20 hours ago, Gordon Bennett said:

Good player, but 1 goal and 2 assists in 15 matches? Yeesh.

Not sure what people expect. This is normal for neto

6 hours ago, ducavis said:

No one has said Maresca is clueless in this thread, and the reality is we are a one man team. If Palmer is out for a considerable period of time, we are screwed.

Surely you don’t think having 2 wingers with 2 goals and 3 assists, and 1 goal 2 assists halfway through the season is good enough.

Maybe not this thread, but venture to other threads there are calls of 'one trick pony' and 'out of his depth' and 'championship level manager' which are things that hadn't been thrown about in the past few months but 2 poor performances and it's like pre season again from a few on here.

I'd definitely disagree that we are a one man team, Palmer is our best player for sure, but there's been quite a few games this season where he's been marked out of a game and we've picked up wins. Our situation with palmer is no different to Liverpool with Salah, except I think our back ups for palmer are better than Liverpool's with Salah. 
 

Regarding the wingers though, they are good players, although  I agree that I'd like to see more goal contributions from them. But that being said, I think we're second or third highest goalscorers in the league. My problem is that now that we've hit a bit of a rocky patch our fans are actively looking for scapegoats to point to why it's happening, whether it's individual players or the manager.

Imo Neto discussion is actually good because at least we are back to normality. 

Neto is a quite limited but at least he is playable. Watching m&m started for us last season gave me headache

Neto is quality, the entire team was sh*te against Fulham barring Cole for a small period.

6 hours ago, Bob stark said:

Not sure what people expect. This is normal for neto

Would have more assists had we had a proper CF who could put away some of the great crosses he’s delivered. Harland would have had a field day.

On 28/12/2024 at 13:34, CFCCAN said:

Would have more assists had we had a proper CF who could put away some of the great crosses he’s delivered. Harland would have had a field day.

Haaland has missed more big chances, worse shooting accuracy and worse goal conversion than Jackson this season. 

On 28/12/2024 at 08:58, timetowaste said:

Maybe not this thread, but venture to other threads there are calls of 'one trick pony' and 'out of his depth' and 'championship level manager' which are things that hadn't been thrown about in the past few months but 2 poor performances and it's like pre season again from a few on here.

I'd definitely disagree that we are a one man team, Palmer is our best player for sure, but there's been quite a few games this season where he's been marked out of a game and we've picked up wins. Our situation with palmer is no different to Liverpool with Salah, except I think our back ups for palmer are better than Liverpool's with Salah. 
 

Regarding the wingers though, they are good players, although  I agree that I'd like to see more goal contributions from them. But that being said, I think we're second or third highest goalscorers in the league. My problem is that now that we've hit a bit of a rocky patch our fans are actively looking for scapegoats to point to why it's happening, whether it's individual players or the manager.

Most fans have the potential to be idiots and I’ll include myself in that.

Truth is it’s rarely as bad a some make out. It’s also rarely as good as others say.

The match day threads really bring out some rockets though.

On 28/12/2024 at 21:34, CFCCAN said:

Would have more assists had we had a proper CF who could put away some of the great crosses he’s delivered. Harland would have had a field day.

Sure, but the discussion around neto is strange. He is a good player albeit quite limited. If we still have Pedro/Willian, neto won't start over them. 

9 hours ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

Haaland has missed more big chances, worse shooting accuracy and worse goal conversion than Jackson this season. 

Thank you! City’s problem this season is that they aren’t getting anything from Foden, De Bruyne, and Bernardo Silva, and their wingers Doku & Savinho are on par with Sancho & Neto. Their 2nd highest goal scorer is Gvardiol. 
Most fans think having a 20+ league goal scorer which ironically Jackson is on course to reach will make us title contenders;  Liverpool don’t have one and haven’t had one in a long time but have still been very competitive. Arsenal also don’t have one. You need goals from everywhere so you aren’t reliant on one key player (Palmer?), your front also 3 need to be ruthless. 
 

 

Edited December 30, 20241 yr by ducavis

On 28/12/2024 at 13:31, El regreso said:

Neto is quality, the entire team was sh*te against Fulham barring Cole for a small period.

I wouldn't call any of our wingers quality right now. I think 3 of them are decent in certain situations, but none of them are consistent enough to be called quality.

4 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I wouldn't call any of our wingers quality right now. I think 3 of them are decent in certain situations, but none of them are consistent enough to be called quality.

Agreed. Noni is the best of them simply because he carries both a goal threat and has the ability to get assists.

Sancho and neto can get assists as well, though Jackson has cost them all a few. Neto and Sancho carry little goal threat, probably Gusto is the only one I would have less confidence in, in front of goal, than them of the regularly used outfield players.

9 hours ago, Bob stark said:

Sure, but the discussion around neto is strange. He is a good player albeit quite limited. If we still have Pedro/Willian, neto won't start over them. 

I think a lot depends on the manager and the tactics, both Pedro and Willian were pretty much allowed to roam inside more often than not, whereas Maresca appears to want his wingers to stay wide most of the time.  

On 28/12/2024 at 06:44, Bob stark said:

Not sure what people expect. This is normal for neto

I'd like to think he can up the anti somewhat. Very competent player, we overpaid again, but looking for him to step up this season and become a big club player who can change games. 

12 hours ago, bluetrooper said:

I'd like to think he can up the anti somewhat. Very competent player, we overpaid again, but looking for him to step up this season and become a big club player who can change games. 

You basically asking him to step his game up by 3 level, that is unrealistic. 

I'd like to think he has it in his game or has the potential. 

9 hours ago, Bob stark said:

You basically asking him to step his game up by 3 level, that is unrealistic. 

 

Is he just a poor man's Pedro? His name sake, the one we got from Barca years ago.

28 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Is he just a poor man's Pedro? His name sake, the one we got from Barca years ago.

The original Pedro scored quite a lot throughout his career. Still does actually, he's got seven for Lazio this season at the age of 37. Neto has never scored more than five in all competitions over a season.

8 minutes ago, PloKoon13 said:

The original Pedro scored quite a lot throughout his career. Still does actually, he's got seven for Lazio this season at the age of 37. Neto has never scored more than five in all competitions over a season.

Must confess I hadn't realised Neto was as goal shy as that ! 

Made me look it up : 

A career output equivalent to a goal every 10 games basically ... 

I guess £52m doesn't buy you much these days LOL.

 

8 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Must confess I hadn't realised Neto was as goal shy as that ! 

Made me look it up : 

 

A career output equivalent to a goal every 10 games basically ... 

I guess £52m doesn't buy you much these days LOL.

 

Not much of a consistent starter to be fair (which I suppose is its own problem):

Not counting the international games, that's a goal every 556 minutes (or per 6.18 90s). Add in the assists and it's a goal contribution every 216 minutes (or per 2.4 90s).

42 minutes ago, PloKoon13 said:

The original Pedro scored quite a lot throughout his career. Still does actually, he's got seven for Lazio this season at the age of 37. Neto has never scored more than five in all competitions over a season.

Still playing eh? Shows what a professional he is.

13 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Still playing eh? Shows what a professional he is.

On the other hand Jamie Vardy, who is 38 in two weeks, still starts for a Premier League side and more or less subsists on a diet of Red Bull, omelettes, and chewing tobacco.

Edited December 31, 20241 yr by PloKoon13

13 minutes ago, PloKoon13 said:

On the other hand Jamie Vardy, who is 38 in two weeks, still starts for a Premier League side and more or less subsists on a diet of Red Bull, omelettes, and chewing tobacco.

He would have fitted in nicely with Kerry and co 

On 31/12/2024 at 17:53, bluetrooper said:

I'd like to think he has it in his game or has the potential. 

 

He is 24.

On 30/12/2024 at 10:35, ducavis said:

Thank you! City’s problem this season is that they aren’t getting anything from Foden, De Bruyne, and Bernardo Silva, and their wingers Doku & Savinho are on par with Sancho & Neto. Their 2nd highest goal scorer is Gvardiol. 
Most fans think having a 20+ league goal scorer which ironically Jackson is on course to reach will make us title contenders;  Liverpool don’t have one and haven’t had one in a long time but have still been very competitive. Arsenal also don’t have one. You need goals from everywhere so you aren’t reliant on one key player (Palmer?), your front also 3 need to be ruthless. 
 

 

Agree, in the end of the day it is all about balance. I don't think there is a one solution that fit all because it comes down to what you have. 

 

On 09/08/2024 at 17:21, Scott Harris said:

He's a decent footballer, but there are two major issues for me, the obvious one being his injuries, the other being his end product. He looks flashy, but he rarely scores goals. 

@Sexyfootball His end product was the major concern I had when everybody was losing their minds thinking we had signed a worldie. Having somebody with a lack of goals is fine, but if you have 3 other wingers also struggling in this area, you're going to run into issues at some point in the season.