Think he’s 21 now.Originally Posted by leedsandTFC
Think he’s 21 now.
If we do go the under 22 initiative route I’m expecting that to happen in the summer, but who knows. I agree with most who think we need another centre back and some midfield depth before then.
I’m expecting Diomande to be our nine with JJ and Akinola behind in depth but with each of those two able to play wide so I think we’re fine up front for now. Be interesting to see if Akinola can find some of his earlier form. Layrea is our second best right wing but we’re short as it is at full back so I’d hope to see Akinola or JJ there if Brunelleschi needs spelling.
I think JJ is the starter over Diomande on Feb 25. I would be shocked if it were otherwise. That would tell me JJ was truly terrible in camp, and is done here.
JJ is the far higher paid player, and you need to see what he can do with the Italians, or alternatively, you need to figure out what you have with him.
He had a bad second half, but Diomande hasn’t done anything in three years.
But yeah, 2-3 meh games, and sure, BB will go to Diomande.
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
It's possible. I had the thought last night that perhaps Diomande had been brought in as motivation, after JJ had a crisis of confidence last year.
It's equally also possible they think Diomande is fit, that play in Saudi doesn't really indicate anything (he may even have been played wide or in the midfield for all we know; they are notorious for buying more foreigners than they're allowed to field and putting them in weird spots), and that if he stays fit he scores 15-20 goals.
LAFC fans certainly seem to think so.
I agree with JJ being given a chance, at first, to start - it’d be bad manners/messaging to do otherwise. But I don’t think he’ll keep the spot and he’s valuable enough being able to play all three forward positions. At least he is in theory… in practice he wasn’t able to do much of anything with the Italians.
If Rooney's being sincere, Bono is competing for the starting job at DC.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...everton-coach/
Do we know how much Diomande is on with us? But no matter, I’d be shocked if he was brought in solely as motivation for JJ. Bradley had a lot of success with him and he suits our front three better than JJ. To me he’s the more likely striker to succeed as a nine with this line up and with this manager.
No doubt if Bradley can get JJ going it’s a good thing and we paid a release for him so it’s not a good look to not try hard. Another thing in his favour is that at LAFC Bradley seemed to favour a rotation with his nines.
But too it’s not like JJ is a hot commodity in the league and at his wages he’s not likely to do better in Europe. I think he’s ours until his contract is up or, at worst, if he’s not contributing substantially we buy him out. I like him as a player but he looked lost in the second half of the season.
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