Watching another Danish striker in Hojlund vs Wigan - I'm sure Rajovic would have had one or two goals today if leading the line in his stead with the chances in the box he's getting.
Probably not worth it's own transfer thread, but Ipswich are interested in the Hertfordshire Haaland. https://twitter.com/nickma*****r/status/1745794475085980025?t=cMjRfkSku6E-aJtQHCD3cA&s=19
Anything above £5m and I'd take it I think. Very good finisher but so limited otherwise it hurts our general play and would be £3.5m or so profit.
I'd be pleased if it was true but I can't see it. And I can't really see us selling him unless the offer was silly as we'd need to find another striker to take his place.
https://the72.co.uk/2024/01/12/ipsw...vers-watford-stars-two-bids-already-rejected/ Could be Prisken all over again
Journalist Nick Mash*ter? He’s clearly on the wind up. Might as well put, Iva Biggun, Biggus ****us, Ben Dover.
I'd be stunned if Ipswich will offer anywhere near £5mil or what he's actually worth - they only paid £1.5mil for Hirst in the summer and £1.5mil for Jack Taylor. According to that article they've also only offered £1mil and £1.5mil for Gallagher. That deal seems much more likely to happen as he'll be gettable for much less than Rajovic.
The guys name has a swear word in it so was blocked by the forum (lol) can view it here - https://shorturl.at/bkpsw
Missed a huge opportunity to put the game beyond doubt just before their goal, but I have to say his holdup play was much better which helped immensely!
Today was the first time I've seen him bully an opposition player and use his size and strength. Keep that up, keep putting away the goals, work on his decision making and we'll have a 20 goal striker next season.
Passenger bht most our attacking play is rubbish right now. He’s still League Two level outside the box but his hold up play has improved, albeit from virtually zero previously.
He could create some of his own? Whatever happened to a striker working the space, stealing a yard or using their body to hold the ball and defender up, turn and shoot?
He's as bad at creating his own as our creative players are at creating chances. We are blunt all over.
If we don't stick the ball on his head on the six yard box he adds absolutely nothing to the team. Absolutely woeful
He's actually very good at heading from close range, but as you say, that's all he's got. His game in not improving, regardless of what some people are claiming. He's even less effective now, as he's trying to improve other aspects of his game, but forgetting to do what he's good at, which makes him pretty hopeless as a viable player. Val has tied himself to this player with his strong endorsement prior to his signing. Claiming he's exactly the type of player we need, with the big fanfare and awarding the number 9 shirt, will be a noose around his neck. Shame Giaretta has left, as I'd like to rehire him just to be able to sack him again for this signing.
Doesn’t stop him from pressing, doesn’t stop him from trying. He’s 6’4 and can’t win anything in the air. Not all about the service. Bayo gets the same level of service but actually makes things happen through his own endeavours.
Said this before, but there's a metric I use in my work that evaluates aerial performance (https://statsbomb.com/articles/soccer/introducing-hops-a-new-way-to-evaluate-heading-ability/). A rating of 0.50 means you're bang average in the air, Sierralta has a rating of 0.78 which means he's expected to win a header against a 0.50 rated player 78% of the time. With a rating of 0.52 Raj is very very slightly above average, which considering his height is very disappointing. Was similar to Keinan Davis last season (0.47) who also had the height not the aerial ability to go with it.
In the early days of the Pozzo regime it seemed like they had a real knack for spotting a striker, we’ve now had a lot more misses than hits and the recent record is abysmal. We were actually consistently better at unearthing decent strikers for not a lot of money pre-Pozzo. Many more great strikers over a consistently longer period.
Neither Bayo or Rajovic look like scoring at the moment. They both have significant limitations but they are also limited by the fact we are creating nothing. 31 crosses on Saturday but we had one clear cut chance all game which Asprilla put wide. We are powderpuff in attack, but that isn't just about the strikers.
Thanks for this. I noticed earlier in the season our % headed duals won stat on iFollow was consistently low (especially at half time) when certain players were on the pitch. This explains it
As other have clearly stated, it's hard for the strikers to eat when they ain't being fed properly! Throw Bayovic a bone here.
Don't throw it too far away though! Plus the bone Bayovic seems to only feed on needs to be presented on a silver platter with a bow on top and with someone to apply a bib first.
I get what you're saying and I do agree to an extent. Last night illustrated your point when Chaka broke through the lines countless times in the first half only to pick the wrong ball. Personally I feel we are better suited to counter-attacking when you've got players like Kone and Chaka in midfield. Both really powerful runners but when they get their head up Rajovic is stood still and doesn't have any pace to go in behind. Bayo at least runs the channels and looks to create space and stretch teams. Southampton could literally just squeeze us to the half way line as we had no pace or movement at all. Dennis should be deployed as a central striker and not a winger. He holds the ball up well, he's strong, incredibly quick and gives us a genuine threat in behind.
