My view hasn't changed. The QPR game was a great opportunity for him to show what he could do in a zero pressure scenario and he did nothing. And against Stevenage he was ineffective when he came on too. I'm still not convinced there's a top level footballer in there, let alone an £8m one.
Saw him play for Canada against the States earlier in the summer. He looked very good. He’s a young player, who’s moved to a very different environment, and has had to try and adapt to the wishes of numerous coaches. Writing him off now is a premature in the extreme.
He wasn’t just ineffective against Stevenage, he was noticeably poor and looked well out of his depth. I thought his early appearances for us showed a bit of promise but he hasn’t improved - a loan move might do him some good.
In an ideal world, that wouldn't be the worst idea, but if he were to leave, it would leave our squad very short
Point taken, but the US has good players who were out there that day. I think there's a player in there somewhere and its too early to write him off.
Sadly writing off players fairly early is a national pastime these days. Three league games in and some of our summer signings have suffered the same fate. I’m no saint either. I stupidly wrote off VI before he’d even arrived. Embarrassing. Patience is no longer a virtue in this age of instant opinion. What Kone needs is a run of starts so we can all judge him properly. Otherwise I fear he will go down as another expensive failure for us, signed as a potential investment rather than a player the team needs. Let’s hope that’s not the case!
I agree, but he isn't anywhere near the level required right now so a loan move to go and have a run of games seems logical.
@leighton buzzard horn Good Morning! Where do you put him in our pecking order currently? As in, who is ahead of him for a midfield berth?
The challenge is aside from Louza I don't rate many in our midfield. Kayembe, Livermore, TDB & Kone are all somewhere between poor and average as things stand.
Agree with this. Livermore looks very immobile, was ok on the ball and did make one excellent recovery challenge but Stoke kept finding space in front of our centre backs. But at least I can see what type of player he is. My issue with the others is I don't really know what any of them do. They're all a bit nothingy. When you look at some of our successful Championship midfields in the past you knew what to expect from the likes of Watson, Guedioura, Hogg, Chalobah, Hughes, Abdi, Tozser. We really lack dynamism in the middle of the pitch, if I could plonk any of those past players into our current squad it would be 14/15 Guedioura.
Livermore will 100% be this seasons boo boy. TDB will be this years Quina in that some fans will lavish him with praise no matter what he does despite not being very good. Kayembe may as well amputate his right foot. Kone needs a run of games somewhere else.
He's quite similar to Chalobah in demeanor. Half-hearted and would rather look good than get stuck in. Has all the physical attributes but needs a lot of work on the mental and technical side.
Best game in a Watford shirt, really impressive carrying the ball forward, and should have got at least one goal
I thought he was very up and down. Sometimes looks assured, sometimes moves at the speed of a stoned sloth. I would expect a midfielder of any standard to have played Rajovic through when every person in the ground could see he was in. I don't particularly rate either of Kone or TDB but currently I'd have TDB over Kone.
Yeah but if Kone’s going at the speed of stoned sloth, Rajovic at top speed is outpaced by a stone. Playing him through to break the offside trap is pointless and I suspect his teammates have sussed it from training. Shame really, as Healey really should be the answer to that when we face a higher line.
Car crash of a performance today. He looked like he’d never played a match or even seen a football before. Strolled around at half pace, kept wanting much longer on the ball than Leeds would give him so kept losing it and on the odd occasions when he did come away with the ball he struggled to link up with any teammates. A couple of times Ince or Martins would make runs and he’d look at them and then turn back inside or play a short ball to Louza or Sierralta. Ended up towards the end of the first half in a very animated argument with Val from about 30yds away, all hand gestures and sulky body language. Couldn’t not be subbed at half time, possibly could have been done sooner.
When he first turned up, I thought he had more to offer than Louza. But now I think I would rather work Ken Sema in to the first 11, if we are still waiting for Dele-Bashiru to hit the managers fitness requirements. I really see little prospect for him in the English in the championship. Perhaps a move in January to Udinese, but I would not persist with him. The new Quina without the odd goal to brighten his Google search.
A young player being inconsistent in an average side maybe not a great surprise But he wasn’t cheap at 7 million of course .
Insane use of money. Paying that much money for a player that had only started 20 games in a league where Johnny Russell, Sam Surridge and Billy Sharp are some of the overseas stars was always going to be a huge risk.
I still like him, he's going to be horribly inconsistent considering how little football he's played in his career. The midfield was completely dominated today in the first half, wasn't easy for any of them. Ampadu was a monster today.
Who would have thought a player from that hotbed of football Canada would turn out to be dog droppings. He's crap.
If he keeps improving at this rate he’ll be the best midfielder in the league next season. Unless we get promoted…
Big game for him at the weekend, Canada have a CONCACAF Nations League play-off (which doubles up as a Copa America play-off) against Trinidad and Tobago. A disappointing loss to Jamaica (in which Kone scored) forced them into the play-offs, but you'd think Canada should be able to beat T&T
Maybe but it’s always tough to beat two teams at the same time. Hopefully both Trinidad & Tobago don’t rise to the occasion.
