I would even start a discussion to extend it further. He may be 30 and a pace is a big part of his play but his contract will be up when he is 33. I don't see him slowing down drastically in that time and when you look at his form over the last few years he's actually improving as a player.
Can see him playing well into his 30s in league football if he can stay injury free
Especially if he carries on playing as a 10, could add a year or 2 extra onto his career
I was chuffed when we signed him purely because of his scoring goals history. However he has shown imo with his attitude that he isnt just a goal scorer, he is all over the pitch and does more than his fair share of defensive duties. Im sure he will over time become one of our proper legends. From what I have seen so far Im amazed that he hasnt been given a shot at a championship club
Pretty sure I called it in the summer - he's got Washington's work ethic but he also has a better brain and finishing ability. Love the guy
Never rated Washington, always thought he had a bad attitude. And the amount clubs he has been to, would suggest that as well.
May is on a different level to Washington in my opinion.. May for me, is in the same boat as Lyle Taylor, that could turn us in the promotion chasing.
Yes, I was wasn't the biggest fan of May to start with, but we have a player on our hands, and grateful we have him.
Bad attitude but works his socks off is an unusual combination.
True but I guess bad attitude doesn't equal lazy. It can just be being mouthy, questioning the manager's decisions, sowing discontent, etc.. You might be a grafter but with a chip on your shoulder. We all know people like that.
Pretty sure I called it in the summer - he's got Washington's work ethic but he also has a better brain and finishing ability. Love the guy
Never rated Washington, always thought he had a bad attitude. And the amount clubs he has been to, would suggest that as well.
May is on a different level to Washington in my opinion.. May for me, is in the same boat as Lyle Taylor, that could turn us in the promotion chasing.
Yes, I was wasn't the biggest fan of May to start with, but we have a player on our hands, and grateful we have him.
Bad attitude but works his socks off is an unusual combination.
True but I guess bad attitude doesn't equal lazy. It can just be being mouthy, questioning the manager's decisions, sowing discontent, etc.. You might be a grafter but with a chip on your shoulder. We all know people like that.
Pretty sure I called it in the summer - he's got Washington's work ethic but he also has a better brain and finishing ability. Love the guy
Never rated Washington, always thought he had a bad attitude. And the amount clubs he has been to, would suggest that as well.
May is on a different level to Washington in my opinion.. May for me, is in the same boat as Lyle Taylor, that could turn us in the promotion chasing.
Yes, I was wasn't the biggest fan of May to start with, but we have a player on our hands, and grateful we have him.
Bad attitude but works his socks off is an unusual combination.
True but I guess bad attitude doesn't equal lazy. It can just be being mouthy, questioning the manager's decisions, sowing discontent, etc.. You might be a grafter but with a chip on your shoulder. We all know people like that.
Yeah, fair enough.
I also don't think Washington actually worked that hard.. He had Stockley, Bogle, Davison and Ronnie as forwards, which neither was hard working, so was always going to look like he was..
Pretty sure I called it in the summer - he's got Washington's work ethic but he also has a better brain and finishing ability. Love the guy
Never rated Washington, always thought he had a bad attitude. And the amount clubs he has been to, would suggest that as well.
May is on a different level to Washington in my opinion.. May for me, is in the same boat as Lyle Taylor, that could turn us in the promotion chasing.
Yes, I was wasn't the biggest fan of May to start with, but we have a player on our hands, and grateful we have him.
Bad attitude but works his socks off is an unusual combination.
True but I guess bad attitude doesn't equal lazy. It can just be being mouthy, questioning the manager's decisions, sowing discontent, etc.. You might be a grafter but with a chip on your shoulder. We all know people like that.
Yeah, fair enough.
I also don't think Washington actually worked that hard.. He had Stockley, Bogle, Davison and Ronnie as forwards, which neither was hard working, so was always going to look like he was..
Hmm. No I have to disagree there, on the pitch in game time he genuinely was a hard working player. Though that does not preclude him also being a bit of a dickhead outside of that, but I heard nothing either way so can't comment as to his attitude.
I would even start a discussion to extend it further. He may be 30 and a pace is a big part of his play but his contract will be up when he is 33. I don't see him slowing down drastically in that time and when you look at his form over the last few years he's actually improving as a player.
Can see him playing well into his 30s in league football if he can stay injury free
Especially if he carries on playing as a 10, could add a year or 2 extra onto his career
You could be right. Alfie May playing as a 10 between the lines is another string to not only Alfie's Boe but gives Charlton more options when both Aneke and Leaburn are available because in my many decades of watching football I'm struggling to remember a 6ft 5in striker who would spends more time out wide than in or around the box. When we play 3 that has happened on occasions with Miles. Under Garner from memory and did it happen at Shrewsbury?
Both Chuks and Miles are central strikers were May can pass and move which was shown with great effect with his pass to CBT and then getting into the box and scoring after Miles went down on the goal line ! Even as a 10, May is a fox in the box with his runs from deep which means he isn't always picked up.
I love the new role he is playing and I hope he continues to play there, he will still get plenty of goals Im sure as he will drift into positions and not get picked up alot of the time
Great work rate, but what I've really liked about him is he has a football brain. We've not had enough intelligent footballers in recent years and it's nice to be watching a player who makes good decisions most of the time. As long as we use him as a second striker, and don't try to turn him into an advanced midfielder, then I think he can absolutely work as a number 10 playing off Leaburn/Aneke/Tedic.
What impressed me last night was his anticipation. For his first goal he started his run up from outside the penalty area so when when Aneke hit the ball, May was already motoring towards the goal to be first to any rebound. Similarly for his second he was already looking for any rebound before it happened.
It's amazing how much more luck you can have, when you anticipate a scenario, rather than wait for it.
I would even start a discussion to extend it further. He may be 30 and a pace is a big part of his play but his contract will be up when he is 33. I don't see him slowing down drastically in that time and when you look at his form over the last few years he's actually improving as a player.
Can see him playing well into his 30s in league football if he can stay injury free
Especially if he carries on playing as a 10, could add a year or 2 extra onto his career
You could be right. Alfie May playing as a 10 between the lines is another string to not only Alfie's Boe but gives Charlton more options when both Aneke and Leaburn are available because in my many decades of watching football I'm struggling to remember a 6ft 5in striker who would spends more time out wide than in or around the box. When we play 3 that has happened on occasions with Miles. Under Garner from memory and did it happen at Shrewsbury?
Both Chuks and Miles are central strikers were May can pass and move which was shown with great effect with his pass to CBT and then getting into the box and scoring after Miles went down on the goal line ! Even as a 10, May is a fox in the box with his runs from deep which means he isn't always picked up.
Didn't Graham Taylor play Ian Ormondroyd on the wing for Villa, a lot.
I would even start a discussion to extend it further. He may be 30 and a pace is a big part of his play but his contract will be up when he is 33. I don't see him slowing down drastically in that time and when you look at his form over the last few years he's actually improving as a player.
Can see him playing well into his 30s in league football if he can stay injury free
Especially if he carries on playing as a 10, could add a year or 2 extra onto his career
You could be right. Alfie May playing as a 10 between the lines is another string to not only Alfie's Boe but gives Charlton more options when both Aneke and Leaburn are available because in my many decades of watching football I'm struggling to remember a 6ft 5in striker who would spends more time out wide than in or around the box. When we play 3 that has happened on occasions with Miles. Under Garner from memory and did it happen at Shrewsbury?
Both Chuks and Miles are central strikers were May can pass and move which was shown with great effect with his pass to CBT and then getting into the box and scoring after Miles went down on the goal line ! Even as a 10, May is a fox in the box with his runs from deep which means he isn't always picked up.
Didn't Graham Taylor play Ian Ormondroyd on the wing for Villa, a lot.
I would even start a discussion to extend it further. He may be 30 and a pace is a big part of his play but his contract will be up when he is 33. I don't see him slowing down drastically in that time and when you look at his form over the last few years he's actually improving as a player.
Can see him playing well into his 30s in league football if he can stay injury free
Especially if he carries on playing as a 10, could add a year or 2 extra onto his career
You could be right. Alfie May playing as a 10 between the lines is another string to not only Alfie's Boe but gives Charlton more options when both Aneke and Leaburn are available because in my many decades of watching football I'm struggling to remember a 6ft 5in striker who would spends more time out wide than in or around the box. When we play 3 that has happened on occasions with Miles. Under Garner from memory and did it happen at Shrewsbury?
Both Chuks and Miles are central strikers were May can pass and move which was shown with great effect with his pass to CBT and then getting into the box and scoring after Miles went down on the goal line ! Even as a 10, May is a fox in the box with his runs from deep which means he isn't always picked up.
Didn't Graham Taylor play Ian Ormondroyd on the wing for Villa, a lot.
Good call, Ian Ormondroyd did play games out wide when at Villa. 6 goals from 56 games at Villa and he wasn't over successful whether out wide or in the middle. When I first saw Peter Crouch he reminded me of Ormondroyd but Crouch had a more successful career despite being even taller.
Miles Leaburn's last two goals have been when Tyreece Campbell did some great work out wide by beating his man and laying the ball back to Leaburn in the box and he scored down the Jimmy Seed and when coming on as sub against Exeter he was central when replacing Chuks and scored with aplomb.
Just out of interest, does anyone know how Alfie is doing, goal wise up against Lyle from his time here in league one, with the same amount of games played?
I guess it would be in a programme from that time , think Lyle ended up with 25 league goals, wonder if Alfie will get similar?
I love the energy, enthusiasm, and work rate he brings to the side, as well as goals, obviously.
Just out of interest, does anyone know how Alfie is doing, goal wise up against Lyle from his time here in league one, with the same amount of games played?
I guess it would be in a programme from that time , think Lyle ended up with 25 league goals, wonder if Alfie will get similar?
I love the energy, enthusiasm, and work rate he brings to the side, as well as goals, obviously.
Just had a brief look, think Taylor had 5 from his first 9 league games, so May is one up on him.
Just out of interest, does anyone know how Alfie is doing, goal wise up against Lyle from his time here in league one, with the same amount of games played?
I guess it would be in a programme from that time , think Lyle ended up with 25 league goals, wonder if Alfie will get similar?
I love the energy, enthusiasm, and work rate he brings to the side, as well as goals, obviously.
Just had a brief look, think Taylor had 5 from his first 9 league games, so May is one up on him.
I'm quite surprised by that, I think I still have this idea in my head that May started slowly but he's actually only scored in one fewer game than Lyle did at this stage. An interesting thing I hadn't really noticed until now is that Taylor didn't tend to stack up goals in games, he only scored more than one goal in the league on one occasion that season, which means he scored in 20 of our 46 league games. That meant there were only 6 games we didn't score in, and 2 of those were when he was out injured, which is pretty significant in terms of always providing a threat in matches. One big difference is that Grant also had 5 goals in 9 games at this point, so we were further ahead on points in the same period (can't really do an exact comparison as May missed a game but we had 17 points after 9 games and 18 after 10. We currently have 14 points after 10).
We've got Leaburn back now but we need to make sure we've got someone else taking the strain alongside May or we won't be able to make the most of his goals by the end of the season. Cheltenham scored 45 goals last season and May got 20 of them. They finished 16th.
Scoring a goal every 137 minutes currently, which over a 46 game season (of course he’ll miss some from suspension etc), will be a very decent tally if keeps up that ratio.
What I really don't understand is why people suddenly believe that he isn't the striker he was last season? Same division and he scored 22 times for a team that finished six places below us. That included goals as well as against us (2), Plymouth (2), Derby (1), Wednesday (1), Peterborough (3), Ipswich (1) and Wycombe (2) - that's 12 goals against sides in the top 10 of which 4 were against the three promoted sides.
Even Killer used to miss sitters. It's an occupational hazard of a striker. Equally, last season he scored one in his first seven matches. The only thing that will stop him will be a lack of service or a complete loss of confidence due to being Charltonised. He also doesn't score the same goals and I would encourage anyone who has doubts about him to look at these and specifically the ones from last season:
This was posted on 16th August. The day after the Bristol Rovers game and following a run of not scoring in his first four games. Some were judging him because he missed a couple of chances. The names "Church" and "Washington" were being used by way of comparison. Inevitably, as all strikers do unless they are as gifted and have the service of Haaland (but even if scored only one goal in eight matches last season), he will go on another run of that nature. Hopefully, when he does, people will ask questions as to why and how that has happened rather than make the assumption that he isn't good enough or that "he's lost it". May had proven for two seasons that he could do it at this level for a team who haven't had a player score a single goal in the 13 matches since he left them. Equally, as he demonstrated against Exeter, he's not one dimensional in the way that a typical striker might be. That's not something that one would necessarily appreciate from the goals he scored for Cheltenham and it is clear now that he can even provide a role beyond being an out and out striker. He could even become our equivalent of Conor Chaplin who was an "out and out" striker but was converted at Ipswich to his current position.
The one word that I would use to describe Alfie May is "hungry". I've likened him previously to Vardy in that respect and that "hunger", I believe, comes from being rejected (both were for being too small) and seeing what life outside pro football looks like - having to get another job and fit training and playing in around that. I remember seeing Vardy play against us. He was on the go the whole time. No standing with hands on hips waiting for thing to happen. Too many footballers, even those, that are more technically gifted than May or Vardy either lose that as a result of being in that comfort zone of money and having everything done for them, simply never had it in the first place or actually don't like playing the game and it is just a job to them. The name Maddison springs to mind. Here's hoping Alfie never loses that hunger. Though I very much doubt he ever will.
He was more of a second striker than a 10 today I thought. Could have maybe done with him dropping deep to link play and get on the ball a bit more because nothing was sticking to Leaburn
Comments
May is on a different level to Washington in my opinion.. May for me, is in the same boat as Lyle Taylor, that could turn us in the promotion chasing.
Yes, I was wasn't the biggest fan of May to start with, but we have a player on our hands, and grateful we have him.
Sure there's more accomplished players with sumptuous ability.
But our Alfie has the nous to make the most of what he has, with !00% application, concentration and attitude.
Proper player, proper professional. And the poacher we've spent years without.
If he can keep fit, he's our 20 goal a season striker.
Golfie must be having wet dreams.
You could be right.
Alfie May playing as a 10 between the lines is another string to not only Alfie's Boe but gives Charlton more options when both Aneke and Leaburn are available because in my many decades of watching football I'm struggling to remember a 6ft 5in striker who would spends more time out wide than in or around the box. When we play 3 that has happened on occasions with Miles. Under Garner from memory and did it happen at Shrewsbury?
Both Chuks and Miles are central strikers were May can pass and move which was shown with great effect with his pass to CBT and then getting into the box and scoring after Miles went down on the goal line ! Even as a 10, May is a fox in the box with his runs from deep which means he isn't always picked up.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flo_pass
Good call, Ian Ormondroyd did play games out wide when at Villa. 6 goals from 56 games at Villa and he wasn't over successful whether out wide or in the middle. When I first saw Peter Crouch he reminded me of Ormondroyd but Crouch had a more successful career despite being even taller.
Miles Leaburn's last two goals have been when Tyreece Campbell did some great work out wide by beating his man and laying the ball back to Leaburn in the box and he scored down the Jimmy Seed and when coming on as sub against Exeter he was central when replacing Chuks and scored with aplomb.
I guess it would be in a programme from that time , think Lyle ended up with 25 league goals, wonder if Alfie will get similar?
I love the energy, enthusiasm, and work rate he brings to the side, as well as goals, obviously.
This was posted on 16th August. The day after the Bristol Rovers game and following a run of not scoring in his first four games. Some were judging him because he missed a couple of chances. The names "Church" and "Washington" were being used by way of comparison. Inevitably, as all strikers do unless they are as gifted and have the service of Haaland (but even if scored only one goal in eight matches last season), he will go on another run of that nature. Hopefully, when he does, people will ask questions as to why and how that has happened rather than make the assumption that he isn't good enough or that "he's lost it". May had proven for two seasons that he could do it at this level for a team who haven't had a player score a single goal in the 13 matches since he left them. Equally, as he demonstrated against Exeter, he's not one dimensional in the way that a typical striker might be. That's not something that one would necessarily appreciate from the goals he scored for Cheltenham and it is clear now that he can even provide a role beyond being an out and out striker. He could even become our equivalent of Conor Chaplin who was an "out and out" striker but was converted at Ipswich to his current position.
The one word that I would use to describe Alfie May is "hungry". I've likened him previously to Vardy in that respect and that "hunger", I believe, comes from being rejected (both were for being too small) and seeing what life outside pro football looks like - having to get another job and fit training and playing in around that. I remember seeing Vardy play against us. He was on the go the whole time. No standing with hands on hips waiting for thing to happen. Too many footballers, even those, that are more technically gifted than May or Vardy either lose that as a result of being in that comfort zone of money and having everything done for them, simply never had it in the first place or actually don't like playing the game and it is just a job to them. The name Maddison springs to mind. Here's hoping Alfie never loses that hunger. Though I very much doubt he ever will.