Whatever you say about his general ability and influence on the matches , he is looking like an instinctive goal scorer at this stag me and undoubtedly has scored some vital goals for us this season . More than worth the £1m if he continues on the same trajectory.
My hope is that he (somehow) manages to end up with a decent goal tally and some desperate club sees it and pays over the odds for him.
My hope would be, if he's hitting the 10-15 goals needed for that to happen, we'd keep hold of him! Strikers capable of hitting that tally are hard to find for a mid table Championship club.
Was browsing our teams data on SB and noticed this, amazing how similarly Bayo + Raj profile statistically - although they do differ a bit in their new default striker template they offer. Nothing more to add, just an interesting (well, interesting to me ) discovery.
Raj's "dribble" and "dribble & carry" rating is hilarious. It's as though there is no record of him ever having done either !
His dribble + carry OBV is actually in the negatives, meaning when he attempts to dribble our chances of scoring a goal actually decrease. His "successful dribbles" stat of 0.08 successful dribbles per 90 is in the bottom 1% of all strikers!
I still think a proper striker would easily score goals in this team, the rest of the team is functioning really well and could create plenty of chances for a capable #9.
Would really like to see Healey given a start to see if he's fully recovered and at the levels needed to be leading the line. By far our most rounded striker and easily the best finisher at the club. Sadly I don't think he'll get that chance until Chesterfield.
His first moment yesterday was nice, played in by Martins and showed a decent bit of pace and won a corner. Still looked like Bambi on ice a little and tripping over his own feet but think he’s just missing match-sharpness. I just don’t see the target-man thing we are supposedly playing? Healey literally won more headers than Rajovic when he came on, Rajo is not a hold up striker/target man at all so it is weird. There were times when the Ipswich line was on the halfway line and someone like Healey who could spin in behind would have been great.
I said exactly the same thing in the shoutbox, lots of chances on the counter yesterday and a fully fit (!) Healey would likely be our fastest striker
Rajovic must surely be the worst regular starter we've had in the last 25 years or so? I can't think of anyone else who has looked so far out of his depth. He's barely League Two level imo, probably more suited for the National League. The tap ins he's been scoring is really glossing over the fact that he's an awful footballer. He does try his best, though, I'll give him that...
There is a comparison with Devon White but I cannot see it . At least Devon would get hold of the ball and try and bulldoze his way through a defence .
There's just nothing about him that looks suited to this level. It was blatantly obvious from the first time I saw him live but I know others like to find positives to cling onto. Even his teammates seem to recognise his limitations and adapt their play accordingly. The bigger factor is unlike say Kayembe, who seems to have eventually found a role to flourish in, there's little that can be done to accommodate Raj further. He's hardly going to be shifted out wide. Maybe see how he gets on in a classic little and large front two combination? That's all I can think of... but even then he'd struggle to play the big man role in that pairing because it requires him to win aerial battles and hold up and/or lay the ball off consistently.
Problem is, VI has his setup. Healy will never be a starter unless Raj gets injured. Then again he will probably shove Collins in over Healy if that was the case. It must be so frustrating for Rhys. He clearly has something about him and wants to prove it, but until VI gets over this obsession with starting Raj every game (on the hope he will head in a pin point cross) he will never get the chance.
The improvement in a player such as Kayembe this season makes me not wish to write off Rajovic entirely already though. Kayembe generally looks quicker and more agile this season than he did last season. With Rajovic it's worth remembering that he joined us late in the transfer window after already a decent amount of the season in Sweden. Therefore he's already had quite a few games under his belt of late and didn't get the (clearly beneficial) pre-season with us. While it doesn't help us with the fact he's been struggling a bit recently, I'd be interested to see if a full pre-season with us helps with his speed and agility at all, which I think are the main things currently holding him back as a player.
Still young and can still learn and does seem to score goals but his play outside the six yard box is a complete non event. I would like Healey given a go or Bayo making a start. I haven't given up on Rajovic but until he improves a lot of his game he should not be starting
Honestly one of the worst footballers I've ever seen at this level. Almost completely incapable of the basics to even a half way acceptable standard. And yet he can't stop scoring. It's bizarre.
I said a couple of months ago that he's a foreign version of Scott Fitzgerald, who did score 10 for us in his first season but when the goals dried up he was dropped and quietly disappeared.
He's bad outside of the box but he has shown some improvement since he joined. Bayo has to start but Rajovic is a good sub to bring on as he showed yesterday and against Millwall.
Coming to us was a big step up in competitive competition for him and i think he is another who will learn and get better. His movement off the ball is improving and considering how many goals he has scored i think he has done very well. We now have options up front, which a few games ago was non-existent. I wouldn’t mind VI changing it up a bit earlier to put 2 up top depending on the opposition.
There are blokes who play the lowest level of Sunday morning pub football who are more instinctive in front of goal than most professional footballers. It is something that cannot be coached however their all-round game will be appalling. MR probably knows he is out of his depth but his ability to score adds value to the team so , IMV, the coaching staff should try and keep his confidence up as much as they can
Scott Fitzgerald was essentially a non league player who played for us about 20 years ago and ended up top scorer. It can work being generally pony and yet scoring a few at this level. Raj is just the new Scott, which I’m ok with to be honest. Reminds me of simpler times!
We would all like a striker who can give a defender all he can handle for 90+ minutes, while also being clinical, but you're not going to get that for £1m these days (seemingly, you're also not going to get that for £5m neither!). We're not Barcelona, Raj, Bayo and Healey all do their job, and we should be happy with the job they're doing now
I for one am happy. I like Bayo, think he's a good footballer, Healey is ok as 3rd choice super sub but I have no idea why people are so excited about him and think he's the obvious#9. Raj is a lump that occupies defenders and has the touch in front of goal. Our creative players are MM, Yaser, Ken, Dave and Ince. Our forward just needs to put it in the onion bag. Scott Fitzgerald was all energy and shows you how far a bit of effort gets you. Used to love watching him chase down the keeper. Liam Henderson was worse.
Well it’s 8 goals now for £1 million, which I don’t think is bad value. Certainly not when compared to the likes of Senior, Ellington, Gray etc.
