I love him and agree with what has been said by most on here. Just seems to be playing out of position unfortunately. I'm always surprised that we never hear of him being considered for an international recall to be honest.
What a load of rubbish. Abdi's defensive work I.e. His tackling has been a bloody revelation this season, he's adapted his game fantastically. And was awesome before Christmas, coincidentally when we were doing well...
When Abdi played it gave us cover of Nyom and gaver Watson better transition options. Capoue doesn't give Nyom the same sort of cover and leaves him exposed, the seed that we now get the ball forward, using 4 3 2 1 rather than 4 2 3 1 is so much slower Our form has coincided with Abdi being out of the side
Actually my biggest disappointment with Abdi this season has been his inability to stick the ball in the net even when finding himself in good positions. Abdi has scored some screamers for us in previous seasons, and managed 9 goals in the last, so his return of just 1 so far this season is very disappointing - there have been a number of opportunities where I would have expected the Abdi of last season to have scored. Hoolahan, a similar type and level of player (kinda) has managed 4 goals for Norwich this season, by way of comparison (already equalling his Championship goals tally of last season). A lack of goals from midfield has been our biggest weakness this season, and Abdi misplacing his shooting boots certainly hasn't helped.
I think QSF must have been reading this thread - if we're believing the semi-colons in the line-up, it looks like Abdi and Deeney are starting centrally behind Ighalo today, with a midfield three of Suarez, Watson and Capoue. Big opportunity for him today, in one of the toughest (on paper) games of the season.
Saviour from what Moog? In my view this squad has done their job. To advance we will need a lot of new faces next season
Abdi just isn't good enough. I have some wonderful memories of him but he is no more than a good championship player. Tried hard today but was utterly ineffective. The story of his season really
I agree completely. We just have too many players not premier league standard, which is to be expected as we were a championship side last year. It's not abdis fault and there's no point criticising him, he's just not good enough. Hopefully we can recruit better players in the summer
As unpopular as this will be, Abdi unfortunately is not at the same level as Jurado. Neither have been played in their best position, but when Jurado has - he has shown what a danger he can be. Of the two, I can only see one departing in the summer.
Its what happened last time in The Prem, people saying Spring scored 13 goals in the Championship so he is good enough for the top flight when he clearly wasn't. Abdi is good in the Championship like Spring was but is not anywhere near good enough.
Spring didn't score 13 goals in the Championship. And in terms of quality, experience and style of play isn't comparable to Abdi in any way whatsoever. Other than that - a good, well thought out post.
Saviour from losing every game. We've had lots of new faces this term and how many have been a success? Less than half and in my opinion, less than 5. There's no point in signing new players of their job is to be to try not to lose by too many, rather than win games.
I think our recruitment has been an unmitigated success, we are 10 points clear of the relegation zone and in the fa cup semis but have the lowest record signing compared to all the other Prem teams.. We have spent amongst the least and some of our best players like Ighalo, Cathcart, Capoue, Gomez etc cost very little in comparison to what other clubs spent on players. I think our recruitment has been great and I a encouraged by the imminent signings of young talent like Issac Success, Sinclair and Penaranda, they might not all work out but surely its better than spending 8 or 9 million on the likes of Naismith who has no sell on value and it possibly past his best. I don't understand people who criticise the Pozzo's recruitment, they are the best and its proven by the way they keep all 3 small teams in the top flight in the biggest leagues in Europe yet spend very little money.
It's unfortunate that two of our biggest signings turned out to be so appalling, especially now we are struggling for goals so badly. Berghuis and oulare make the pozzos supposedly amazing recruitment system seem a bit of a joke. Of course they might come good next season, but people demand instant success these days
I'll take where we are now compared to where we have in the last 30 years, and done without spending loads of money.. I try to understand people who complain and are not happy and I may come across as being confrontational with my replies but I genuinely don't understand people who complain and wonder if some were not supporters when we had crooks as owners and had no recruitment policy other than begging Prem clubs for loan players or owners not even wishing to spend 150k on Barry Hayles off Stevenage despite selling Furlong and Dyer for millions.. I truly don't get the moaning.
Abdi, much like Jurado and Capoue, would be a good option if we played him in his best position. Not brilliant, but a good option for certain games, to bring off the bench to wind a game down, or to replace a higher level player when banned or injured. He's just not a winger. He never has been. He has few of the qualities that he'd need to be a success as a winger. Why play him there? Well, it appears there are no other options. You'd think that would trigger a formation change, but clearly not.
I couldn't be happier about our league position but the football is awful to watch at the moment, but I can tolerate that for the first season. I just haven't seen any evidence that the pozzos are any better or worse than any other owners when it comes to recruitment. Some of the signings have been great, some have been terrible. Just the same as other clubs. I don't see what makes them the 'best'. I'm happy they are our owners. But they are prone to expensive mistakes so I understand why people moan
Thought he was our best player in the first half before disappearing second half like the rest of the team.
The issue is that a myth exists about the Pozzo recruitment policy. In the past it was quite unique but now the model has been copied. So you can't really say its the best but it is ridiculous to say it's not very good. It is good but as always has been the case, you never know how a player will adapt or when they will start producing. Who would have predicted Troy being the player he is now after watching his first 18 months at the club ? How happy were people with Etienne at the beginning of his tenure and what what would your judgement have been if his 1st 10 games were like his last 10? Unfortunately, now we are having to pay millions to get in a player to try and compete. I am very comfortable with how we are slowly building a stronger club. We are still a small club and we are doing very well in the recruitment stakes.
Our recruitment in the summer was a disaster. A shameful waste of money which saw better players leave than we brought in. I genuinely believe that we made a net loss on terms of talent over the 2015 summer window. All the better players this season, arguably with the exception of britos and ake were here already.
I understand where you're coming from here, but you are being a bit over exaggerated. A shameful waste of money? Well it's the owner's to waste, so I have no problem in that really. Are there any financial concerns at the club anymore? Our squad is vastly superior than the one we had last season. I don't think anymore can really seriously think differently. Of course there were one or two duds signed and maybe a couple of players sold who I would have like us to have retained, but generally we have massively improved. To use a phrase....Rome wasn't built in a day. We sorted out the defence, and that policy has ensured we are one win away from EPL football next season. It is extremely difficult to do everything all at once. We have all seen the calibre of attacking talent we'll be able to call on next season and I have the firm belief Peranada and Success will be....erm...a success. If we get that elusive final league win we can all relax and not worry about the league. Just use the rest of the season to devote towards the FA Cup.
Yep, but no surprises there - vast improvements are needed across the squad if we want to aim for a top 10 finish next year.
'Are there any financial concerns at the clubs anymore?' Are you serious? The moment we start to waste all of our money on big-name, big-wage signings which don't work out is the moment that we're relegated to the Championship with a huge amount of financial liabilities. Yes, there's a considerable amount of money coming into the club, but there's also a considerable amount going out of the club. The difference is, there's no contract guaranteeing us the PL money every year, whereas every new signing is going to have their money transferred to them every month for a number of years. Look at Aston Villa - I can't see many clubs queuing up to take over the sizeable contracts of the likes of Lescott, Richards, Hutton or Agbonlahor any time soon. If you need further examples, look no further than Bolton, Blackburn, Leeds, Charlton, Fulham, even QPR all struggling in the Championship after having financial problems following a number of years spending big in the PL. I'm not saying we'd be mis-managed enough to end up like that, but that's only because we have people in control who don't believe that they don't have to worry about money!
