Ajose has definitely missed some chances, which isn't going to do much for his confidence, but we aren't generally set up to play to his strengths. Look at the vid of his goals last season, the vast majority were passes straight to his feet, a few were balls in front of him to run on to, plus a few tap ins and pens. Slade has a choice in my opinion, he either adapts our game play to ensure that Ajose gets the type of supply that he needs, or he should drop him. It seems to me that most of our creativity comes from the wide positions, which inevitably means crosses into the box. Novak would be a far better fit for our current style, which is a shame because I'd like to see us utilise Ajose properly, as it's clear, when he gets the right service, he can get goals.
I wonder whether Slade had much say in Ajose's transfer? If he did, then I would have expected him to know his strengths and weaknesses before bringing him in and surely he should have then gone on to build a team with this in mind? Or maybe it's just a case that the money tap was turned off and he had to back-fill the rest of our positions with as many cheap bodies as possible which prevented him from bringing in the type of player we really needed?
On Saturday how many times did Lookman and Holmes do a bit of magic to set up a striker with a chance, as opposed to doing a bit of magic and having a shot themselves?
Last season Ajose had Louis Thompson playing behind him in midfield but as we know he didn't come.
Slade has tinkered with Mag out wide amd Lookman wide.
I wonder if the original plan of Novak and Ajose might work better.
Still 39 games for it to click.
What you talking about, any football fan who's been watching the game for more than 5 minutes knows that everything is decided by September and no team or player has EVER shown a sudden change in form.
Well said mate, there are still around FOURTY games to get it right, so I am a little befuddled by all of the panic and concern. I remember Jason Euell took a while to settle down, and then turned into a very good player for us over 5/6 seasons.
I may be wrong but I can't remember many teams getting promoted in September!
Well said mate, there are still around FOURTY games to get it right, so I am a little befuddled by all of the panic and concern. I remember Jason Euell took a while to settle down, and then turned into a very good player for us over 5/6 seasons.
I may be wrong but I can't remember many teams getting promoted in September!
I think we pretty much were in 2011/12 under Chris Powell.
Well said mate, there are still around FOURTY games to get it right, so I am a little befuddled by all of the panic and concern. I remember Jason Euell took a while to settle down, and then turned into a very good player for us over 5/6 seasons.
I may be wrong but I can't remember many teams getting promoted in September!
Right now, watching Ajose all I get is Reza flashbacks!
Slade needs to get down the Swindon club shop and buy a copy last seasons highlights video to see how Ajose scored 23 goals as he doesn't seem to have a clue how to get the best out of him.
Right now, watching Ajose all I get is Reza flashbacks!
Slade needs to get down the Swindon club shop and buy a copy last seasons highlights video to see how Ajose scored 23 goals as he doesn't seem to have a clue how to get the best out of him.
Dont forget though we've got a Manager who got the best out of Kevin Lisbie and David Mooney at this level... As mentioned, we're still only in September plenty of time for him to start banging in the goals
The more balls bobbling around in the box, the more goals he will score. To me he looks like a Johnnny on the spot type poacher. The secret is probably as simple as pinging as many low balls as possible into the box, let Magennis make the challenges with Ajose picking up the pieces.
Right now, watching Ajose all I get is Reza flashbacks!
Slade needs to get down the Swindon club shop and buy a copy last seasons highlights video to see how Ajose scored 23 goals as he doesn't seem to have a clue how to get the best out of him.
Dont forget though we've got a Manager who got the best out of Kevin Lisbie and David Mooney at this level... As mentioned, we're still only in September plenty of time for him to start banging in the goals
Well, I hope you're right. Slade did manage to get David Mooney back on track. I was appalled at the way Charlton fans treated Mooney when he was here. No consideration that the guy had come from the League of Ireland and had only played about 12 games in the English league when he got here. I just hope the crowd (what there is left of it) don't ruin Ajose before Slade can get him scoring goals again.
Right now, watching Ajose all I get is Reza flashbacks!
Slade needs to get down the Swindon club shop and buy a copy last seasons highlights video to see how Ajose scored 23 goals as he doesn't seem to have a clue how to get the best out of him.
Dont forget though we've got a Manager who got the best out of Kevin Lisbie and David Mooney at this level... As mentioned, we're still only in September plenty of time for him to start banging in the goals
Well, I hope you're right. Slade did manage to get David Mooney back on track. I was appalled at the way Charlton fans treated Mooney when he was here. No consideration that the guy had come from the League of Ireland and had only played about 12 games in the English league when he got here. I just hope the crowd (what there is left of it) don't ruin Ajose before Slade can get him scoring goals again.
Agreed... I do think that Ajose should be benched for a game yet reckon he just needs to start getting a bit of luck
I wouldn't drop him. He's not been finding the target, but I don't think he's really had hundreds of clear-cut chances to score. On Saturday we didn't see loads of him, but I think his pace and movement causes more problems than people give him credit for (e.g. for lookman's goal, he's occupying both centre backs, and is ready for the tap-in if the keeper gets a hand on it). Couldn't really understand bringing Novak on for him. Lee is a far worse fit with Magennis, and sure enough we looked far less threatening after he came on. A big part of the problem is that we still have zero creativity in the middle of the park. Still think we'll score more goals with him in the team than without...
I wouldn't drop him. He's not been finding the target, but I don't think he's really had hundreds of clear-cut chances to score. On Saturday we didn't see loads of him, but I think his pace and movement causes more problems than people give him credit for (e.g. for lookman's goal, he's occupying both centre backs, and is ready for the tap-in if the keeper gets a hand on it). Couldn't really understand bringing Novak on for him. Lee is a far worse fit with Magennis, and sure enough we looked far less threatening after he came on. A big part of the problem is that we still have zero creativity in the middle of the park. Still think we'll score more goals with him in the team than without...
Do we? Ulvestad looked more likely to pick a pass than our other CMs. Don't think he should be written off yet.
Stephens was the only CM you could really call creative in the title winning season and he missed a fair bit of that season. Hollands was much more about being box to box than a playmaker picking out passes. Russell, Pritchard and Hughes weren't creative midfielders either.
Crazy to write him off now, yes he's snatching at stuff and hasn't started off all that well. Even if he has a horror-show by his standards and just gets into double figures for goals over the whole season, he's young and hes proven it at this level - it's just how we get it out of him.
If he doesn't suit our style of play, fine. We won't know that until far closer to the end of the season. He's getting plenty of decent half-chances and snapshots at the moment, so I don't think it's particularly that.
It's kind of a nothing conversation beyond, "he's not started that great". We just don't know any more than that at the moment.
I think the problem is Russel Slade sticking to his 4-4-2 formation. play lookman and holmes either side of him in a 4-3-3 (4-5-1) and you will stretch the defence and ajose will score goals. Hitting it long for McGeiness to nod down to ajose seems archaic to me, and easy to defend against.
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I wonder whether Slade had much say in Ajose's transfer? If he did, then I would have expected him to know his strengths and weaknesses before bringing him in and surely he should have then gone on to build a team with this in mind? Or maybe it's just a case that the money tap was turned off and he had to back-fill the rest of our positions with as many cheap bodies as possible which prevented him from bringing in the type of player we really needed?
I suspect he is more of a poacher type player, because he certainly doesn't offer much outside the box at all.
Slade has tinkered with Mag out wide amd Lookman wide.
I wonder if the original plan of Novak and Ajose might work better.
Still 39 games for it to click.
I may be wrong but I can't remember many teams getting promoted in September!
Slade needs to get down the Swindon club shop and buy a copy last seasons highlights video to see how Ajose scored 23 goals as he doesn't seem to have a clue how to get the best out of him.
Stephens was the only CM you could really call creative in the title winning season and he missed a fair bit of that season. Hollands was much more about being box to box than a playmaker picking out passes. Russell, Pritchard and Hughes weren't creative midfielders either.
There's still time.
If he doesn't suit our style of play, fine. We won't know that until far closer to the end of the season. He's getting plenty of decent half-chances and snapshots at the moment, so I don't think it's particularly that.
It's kind of a nothing conversation beyond, "he's not started that great". We just don't know any more than that at the moment.
Hitting it long for McGeiness to nod down to ajose seems archaic to me, and easy to defend against.
Magennis isn't even winning many headers from long balls, they've got to stop because it doesn't actually seem to be a strength of his.