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Post by Cyprusdelilah on Feb 4, 2016 12:57:54 GMT
Naturally he's a winger/attacking midfielder. He offered even less in both of those roles for us. Cause he was still getting match fit. Certainly as'nt got the physical attributes to play c/mid.
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Post by block23 on Feb 4, 2016 12:58:25 GMT
I think most would agree he was poor against the shit, not on his own, I think we should move on from that game. Early in the season, I was struggling to see why we had him, ineffective on the wing and constant.y turning back and stopping the build up play. Since he came back into the side in midfield, either defensive or higher up the pitch, I think he has been very good. I understand the frustration on some occasions when it looks like ball retention for the sake of it, I think we need to have greater balance / mix of tactics across all of our play, but I would definitely stay with him. I think the difficult choice for MH is do you drop Whelan for the new guy, or drop Bojan and play Applepie there? I accept you could play both with the false 9, but a great as those few games were, I don't see it working long term.
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Post by bayernoatcake on Feb 4, 2016 13:03:18 GMT
I've been picking on Bojan for a good month now! And they should but Afellay when he played there was even more impotent, so he shouldn't be there and it's why he need moving back but in terms of drive and dynamism, defensive stuff etc, he's ok but it could be better........Imbula. I think that's entirely fair. I know I don't often do this Bayern but I'm going to have to disagree I think when we played the Bojan in the false nine, Afellay was integral to the success of that formation pre-christmas, potentially even more integral than he is in the deep midfield role. I hate that false 9 thing. I thought it was awful!
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Post by bayernoatcake on Feb 4, 2016 13:04:59 GMT
I agree but what in terms of being decisive on the pitch does he do? It isn't much. I really like him and how he plays but we need more from him or the person that plays there. I think he keeps it simple and gives it to the players who can make a difference. Hardly wastes a pass and contrary to a few on here (not yourself) they definitely aren't all sideways and backwards. I agree with all of that. I just think he's good though. Nothing more, nothing less. I like him there but want more.
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Post by wearepremierleague on Feb 4, 2016 13:31:37 GMT
How are people still criticising Bojan. The last 3 games he has been very good. Set up the goal v Liverpool, made everything we had at Palace and was the best player on the pitch against United.
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Post by foster on Feb 4, 2016 13:41:26 GMT
How are people still criticising Bojan. The last 3 games he has been very good. Set up the goal v Liverpool, made everything we had at Palace and was the best player on the pitch against United. Aside from setting up the goal he's been below par in all those games. Never the best player for us, let alone on the pitch, v Man United.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2016 13:47:06 GMT
^Bo actually wasn't too bad at all on Tues. But because his role is largely a floating, free role, his varying impact can seem largely as a luxury for linking together clever bits of play. I wouldn't drop him, but would maybe play him behind Diouf or Jon on Sat (to afford him more space).
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Post by wearepremierleague on Feb 4, 2016 13:47:27 GMT
How are people still criticising Bojan. The last 3 games he has been very good. Set up the goal v Liverpool, made everything we had at Palace and was the best player on the pitch against United. Aside from setting up the goal he's been below par in all those games. Never the best player for us, let alone on the pitch, v Man United. Tell me one of our players who was better?
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Post by drjeffsdiscobarge on Feb 4, 2016 13:48:18 GMT
Some people on here are as mad as a bag of spanners.
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Post by maine on Feb 4, 2016 13:55:02 GMT
He'd be on the bench for me. Competent player but there's a difference between controlling and being too slow, and he's often the latter.Van Ginkel was worse of course. Leave Glenn and hopefully the new guy for that-and place more faith in Ireland and Adam.
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Post by foster on Feb 4, 2016 13:58:35 GMT
Aside from setting up the goal he's been below par in all those games. Never the best player for us, let alone on the pitch, v Man United. Tell me one of our players who was better? Ireland was better when he came on for a start. Even Crouch, Walters and Arnie had more impact on the actual game.
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Post by wearepremierleague on Feb 4, 2016 13:59:37 GMT
Tell me one of our players who was better? Ireland was better when he came on for a start. Even Crouch, Walters and Arnie had more impact on the actual game. bullshit
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Post by foster on Feb 4, 2016 14:07:44 GMT
Ireland was better when he came on for a start. Even Crouch, Walters and Arnie had more impact on the actual game. bullshit Bullshit is your statement about him playing well the past 3 games. He's nowhere near the levels he was at pre-injury. He'll hopefully get back to that. However, you clearly need to take your head out of his arse and stop looking at games through those turd tinted goggles.
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Post by wirralstokie on Feb 4, 2016 14:15:04 GMT
This lad is one of the Best players to ever wear the red and white stripes he is world class we should be grateful we have him not moaning about him
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ruarig
Youth Player
Posts: 469
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Post by ruarig on Feb 4, 2016 14:21:54 GMT
Tell me one of our players who was better? Ireland was better when he came on for a start. Even Crouch, Walters and Arnie had more impact on the actual game. Have to disagree. Other than Ireland non of those mentioned were anywhere near Bojan performance wise on Tuesday night.
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Post by boskampsflaps on Feb 4, 2016 14:27:29 GMT
He's playing within himself.He has more ability than he's showing.He keeps it neat and tidy without being incisive.I'm convinced if he took the ball by the horns more often (see what I did there) he'd be more effective. I wouldn't write him off yet Yeh, don't do it again.
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Post by foster on Feb 4, 2016 14:29:11 GMT
Ireland was better when he came on for a start. Even Crouch, Walters and Arnie had more impact on the actual game. Have to disagree. Other than Ireland non of those mentioned were anywhere near Bojan performance wise on Tuesday night. Fair enough, but even so, Bojan hasn't been 'good' recently nor was he the best player on the pitch when we played Man United, or in our past few games. To clarify, I really like Bojan, but I'm not satisfied with his recent form and expect more from someone who is arguably our best outfield player.
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Post by boskampsflaps on Feb 4, 2016 14:32:26 GMT
This lad is one of the Best players to ever wear the red and white stripes he is world class we should be grateful we have him not moaning about him I don't see any moaning, just discussion and opinion, world class
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Post by pez75 on Feb 4, 2016 14:32:40 GMT
He'd be on the bench for me. Competent player but there's a difference between controlling and being too slow, and he's often the latter.Van Ginkel was worse of course. Leave Glenn and hopefully the new guy for that-and place more faith in Ireland and Adam. Drop Afellay & play Whelan!!!! AAAARRRGGGGGHHHHHHHH, I cant take any more of this fuckwittery
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Post by foster on Feb 4, 2016 14:34:44 GMT
This lad is one of the Best players to ever wear the red and white stripes he is world class we should be grateful we have him not moaning about him Players should be grateful to play for Stoke. They don't play for free.
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Post by dozintheseventees on Feb 4, 2016 14:36:05 GMT
I honestly thought someone was having a joke when I read the tile of this thread but then saw it was 4 pages long and saw that there actually WAS a debate about this. Beats the fuck out of me just why there's any debate. I think he's been outstanding in the main. A proper footballer with skill, vision, committment and a lovely eye for a pass. Apart from that, I agree....................just what the fuck does he offer?
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Post by pez75 on Feb 4, 2016 14:37:35 GMT
This lad is one of the Best players to ever wear the red and white stripes he is world class we should be grateful we have him not moaning about him Players should be grateful to play for Stoke. They don't play for free. Yeah, that Afellay has a real attitude problem
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ruarig
Youth Player
Posts: 469
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Post by ruarig on Feb 4, 2016 14:38:06 GMT
Have to disagree. Other than Ireland non of those mentioned were anywhere near Bojan performance wise on Tuesday night. Fair enough, but even so, Bojan hasn't been 'good' recently nor was he the best player on the pitch when we played Man United, or in our past few games. To clarify, I really like Bojan, but I'm not satisfied with his recent form and expect more from someone who is arguably our best outfield player. I think that's fair. He's definitely not been the same player since the turn of the year. I think confidence seems to be some part of, combined with the general performance of the team around him (He needs players on the same wave length performing well like the city and united games).
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Post by foster on Feb 4, 2016 14:40:16 GMT
I honestly thought someone was having a joke when I read the tile of this thread but then saw it was 4 pages long and saw that there actually WAS a debate about this. Beats the fuck out of me just why there's any debate. I think he's been outstanding in the main. A proper footballer with skill, vision, committment and a lovely eye for a pass. Apart from that, I agree....................just what the fuck does he offer? This. I don't get why Afellay has a dedicated thread just for people to criticise him. May as well start the same thread for every member of the team.
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Post by foster on Feb 4, 2016 14:42:23 GMT
Players should be grateful to play for Stoke. They don't play for free. Yeah, that Afellay has a real attitude problem Turn your brain on mate.
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Post by cheeesfreeex on Feb 4, 2016 14:45:06 GMT
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Post by pez75 on Feb 4, 2016 14:45:45 GMT
Yeah, that Afellay has a real attitude problem Turn your brain on mate. oooh touchy-boy. I assumed your post done in sarcasm, and decided to continue in the same vein. Apologies if I/you read it wrong.
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Post by foster on Feb 4, 2016 14:56:03 GMT
oooh touchy-boy. I assumed your post done in sarcasm, and decided to continue in the same vein. Apologies if I/you read it wrong. My comment above isn't referring to Afellay. It's to anyone that plays for the club. Irrespective of their attitude, footballers lead a very privileged life and are extremely well compensated for doing something most people could only dream of. Hence, they should be grateful to the club and fans, not the other way around.
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Post by nott1 on Feb 4, 2016 14:59:04 GMT
Great little player needs a bulldozer alongside him....oh wait he's just arrived from Porto!
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Post by borat on Feb 4, 2016 15:33:35 GMT
Now first of all, let me make something very clear, I'm not one of those gloom & doom naysayers, moaning about some of our performances in the last few weeks. Any club would suffer if they were in our position at the moment. (5 centre backs at the club & 4 of them are injured at the same time?, And that too during the most important period when we play against the likes of Leicester, Liverpool, Palace & United? That's just tough luck.) But apparently Wolly, Cameron & Shawcross will all be back within the next few weeks, so that's good. I still think that we can achieve our highest premier league point tally this season & push for the top 7 but only if we resolve some of the problems in the current squad. For instance take a look at Affelay. Ever since he found his way into the starting 11 (i.e. against Man City), what exactly has he contributed? He hasn't been involved in a single goal we've scored (aside from that Norwich own goal, which let's be honest, was a dreadful mistake), in fact offensively, he hasn't really contributed much at all. But what bothers me is that he's also not tracking his runners like Whelan. He does a lot of work in pressing the opposition but that's no use when you're not tracking back to defend. Don't get me wrong, I'm not dismissing the lad, I'm just trying to look at his contribution objectively. Affelay is basically doing what Bojan does, except he's doing it deeper in midfield & to less effect. He's clearly not playing in his natural position & I think Hughes has realised this which is why he's signed Imbula. Yet for some reason I keep hearing that he's been our best player in past few weeks. Now I personally don't understand why people feel that way but even if they did I think this reflects very poorly on the rest of the squad. Our best player is someone who doesn't track his runners, who hasn't scored a single goal & who hasn't created a single goal-scoring opportunity. So the question is what exactly does he do? Now most Stoke fans have reliably informed me that he does what Nzonzi used to do - i.e. releases pressure & helps maintain possession. Now if that's what people think he's doing, he's certainly not doing very good job. In fact, if anything, Affelay just puts additional pressure on the back 4 with his plethora of back passes (quite akin to Whelan) & he certainly doesn't have the presence that Nzonzi did. And what made Nzonzi such an integral part of Hughes' squad was that he could pick up the ball in the middle of the park & drive play forward a good 15-20 yards. I've never seen Affelay do anything of the sort (probably another reason why Hughes went after Imbula). Yesterday against United, our attack & defence were so far apart that Bojan had to come back a good 30 yards to collect the ball from the back 4. And this really hinders our creativity in front of goal. But with that being said our possession stats have increased significantly since Affelay entered the squad. But is that really a good thing? All of our best performances (Southampton, Man City, Man United, Everton) have been a result of us, countering teams with blistering pace & agility, not the slow buildup play we're witnessing at the moment. I've sort of given Shaqiri a hard time for the last few weeks when he has severely underperformed but with all due respect, Shaqiri, on his day, is a match winner & he has already proven that this season (same goes for Bojan & Arnautovic). I just don't see that quality in Affelay & he's the player I'd be tempted to drop whenever Imbula is match fit (which is hopefully this weekend). If Affelay is to play, he should play in Bojan's position where he's not a defensive liability. What do you think? I said this a few weeks ago on a thread when everyone was saying he's a class act etc etc, he just does the simple things on the pitch a bit like Whelan, he needs to improve his shooting too! Don't get me wrong he isn't a bad player but he hasn't stood out or anything!
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