Why do we bother with Shola?

[Guest TampaToon]

every manager who's been here has rated him, and he had a great strike rate before the injury - people need to get off his back, as he's been much better than people give him credit for since newcastle stopped being the Alan Shearer Show.

 

as a 4th\5th-choice guy, he's quite overqualified, and i'd sure as heck rather have him available than the striking equivalent of peter ramage.

 

he'll stay, he'll contribute, and he'll justify his place on the team

[Guest alex]

4th or 5th choice is about his level in my view.

[Guest optimistic nit]

Sholas a strange one. His level of quality would suggest he's good enough to be a sub, but Ive never seen him come on and change a game. When he started last season he was scoring goals, although still amidst people saying he wasnt good enough. This season I imagine he'll get plenty of oppurtunities though, thats for sure. Id like to see luque given a chance if he's playing well in the reserves though.

 

Shola isn't that type of striker. He needs 90 minutes and a good run in the team to perform effectively, a good 4th striker to have though, he will score about 1 in 3 when on form.

[EthiGeordie]

With the likes of Bramble and Moor he is history as far as I a concerned .

[Guest alex]

Sholas a strange one. His level of quality would suggest he's good enough to be a sub, but Ive never seen him come on and change a game. When he started last season he was scoring goals, although still amidst people saying he wasnt good enough. This season I imagine he'll get plenty of oppurtunities though, thats for sure. Id like to see luque given a chance if he's playing well in the reserves though.

 

Shola isn't that type of striker. He needs 90 minutes and a good run in the team to perform effectively, a good 4th striker to have though, he will score about 1 in 3 when on form.

You say that, but to me, he never looks like he's fit enough to play 90 minutes. When he starts he always seems to run out of steam after about an hour. And while I think his languid running style attracts unfair criticism at times (i.e. "he's lazy"), he doesn't exactly run himself into the ground.

[Guest optimistic nit]

well he's not the type of striker who can come on and change a game. He doesn't have any real stregnth you can utilise apart from his height, but he's not a brilliant headerer anyway.

 

Remember though supposedly he's been carrying a him injury for the last 2 years.

[Dinho lad]

Good back-up.

[Cronky]

This is an older debate than the Luque one.

 

He can be clumsy, we can all see that, but he can also create problems for the very best defences through his strength and good footwork. You have to assess the overall package and not just over-react when he loses control of a pass that a smaller player would keep.

 

One thing that bothers me a bit at the moment is he looks bigger than ever now. He looks like he's been working on the weights and looks more heavily muscled. That might affect his stamina, and it was noticeable that he seemed to be blowing a bit in the Sampdoria game. Hopefully, it's just a lack of match-sharpness.

[Guest alex]

well he's not the type of striker who can come on and change a game. He doesn't have any real stregnth you can utilise apart from his height, but he's not a brilliant headerer anyway.

 

Remember though supposedly he's been carrying a him injury for the last 2 years.

I go with the opposite viewpoint. He's got a few tricks when he has the ball at his feet and he's quite unorthodox and he is more able to utilise that late in the game when there are a few more spaces. For that reason I think he's better suited to making an impact coming off the bench rather than starting. And, all things being equal Viduka would be starting so he would offer something different. I see where you're coming from in that he wouldn't win many headers etc. if balls were being thrown into the box late in the game chasing a winner or equaliser but imo that approach rarely works and often plays into the hands of the opposing defence (it does if that defence is any good anyway).

[Guest Sniffer]

Bollocks. Look at ameobi's overall contribution to a game and it's mimimal. Who really expects him to do anything with the ball?

[Guest eyeball_tickler]

Bollocks. Look at ameobi's overall contribution to a game and it's mimimal. Who really expects him to do anything with the ball?

 

i expect him to give it away then foul someone trying to win it back.

[Guest optimistic nit]

well he's not the type of striker who can come on and change a game. He doesn't have any real stregnth you can utilise apart from his height, but he's not a brilliant headerer anyway.

 

Remember though supposedly he's been carrying a him injury for the last 2 years.

I go with the opposite viewpoint. He's got a few tricks when he has the ball at his feet and he's quite unorthodox and he is more able to utilise that late in the game when there are a few more spaces. For that reason I think he's better suited to making an impact coming off the bench rather than starting. And, all things being equal Viduka would be starting so he would offer something different. I see where you're coming from in that he wouldn't win many headers etc. if balls were being thrown into the box late in the game chasing a winner or equaliser but imo that approach rarely works and often plays into the hands of the opposing defence (it does if that defence is any good anyway).

 

fair enough. It would be interesting to see if there are any stats about his contributions (goals) off the bench compared to when he has had a run in the first team (keefaz?). i would agree that he has a few tricks with the ball at his feet, and is quite orthadox, but to me, he's the type of player who needs 3 shots in a relitively good position to guarentee him scoring 1. He's a good footballer, but imo when you bring someone of the bench they need to have something extra that may have been lacking before (pace, good positioning up front, creativity) which i don't think ameobi has in any great amount.

[Kev]

Bollocks. Look at ameobi's overall contribution to a game and it's mimimal. Who really expects him to do anything with the ball?

 

i expect him to give it away then foul someone trying to win it back.

 

at least when he looses the ball he trys to win it back unlike some players

he would be a excellent player at portsmouth or fulham and other teams like them, i would love to see him start for us but with our good strikers he wont get his game as much as he would like

[Guest alex]

well he's not the type of striker who can come on and change a game. He doesn't have any real stregnth you can utilise apart from his height, but he's not a brilliant headerer anyway.

 

Remember though supposedly he's been carrying a him injury for the last 2 years.

I go with the opposite viewpoint. He's got a few tricks when he has the ball at his feet and he's quite unorthodox and he is more able to utilise that late in the game when there are a few more spaces. For that reason I think he's better suited to making an impact coming off the bench rather than starting. And, all things being equal Viduka would be starting so he would offer something different. I see where you're coming from in that he wouldn't win many headers etc. if balls were being thrown into the box late in the game chasing a winner or equaliser but imo that approach rarely works and often plays into the hands of the opposing defence (it does if that defence is any good anyway).

 

fair enough. It would be interesting to see if there are any stats about his contributions (goals) off the bench compared to when he has had a run in the first team (keefaz?). i would agree that he has a few tricks with the ball at his feet, and is quite orthadox, but to me, he's the type of player who needs 3 shots in a relitively good position to guarentee him scoring 1. He's a good footballer, but imo when you bring someone of the bench they need to have something extra that may have been lacking before (pace, good positioning up front, creativity) which i don't think ameobi has in any great amount.

If I'm being honest I don't think he's that good starting or coming off the bench

[Guest Sniffer]

I disagree. He cannot be described as a good footballer. If he is, then we have a lot of great footballers on our books and we all know that is not the case.

[Guest optimistic nit]

 

 

i think he's ok personally, although i'm not sure why. in many ways looks can be decieving as he scores a suprisingly high amount of goals (1 in 4 for newcastle) for how he looks on the outside

[Northern Monkey]

Bollocks. Look at ameobi's overall contribution to a game and it's mimimal. Who really expects him to do anything with the ball?

 

i expect him to give it away then foul someone trying to win it back.

 

at least when he looses the ball he trys to win it back unlike some players

he would be a excellent player at portsmouth or fulham and other teams like them, i would love to see him start for us but with our good strikers he wont get his game as much as he would like

 

You'd LOVE to see him start for us?? You must hate Newcastle.

[Guest alex]

Bollocks. Look at ameobi's overall contribution to a game and it's mimimal. Who really expects him to do anything with the ball?

 

i expect him to give it away then foul someone trying to win it back.

 

at least when he looses the ball he trys to win it back unlike some players

he would be a excellent player at portsmouth or fulham and other teams like them, i would love to see him start for us but with our good strikers he wont get his game as much as he would like

 

You'd LOVE to see him start for us?? You must hate Newcastle.

I doubt it. Have you seen his sig?

[Kev]

your wrong there 

why shouldnt he start? he puts 100% in every game

[Guest optimistic nit]

start me then. Seriously i don't mind shola, but thats as a fourth striker. He'd probably be one of the worst first choice strikers in the league if he was a first choice striker, if not the worst.

[Guest loves the toon]

get off sholas back 

he always trys his best,i know thats not good enough at times,but at least unlike dyer(i have family problems)he gives his all for the club.

[Guest eyeball_tickler]

get off sholas back 

he always trys his best,i know thats not good enough at times,but at least unlike dyer(i have family problems)he gives his all for the club.

 

see the post above yours

[Baron von Fat]

He must be absolutely amazing in training to have survived this long.  In fact, I think a couple of past managers have said as much.  Wasn't he seeing a sports psychologist to try and translate his training performances into matches?

[Shak]

Praying he comes good this season, I'm expecting more frustration though.

 

He'll get plenty of games this season though. Allardyce will want a target man on the pitch at all times where possible and Shola is second in the queue to Viduka for that spot. If we get more of the same from Shola this year and Viduka picks up injuries we could be in trouble, as I can't see Martins, Smith or Owen doing well up front by themselves. I'd also be sceptical of any pairing from those three names being effective, barring smith and Owen possibly.

 

On the bright side, it's really make or break for Shola over the next 2 years I think. By then I'm expecting Carroll should be ready to contribute in some form, and if Shola doens't produce over the next two years he'll be off.

[Keefaz]

well he's not the type of striker who can come on and change a game. He doesn't have any real stregnth you can utilise apart from his height, but he's not a brilliant headerer anyway.

 

Remember though supposedly he's been carrying a him injury for the last 2 years.

I go with the opposite viewpoint. He's got a few tricks when he has the ball at his feet and he's quite unorthodox and he is more able to utilise that late in the game when there are a few more spaces. For that reason I think he's better suited to making an impact coming off the bench rather than starting. And, all things being equal Viduka would be starting so he would offer something different. I see where you're coming from in that he wouldn't win many headers etc. if balls were being thrown into the box late in the game chasing a winner or equaliser but imo that approach rarely works and often plays into the hands of the opposing defence (it does if that defence is any good anyway).

 

fair enough. It would be interesting to see if there are any stats about his contributions (goals) off the bench compared to when he has had a run in the first team (keefaz?). i would agree that he has a few tricks with the ball at his feet, and is quite orthadox, but to me, he's the type of player who needs 3 shots in a relitively good position to guarentee him scoring 1. He's a good footballer, but imo when you bring someone of the bench they need to have something extra that may have been lacking before (pace, good positioning up front, creativity) which i don't think ameobi has in any great amount.

 

Sorry, mate, just seen this. Boshed something together quick, so it's not gospel, but I get 4 goals from 91 subs appearances, and 41 from 130 starts. Don't have anyt exact times on pitch which would be good. Hmmm...