Allan Saint-Maximin (now playing for Fenerbahce, on loan from Al-Ahli)

[TRon]

23 minutes ago, LV said:

He gets double and tripled up on by the more savvy teams and that obviously nullifies him. 
 

They wouldn’t be able to do that if we had another similar threat on the opposite wing or up front. We just don’t have that yet so St Maximin gets the full attention.

 

I think we need to cut him some more slack until we upgrade the team a bit more. 
 

He could do with cutting out the throwing up his arms and having a paddy stuff though. Not a good look.

 

if he's getting two or three men marking him, surely that means there's space all over the rest of the pitch at that point since he's taken so many players out of position. Just imagine if he released the ball in time at that point, we'd be in a great position to hurt the opposition instead of losing the ball when he tries to beat the third man and score a wonder goal which would delight Bruce/Pardew in previous years.

[LV]

1 minute ago, TRon said:

 

if he's getting two or three men marking him, surely that means there's space all over the rest of the pitch at that point since he's taken so many players out of position. Just imagine if he released the ball in time at that point, we'd be in a great position to hurt the opposition instead of losing the ball when he tries to beat the third man and score a wonder goal which would delight Bruce/Pardew in previous years.

I just don’t think he gets a chance to get the ball off due to being surrounded 

 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

The men don’t need to follow him around, they’re able to close in from their normal positions because he holds onto the ball for a long time. 
 

Or he turns a double team into a triple team himself by running into another defender. 
 

That’s how it looks to me anyway. 
 

Also it’s very difficult for anyone to overlap him with confidence because of how he moves. 

 

 

Edited May 1, 2022 by AyeDubbleYoo

[TRon]

2 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

The men don’t need to follow him around, they’re able to close in from their normal positions because he holds onto the ball for a long time. 
 

Or he turns a double team into a triple team himself by running into another defender. 
 

That’s how it looks to me anyway. 

 

 

 

 

Precisely. He's a terrible team player.

[Fantail Breeze]

Thought he’s getting there, seemed better yesterday (and has done in recent weeks) at releasing the ball and passing.

[Groundhog63]

I think it's possible to rate him and hate him in the same breathe. Obvs has an abundance of ability but his decision making and, more often than not, execution of said decision is woeful.

As for the pantomime antics, he can get to fuck with that carry on. Said the same thing when Ritchie did it. 

[Klaus]

Judging him specifically against Liverpool yesterday is harsh. As soon as they lose possession they are all over you trying to get the ball back. They doubled up on ASM because they know the danger he can pose.

 

He is trying to pass the ball more and his decision making is improving, but he needs more quality around him in the final third. We are so static at times and even the odd time we do get in a decent position, we had only one person to aim at.

[St1pe]

38 minutes ago, Heron said:

Contradicting yourself a bit here.

 

Agree on the Everton game but whilst he may not be sulking  his body language doesn't exactly suggest he's particularly happy...

I just think he’s playing a bit shite and it’s probably been a knock to his confidence. He seems very in touch with the fan base and maybe some of the online criticism has got to him. 
 

I’m convinced with better attacking players a long side him he’ll be too quality. 

[TheInfiniteOdyssey]

His biggest errors yesterday weren’t down to being outnumbered by Liverpool defenders, there were a few occasions where we had a half-chance to counter and his first touch was woeful, killing our attack before we could threaten.

[Pata]

1 hour ago, The College Dropout said:

People compare ASM to Zaha but the level of output is on another level. 

 

If you exclude Zaha's penalties, he has six goals and one assist. ASM has 5 goals and 4 assists. Their expected goals+assists per 90 without penalties is exactly the same at 0.33.

[WillingtonMag]

2 hours ago, The College Dropout said:

People compare ASM to Zaha but the level of output is on another level. 

Be over the moon if we get Zaha tbh.

[Jaqen]

We are going to play differently and carry much more of a threat next season. That will give us a much better idea of what his level is really like. 

 

The whole attack is poor and disjointed. Doesn't really matter an awful lot which 3 you pick ATM they're all various shades of shite.

 

The others you can argue fairly have worked harder, pressed better and fit the current system more overall but ultimately none of them are good enough. The difference is Maxi has proved he's got more than enough talent and ability to be a really good player in this league. 

 

I'm fairly confident we'll see him performing well again next season.

 

 

 

 

[David Edgar]

Nobody is paying 50-70 million for this guy.

 

He's inconsistent and struggles to play a role in a system.  

[TRon]

1 hour ago, Fantail Breeze said:

Thought he’s getting there, seemed better yesterday (and has done in recent weeks) at releasing the ball and passing.

 

You must have been watching a different game yesterday then.

[Guest HTT II]

I don’t question his talent, it’s the whinging and failing to get back or get stuck back in that pisses me off. You see Shelvey now bursting a gut to get back or track his man and he’s slower than someone with an IQ of 50, but this tw@t thinks everything should go his way, fall his way or just come off exactly how he thinks it should in his mind. It pisses you off and forget the fact he’s being doubled up on, or we lack quality in attack, there is no excuse for his histrionics, if he was my team-mate I’d slap him. And if I’m playing against him I’m rubbing my hands because he’s easy to defend against and even easier to put him off his game by getting up close and personal. I’d sell even for 30m, we could do much better!

[Sean]

I think both sides of the argument have validity when it comes to ASM. 

 

Thankfully, we can trust our manager to make the right call.

 

Ultimately, he gets to see what his attitude is like on a daily basis, and how receptive he is when it comes to instructions etc. 

[Guest]

26 minutes ago, WillingtonMag said:

Be over the moon if we get Zaha tbh.

If it wasn’t for the fact he’s almost 30 I’d go all out for him. ASM should watch what he does though because he’s got the attributes.

[HaydnNUFC]

12 hours ago, Disco said:

A healthy percentage of people used to despise Robert with all the same tropes tbf.

 

Yep, which is why I used him as a comparison. People will say that ASM can't touch Robert in regards to quality, yet their goal contribution per 90 is similar and Robert took set pieces in addition to playing in a far better side. It's a bit of revisionism given how the same people probably fucking hated him for not working hard enough and will be the same about ASM in about 10 years.

[macphisto]

I wonder if there's truth in the stories that the club want to sell him in the summer and he knows he's off?

[TRon]

12 minutes ago, HaydnNUFC said:

 

Yep, which is why I used him as a comparison. People will say that ASM can't touch Robert in regards to quality, yet their goal contribution per 90 is similar and Robert took set pieces in addition to playing in a far better side. It's a bit of revisionism given how the same people probably fucking hated him for not working hard enough and will be the same about ASM in about 10 years.

 

The comparison is not accurate IMO, Robert got criticised for not tracking back, but he never ran down blind alleys and allowed the opposition to dispossess him repeatedly over 90 mins. That's my major gripe with Maxi, not his failure to track back.

[JumpersForGoalposts]

12 minutes ago, HaydnNUFC said:

 

Yep, which is why I used him as a comparison. People will say that ASM can't touch Robert in regards to quality, yet their goal contribution per 90 is similar and Robert took set pieces in addition to playing in a far better side. It's a bit of revisionism given how the same people probably fucking hated him for not working hard enough and will be the same about ASM in about 10 years.

Robert played in a much better team though. He was providing service to top drawer strikers, flanked by Dyer, Jenas and Speed and had Olivier Bernard behind him who had the legs to cover him. Ginola was in a similar position.

 

ASM can't be carried as a luxury player in this team, and assuming we get more players of the standard of Bruno, he won't be our talisman either.

 

For me, he needs to learn to be a tricky winger who can play as part of a quality team. At the minute, he's far too one dimensional, and teams know how to negate him.

 

Change the attitude and style, or move on. Clearly has the talent, but there is a massive question mark over his character and desire.

 

At this point in time, I'd take 35mil for him and reinvest. I hope he proves me wrong and becomes a key player for us next season.

[WilliamPS]

7 minutes ago, macphisto said:

I wonder if there's truth in the stories that the club want to sell him in the summer and he knows he's off?

Be mad to be looking to shift one of the best players given the amount of work the squad needs.

 

[JonBez comesock]

I’ve noticed every time he gets the ball now (most teams) double up on him and smother him , he then has to keep cutting inside and runs into trouble 

 

Still think we need a player like him to things off the cuff that others can’t do 

 

 

Edited May 1, 2022 by JonBez comesock

[HaydnNUFC]

30 minutes ago, JumpersForGoalposts said:

Robert played in a much better team though. He was providing service to top drawer strikers, flanked by Dyer, Jenas and Speed and had Olivier Bernard behind him who had the legs to cover him. Ginola was in a similar position.

 

ASM can't be carried as a luxury player in this team, and assuming we get more players of the standard of Bruno, he won't be our talisman either.

 

For me, he needs to learn to be a tricky winger who can play as part of a quality team. At the minute, he's far too one dimensional, and teams know how to negate him.

 

Change the attitude and style, or move on. Clearly has the talent, but there is a massive question mark over his character and desire.

 

At this point in time, I'd take 35mil for him and reinvest. I hope he proves me wrong and becomes a key player for us next season.

 

That's counterintuitive though: we'll get better players in the summer and beyond, so surely we should keep him as a result of that? 

[JumpersForGoalposts]

7 minutes ago, HaydnNUFC said:

 

That's counterintuitive though: we'll get better players in the summer and beyond, so surely we should keep him as a result of that? 

If we get better players to cover his defensive duties and ASM ups his end product, decision making and effort, then yes.

 

 

Edited May 1, 2022 by JumpersForGoalposts