Bowyer figured out how to manage him. 20 mins per game is all he can do without breaking down.
Bowyer is no mug, flog Chucks back to us, free up the wage bill and then bring in Taylor.
Our recruitment team are still pulling their pants back up.
Whatever we think of Taylor given how we left us, I’d kill to have his talent back in the team. He wasn’t just a great forward, he was a talisman as well. When he was out injured the season in the championship, the lift the team got when he came back, got a brace against Luton. What he does so well which none of our forwards can do, is drift out wide, pick the ball up on the wing, put in a proper decent cross because as a forward he knows where he wants the ball, and because he’s drifted out wide, it’s created space for midfielders to make late runs.
How often do you see our current creative/attacking midfielders make late runs into the box. I can’t think of anything Lee, Morgan or Gilbey has got on the end of this season, other than Morgan’s goal the other week against Fleetwood. Both tend to pick up the ball in the middle, or at the start of the final third, with lots of players to beat and you have to be very good to fashion chances that way.
It’s this dynamism and spark which is why I get so riled up when I see people making excuses for these players. That’s the sort of ability that gets you promoted. Nothing less. I think a lot of what we have with this team when we say, they’ll come good with better players around them, is misguided hope. It’s frustrating
100% cabbs.
I have said before from watching the highlights on Quest how poor we look compared to others. I watch all the games on the show so this includes all of Leagues One & Two so forget Taylor in the Championship for the moment.
You see lovely flowing moves, forwards pulling defenders away as you have said, midfielders making surging runs and goals from well outside the box, some stunners as well. We do none of this and never have done even with a full side without injuries.
I watch MK Dons playing out from the back last night, some instances it was 15 plus passes and the away fans were giving it the "Ole's" Yet when we play out from the back after 4 or 5 fumbled uninspired passes we give up possession or the ball goes out of play.
The players we have will "not come good" because they are bang average.
Or the other teams are better coached than ours, and over a long period of time
To play that MKD style passing game, you have to spend months and months on the training ground perfecting it. Last season, MKD looked like world beaters when they won at The Valley, but overall only finished 13th in the table as they conceded 62 goals. This season they're still playing the passing football but are now presumably making far fewer defensive errors.
This has been reported today within JJ`s weekly press conference - "But Jackson added that Chuks Aneke is “still a number of weeks” from a first-team return."
Does anyone know the extent of the injury(ies) keeping Chucks out?
This is such depressing news bearing in mind we desparately need him back to strengthen our depleted attack.
Given there's only 7 weeks left of the season, i think we can safely rule him out until next season.
This has been reported today within JJ`s weekly press conference - "But Jackson added that Chuks Aneke is “still a number of weeks” from a first-team return."
Does anyone know the extent of the injury(ies) keeping Chucks out?
This is such depressing news bearing in mind we desparately need him back to strengthen our depleted attack.
Given there's only 7 weeks left of the season, i think we can safely rule him out until next season.
And then when he plays 90 minutes in the first game of next season, we can rule him out of the rest of that season as well.
Still we'll keep sending the pay cheques to him for the next 3 years. Madness.
Seriously, we can present whatever stats we like, resigning Aneke on a 3.5 year deal in full knowledge of his frailties was an act of utter folly. Regardless of how desperate we were and how good he can be for those precious few minutes he appears, whoever sanctioned this deal should be escorted from the building, marched up Floyd Road and put on the first train to Bonkersville. A pay as you play deal would have been fair enough, but a three and a half year contract! Bonkers. Give Innes a five year deal next.
I`m still no wiser what his ongoing injuries are that keep him out for such long periods.
Perhaps someone out there has some knowledge of them? It would be good to know so we can get an idea of his future availability and not always live in hope.
If he is going to struggle to even come on as a "super sub" for 30 minutes on a regular basis, then the next 3 years are going to be a big disappointment.
Spotted by MS black box as a player who had done well then moved to another club and dropped off the radar and been forgotten. Couldn't believe our luck that no one else was competing for him!
I`m still no wiser what his ongoing injuries are that keep him out for such long periods.
Perhaps someone out there has some knowledge of them? It would be good to know so we can get an idea of his future availability and not always live in hope.
If he is going to struggle to even come on as a "super sub" for 30 minutes on a regular basis, then the next 3 years are going to be a big disappointment.
I`m still no wiser what his ongoing injuries are that keep him out for such long periods.
Perhaps someone out there has some knowledge of them? It would be good to know so we can get an idea of his future availability and not always live in hope.
If he is going to struggle to even come on as a "super sub" for 30 minutes on a regular basis, then the next 3 years are going to be a big disappointment.
That's the thing, isn't it? Nobody has got the slightest clue what is wrong with him and why it makes him unable to play for more than 30 minutes on a good day. (The good days getting less and less frequent).
That of course is not strictly true as presumably those in the club do know. So if they thought whatever the problem is could be managed, they have got that seriously wrong.
This has been reported today within JJ`s weekly press conference - "But Jackson added that Chuks Aneke is “still a number of weeks” from a first-team return."
Does anyone know the extent of the injury(ies) keeping Chucks out?
This is such depressing news bearing in mind we desparately need him back to strengthen our depleted attack.
Given there's only 7 weeks left of the season, i think we can safely rule him out until next season.
I`m still no wiser what his ongoing injuries are that keep him out for such long periods.
Perhaps someone out there has some knowledge of them? It would be good to know so we can get an idea of his future availability and not always live in hope.
If he is going to struggle to even come on as a "super sub" for 30 minutes on a regular basis, then the next 3 years are going to be a big disappointment.
That's the thing, isn't it? Nobody has got the slightest clue what is wrong with him and why it makes him unable to play for more than 30 minutes on a good day. (The good days getting less and less frequent).
That of course is not strictly true as presumably those in the club do know. So if they thought whatever the problem is could be managed, they have got that seriously wrong.
I agree. I tend to be one who defers to “the professionals” in the absence of good information to the contrary, so I was in favour of his signing, despite the oddity of paying a fee. I assumed the long contract was a sign they had properly assessed his fitness issues and deemed them to be a thing of the past. This situation has seriously shaken my confidence in the set-up. But who exactly was party to the decision? I can’t believe it was TS overruling everybody to waste a load of his own money, when he knew as well as the rest of us the problems Aneke had with injuries in his first spell. Someone must have persuaded him it was all fixed. But what is “it”, and who has the best visibility over it in medical terms? I guess we won’t find out unless someone blabs. Meanwhile we are back to endlessly wondering how much better we would be if we could get Aneke fit.
I do think that we have been influenced by what Aneke is capable of doing rather than, historically, he has done and because of one or two good seasons at this level (primarily as a super sub for us). This is his full goal scoring record/appearances, season by season, as a pro:
That's 75 league goals in 11 seasons as a pro from 289 appearances. In the Belgium's Pro League it was 4 goals in 41 appearances and in the Championship it has been 3 in 38 so, from 7 goals in total from 79 appearances at a level higher than League 1, it is safe to say that he might well have not been a roaring success in that division next season even if we had been promoted at the end of this one.
Bowyer couldn't wait to get rid of Aneke and started him for just one of his 18 appearances at Birmingham and as I've said numerous times previously I really could not understand why he signed him for them in the first place. Bowyer was the very person who kept telling us he couldn't start games for us but must have thought that he would still been an impact sub and he was on a "free".
It's not as if we weren't aware of Aneke's issues either though he did, actually, go straight into the starting line up when he came back to us - for the first time in ages. But now he's out again and we are straddled with not being able to rely on not just one of our main two strikers but, probably, one of the highest paid players in the Club who is on a three and a half year contract.
It really does smack a bit like a £300,000 (plus wages) gamble in January to get us into the Play Offs that has, unfortunately, somewhat backfired. Every player has his ceiling and I believe League 1 is his but the hope has to be that he returns next season all guns blazing and that he produces a season similar to his last one with us at this level. It is that issue with having to manage his game time and ensuring that he stays fit that will be the one that will need to be addressed - once again. But those issues also mean that we have to carry that one extra striker. Just in case and of course those injuries impact even further when, as we have now, another one or two are out at the same time.
I hope for his as much as ours that Aneke finds a way of staying available for selection because, if he does, he will, almost certainly, be an asset and not a financial liability. But he remains very much a relatively expensive gamble.
I agree. I also dont think £300k was "wasted" on him, considering we got £2m for Bonne & £1.6m for Burstow.......and spent £500k on Kirk.
As you say, he has shown that he really is just an impact player & going forward we need to realise this & play to his strengths, not lay him from the start and expect 90 mins from him.
In the summer we still need to sign a 20 goal striker. Stockley & Washington (with Aneke as back up) wont be enough for promotion. Mark my words.
To me this shows the weakness of our scouting and recruitment team....If Aneke is the answer I give up....and they paid a fee and gave him 3 1/2 years!!!
I said when we resigned him for £300k it was bad business (don't believe me - look at my earlier comments on this thread!). And lets just say one or two people disagreed.
It now looks very bad business, particularly given his 3.5 year contract.
It would be interesting to know if this current injury was caused by him playing 90 minutes in a couple of games when he first come back. And if it was suspected his body wouldn't be able to cope, why on earth did we do it?
Desperation?
Maybe they thought Stockley would be out for the season, we still don’t know if this is going to be a recurring injury either, or whether he’s ‘fixed’?
I said the 1st time we had him he was one of the most overhyped/ over rated footballers we’ve ever had. With that in mind added to his injury record makes the resigning of him even if it was a 1 year, and yet we give him a three and a half deal is absolutely pathetic business. We never seem to learn no matter who makes the decisions.
Doesnt matter how good a player is if he is injured most of the time. Unfortunately with Chucks it is a given that if you get half a season out of him you are doing well, and that is based on mostly impact sub appearances not starting and playing 90 mins. Everybody knows this so for this reason it was a ridiculous signing imo
Doesnt matter how good a player is if he is injured most of the time. Unfortunately with Chucks it is a given that if you get half a season out of him you are doing well, and that is based on mostly impact sub appearances not starting and playing 90 mins. Everybody knows this so for this reason it was a ridiculous signing imo
Comments
To play that MKD style passing game, you have to spend months and months on the training ground perfecting it. Last season, MKD looked like world beaters when they won at The Valley, but overall only finished 13th in the table as they conceded 62 goals. This season they're still playing the passing football but are now presumably making far fewer defensive errors.
Still we'll keep sending the pay cheques to him for the next 3 years. Madness.
Laughable
Perhaps someone out there has some knowledge of them? It would be good to know so we can get an idea of his future availability and not always live in hope.
If he is going to struggle to even come on as a "super sub" for 30 minutes on a regular basis, then the next 3 years are going to be a big disappointment.
That of course is not strictly true as presumably those in the club do know. So if they thought whatever the problem is could be managed, they have got that seriously wrong.
Get him fit for 22 sub appearance's next season.
As you say, he has shown that he really is just an impact player & going forward we need to realise this & play to his strengths, not lay him from the start and expect 90 mins from him.
In the summer we still need to sign a 20 goal striker. Stockley & Washington (with Aneke as back up) wont be enough for promotion. Mark my words.
Maybe they thought Stockley would be out for the season, we still don’t know if this is going to be a recurring injury either, or whether he’s ‘fixed’?
As Golfie says above though we need Stockley, him and 2 other senior strikers (assuming Washington will be one but he is out of contract).
Add in Kanu/Leaburn/Reilly/Gavin as young gun back ups and we would be excellent if the one or two new senior ones are of quality.
Just general frustration again, IMO.
Can be very long term that.