Aleksandar Mitrović

[themanupstairs]

It's not like next season will be easy. Goal scoring chances aren't likely to be as frequent. We need people who can take chances. If we need a goal I can't see how Mitro would be seen as a likely source given his record.

 

This is the crux for me. I reckon with Mitro it's a lot more about confidence and expectations he has from himself rather than lack of finishing instinct or "being shit". He's a decent enough footballer with decent enough awareness and movement, but his lack of mobility and his psychological mindframe when not getting significant game time, makes him less than an ideal impact sub or understudy to a main striker.

 

I would absolutely love for Mitrovic to be a screaming success at NUFC, but if he doesn't fit Rafa's blueprint for a lone striker then being so young in his career, he shouldn't stay here only to play the role of a plan B or C target man. He's technically better than a "big lump", and should be playing regularly at a level and in a system that gets the best out of him.

[mrmojorisin75]

still 22, bloody hell thought he was older like...ship murphy and keep mitro as 3rd choice (assuming rafa gets to buy a top quality forward)

 

that'd be a decent 3 to go into the campaign with imo

[Ikon]

still 22, bloody hell thought he was older like...ship murphy and keep mitro as 3rd choice (assuming rafa gets to buy a top quality forward)

 

that'd be a decent 3 to go into the campaign with imo

 

This is what I'd do as well Not saying that he's good enough to be 1st or 2nd choice striker for us, but sometimes it feels like people forget his age and that he has tons of time to change and develop as a player, whether that's here or somewhere else time will tell. There's so many players around the world that have scored a lot of goals despite failing to do so when when they were just over 20.

 

I wouldn't sell him as I don't think we'd get much for him anyway, I think a loan somewhere would be good for everyone concerned. That would mean that we'd have to sign two quality strikers instead which I can't see.

[r0cafella]

still 22, bloody hell thought he was older like...ship murphy and keep mitro as 3rd choice (assuming rafa gets to buy a top quality forward)

 

that'd be a decent 3 to go into the campaign with imo

Problem is he won't improve if he doesn't get games and we can't afford to give him much game time next season.

[mrmojorisin75]

still 22, bloody hell thought he was older like...ship murphy and keep mitro as 3rd choice (assuming rafa gets to buy a top quality forward)

 

that'd be a decent 3 to go into the campaign with imo

Problem is he won't improve if he doesn't get games and we can't afford to give him much game time next season.

 

don't necessarily think that's true, couple of cup runs we'll have plenty of games...if we inject some pace into the side mitro might develop into a good all round target man/fulcrum for the team as a plan b, which we'll need

 

what's the alternative considering the amount of players we need to ship/sign in the summer, on top of all that try and get rid of mitro for much less than we paid then sign someone else to play the exact same role in the squad only hope we get someone good enough to just waltz in and start banging goals in?

 

doesn't seem a great option to me

[Guest]

still 22, bloody hell thought he was older like...ship murphy and keep mitro as 3rd choice (assuming rafa gets to buy a top quality forward)

 

that'd be a decent 3 to go into the campaign with imo

Problem is he won't improve if he doesn't get games and we can't afford to give him much game time next season.

 

don't necessarily think that's true, couple of cup runs we'll have plenty of games...if we inject some pace into the side mitro might develop into a good all round target man/fulcrum for the team as a plan b, which we'll need

 

what's the alternative considering the amount of players we need to ship/sign in the summer, on top of all that try and get rid of mitro for much less than we paid then sign someone else to play the exact same role in the squad only hope we get someone good enough to just waltz in and start banging goals in?

 

doesn't seem a great option to me

 

Along those lines, I wonder how many of Perez's goals have came in the 10 starts Mitrovic has made.

 

Just looked, Perez has 5 in 10 when partnering Mitrovic. Suggests they've been a solid partnership when you throw in Mitro's 4 goals and 5 assists in that time.

[Newcastle Fan]

He never really looked like scoring for us lately, even though he's having no problem doing that at the international level.

[Ikon]

He never really looked like scoring for us lately, even though he's having no problem doing that at the international level.

 

I think he's putting too much pressure on himself here, so desperate to succeed that it just isn't working out for him.

[Jesse Pinkman]

To be fair, forget about his passion, his hold play is utterly insane, you can really tell when he's on the pitch as the 2 CBs are being dragged all over the place. I think that skill to have in our repotoire next season will be important.

 

I'd honestly keep him as 3rd choice and plan B, he's proven he can come on for 30 mins or so and cause chaos, left, right and centre (see the Norwich game).

 

If he can just add goals, then we would have a great striker on our hands. I actually believe he can, you can tell he's lost confidence in front of goal by his body langauage after each shot. He needs to recoup mentally over the season break and hopefully come back mentally stronger (if he isn't sold).

[themanupstairs]

He never really looked like scoring for us lately, even though he's having no problem doing that at the international level.

 

I think he's putting too much pressure on himself here, so desperate to succeed that it just isn't working out for him.

 

No doubt in my mind that this is the issue and not that he can't score goals due to lack of footballing ability. The mental side of the game is part of a player's overall ability though, and with Benitez as our manager, if he can't get Mitrovic to sort that side of his game out, then I don't believe anyone can. Might be a case of wrong club wrong time for him sadly.

 

 

[themanupstairs]

To be fair, forget about his passion, his hold play is utterly insane, you can really tell when he's on the pitch as the 2 CBs are being dragged all over the place. I think that skill to have in our repotoire next season will be important.

 

I'd honestly keep him as 3rd choice and plan B, he's proven he can come on for 30 mins or so and cause chaos, left, right and centre (see the Norwich game).

 

If he can just add goals, then we would have a great striker on our hands. I actually believe he can, you can tell he's lost confidence in front of goal by his body langauage after each shot. He needs to recoup mentally over the season break and hopefully come back mentally stronger (if he isn't sold).

 

If we can add plenty goals to the team from midfield next season, namely from a number 10 and two wingers (assuming Rafa will continue to play the same way), then that idea might work. If we're heavily reliant on a lone striker to score goals, then it won't.

[Dave]

To be fair, forget about his passion, his hold play is utterly insane, you can really tell when he's on the pitch as the 2 CBs are being dragged all over the place. I think that skill to have in our repotoire next season will be important.

 

I'd honestly keep him as 3rd choice and plan B, he's proven he can come on for 30 mins or so and cause chaos, left, right and centre (see the Norwich game).

 

If he can just add goals, then we would have a great striker on our hands. I actually believe he can, you can tell he's lost confidence in front of goal by his body langauage after each shot. He needs to recoup mentally over the season break and hopefully come back mentally stronger (if he isn't sold).

Howay man, some mental hyperbole here.

[Sho Time]

I agree that his touch and awareness of the play around him is extremely good and he's very intelligent with his play on the pitch (when he isn't being a liability and getting sent off anyway!).

 

I'd like to keep him as he think he could still play a role here, especially if we're chasing a game and require 2 strikers on. His link up play with Ayoze is very good and I'd like to see how he'd do in a game with Gayle too.

 

That being said, you can't ignore how poor his finishing is - for all his composure and intelligence in his hold up play, he just loses it all and gets a massive rush of blood when it comes to shooting on goal. I'd love to see him succeed here but I really don't think it's likely unfortunately.

[LoveItIfWeBeatU]

I'm in the "he's shit" camp because he's a striker who doesn't score goals. I think his supporters are haunted by the memory of Jon Dahl Tomasson and think Mitro will turn out to have a similar career.

 

I don't get the "he just needs a goal for his confidence" theory as even when he has scored he has still missed sitters galore. I was at the cup game against Preston when he scored 2. He should have scored at least 2 more in that game.

 

He may come good one day but as Rafa plays one striker I want that to be a goal scorer. I don't get the praise he gets for knock downs to others. His job is goal scoring not trying to feed midfielders.

 

If NUFC can't get a good fee for him I'd loan him out to a poor league where he can hopefully score a few goals.

[mrmojorisin75]

I'm in the "he's shit" camp because he's a striker who doesn't score goals. I think his supporters are haunted by the memory of Jon Dahl Tomasson and think Mitro will turn out to have a similar career.

 

I don't get the "he just needs a goal for his confidence" theory as even when he has scored he has still missed sitters galore. I was at the cup game against Preston when he scored 2. He should have scored at least 2 more in that game.

 

He may come good one day but as Rafa plays one striker I want that to be a goal scorer. I don't get the praise he gets for knock downs to others. His job is goal scoring not trying to feed midfielders.

 

If NUFC can't get a good fee for him I'd loan him out to a poor league where he can hopefully score a few goals.

 

so you presumably want to keep murphy then and have him as 3rd choice behind gayle + a new, better striker all after one spot?

[Mole_Toonfan]

Honestly his finishing isn't his biggest issue, it's his inability to get into positions to score goals. Take today for example, he really only had one chance of any note and it wasn't even that easy but it shows up more when it's the only chance you have.

 

Even the most clinical strikers will miss 3 or 4 chances in a game most of the time, but they get there enough times to stick away at least one and he doesn't.

 

 

 

Poor striking instincts and lack of finishing ability are pretty big handicaps to have for a centre forward like. We can't carry players in the premier next season, it got us relegated last time round.

 

Not saying it isn't, i'd obviously want a quality CF if we can get one.

 

Also to LoveitIfWeBeatU, no one is supporting him ffs Pretty much all of us realize he's massively disappointed and we'll likely move on to something better in the summer and rightly so.

 

No need to be so defensive.

[Guest neesy111]

Massive assumption by his supporters that he will want to stay as 3rd choice, which is very unlikely considering we only play 1 upfront.

[LoveItIfWeBeatU]

I'm in the "he's shit" camp because he's a striker who doesn't score goals. I think his supporters are haunted by the memory of Jon Dahl Tomasson and think Mitro will turn out to have a similar career.

 

I don't get the "he just needs a goal for his confidence" theory as even when he has scored he has still missed sitters galore. I was at the cup game against Preston when he scored 2. He should have scored at least 2 more in that game.

 

He may come good one day but as Rafa plays one striker I want that to be a goal scorer. I don't get the praise he gets for knock downs to others. His job is goal scoring not trying to feed midfielders.

 

If NUFC can't get a good fee for him I'd loan him out to a poor league where he can hopefully score a few goals.

 

so you presumably want to keep murphy then and have him as 3rd choice behind gayle + a new, better striker all after one spot?

Murphy has 1 year to go on his contract. I doubt he's on wages anywhere near what Mitro gets. Murphy could be our 3rd or 4th choice, in case of emergency throw the big guy on option. He has a better goals to minutes ratio than Mitro. He's also coming to the end of his career. Mitro isn't going to improve on our bench.

 

If we can sell Murphy and replace him with better then do so.

 

To Mole_Toonfan, loads of people defend him. "he just needs a goal then he'll go on a run", "Mitro to get the next goal", "his hold up play is amazing", "He's great in the air", etc. Just look back through this thread. I'm all for supporting our players and we all hope they turn out to be successes but some people have infinite patience.

[Guest Hog]

I think, as much as I love Mitro's attitude towards the club, I'd bring Arma back and have him and Murphy as 3rd and 4th choice strikers. We need someone else alongside Dwight though, someone proven in the Prem perhaps.

[LoveItIfWeBeatU]

Armstrong isn't good enough yet for the Premiership. He needs to go out on loan again. He's been mediocre in the Championship.

[Wallsendmag]

Armstrong isn't good enough yet for the Premiership. He needs to go out on loan again. He's been mediocre in the Championship.

 

Same as Mitrovic then, but on a fraction of the wage.

[Ikon]

Armstrong isn't good enough yet for the Premiership. He needs to go out on loan again. He's been mediocre in the Championship.

 

Same as Mitrovic then, but on a fraction of the wage.

 

Because Armstrong would bring as much to the team as Mitro in general, yeah right...

[mrmojorisin75]

I'm in the "he's shit" camp because he's a striker who doesn't score goals. I think his supporters are haunted by the memory of Jon Dahl Tomasson and think Mitro will turn out to have a similar career.

 

I don't get the "he just needs a goal for his confidence" theory as even when he has scored he has still missed sitters galore. I was at the cup game against Preston when he scored 2. He should have scored at least 2 more in that game.

 

He may come good one day but as Rafa plays one striker I want that to be a goal scorer. I don't get the praise he gets for knock downs to others. His job is goal scoring not trying to feed midfielders.

 

If NUFC can't get a good fee for him I'd loan him out to a poor league where he can hopefully score a few goals.

 

so you presumably want to keep murphy then and have him as 3rd choice behind gayle + a new, better striker all after one spot?

Murphy has 1 year to go on his contract. I doubt he's on wages anywhere near what Mitro gets. Murphy could be our 3rd or 4th choice, in case of emergency throw the big guy on option. He has a better goals to minutes ratio than Mitro. He's also coming to the end of his career. Mitro isn't going to improve on our bench.

 

If we can sell Murphy and replace him with better then do so.

 

To Mole_Toonfan, loads of people defend him. "he just needs a goal then he'll go on a run", "Mitro to get the next goal", "his hold up play is amazing", "He's great in the air", etc. Just look back through this thread. I'm all for supporting our players and we all hope they turn out to be successes but some people have infinite patience.

 

madness to keep murphy over mitro imo, he's scored a few in the champo but he'll not get a sniff in the PL imo

[Wallsendmag]

Armstrong isn't good enough yet for the Premiership. He needs to go out on loan again. He's been mediocre in the Championship.

 

Same as Mitrovic then, but on a fraction of the wage.

 

Because Armstrong would bring as much to the team as Mitro in general, yeah right...

 

I struggle to see what Mitrovic actually brings to the team. It certainly isn't goals which is a bit of a problem when he's the centre forward.

[Ikon]

Armstrong isn't good enough yet for the Premiership. He needs to go out on loan again. He's been mediocre in the Championship.

 

Same as Mitrovic then, but on a fraction of the wage.

 

Because Armstrong would bring as much to the team as Mitro in general, yeah right...

 

I struggle to see what Mitrovic actually brings to the team. It certainly isn't goals which is a bit of a problem when he's the centre forward.

 

Ok.