Will Osula

[Coffee_Johnny]

Just now, KaKa said:

 

Will at least allow us to put a body up there, without having to move too many other pieces around, in that scenario.

 

He as at least had appearances in the Premier League and knows what to expect, and it won't be a complete shock to the system.

 

Our players are significantly better than Sheffield United's too, and so he should look more useful alongside them.

 

 

And let’s not forget, he will no doubt get more chances with us than he did in that Sheffield United side. 
 

Last season we created 97 ‘big chances’, they created 40; in 38 games. 
 

https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/clubs/big_chance_created?se=578

[Kanj]

2 minutes ago, KaKa said:

 

Will at least allow us to put a body up there, without having to move too many other pieces around, in that scenario.

 

He as at least had appearances in the Premier League and knows what to expect, and it won't be a complete shock to the system.

 

Our players are significantly better than Sheffield United's too, and so he should look more useful alongside them.

 

 

We haven’t had a legit young striker prospect who was signed as a backup to spell our main guys in ages, right? If memory serves right. 

[Pilko]

1 minute ago, Kanji said:

We haven’t had a legit young striker prospect who was signed as a backup to spell our main guys in ages, right? If memory serves right. 

 

You're probably going back to Ayoze for someone who was signed to fit that bill, obviously he ended up contributing and being a lot better than we thought initially.

[WilliamPS]

2 minutes ago, Kanji said:

We haven’t had a legit young striker prospect who was signed as a backup to spell our main guys in ages, right? If memory serves right. 

Excepting the brief period of Isak, Wilson and Wood there haven’t been enough strikers on the books to even have backups.

 

[KaKa]

7 minutes ago, Kanji said:

We haven’t had a legit young striker prospect who was signed as a backup to spell our main guys in ages, right? If memory serves right. 

 

Closest was Nile Ranger, who was a disgrace in the end. He had the ability though, but man that kid had issues.

[Conjo]

We had a young back-up striker in Shola for 14 years

[Dan Gleebals]

12 minutes ago, WilliamPS said:

He’d only start a string of games if Wilson and Isak were both out, and the options for 3rd choice are really a player coming to the very end or someone up and coming Like this guy. IMO this is the exact profile the squad needed.

 

His aim should be to take his chances and swipe the second striker slot for next season.

My concern is that is he ready to start, even as no.3? I would say no and think he will be under a lot of pressure, which we have no idea if he can handle and even produce under. His stats would suggest he will not score much either, which will add to the pressure. 

If we get lucky with Isak and even Wilson when he is back fit, and this lad spends some time in the wings developing rather than being chucked in, I think he will have a much easier start to life here and can then hopefully progress.
 

[WilliamPS]

You aren’t going to get a PL finished product as a third choice, otherwise they’d be first or second choice somewhere else.

 

The aim is to get someone with potential who will improve but in the meantime can ‘do a job’ in an injury crisis and regularly make an impact as a sub in the last 20 minutes of games.

 

I reckon Osula will do that this season, and then hopefully he can kick in from there 

[KetsbaiaIsBald]

16 minutes ago, Coffee_Johnny said:

And let’s not forget, he will no doubt get more chances with us than he did in that Sheffield United side. 
 

Last season we created 97 ‘big chances’, they created 40; in 38 games. 
 

https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/clubs/big_chance_created?se=578

Agreed.  And as a striker when you know you may just get half a chance in 90 minutes it’s easy to tense up and fluff you chance when it does come.  If you know you’ll get a few chances you can be more relaxed. 
 

Also I think his athleticism/physicality coming on for the last 30 minutes is going to be game changing compared to our options we have now.  
 

I really like him as a signing for us. Obviously not the marque signing but perfect for squad building. 

[Nine]

I’m not going to act like I have anything other than surface level knowledge of this kid, but management obviously see him as another potential gem that we have unearthed. I usually like these type of signings more than splashing massive money on bigger risks as if you get one wrong in these PSR days its likely to end up a huge setback, and although I wouldn’t expect him to get many significant minutes outside of a crisis this season Howe will have his chance to mould Osula into the player they feel he could become for a minimal fee.. great business again.

 

Also, being an apparent physical beast will never go amiss in our system. 

 

 

Edited August 5 by Nine

[KaKa]

14 minutes ago, Dan Gleebals said:

My concern is that is he ready to start, even as no.3? I would say no and think he will be under a lot of pressure, which we have no idea if he can handle and even produce under. His stats would suggest he will not score much either, which will add to the pressure. 

If we get lucky with Isak and even Wilson when he is back fit, and this lad spends some time in the wings developing rather than being chucked in, I think he will have a much easier start to life here and can then hopefully progress.
 

 

Remember when we brought in Chris Wood? He really didn't look too great for us up there. He wasn't quick and the ball didn't stick with him.

 

However, he worked hard and he occupied opposition defenders as best as he could, allowing everyone else to stay in their positions with minimum disruption elsewhere.

 

Allowed us to continue to function as a team and pick up some decent results, even though he wasn't shining up front.

 

Osula looks really quick and quite robust. By what info has been shared he works hard too and is a good character. 

 

I can see him at the least filling in, in a similar manner to what Wood did, but with more upside, due to his physical gifts.

 

 

Edited August 5 by KaKa

[TRon]

20 minutes ago, Dan Gleebals said:

My concern is that is he ready to start, even as no.3? I would say no and think he will be under a lot of pressure, which we have no idea if he can handle and even produce under. His stats would suggest he will not score much either, which will add to the pressure. 

If we get lucky with Isak and even Wilson when he is back fit, and this lad spends some time in the wings developing rather than being chucked in, I think he will have a much easier start to life here and can then hopefully progress.
 

 

We didn't even have a 3rd option last two seasons. I really don't see how this addition can be seen as a bad thing.

[SiLvOR]

28 minutes ago, KaKa said:

 

Closest was Nile Ranger, who was a disgrace in the end. He had the ability though, but man that kid had issues.

God I remember being so excited about him. Really wasted his career

[Terrymac1966]

8 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

We didn't even have a 3rd option last two seasons. I really don't see how this addition can be seen as a bad thing.

Agreed he looks fast aggressive and ready to run at defenders which they hate.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

10 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

We didn't even have a 3rd option last two seasons. I really don't see how this addition can be seen as a bad thing.

One of the biggest things we missed last season, particularly with Wilson being the second. 
 

Seems a perfect signing and still allow the leeway to replace Wilson in the future. 

[TRon]

2 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

One of the biggest things we missed last season, particularly with Wilson being the second. 
 

Seems a perfect signing and still allow the leeway to replace Wilson in the future. 

 

Yep, I was hoping to use Wilson's sale as a chance to buy a higher grade striker as no 2, but that would have been expensive. This is not the worst alternative by a long way. Two top class strikers to share the main duties, and a big mobile back up just in case.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

9 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

Yep, I was hoping to use Wilson's sale as a chance to buy a higher grade striker as no 2, but that would have been expensive. This is not the worst alternative by a long way. Two top class strikers to share the main duties, and a big mobile back up just in case.

Expensive and hard to find someone good enough who’ll do it. 

[Kanj]

37 minutes ago, KaKa said:

 

Remember when we brought in Chris Wood? He really didn't look too great for us up there. He wasn't quick and the ball didn't stick with him.

 

However, he worked hard and he occupied opposition defenders as best as he could, allowing everyone else to stay in their positions with minimum disruption elsewhere.

 

Allowed us to continue to function as a team and pick up some decent results, even though he wasn't shining up front.

 

Osula looks really quick and quite robust. By what info has been shared he works hard too and is a good character. 

 

I can see him at the least filling in, in a similar manner to what Wood did, but with more upside, due to his physical gifts.

 

 

 

 

Really good post in context. Summed up very well. 

[Boey_Jarton]

1 hour ago, Newcastle Fan said:

Think he's one for the future and honestly seeing how terrible Ben Parkinson and our other strikers are we need better young strikers as options for us in case Isak/Wilson need a rest, still concerning we haven't signed a proper RW.

Is Parkinson that bad like? 

 

Not disagreeing with you just I've barely seen him play so this felt a little harsh! 

[Coffee_Johnny]

Just now, Boey_Jarton said:

Is Parkinson that bad like? 

 

Not disagreeing with you just I've barely seen him play so this felt a little harsh! 

It is more a case of absence of evidence, rather than evidence of absence (of requisite abilities). 

[NUFC_Chris]

For me these are the type of signings we’ve needed to fill out our squad as it has been weak beyond the first 11, in comparison to many top half sides.
 

He may not get that many opportunities at first, but given Wilson and Isak both missed games last season I’m sure he’ll pick up game time. I think Mitchell and Howe will have done their homework on him and we’ll also be signing a lot of potential. 

 

 

Edited August 5 by NUFC_Chris

[Kanj]

Thought Parky looked decent in preseason last summer but haven’t really seen him do anything since. Issue is he doesn’t have one really strong trait, he’s neither lightning fast or tall or built like a unit. So it’s his footballing brain and technical ability, which could be very good but hard to see what he can do when he’s out there with the 3rd or 4th stringers in a second half or a preseason game. 

[KaKa]

7 minutes ago, Kanji said:

 

Really good post in context. Summed up very well. 

 

In hindsight, without Wood, we probably would have had to manage with Joelinton up there, and that would have been so bad for the team.

 

Would have likely still not got too much from the striker position, while losing everything he was giving us in midfield.

[Kanj]

Just now, KaKa said:

 

In hindsight, without Wood, we probably would have had to manage with Joelinton up there, and that would have been so bad for the team.

 

Would have likely still not got too much from the striker position, while losing everything he was giving us in midfield.

History should look kindly on wood, who like you said wasn’t anything special but the key was that he was a focal point and didn’t force us to shift too many pieces around. He also banged in a few crucial goals when it seemed like nothing was going to work for us. 

[KaKa]

5 minutes ago, Kanji said:

History should look kindly on wood, who like you said wasn’t anything special but the key was that he was a focal point and didn’t force us to shift too many pieces around. He also banged in a few crucial goals when it seemed like nothing was going to work for us. 

 

Agree completely.