Allan Saint-Maximin (now playing for Al-Ahli)

[The Butcher]

Do wonder what the point in all the bandages are? Both wrists and knees. Looks well daft. 

[SUPERTOON]

34 minutes ago, Lush Vlad said:

Based on his cameo last night, I'd start him.  He never used to work off the bench, but he changed it in our favour, I thought.  

I’d start him simply to get Joelinton back in the middle.

[NWMag]

I too thought he was good last night. Still wanted to take people on but certainly is more focused on passing the ball, set up a chance for Bruno and could have had a number of assists really. 

[Wallsendmag]

Thought he did very well when he came on and would have had an assist to his name if it wasn't for Wood's dreadful miss at the end. I'm sure ASM alluded to Wood playing so much in Wilsons absence last season as a reason for his own poor assist statistics but can't find a direct quote. Something just sticks in my head about it.

[Manxst]

9 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

Thought he did very well when he came on and would have had an assist to his name if it wasn't for Wood's dreadful miss at the end. I'm sure ASM alluded to Wood playing so much in Wilsons absence last season as a reason for his own poor assist statistics but can't find a direct quote. Something just sticks in my head about it.

‘The day I get a team-mate who is able to convert the chances I create, I will have 10 to 15 successful assists every season,’ Saint-Maximin told French publication So Foot. ‘That will change people’s minds.’

‘Those who have played alongside me know full well that when it comes to pure quality, I have no cause to be jealous of [someone like] Sadio Mane. But the difference between these great players and me is that they show a lot of things on the pitch.’

[Wallsendmag]

1 minute ago, Manxst said:

‘The day I get a team-mate who is able to convert the chances I create, I will have 10 to 15 successful assists every season,’ Saint-Maximin told French publication So Foot. ‘That will change people’s minds.’

‘Those who have played alongside me know full well that when it comes to pure quality, I have no cause to be jealous of [someone like] Sadio Mane. But the difference between these great players and me is that they show a lot of things on the pitch.’

 

Cheers mate, that's the one.

[HawK]

Looked great last night. The team needs to do better at moving off the ball when he has it, though. A lot tend to just stand and watch to see what he does rather than making runs, reminds me a bit how the team was when Hatem ran with it. Difference being now that I'm sure Howe will be in Maxi's ear telling him to find an open man, and I can see him looking for the pass much more often last night. The team needs to realise this and do their bit too. For all our possession, we don't do attacking movement well when we're trying to break a team down.

[Shak]

Aye, definitely excited to see more of him with Wilson or Isak as the CF instead of Wood.

 

When he does get his head up he plays some tasty little passes at times.

[JonBez comesock]

1 hour ago, The Butcher said:

Do wonder what the point in all the bandages are? Both wrists and knees. Looks well daft. 

Looks cool inniiitttt

[Lush Vlad]

2 hours ago, Wallsendmag said:

Thought he did very well when he came on and would have had an assist to his name if it wasn't for Wood's dreadful miss at the end. I'm sure ASM alluded to Wood playing so much in Wilsons absence last season as a reason for his own poor assist statistics but can't find a direct quote. Something just sticks in my head about it.

Whistle went ages before that for handball. Don’t think Wood realised, mind  

[TRon]

3 hours ago, SUPERTOON said:

I’d start him simply to get Joelinton back in the middle.

 

I thought Joelinton was one of our best players last night, but it was more general contribution than as a specialist wide man, so I get where you are coming from.

[Minhosa]

His cameo last night was played out pretty much right in front of me/where I sit.

 

He impacted the game and made a positive contribution but, even with that said, he still frustrated me a bit;

 

1) He does not contribute to the team when we are out of possession at all. Literally doesn't partake in the press at all so the approach is entirely lopsided when he's on the pitch.

 

2) For some reason he stands at least 15-20 yards deeper than our focal point up top (be that Wood or Wilson) and, when he then gets possession he then has to beat his man and normally a covering midfielder from the opposition. If he was further up the pitch, he'd literally be one on one and closer to the goal/box. It's particularly frustrating when, even though he's too deep, he still does not contribute defensively so we can't even offset that against it - see point 1 above.

 

3) I feel he drops deeper to enable him to cut inside which he tends to do rather than get past their full back and whip a ball in so it's almost like he's playing for him, and what he wants to do, rather than the good of the team.

 

He can get away with all of the above when he has his, once a month, worldies but I still think he's on borrowed time as he's more an individual than a team player and he's not suited to how we now function without the ball.

[Minhosa]

Based on the above, I'd not start him at Leicester btw. In this system, he's an impact player from now (mainly when the opposition are tired) for me.

 

He's now a walking curveball/wildcard option and I'm not convinced he'll ever be coachable to the extent you can fully rely on him performing a role in a set system in the way you can a Joelinton or Willock.

[gbandit]

I agree that he drops too deep sometimes, and it’s especially frustrating when a team like Bournemouth quickly scramble to get 11 men behind the ball like they did last night. It’s fine to drop deeper if he’s not got so many men to beat. Saying that, I thought he played well yesterday and had one lovely pass that he cut back that was almost perfect. I think he’s getting better at those passes, it’s a really simple part of his game which he should be getting right 7/8 times out of 10 given the space he creates but in the past he’s messed the vast majority of these passes up by not thinking about making the pass or messing up on the weighting of it because it’s not a natural part of his game. Hopefully Eddie can keep bringing him on 

[joeyt]

4 hours ago, Wallsendmag said:

Thought he did very well when he came on and would have had an assist to his name if it wasn't for Wood's dreadful miss at the end. I'm sure ASM alluded to Wood playing so much in Wilsons absence last season as a reason for his own poor assist statistics but can't find a direct quote. Something just sticks in my head about it.

 

Wood's goal wouldn't have counted the whistle had already gone

[Minhosa]

6 minutes ago, gbandit said:

I agree that he drops too deep sometimes, and it’s especially frustrating when a team like Bournemouth quickly scramble to get 11 men behind the ball like they did last night. It’s fine to drop deeper if he’s not got so many men to beat. Saying that, I thought he played well yesterday and had one lovely pass that he cut back that was almost perfect. I think he’s getting better at those passes, it’s a really simple part of his game which he should be getting right 7/8 times out of 10 given the space he creates but in the past he’s messed the vast majority of these passes up by not thinking about making the pass or messing up on the weighting of it because it’s not a natural part of his game. Hopefully Eddie can keep bringing him on 

He certainly impacted the game. No doubt about it but it was a game you'd be worried about not impacting if you were him because they offered fuck all going forwards.

 

If you're playing him against an attacking full back, we'd have had real issues because he simply won't press or track his man.

 

The biggest impact Howe has had on him, imho, is that he's using the simple pass a bit more and I think that's made him even more unpredictable for defenders. That's been the biggest difference in him I've seen.

 

He's got a role and when he has his one great game a month he makes people like me look stupid but I think Howe would value a consistent 'system' man more. Maybe not, just my gut feel looking from the outside in.

 

 

Edited December 21, 2022 by Minhosa

[Infatuation Junkie]

Last night I was spitting feathers at his lack of pressing. He had 2 chances in a row behind the player with the ball and stopped a few feet away from them and they went on and pushed into our box. 
 

I know the sun shines out of his arse. I get it. But I really think he is the laziest bastard in the squad now.

 

double bone idle

[BonesJones]

21 minutes ago, Infatuation Junkie said:

Last night I was spitting feathers at his lack of pressing. He had 2 chances in a row behind the player with the ball and stopped a few feet away from them and they went on and pushed into our box. 
 

I know the sun shines out of his arse. I get it. But I really think he is the laziest bastard in the squad now.

 

double bone idle

100%. I kept my eyes on him off the ball after he made a pass. The guy just stands still pretty much, no runs in behind, nothing.

 

Love it when he pulls out some magic of course and very exciting on the ball, but so so lazy off it.

 

Still think he should start when fit though for the advantage of Joe back as centre mid, and the effect he has on the other team with people doubling up on him which leaves space on our dominant right side!

[Infatuation Junkie]

20 minutes ago, BonesJones said:

100%. I kept my eyes on him off the ball after he made a pass. The guy just stands still pretty much, no runs in behind, nothing.

 

Love it when he pulls out some magic of course and very exciting on the ball, but so so lazy off it.

 

Still think he should start when fit though for the advantage of Joe back as centre mid, and the effect he has on the other team with people doubling up on him which leaves space on our dominant right side!

The guy is a total game changer.

 

when he has the ball.

 

 

But when everyone is giving balls n all. It seems disrespectful to not keep up the same work ethic. He isn’t the best player in the team. We would still do well without him. So why doesn’t he just play for the shirt and the city like the rest of them.

[gbandit]

Eddie’s main thing is wanting to work with players who are open to being coached and developing under him. We’ll very quickly know whether he’s part of our long term plans as he’ll be off in the summer if Eddie doesn’t think he can buy into what the whole team are doing. I think he’s got it in him and I love his game but getting him to play for the team consistently, make the right decisions but not completely lose his flair and individual brilliance is going to be a massive coaching challenge and one which won’t work if ASM isn’t up for it 

[Mazzy]

Three League games so far this season that could've ended very differently if ASM had been playing.

 

Palace 0-0

Bournemouth 1-1

Man Utd 0-0

 

Not saying we'd have won all three with him playing, but just an extra 2 points from any of them would've been huge.

[ExiledGeordie]

9 hours ago, gbandit said:

Eddie’s main thing is wanting to work with players who are open to being coached and developing under him. We’ll very quickly know whether he’s part of our long term plans as he’ll be off in the summer if Eddie doesn’t think he can buy into what the whole team are doing. I think he’s got it in him and I love his game but getting him to play for the team consistently, make the right decisions but not completely lose his flair and individual brilliance is going to be a massive coaching challenge and one which won’t work if ASM isn’t up for it 

Yeah you can see how useful he can be at home against teams playing with a low block and he can also pull something out of his arse to win any game. Consistency, staying fit and as you’ve pointed out above whether he can truly adapt to how Howe wants us to play with the press is key. I personally think we’ll bring players in who fit the Howe mould more and I think ASM could well be off next summer but I’m intrigued to see what happens from now til the end of the season.

 

Isak could be fly in the ointment for ASM. 

 

 

Edited December 22, 2022 by ExiledGeordie

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Noticed that he had a very good relationship with Bruno, they seemed to enjoy exchanging cheeky little passes. 

[Rich]

He'll only pass to Willock, Bruno, or Wilson willingly

[TRon]

15 hours ago, Infatuation Junkie said:

Last night I was spitting feathers at his lack of pressing. He had 2 chances in a row behind the player with the ball and stopped a few feet away from them and they went on and pushed into our box. 
 

I know the sun shines out of his arse. I get it. But I really think he is the laziest bastard in the squad now.

 

double bone idle

 

His patchy fitness record will also count against him. Two pretty glaring drawbacks no matter how good a player he can look when he's on song.