The first time today that you could clearly see that Chesterfield are a non-league side was when Rajovic came on and looked like a proper footballer. That extra yard of space from defenders and an extra second to get the ball under control and decide what to do next makes a world of difference. He did actually look like a useful target man type of striker, and the goal was excellent - as was his involvement in the second goal. He's still painfully slow, though, can't shoot and gets completely dominated by Championship defenders. But fair play to him, he made a great cameo today.
lol, of course clubs will be kicking themselves at not buying a player for a cheaper price and then seeing them turn out to be worth more, that literally happens with pretty much every player at the top level. Kicking yourself that you didn’t originally see the value in a player doesn’t mean such players never existed does it. I’m sure plenty of clubs wish they’d bought Halland, Messi or Ronaldo before they increased in value.
O Of course he was a great buy but the challenge is identifying the wheat from the chaff. If it was so obvious that he was going to be a star he wouldn’t have had to drop a league to get a game, all the champ sides would have been after him, and Swansea wouldn’t have sold him.
That's a lot of words to still dodge answering the question of: "which one of our other players gets in front of the CB and scores that header today?" Because you claimed supposedly anyone else in our squad can do what Rajovic does and just score "a few tap ins".
You’ve also completely dodged my point so… I think you’re well aware of the point I was making, Rajovic’s all round game is utterly woeful and he brings nothing else to the team other than scoring some tap ins. My point was that given just that remit, any of our squad could do the same, whilst providing absolutely nothing else to the team and ultimately being a net negative to us, despite the goals. I never once said they’d score the same amount as Rajovic, but I said any player in our squad would score some tap ins if that’s all they had to do, and nothing else. I also said some people on this forum probably could as well, whilst simultaneously dragging the team down in every other area. As ever, your waded in and spectacularly missed the actual point, whilst focusing on some minor pedantic detail within the post. So to answer your question, as I originally said any of our squad could goal hang and get some tap ins if that was their remit, but, the team and our results would obviously suffer as a result. Who in our squad could score that header yesterday? well I’ll extend it and say any professional footballer could score that header, in the same way that Rajovic has also missed far easier chances than that this season as well. But that wasn’t the point I was making, was it?
TBF was a good header and he actually moved too but then guess a lot of strikers would have done the same.
I actually think Rajovic is excellent with his head. He’s scored 9 goals, and I think 6 have been headers. When was the last time we had someone reliable with scoring headed goals? It’s a dying art in modern football. You’ll not get an argument from me about the rest of his game being extremely limited, but he does offer something, and has scored a lot of important goals, where he’s dug us out of a tricky situation. His celebration was a bit subdued yesterday though. He’s normally very enthusiastic after scoring.
Your original point didn't work though as evidently Rajovic does more than score tap ins and nothing else e.g. the header he scored yesterday - so it's false to say that any of our squad could do the same. If the header today doesn't just count as being a simple tap in which anyone else in our squad could do, then he evidently brings more to the team than just scoring tap ins (as you claim). It's not complicated. That's just baloney. Andrews, Morris, Asprilla, TDB etc. aren't going to nick in front of a CB to power a header in to the net like that. Even one of our other strikers Healey doesn't seem the type.
Hoedt (a CB) literally scored a goal from the halfway line a few weeks back, but it’s beyond the skill set of any of our players to score a header from inside the box? You’ve honestly lost it this time mate.
They could but don't seem likely to going by our general record from set plays! I wouldn't expect to see an Asprilla score one for example but never know. I mean Martins did v QPR tbf.
Some fans are on his back from the second he steps on the pitch yet will find any excuse they can to defend the absolutely woeful service served up by Martins and Asprilla recently.. Get balls in the box and Rajovic scores goals.
Hoedt has a wand of a left foot and often rakes accurate passes half-way across the pitch, so him having the ability to also ping a ball halfway across the pitch to the goal was also not a huge shock. But if you stuck Asprilla or TDB at CF they're not going to suddenly start getting in front of CBs to power headers in to the net like the one Rajovic just scored. Maybe someone like Porteous (also a CB) could, but that's not every one of our squad.
I think it was against Cardiff where Asprilla missed from point blank range with a header (IIRC he couldn't quite get good contact on it, but of course that's no problem for a beanpole striker like Rajovic!)
Someone has made the point in another post that he couldn't remember ANY of our strikers in recent seasons getting across his marker at the near post to score in the way Raj did yesterday. It's something that's been riling me for ages....a well-timed near post run can convert a poor cross into a dangerous one, but we have seemed totally averse to doing so for so long.
He's a very polarising figure, almost a pure poacher which is rare in the modern game in the upper echelons, but there is clearly a space in the squad for him as we chase a goal
We've seen how useless he can be from the start, but Millwall at home was absolutely peak Rajovic, we had the game under control with Bayo on the pitch, lose it almost as soon as Rajovic comes on, but he digs us out of a hole in the last minute
Yep. It was a massive bug-bear of mine in the lest few seasons of Troy being here that he was so static and useless in the box and had basically stopped scoring any goals other than penalties. A few people were still excusing him by saying he wasn't scoring because we weren't giving him good enough service, but unless it was on a six-pence to him while unmarked in acres of space he would never be able to get on the end of anything. A striker worth their salt will be able to turn a half-decent cross in to a good one through their movement, without needing everything to be 100% pinpoint to where they're already standing.
Up until yesterday this has also been a big flaw in Rajovic's game - he's scored a fair few of his goals from crosses that have got past the defender but there have been countless other opportunities when they've been cleared from just in front of him. Hopefully this is the start of him mixing up his movement a bit - he's clearly quite good at sniffing out space in the box but until now has always been back post/central.
A lot of people are talking like he's the finished article, he's very inexperienced in terms of playing at a decent level of football. It's not his fault we signed him and he's not going anywhere so let's get behind him and see how much he can improve.
I dunno, he might become a bit more polished, but he's not going to fundamentally change as a player. Not to say we should bin him at the first opportunity as there's always a use for someone who knows where the onion bag is
Despite his evident lack of ability in holding the ball up and his first touch Rajovic's numbers have actually been very impressive he is on 157 Mins per Goal in the championship. Not many in the championship will have better MPG than that. Rajovic is likely on course to get the most goals in a league campaign for Watford since Ighalo in the 2015-2016 season.
This is why Rajovic is such an enigma. If you’re the type of person that just looks at stats, he fairs pretty well. If you just use the eye test, then he comes out pretty crap. I personally think he’s a really poor footballer, but is excellent in the air. 9 goals is a great return from someone who is not very good at football. The only way to truly sum him up is when he scores his inclusion is justified, but when he doesn’t it’s like playing with 10 men. But I want him to come good, so I’m rooting for him. As long as he regularly scores he will be given time. If his goals dry up, he’ll be dropped quite quickly.
Yesterday was his best goal he has scored so far this season great movement in the box and got to the near post which is what he needs to do more of rather than waiting for the lofted ball into the box,never going to run the channels not quick enough but will be a good target man ,let's not forget in hasn't had many games and never imagined he would have 9 goals by now so work in progress like many in our team COYH
I think most of his goals have been technically excellent. Even the easy looking header against Norwich would have been missed by someone like Bayo. The only “easy” goal he’s scored was the one at Blackburn. All the others have required a high degree of skill to execute. The fact he does this so often tells me he’s got something about him, but the rest of his game is so lacking and so far behind his 6-yard box finishing ability, that it’s a real surprise he’s so proficient at finishing, even if they are all close range goals. Someone who is apparently as poor as he looks, should not be able to score so many goals, but he does. It’s a really strange combo.
I agree, I have been critical about him not going to the front post time and time again this season. His goal against Birmingham was also impressive and like yesterday it come as a result of an Asprilla cross. I think Asprilla could do more of this instead of overplaying at times.
Yes it was. The first was an excellent finish though. I don’t think anyone from our entire squad would have scored 7 of the goals Rajovic has scored. By that I mean, they wouldn’t have scored had they been in the exact same position as Rajovic. Maybe I could stretch it to 1 or 2 goals taken, but certainly not anywhere near 7.
Need to move the ball quicker, we do it in some parts of our play but not frequent enough IMO,one major pattern of play which we should be doing which will give some space to get the crosses into the box much earlier ,aim for the near post then at least which ever striker we play has an idea which area the ball in going to be so he can attack it ,at the moment it's pot luck where the ball is going therefore there is no movement in the box our striker would rather stand still and stand there like a lampost rather than making movement and then make a mistake,I would get so frustrated playing as a centre forward with Martins and asprilla on the wings go to make a run to attack the ball and he does another step over
The service in the box needs much more work but can't be that difficult just get it in the box early rather than taking 5 extra touches and losing the opportunity
He's a fox in the box in a target mans body. His hold up play and general play is getting better but he is most effective when he plays in the box, probably the wrong player for Val's system but still an effective player.
I think it has got more to do with us taking more shots at goal rather than tip tapping the ball around and trying to walk it into the net. We have been shooting at goal from all angles of late and Raj has been feeding off the rebounds along with others.
I think the issue is as much about our wingers. not having a right footed winger, who can get behind as Sema does and make a cross makes a huge difference. As soon as you play the one trick pony on the left wing to cut inside and sheet, because he can't cross once his cut inside on to his right foot. Same with Asprilla on the right, who for some reason is reluctant to cross, he is stumped. Sema gets behind, whips it in - as Aspilla did from the left on Saturday and hay presto he scores. I'd much rather someone who scores 15 to 20 goals a season from causing havoc in their box than someone like Davis who scored 7 but continued to drop deep to link up play, badly. If he scores 15 then you can bet that at least 10 will have had a contribution to gaining points, rather than consolation goals.
