Nikica Jelavic

CahillsCornerFlag · December 3, 2013

Definitely time for him to move on I'm afraid.

neil999 · December 3, 2013

Sozzled said:
If we are going to sell the lad we best have someone decent lined up. Who's willing to come in and sit on the bench. Our formation is one striker and can't see anyone removing Lukaku. No need to sell for now.

oh definitely, i would only advocate selling him if we bought another striker...jelavic may not be great, but hes always fit and tries his best

royalblue66 · December 3, 2013

neil999 said:
oh definitely, i would only advocate selling him if we bought another striker...jelavic may not be great, but hes always fit and tries his best

The thing is, his best is awful, come January he should be someone else's problem

Housequake · December 3, 2013

neil999 said:
jelavic may not be great, but hes always fit and tries his best

Good God...

"He can't f*cking stay upright or run, let alone score...but he can inhale oxygen and blink regularly, good option from the bench."

Sozzled · December 3, 2013

Housequake said:
Good God...

"He can't f*cking stay upright or run, let alone score...but he can inhale oxygen and blink regularly, good option from the bench."

He'll go somewhere else and start slotting like a boss, we'll be left with Kone and a massive Lukaku shaped void.

Baines' left foot · December 3, 2013

It's a bit sad is the Jelavic case. I admire the hope and loyalty, but people have become so desperate to see him play well they look for any positive.

"He passed that we'll then, I know it was only 5 yards but it was weighted perfectly. Pity their winger intercepted it and scored, like. Looked better today anyway".

He's like the really fat kid at school everyone feels sorry for so gets congratulated on finishing dead last in every single event in sports day.

Sozzled · December 3, 2013

Baines' left foot said:
It's a bit sad is the Jelavic case. I admire the hope and loyalty, but people have become so desperate to see him play well they look for any positive.

"He passed that we'll then, I know it was only 5 yards but it was weighted perfectly. Pity their winger intercepted it and scored, like. Looked better today anyway".

He's like the really fat kid at school everyone feels sorry for so gets congratulated on finishing dead last in every single event in sports day.

That's never been his problem. I don't think we've ever conceded directly from a Jelavic mistake. It's his lack of goals and the fact he started so well. He was expected to score every game.

Tubey · December 3, 2013

I think if Kone had stayed fit/not been ridiculously terrible then it was nailed on that he was going to be shipped out in January - as it is, he may well still be on his way, but I can envisage him staying until the summer.

But those saying Jelavic is a bad player are just plain wrong. You can't do what he did at the top level and be an inherently poor player. The problem is clearly form and confidence rather than ability, and it's gone on so long that it's now looks irreversible.

The same can be said of Fernando Torres and Papiss Cisse - in their cases, Torres is playing in a poor system for him at a soulless club and he's lost all of his drive that made him so dangerous, and Cisse suffered from being moved wider to accommodate Remy this season and others before.

But any one of those strikers or indeed all of them could suddenly catch fire and be unplayable, because they've proven they are capable of it. Those who write them off are doing so at their own peril. If we sold Jelavic, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if he went on to score a bucket load at his new club.

Sozzled · December 3, 2013

Tubey said:
I think if Kone had stayed fit/not been ridiculously terrible then it was nailed on that he was going to be shipped out in January - as it is, he may well still be on his way, but I can envisage him staying until the summer.

But those saying Jelavic is a bad player are just plain wrong. You can't do what he did at the top level and be an inherently poor player. The problem is clearly form and confidence rather than ability, and it's gone on so long that it's now looks irreversible.

The same can be said of Fernando Torres and Papiss Cisse - in their cases, Torres is playing in a poor system for him at a soulless club and he's lost all of his drive that made him so dangerous, and Cisse suffered from being moved wider to accommodate Remy this season and others before.

But any one of those strikers or indeed all of them could suddenly catch fire and be unplayable, because they've proven they are capable of it. Those who write them off are doing so at their own peril. If we sold Jelavic, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if he went on to score a bucket load at his new club.

A very good post.

DanEFC92 · December 3, 2013

He'll score tomorrow

*taps nose

Housequake · December 3, 2013

Sozzled said:
He'll go somewhere else and start slotting like a boss.

No he won't lad. Otherwise he'd have done it here.

Housequake · December 3, 2013

Sozzled said:
That's never been his problem. I don't think we've ever conceded directly from a Jelavic mistake. It's his lack of goals and the fact he started so well. He was expected to score every game.

His point is that people will look at any facet of his game to cover up how terrible he is in front of goal, mate.

bicycleheader · December 3, 2013

Sozzled said:
A very good post.

Apart from writing off Kone too early, its an OK post. A fair point but more important in our case is that you can only wait for so long and can only give so many chances to a player. On the basis of his play this year he is not worth a place on the bench and a decent offer in January should be taken.

Of course he could sign for Palace and bang in 10 goals to save them. Wouldn't be the first or last time that happened but it wouldn't mean the decision to sell was wrong.

I think the fact so many of us wish him the best every time he gets his chance means we are generally a decent set of fans! I was gutted he missed that chance on Saturday and didnt feel p*ssed off at him at all....but I still think he should be shipped out.

Sozzled · December 3, 2013

bicycleheader said:
Apart from writing off Kone too early, its an OK post. A fair point but more important in our case is that you can only wait for so long and can only give so many chances to a player. On the basis of his play this year he is not worth a place on the bench and a decent offer in January should be taken.

Of course he could sign for Palace and bang in 10 goals to save them. Wouldn't be the first or last time that happened but it wouldn't mean the decision to sell was wrong.

I think the fact so many of us wish him the best every time he gets his chance means we are generally a decent set of fans! I was gutted he missed that chance on Saturday and didnt feel p*ssed off at him at all....but I still think he should be shipped out.

I think Kone will be ok as a backup but nothing more. The way I see it is this... It's hard to come by a good striker these days who's nailed on to get you 15+ goals per season for under £25m. That's money we don't have. I'd rather give Jelavic another crack of the whip than offload him with an unproven who could end up doing nothing. We've all seen what Jelavic "can" do.