Aleksandar Mitrović

[Thomson Mouse]

It might not be totally the players 'fault', but they're a big part of the problem

[geordiesteve710]

From what I've seen, there's nothing there to suggest he doesn't want to be here or he doesn't give a s***. He puts his fair share of defensive work in but he isn't mobile enough to press centre backs very well.

 

In regards to his body language and his shrugging, it's more through frustration of service. If he misses a chance, you can see he's hurt by it. If Costa isn't getting the pass or makes a mistake, you see him start stropping.

 

Mitrovic is being judged here solely on goals rather than his overall performances, which is a bit of a shame. All the pressure shouldn't be focused on him being the 15-20 goal man, but fans for some reason have looked at his price tag and expect that. We've got a very talented young striker on our books who should be getting the utmost support and backing, yet our own fans are ridiculing him. It's wrong, very wrong.

Were you at the match yesterday? Miscontrolled a ball early on and that was it from open play, head went down, didn't want to chase anything, didn't look particularly interested full stop. I wouldn't blame him for being demotivated at the club, but giving up isn't going to help. The body language thing is just as bad when Costa does it, and tbf he gets grief off Chelsea fans/media.

 

I'm not in favour of ridiculing him, but I do expect him to apply himself properly and look like he's trying- moreso in light of the fact he hasn't scored many goals- and if he doesn't it's worthy of criticism regardless of nationality. Doesn't mean I'm hanging around to flick Vs at him after the match either mind

[BrettNUFC]

No, I wasn't there yesterday. I was just talking in general as its been mentioned before in this thread about his attitude. I just think that's in his game/persona. Don't think it's because he doesn't care or doesn't want to be here or any of that. More disappointment in himself along with frustration with his team mates at lack of service. Plenty of players around who have a similar mentality. I can see where you're coming from because the actions you've mentioned are things I've seen him do myself previously. I just don't think it's lack of desire to win or something that should be scrutinised so badly.

[triggs]

He's brave when going in for challenges he has no chance of winning. Most of his service is crap but he's definitely missed some guilt edged chance over the last few weeks.

 

Nowhere near as bad as some people are making out. Some players need time to adapt, especially younger players who haven't played in a league as competitive and physical as the PL.

 

People are crying out for a striker but for me it's everywhere else that needs addressing first. Got to get a LB who is capable of passing the ball, the entire midfield needs replacing (except perhaps Gini who needs playing in a position he's suited to).

 

People who want, make movement for and are capable of passing the ball in the centre are the biggest thing holding back the performance of the team currently. The lack of goals hurt of course, but if we were making good chances every week consistently, the odd guilt edged chance would be a side note, not the entire story.

We're creating chances and defending alright recently, we need someone to score goals more than anything else

[Lush Vlad]

I haven't seen the Watford highlights, where it sounded like we did create a lot.  But I still don't think we're creating s*** loads, in general. 

 

Villa - we should have had been 2 up by the time they scored, but we weren't carving them apart.  Went to s*** after Ayew scored and this is against the worst team in the league, at home.

Everton - awful start to the game, dug in pretty well and made a scrap of it.  I remember a couple of chances, one being the Mitrovic sitter.  But not much else?

WBA - Wijnaldum early on, Mitro should have had a pen and Dummett hit the bar from a corner.  They had a lot more of the play and the better chances, if memory serves.

Arsenal - Wijnaldum header was a half chance, ball falls to him due to a scuffed clearance and then he should have buried the 1 on 1.  Mitro had that knee over the bar and then there were some other headers and bits and pieces.  Not like we're missing 3-4 great chances a game.

 

I think when you look at it from a neutral's POV.  Bar the Arsenal game, I'm sure the opposition fans, will be saying similar to us.  Other teams are creating just as much as us, if not more. 

 

Players like Mitrovic get one decent chance per game and if he misses, it's far more noticeable.  I know it's hypothetical and he's not that good.  But if he was playing for a team like Arsenal, he'd be getting on average, like 3-4 chances a game and chances to redeem himself if he missed early on.  Maybe he'd still miss a load, who knows?

 

I honestly think, we've become so used to s*** football.  That creating a few chances per game, is seen as something positive.  It's f***ing awful, like.  We just don't create decent chances on a regular basis, or have anyone in our team, that can unlock a defence.  We basically rely on Sissoko's power and pace to just steamroll through the opposition, then hope someone gets on the end of one of his cut backs.  That's our gameplan?

 

Even in the 5th placed season.  We often created f*** all.  We were just pretty solid and had spells of unbelievable form from Ba and Cisse.  Plus we had the likes of Cabaye and HBA.  Even Best chipped in with some decent goals to bag us some points.  Our goal dif was still pretty low all year.

 

Not sure where I'm going with this TBH?!   Basically, unless they're s*** hot.  I don't think signing a new striker is suddenly going to turn our form around.  It goes much deeper than that.  All that said, I wouldn't mind Remy.  I just think the midfield is just as much, if not more of a problem and I don't have a great deal of confidence in the defence.  We always seem to concede soft goals. 

 

So in summary, we're shit all over 

[Jaehyun]

I haven't seen the Watford highlights, where it sounded like we did create a lot.  But I still don't think we're creating s*** loads, in general. 

 

Villa - we should have had been 2 up by the time they scored, but we weren't carving them apart.  Went to s*** after Ayew scored and this is against the worst team in the league, at home.

Everton - awful start to the game, dug in pretty well and made a scrap of it.  I remember a couple of chances, one being the Mitrovic sitter.  But not much else?

WBA - Wijnaldum early on, Mitro should have had a pen and Dummett hit the bar from a corner.  They had a lot more of the play and the better chances, if memory serves.

Arsenal - Wijnaldum header was a half chance, ball falls to him due to a scuffed clearance and then he should have buried the 1 on 1.  Mitro had that knee over the bar and then there were some other headers and bits and pieces.  Not like we're missing 3-4 great chances a game.

 

I think when you look at it from a neutral's POV.  Bar the Arsenal game, I'm sure the opposition fans, will be saying similar to us.  Other teams are creating just as much as us, if not more. 

 

Players like Mitrovic get one decent chance per game and if he misses, it's far more noticeable.  I know it's hypothetical and he's not that good.  But if he was playing for a team like Arsenal, he'd be getting on average, like 3-4 chances a game and chances to redeem himself if he missed early on.  Maybe he'd still miss a load, who knows?

 

I honestly think, we've become so used to s*** football.  That creating a few chances per game, is seen as something positive.  It's f***ing awful, like.  We just don't create decent chances on a regular basis, or have anyone in our team, that can unlock a defence.  We basically rely on Sissoko's power and pace to just steamroll through the opposition, then hope someone gets on the end of one of his cut backs.  That's our gameplan?

 

Even in the 5th placed season.  We often created f*** all.  We were just pretty solid and had spells of unbelievable form from Ba and Cisse.  Plus we had the likes of Cabaye and HBA.  Even Best chipped in with some decent goals to bag us some points.  Our goal dif was still pretty low all year.

 

Not sure where I'm going with this TBH?!   Basically, unless they're s*** hot.  I don't think signing a new striker is suddenly going to turn our form around.  It goes much deeper than that.  All that said, I wouldn't mind Remy.  I just think the midfield is just as much, if not more of a problem and I don't have a great deal of confidence in the defence.  We always seem to concede soft goals. 

 

So in summary, we're shit all over 

Agreed, it's mentally much more difficult to score that one opportunity you get a game, after being starved of service for 89 minutes. No player is able to maintain full concentration for 90 minutes. When a team has rhythm and a structured attack strikers know when to focus and when to prepare for the next attack. Our chances come in odd places after producing nothing. Very harsh on Mitro to criticise him for missing the singular chance he gets.

[xLiaaamx]

I certainly hope we keep him no matter what happens. Definitely enough there to keep trying with

[Aiston]

Very good prospect, but right now we need a striker that can hit a barn door in a barn of barn doors, Mitro simply cannot.

[SEMTEX]

I'd prefer to persist with him than loan in someone like Remy. What's the point in that? We let another prospect go to shit for short term gain? Meh.

[triggs]

I'd prefer to persist with him than loan in someone like Remy. What's the point in that? We let another prospect go to shit for short term gain? Meh.

You could ruin a young player's confidence even more by continually playing him and putting all the pressure on him when he's playing poorly. Six months where he isn't a nailed on starter isn't going to ruin him and he could also learn from watching Remy's movement off the ball

[SEMTEX]

Find it difficult to imagine 6 months starting could ever be worse than 6 months not playing. But either way, I have no interest in loaning players. Shouldn't even be allowed as far as I'm concerned, and it'll do nothing for us in the long run. Never mind loaning a player we've already loaned (and failed to sign) once.

[triggs]

Find it difficult to imagine 6 months starting could ever be worse than 6 months not playing. But either way, I have no interest in loaning players. Shouldn't even be allowed as far as I'm concerned, and it'll do nothing for us in the long run. Never mind loaning a player we've already loaned (and failed to sign) once.

If Mitrovic was totally frozen out of the team I'd probably agree with your first point but you would hope that he'd still come on in games and get chances to impress. Your point also doesn't take into account that we will probably get relegated if we don't get someone who can score goals

[SEMTEX]

That's fair enough, as long as he was involved a decent amount.

 

But I don't really care if we get relegated or not, so that doesn't concern me much. I'm far more interested in seeing us play our younger prospects and see if they come good than having us be rescued by rando loanees.

[loki679]

That's fair enough, as long as he was involved a decent amount.

 

But I don't really care if we get relegated or not, so that doesn't concern me much. I'm far more interested in seeing us play our younger prospects and see if they come good than having us be rescued by rando loanees.

 

 

If you go down that road it's also quite easy to get into the situation Sunderland found themselves in too  where every year you find yourself needing to replace three or four loanees from your first XI who have gone back to their club at the end of the season.

[Optimistic Nut]

For us though it'd surely just be bridging the gap until Austin becomes available on a free? It's not like Sunderland where we rely on it. How many players have we loaned in the Premier League since promotion? Ireland, De Jong & Remy?

[Wallsendmag]

I'd prefer to persist with him than loan in someone like Remy. What's the point in that? We let another prospect go to s*** for short term gain? Meh.

 

We haven't got time to persist with a striker who can't score and constantly passes up on the chances he does get. Short term gain is what we need right now, football is a short term sport with the average manager being in his position 18 months, not all this 8 year contract rubbish for stability.

 

If Remy can come in and do what he did last time it can only be a good thing. It'll also take some of the pressure off Mitrovic as he wont be expected to be our main source of goals and we can use him more sparingly. I'm not saying go down the mackem route of borrowing half a team but the odd loan signing here and there, under the right circumstances can be hugely beneficial.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I want to persist with him, but I also want to stay up. If we could get Remy we would be dense not to do it.

[Aiston]

Our short term is massively more important than our long term right now.

[The College Dropout]

Remy is a no brainer.

 

 

Aleksandar has a worrying trait and combination of missing out right sitters and not having great movement in the box. Needs time to develop but we need goals now. Should get Remy in and have Mitro as his back up for at least 6 months.

[Taylor Swift]

He has pretty damn good movement in the box, he's always on the end of crosses when they are rarely delivered in. He'll score. I'm not worried.

[The College Dropout]

Nah he doesn't. He's reactive, on his heels. Doesn't make a near post or back post move - often right bam between CB's.

[The College Dropout]

As much stick as i've given him through the years. Cisse's mmovement in the box when not offside is lightyears ahead.

[Hughesy]

I think Mitrovic's movement is quite good and he is able to fashion a bit of space for himself in the box pretty well, it's more the fact that he never seems to get his body position sorted or his feet in the right place when a cross comes in.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

He's probably so shocked he freezes.

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I think we need a proven goalscorer (at this level) to lead the line and make us safe this season, I'd absolutely not be against a loan for Remy to do that.

 

Anyone even contemplating writing Mitrovic off needs their head checking, he'll become a cult hero here, I'm certain of it.