude is spot on. He's not technically the greatest player in the world but I can envisage him scoring plenty with the right service. Love the line about Dwight  seems to have a good rapport with the players/staff at the club and of course loves the fans.

 

He's a loveable character and I hope he forges a long, successful career here, he's definitely someone who 'gets' the club and the fans. I just wish he was technically a better player, but as long as we can play to his strengths, he should be able to contribute.

[Kanj]

Weren't they all on the pitch at the end against Norwich?

 

Gayle, Mitrovic, Ritchie and Atsu, with Shelvey and Hayden. Certainly helped us when we needed goals

 

 

Was really saying from the starting lineups...

[Kanj]

The way he played the other night, he looked absolutely brilliant. Held up ball, drove with the ball, finished a header, finished in the box, etc.

[HawK]

I was being purposely facetious with that one, the alliteration was too good to pass up. No offence, Optimistic Nut. I like you as a poster.

 

[HawK]

 

' sake 

[Wallace]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/10/28/aleksandar-mitrovic-my-father-said-i-would-be-a-criminal-or-a-ki/?

 

Aleksandar Mitrovic: 'My father said I would be a criminal or a kick boxer'

 

Luke Edwards

28 OCTOBER 2016 • 10:00PM

 

When Aleksandar Mitrovic tells you he would have been a “criminal or a kick boxer” if he was not playing football for Newcastle United, there is menace in his words. After all, Mitrovic is a violent man.

 

A physical, combative and confrontational footballer with a hot-headed reputation that has already brought him two red cards and nine yellow in 43 games in English football.

 

Yet, the Serbian is not quite what he seems. When he speaks, his voice is gentle. He is polite, shy, initially reluctant to make eye contact, but when he does, they sparkle, not with aggression, but with mischief. The menace disappears with the smile that follows his suggestion of an alternative career path.

 

It has been Mitrovic’s untendered passion on the pitch, the raw emotion that carries him through every game, his volatility and unpredictability, as well as his goals, that have made him popular with Newcastle United supporters. They love him on Tyneside and he loves them.

 

Then again, when he was a child growing up in a small town on the outskirts of Belgrade, he believed he was one of them. He has always belonged in black and white stripes.

 

“I’ve been happy from the start at Newcastle,” said Mitrovic, who is likely to start against Preston North End on Saturday after scoring twice in the 6-0 League Cup win against the same opponents on Tuesday. “It has been my favourite club ever since I was small boy in Serbia. I have followed Newcastle my whole life. I had two Newcastle shirts when I was little. It was unusual, most people choose a team like Manchester United or Barcelona, but for me, it has always been Newcastle.

 

“They played against Partizan Belgrade [in the Champions League] when I was small. I don’t know, there was something here I really liked. It was the passion, the relationship between the fans and the players.

 

“You could feel it on the TV, you could see it was something different. Even when big clubs came here, they were afraid of this crowd. I was a Partizan fan and they play in the same colours, black and white stripes. I fell in love with them then. I loved the passion. Of course, I’m happy to be here. It feels like I have come home. This is my home. Newcastle are my club, my team. They are like Partizan to me.

 

“It is really amazing to be here in England and have so much love. It makes me feel so grateful, it is amazing. I hope I will be here for the next 10 or 15 years.

 

“I will spend my entire career here, no problem. As long as they want me, I will be here. I’m happy, my family is happy, my son, Luka, is happy growing up here. He will grow up a Geordie.”

 

Others have said similar things and left at the first opportunity. But that is not Mitrovic’s style. His is the Serbian way. “At all big clubs there is pressure,” he explained. “They all want to win and expect to win. But the best thing here is you don’t have to win every game for the fans to love you. You just have to give everything, to fight to the end.

 

“That’s the Serbian way. That’s the way we approach things, especially in sport. We are a small country, but if we want something, we will fight for it. It’s maybe part of the history of the country, it’s just our mentality. We are small but strong. I think Newcastle fans respect that. I’m not normal on the pitch, but away from it, I am a family guy. I do normal things, the same things you do. On the pitch, something changes. Even when I play my brother at Fifa, I get so angry, I want to kick him when I lose. It’s just something in me, when I play the game, I want to win. Everything to win the game. I’ve always been like that, since I first started playing football.”

 

A £12 million signing from Anderlecht in the summer of 2015, Mitrovic suffered relegation in his first season as a Newcastle player. This year, under Rafael Benítez, he has lost his place in the starting line-up to the prolific Dwight Gayle. It could cause problems. He has not always been easy to manage.

 

“My father said I would be a criminal or a kick boxer,” he replied, after a long pause, when asked what he would be doing without football. “I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t play football. Maybe something where I can use my adrenalin. Maybe something like boxing. I had a lot of energy when I was a child. I was difficult for my parents. I can see me in my boy now as well. I know how hard it must have been for my parents. My mum always said ‘You will see’, and now I see it.”

 

Despite not playing as much as he would like, Mitrovic has been surprisingly patient. He has matured under Benítez, without losing the fire that rages inside him. “Maybe last season I played more, but we are in good shape,” he explained. “We have very good team spirit and we are winning lots. I have to wait for my chance and when I get my chance I have to show people I can score goals and I know how to play.

 

“I listen to what the manager has to say. He’s a big name and a big coach and you can learn a lot from him. You can learn a lot even if you don’t play. I’m only 22, I have a long way to go in my career.

 

“We had a team that should have done much better things last season, it was a really disappointing season, not just for me, but the fans especially. It’s a big club, a huge club that should be playing in the Champions League and that is hopefully what we strive for again next year.”

[Wallace]

http://www.shieldsgazette.com/sport/football/newcastle-united/aleksandar-mitrovic-set-for-championship-chance-at-newcastle-after-a-ticking-off-from-rafa-benitez-1-8207467?

 

Aleksandar Mitrovic set for Championship chance at Newcastle – after a ticking off from Rafa Benitez

 

22:30 Friday 28 October 2016

 

 

Aleksandar Mitrovic’s ready to return to the Championship fray – after a ticking off from Rafa Benitez.

 

Dwight Gayle is set to miss this afternoon’s game against Preston North End with a hamstring problem.

 

And Mitrovic – who scored two goals in Wednesday night’s 6-0 win over Simon Grayson’s side in the EFL Cup – is on standby to make only his second league start of the season at Deepdale.

 

United manager Benitez – whose side leads the Championship by three points – has repeatedly told the striker, second-choice behind 11-goal leading scorer Gayle, to be patient this season.

 

“Our message was very clear,” said Benitez, who will be without midfielder Jack Colback for the Preston game.

 

“We will have suspensions and injuries. You see Colback now from the challenge the other day.

 

“You need a good squad and everybody has to be working. That’s the reason why we were sending the same message. We knew this could happen.”

 

Mitrovic – whose only previous league start came in Newcastle’s 6-0 win over Queens Park Rangers last month – was booked for taking his shirt of to celebrate his second goal in the cup game against Preston.

 

And the 22-year-old, looking to score a hat-trick, also tried to take the ball off designated penalty taker Matt Ritchie late in the game.

 

Asked about the yellow card he got for taking off his jersey, Bentiez said: “It’s a silly thing to do as you don’t need to do it.”

 

Benitez also felt challenging Ritchie over the penalty made “no sense”.

 

Benitez said: “This one has been a conversation with the whole team, because these are things that are important for the rest of the team too.

 

“To be booked for this makes no sense. They need to know that arguing to take a penalty when we have already decided on a penalty taker makes no sense.”

 

Benitez has been helping Mitrovic – who was sent off twice last season – “manage his temper”.

 

“Mitro, in terms of working, is working very hard,” said Benitez. “In terms of his mentality, he’s a young player. He’s very emotional. It’s a question of time.

 

“When I came last year I had two or three conversations with him, trying to manage him a little bit.

 

“He’s getting better. The other day he was so excited. You can see it’s very positive.

 

“He’s celebrating the goals with his team-mates when he’s on the bench.

 

“There are a lot of positives, but he has to manage his temper a little bit. That is the challenge.” The Ultimate 'perfe

 

[Guest Howaythetoon]

Despite my criticism of him as a player he has a fantastic attitude it seems and is a very passionate guy which I can really relate to. Ideally he will make it big here, and I hope he does, but ability wise, he has a long way to go and I just can't see him showing that enough along with the kind of discipline Rafa looks for in a player, for him to be a genuine success here. I feel he will be to us what Ketsbaia is rather than say Solano or Robert.