Very good cross for the equaliser but he's his own worst enemy. In a handful of cameos he's shown that he's capable of reading the game well, at times seeing opportunities that others miss in the desperate push for a late goal. But therein lies the problem - he spends most of his time looking utterly flabbergasted that no-one is capable of playing at the level he alone sees himself. Does he really believe he's so superior? He constantly rolls his eyes, hands on hips as a ball from a player working twice as hard (eg Marshall) fails to come up to his expectation, yet how often has he justified that arrogance? This is someone who barely made it into the Bury team when on loan.
In a small squad unity is everything and (though I have no evidence) he appears divisive at best. I could never stand playing with team-mates like that and now hate watching them. He's one more body in a stupidly thin squad but I won't be at all sorry when his contract expires and I doubt Bowyer and Jacko will be either.
Marshall is fucking useless to be fair. Gave the ball away (for about the 30th time) out of position and didn't even run back, he literally walked. Clarke's cynical rugby tackle saved him. Even I think I'm at a better level than Marshall, so can understand Nicky's frustration with him.
But therein lies the problem - he spends most of his time looking utterly flabbergasted that no-one is capable of playing at the level he alone sees himself. Does he really believe he's so superior? He constantly rolls his eyes, hands on hips as a ball from a player working twice as hard (eg Marshall) fails to come up to his expectation, yet how often has he justified that arrogance? This is someone who barely made it into the Bury team when on loan.
In a small squad unity is everything and (though I have no evidence) he appears divisive at best. I could never stand playing with team-mates like that and now hate watching them.
He's one more body in a stupidly thin squad but I won't be at all sorry when his contract expires and I doubt Bowyer and Jacko will be either.
Summed it up well, Paddy.
When Grant greedily blazed wide having failed to even see Ajose positioning himself for an open goal - Ajose's reaction was priceless!
All to see on the BBC match highlights.
You've said it yourself, Grant was greedy and didn't even look up. I don't think here's anything wrong with a striker being visibly pissed off when someone doesn't square it for an easy chance, they all do it so I'm not sure why he's being picked on for that.
I felt Ajose shouldn’t have glanced up at the lino for his one on one to check if he was offside. It was the slightest of looks but from that point on he’d screwed it
Yep, to score 1-on-1 you need total concentration. You put the ball in the net first. And leave the officials to do whatever.
When I was playing, I read the Jimmy Greaves book - and he said exactly that, and then always applied it to my own game.
Confidence is lacking, a confident player buries it and only stops celebrating if they hear a whistle or see the flag.
People saying Ajose has an inflated opinion of himself, if that is so then why is he working so hard? Why is he regularly unselfish?
I think he's a player so desperate to do good that he is frustrated when not being given the opportunity to.
I also as someone else has mentioned, believe he would play well off of Taylor.
I'd be happy to see a squad something like this tomorrow night:
2nd game of the season for me and to be honest after Burton, if they continue playing like that, I will probably save myself quite a bit of cash. Other than Dijksteel, I don't think many came out of that game with much credit. As mentioned before Ajose looks completely disinterested. Pratley was dreadful. Sarr poor and Ward not bothered. Even Dillon had a below parr game. None of these players can complain why they aren't near the starting XI with performances like that.
2nd game of the season for me and to be honest after Burton, if they continue playing like that, I will probably save myself quite a bit of cash. Other than Dijksteel, I don't think many came out of that game with much credit. As mentioned before Ajose looks completely disinterested. Pratley was dreadful. Sarr poor and Ward not bothered. Even Dillon had a below parr game. None of these players can complain why they aren't near the starting XI with performances like that.
Said no one else about this game... Typical anti Sarr comment with no back up for it.
Sarr's problem is he looks awkward. If you actually look at his errors and I don't say he doesn't make any, but he doesn't make more than anybody else in terms of costing us goals. And his play actually does give us something offensively. But because he looks awkward and plays positively it makes some nervous. I'm pretty sure the statistics won't back these fears up though.
I felt Ajose shouldn’t have glanced up at the lino for his one on one to check if he was offside. It was the slightest of looks but from that point on he’d screwed it
Yep, to score 1-on-1 you need total concentration. You put the ball in the net first. And leave the officials to do whatever.
When I was playing, I read the Jimmy Greaves book - and he said exactly that, and then always applied it to my own game.
Confidence is lacking, a confident player buries it and only stops celebrating if they hear a whistle or see the flag.
People saying Ajose has an inflated opinion of himself, if that is so then why is he working so hard? Why is he regularly unselfish?
I think he's a player so desperate to do good that he is frustrated when not being given the opportunity to.
I also as someone else has mentioned, believe he would play well off of Taylor.
I'd be happy to see a squad something like this tomorrow night:
I felt Ajose shouldn’t have glanced up at the lino for his one on one to check if he was offside. It was the slightest of looks but from that point on he’d screwed it
Yep, to score 1-on-1 you need total concentration. You put the ball in the net first. And leave the officials to do whatever.
When I was playing, I read the Jimmy Greaves book - and he said exactly that, and then always applied it to my own game.
People saying Ajose has an inflated opinion of himself, if that is so then why is he working so hard? Why is he regularly unselfish?
I think he's a player so desperate to do good that he is frustrated when not being given the opportunity to.
I also as someone else has mentioned, believe he would play well off of Taylor.
I think a side like that could do some real damage... in a friendlyJPT game.
If you think Ajose works hard, you obviously haven't seen him play much.
I felt Ajose shouldn’t have glanced up at the lino for his one on one to check if he was offside. It was the slightest of looks but from that point on he’d screwed it
Yep, to score 1-on-1 you need total concentration. You put the ball in the net first. And leave the officials to do whatever.
When I was playing, I read the Jimmy Greaves book - and he said exactly that, and then always applied it to my own game.
Confidence is lacking, a confident player buries it and only stops celebrating if they hear a whistle or see the flag.
People saying Ajose has an inflated opinion of himself, if that is so then why is he working so hard? Why is he regularly unselfish?
I think he's a player so desperate to do good that he is frustrated when not being given the opportunity to.
I also as someone else has mentioned, believe he would play well off of Taylor.
I'd be happy to see a squad something like this tomorrow night:
I think a side like that could do some real damage... in a friendlyJPT game.
If you think Ajose works hard, you obviously haven't seen him play much.
Have any of us seen him play much?
Just televised/stream games for me so yeah definitely rare... But against Mansfield he was closing, breaking quickly, making decent runs and got an assist... hardly a lazy display.
He's just not the Simon Church hardworking headless Chicken we are used to.
I felt Ajose shouldn’t have glanced up at the lino for his one on one to check if he was offside. It was the slightest of looks but from that point on he’d screwed it
Yep, to score 1-on-1 you need total concentration. You put the ball in the net first. And leave the officials to do whatever.
When I was playing, I read the Jimmy Greaves book - and he said exactly that, and then always applied it to my own game.
Confidence is lacking, a confident player buries it and only stops celebrating if they hear a whistle or see the flag.
People saying Ajose has an inflated opinion of himself, if that is so then why is he working so hard? Why is he regularly unselfish?
I think he's a player so desperate to do good that he is frustrated when not being given the opportunity to.
I also as someone else has mentioned, believe he would play well off of Taylor.
I'd be happy to see a squad something like this tomorrow night:
I've possibly seen all his games for Charlton and hard working he is not. He put in decent effort last season for a few games, but the rest of the time he's been ambling round with disinterest.
I couple of points I would like to raise regarding some of the comments on this and other treads.
We don,t have a small squad by league one standards. By my count we have 2 goal keepers, 8 defenders, 8 midfielders and 4 strikers. That doesn't include RHF, Maloney, Morgan, Stephenson, Cummings or JFC. We have played the minimum number of cup games, so far, no one could have played less.
What we do have is a number of players that on reputation and wages alone should be far to good for Mansfield and more than adequate league 1. Either they know they will only play when there aren't any alternatives, so why bother putting the effort in, or are just phoning it in anyway. You loose a lot of flexibility when you have such a large chuck of wages tied up in Marshall, Ajose and, to a lesser extent Pratley. We also have Mascoll who at 21, Bowyer doesn't seem to trust to play in the league, you do have to wonder why he is still here, if that's the case. I would sight the disposal of unwanted players as a major failing, of both the ownership and team management, over the last 3 seasons. The solution seems to be either pay them off, loan them to STVV (now not an option) or let them sit out their contracts.
On a slightly different note we don't seem to have experienced players that can talk less experienced ones through games. A player of Pearce's experience should be able to get a young left back or centre half through a league 1 game. This has been an issue for at least 4 seasons now, since TBH left, its really hampered Sarr's, among others, development. Players like Balmer, Mcleary and Hudson used to do it, Andy Hughes was a master of it this, even when he was "warming up" as a sub. We don't play as a unit at the back, or anywhere else for that matter, its not unique to Bowyer but the last 4 years.
2nd game of the season for me and to be honest after Burton, if they continue playing like that, I will probably save myself quite a bit of cash. Other than Dijksteel, I don't think many came out of that game with much credit. As mentioned before Ajose looks completely disinterested. Pratley was dreadful. Sarr poor and Ward not bothered. Even Dillon had a below parr game. None of these players can complain why they aren't near the starting XI with performances like that.
Said no one else about this game... Typical anti Sarr comment with no back up for it.
I don't think saying Sarr was poor is harsh based on yesterday, first half he misplaced quite a few passes and it did carry into the beginning of the second half, his headed clearances weren't very convincing and just generally he did look clumsy but at this point I just think that's how he plays.
I dont get the Dillon and Sarr bashing tbh. Apart from the usual Sarr-esque worrying moments in the first half, i thought at times he was our only defender. Also, Dillon had no chance with their goal - it hit the Inside of the post ffs, and made 1 or 2 good stops, didnt do much else wrong aside from flap at a corner once. One concern i do have is his size- he doesnt command his box.
In regards to people backing Ajose, I guess it's a watching him on stream thing? I watched him a lot yesterday and he really was poor, seen someone say he was closing down but are they just getting mixed up with Grant?
This happened to me when I watched Luton on the stream, I said a player played well and everyone at the game said the opposite. I guess cause of the camera angles you see his good bits but if you watch him generally off the ball and when others around him have it he was genuinely useless. As for his assist, we are Charlton. We shouldn't be impressed by a typical cross by a player who is on thousands a week, is that how bad it's got that we overappreciate basic football skills from a striker that doesn't score goals
Winds me up that you look around the leagues and see players like Billy Kee and Tom Eaves who are better players and probably on less dosh than him combined
I know it's a bit early for this and with Roland probably unlikely, but Mansfield have a few good players with contracts expiring in the summer, their right back Hayden White who I thought had a good game is a free agent in the summer, local lad too born in Greenwich. Their centre back Matt Preston who also had a good game and finally Danny Rose. All 3 would have a place in our squad and I reckon Lee Bowyer needs to have a word
Yeah tbf it was against a weakened side but usually you can just tell when a player is useful and those 2 defenders really stood out for me along with Hamilton, we will see how they get on when they are under the lights against the fiercest crowd in London though
Some players play well in the big games and average week in week out. Not saying these are those, but they are the worst type of players to have as they lack character! You have to be suspicious based on the league they are in.of course, gems can be found, but you have to do full research to find them
Interesting that Bowyer singled out Hamilton for praise. The last time I remember him doing that was when he made a point of heaping praise on Taylor after the Wimbledon game, presumably already knowing he wanted to sign him in the summer.
Interesting that Bowyer singled out Hamilton for praise. The last time I remember him doing that was when he made a point of heaping praise on Taylor after the Wimbledon game, presumably already knowing he wanted to sign him in the summer.
having only seen him play the once, first impressions are very favourable and if he maintains Sunday's form, he'd do a very good job for us .. we lack both pace and power in attack, he has both despite as @ForeverAddickted states him not being a prolific scorer, Sunday's one was a peach .. could see him making a lot of chances for Taylor and Grant and he might keep Taylor from playing both as a left winger and main striker .. sign him up Bowyer !!!!
Some players play well in the big games and average week in week out. Not saying these are those, but they are the worst type of players to have as they lack character! You have to be suspicious based on the league they are in.of course, gems can be found, but you have to do full research to find them
I agree. In the last couple of years our scouting hasn't been too bad to be fair, I get the feeling that under Gallen our "hit" rate is pretty good and that potential signings are being evaluated properly
Interesting that Bowyer singled out Hamilton for praise. The last time I remember him doing that was when he made a point of heaping praise on Taylor after the Wimbledon game, presumably already knowing he wanted to sign him in the summer.
I'm from the area so I know he is spoke highly of, apparently has a good head on his shoulders as well and if his post match interview is anything to go by then I would say it's a fair statement. There is going to be lots of good players knocking about in the January window for next year, I made a team of summer free agents on FIFA earlier from league 1 and 2. All of them would do well for us and could go on to be championship quality if we were to get promoted, can only hope Roland is gone by then so we can actually have some serious squad depth
Interesting that Bowyer singled out Hamilton for praise. The last time I remember him doing that was when he made a point of heaping praise on Taylor after the Wimbledon game, presumably already knowing he wanted to sign him in the summer.
I'm from the area so I know he is spoke highly of, apparently has a good head on his shoulders as well and if his post match interview is anything to go by then I would say it's a fair statement. There is going to be lots of good players knocking about in the January window for next year, I made a team of summer free agents on FIFA earlier from league 1 and 2. All of them would do well for us and could go on to be championship quality if we were to get promoted, can only hope Roland is gone by then so we can actually have some serious squad depth
Comments
You've said it yourself, Grant was greedy and didn't even look up. I don't think here's anything wrong with a striker being visibly pissed off when someone doesn't square it for an easy chance, they all do it so I'm not sure why he's being picked on for that.
People saying Ajose has an inflated opinion of himself, if that is so then why is he working so hard? Why is he regularly unselfish?
I think he's a player so desperate to do good that he is frustrated when not being given the opportunity to.
I also as someone else has mentioned, believe he would play well off of Taylor.
I'd be happy to see a squad something like this tomorrow night:
Phillips
Dijksteel Bielik Sarr
Pratley
Marshall Aribo Clarke Fosu
Taylor Ajose
I think a side like that could do some real damage... in a
friendlyJPT game.Just televised/stream games for me so yeah definitely rare... But against Mansfield he was closing, breaking quickly, making decent runs and got an assist... hardly a lazy display.
He's just not the Simon Church hardworking headless Chicken we are used to.
He put in decent effort last season for a few games, but the rest of the time he's been ambling round with disinterest.
We don,t have a small squad by league one standards. By my count we have 2 goal keepers, 8 defenders, 8 midfielders and 4 strikers. That doesn't include RHF, Maloney, Morgan, Stephenson, Cummings or JFC. We have played the minimum number of cup games, so far, no one could have played less.
What we do have is a number of players that on reputation and wages alone should be far to good for Mansfield and more than adequate league 1. Either they know they will only play when there aren't any alternatives, so why bother putting the effort in, or are just phoning it in anyway. You loose a lot of flexibility when you have such a large chuck of wages tied up in Marshall, Ajose and, to a lesser extent Pratley. We also have Mascoll who at 21, Bowyer doesn't seem to trust to play in the league, you do have to wonder why he is still here, if that's the case. I would sight the disposal of unwanted players as a major failing, of both the ownership and team management, over the last 3 seasons. The solution seems to be either pay them off, loan them to STVV (now not an option) or let them sit out their contracts.
On a slightly different note we don't seem to have experienced players that can talk less experienced ones through games. A player of Pearce's experience should be able to get a young left back or centre half through a league 1 game. This has been an issue for at least 4 seasons now, since TBH left, its really hampered Sarr's, among others, development. Players like Balmer, Mcleary and Hudson used to do it, Andy Hughes was a master of it this, even when he was "warming up" as a sub. We don't play as a unit at the back, or anywhere else for that matter, its not unique to Bowyer but the last 4 years.
This happened to me when I watched Luton on the stream, I said a player played well and everyone at the game said the opposite. I guess cause of the camera angles you see his good bits but if you watch him generally off the ball and when others around him have it he was genuinely useless. As for his assist, we are Charlton. We shouldn't be impressed by a typical cross by a player who is on thousands a week, is that how bad it's got that we overappreciate basic football skills from a striker that doesn't score goals
Winds me up that you look around the leagues and see players like Billy Kee and Tom Eaves who are better players and probably on less dosh than him combined
could see him making a lot of chances for Taylor and Grant and he might keep Taylor from playing both as a left winger and main striker .. sign him up Bowyer !!!!