Best of the 4. Ball bounces off Baah, which is ok as Baah offers other things. Rajovic is ok when taken slowly and DJ is awful.
So which poll answer was correct? Good, bad or Watfordy? After being thrashed by Preston and being dominated for much of this game, I'm going all 3!
Bayo is better than Baah? Wow ! Whilst I would give Jebbison a run in the team , watching him and Bayo is like watching a dog chase a balloon.
Bayo offers decent physicality and off the ball work / link up play but has no composure in the box. Jebbison looks like he can offer some pace and looks to know where to be when we're breaking on the opposition but offers no physical presence and little off the ball / link up. In isolation you could make an argument for trying them as a pairing as they be a foil to their weaknesses but reality rarely works out that way. Baah isn't a striker despite his efforts with his inability to disrupt defenders and link up play but holds the ball well on the break and has plenty of pace and agility to burn. Rajovic, although he looked slightly better than last year, offered little pace, link up or disrupted defenders outside of cup games but his positional sense to get goals is unquestionable which for another setup could have worked well but for our setup, isn't. If we're starting away games and looking to sit deeper and hit on the break I'd start Jebbison. If we're looking to dominate the ball, start Bayo. Baah for now works well with his 20-30 minute all action cameos because he doesn't have to worry about pacing himself and can go all out.
It seems harsh to include Baah in the number 9 chat - I don’t think he is suited to that position. The starting striker, until January at least, will have to be Bayo or Jebbison and Bayo is clearly the better option. That doesn’t mean he’s good - but he’s better than Jebbison.
Could see the gameplan - attempt to sit off where teams have had the most joy against Boro, and catch them on the break. They still created a few good chances, so it needed to switch as we offered very little. Again gone back to a chaotic second half to get a result, but another win at home. Is that 11 unbeaten at home now?
Tbf the subs were made after about 60 mins and we still looked all at sea for the next 15 mins. They subbed off Doak, who was getting a lot of the ball but not much joy out of Sema, and Hamilton who I thought had a good game on 65 mins which probably didn’t help them
Yeah, I know you're saying of the four, but Baah is much, much better on/moving with the ball than Bayo, and Bayo is very regularly guilty of terrible miscontrol, whether that be with his feet or head. He can barely control where he's placing it most of the time, as evidenced by all the point blank shots and headers inside the box he's managed not even to get on target in just the past 8 days. Bayo could never take on his man as we have already seen Baah do plenty of times, and that is directly through his ability to manipulate the ball and drive at/through defenders. I'll freely admit he's no Messi, that's for sure, but there is no way on God's green earth Bayo has 'the best control over the ball'!
Very true. With all of their attacking play, as soon as they scored Middlesbrough became very defensive, put 11 men behind the ball and tried to hit us on the break. It was identical to how we played in the first half
We are 5th from top on goals scored but 5th from bottom on goals conceded so far this season, 14 a piece. Take note of this please Clevs and co.
Excellent well rounded post. Agreed. Baah isn't a striker and should never be played as one. What he offers off the bench is what we need to kick us into gear and more than once this season as soon as he comes on we suddenly look like scoring. If Bayo and Jebbison could actually score a goal once in a while, we might not have to be so reliant on a sort of player who immediatley does what a striker should be doing. Run at the backline and find space. Bayo can do this, but put the ball at his feet with the goal at his mercy and it's whiff time 9 times out of 10.
Cotton at the Vic yesterday. Good to see him looking well and the expression means he was focused as a GK should be. Club legend.
Great result which seemed to come from nowhere. Baah took his goal well. Kayembe now joint fourth top scorer in the league. Sema was brilliant, gets a rough time from some fans but yesterday he was great. Love Pollock's passion, something we've lacked over the last few seasons. We should certainly utilise Andrews long throw more often. I'd terminate Jebbison's loan in January.
A great win and again shows the inconsistency in the team at the moment. Really need to get their heads right (and tactics) for away games. Defence was good today, all three CBs were calm and unflustered. The wing backs also did their job pretty well defensively and offensively. Baah is a perfect inside forward or winger, think he is wasted as a centre forward. He just loves to take on his man and he is good at it.
Good question. I suppose, in football everything is complicated by the presence of the opposite team.
I'm away topping up the skin cancer so wasn't at the game but my deputies were and I am reliably informed that Boro were useless and the result was never in doubt. A thoroughly deserved 3 points. COYH! Cheers!
Yes, he was bright enough to think about covering the line - I thought that at the time. But didn't the whistle go for a foul anyway? I'm not sure.
i don’t disagree, have been defending Bayo for a while as he runs at the defence and goal keeper causing them to make mistakes, but just can’t score which is a fundamental issue for a loan striker. Baah scares the opposition because he has a lot of strength and has scored the winner , got the penalty in our last two victories , but does t seem to be able to play a whole match. Baah is also becoming known in the championship, the brough commentators were bricking themselves when he came on , lots of comments like that’s the last person we want to see come on, so good chance he will start to be targeted. If we haven’t got a single decent striker we should play two up front as we look so much more confident on the front foot. Not sure who would start , probably Bayo and Jebbison with Baah subbed on at 1/2 time, eventually Baah as start with Jebbison / Bayo playing 1/2 each. Kayembe is our other player that pops up and scores / makes things happen so should always start. Chak is excellent but reminds me of Sarr , he gets us up the pitch really fast but 90% of what he does results in nothing as he runs too far or makes the wrong final pass.
Interesting to see in the first half yesterday that Pollock was waving at the bench, then doing the substitute gesture and pointing at Jebbison. Unrelated but spoke to a couple of Luton fans last night and this morning and both said they are playing badly and the fans have turned on Edwards as he does the same thing every week. Going to be an interesting one in a couple of weeks.
Up until our equaliser I thought we looked poor, not as bad as midweek but still quite lethargic and too prone to misplacing passes. Their most dangerous player was Doak on their right hand side, nearly every attack in that first half especially went through him but I thought Sema did fairly well in handling him. Jebbison didn’t offer anything at all which is sad, as I think he could be alright but there’s just something missing. He looks to get in the right positions but never looks like scoring. At least Bayo is better at linking the play. Speaking of Bayo, the booing when he came on was pathetic. No matter what you think of them, you don’t boo your own players. He did well when he came on and actually was in the right place at the right time to head it away near the end. I understand frustrations and will admit he’s not good enough but for the time being, he’s the best we’ve got. Porteous had a good game, it’s pleasing to see that when he doesn’t have a rush of blood to the head and start steaming into people, he can be a relatively competent defender. Pollock has come on heaps and bounds and I think they’ve both benefitted from the experience of Ogbonna. It’s likely we’ll only have him for this season as he’s only got a one year deal but in this division, experience is so valuable. It’s always good to go into (yet another….) international break with a win and one that, in the end, I feel we deserved. We really kicked it up a notch after Kayembe’s goal and Baah did well to connect with the winner. I think he could be a real menace in this division. Always looks like he will create/do something. The next game will be mighty interesting. Lose that and I think that’s curtains for Edwards… oh dear. What a shame that would be
I am Bayo's biggest critic but I agree the booing was not acceptable when he came on I don't see how this could possibly help the player or team He is still bobbins tho .....
Goals changed perception of the game Boro much the better team for much of the game and could and should have gone much earlier with header just past the post with 2 unmarked players in the box and keeper nowhere Creditb though for keeping going and getting result A couple of decent runs from Jebbison but no real effective contribution again him, another mixed game from Chak working hard but end product not still good enough in my view and woeful corners Andrews frustrating, just wish he would drive more into the box lioke he did for the first goal and wish too he crossed more two rather than bottle out with an easy pass Ogbonna the new Colin Foster
I know its a cliche, but jebbison is trying too hard. He needs to start trusting his own instincts more. When he gets his first goals and settles down i believe we will see a really good player. There is a number 9 there that could work for Tom's system.
It's also worth pointing out that after scum (always an outlier regardless of form) and Leeds the following Tuesday we have a favourable run of fixtures up to the start of the xmas period, where i can see us having many goalscoring opportunities. That period is when i will be judging jebbison
The fixture list and how favourable they may or may not be are kind of irrelevant when we can beat Sunderland and Boro but get thumped by Preston. It’s currently just a question of are we playing home or away.
This was one of the things I was thinking about driving home after the game yesterday. At the moment Jebbison looks pretty lost on the pitch. Doesn't seem to be on the same wavelength as his teammates and not really doing enough to impose himself on the game or our opponents. Yesterday I thought he looked pretty disjointed when he did try to get involved and I agree he's trying too hard. It's clear he cares but at the moment that's manifesting as sulkiness and a bit of arm waving when things don't come off. So where does the fault lie? Tom apparently gave a presentation to Jebbison before he signed him, part of which covered how he saw him fitting in and the way Tom wants us to play. So are we not doing what Tom said we would? Or is Jebbison not doing his bit?
Blimey a presentation. Surely never has so much effort gone into signing such a poor ineffective nomark!
