So how did Cyriac do

[Riversider]

As somebody else rightly pointed out if Derby player can't be up for it against Forest when can he be ?
Their support will be on his back as soon as he comes out which I think will be good for us as it should motivate him,
As much as I hate Martin I would certainly start him tomorrow as I see no point whatsoever in having him on the bench as an "impact sub" , play him for 65 mins then bring Cyriac on ,
BUT, in our next away trip to Bristol City I would go with a front three of Aluko, Ayite and Cyriac as there will be opportunities to use their pace in a counter attacking game,
So in a nutshell it's horse's for courses for Martin now.

[Chutney]

He isn't Chris Martin and should therefore start. I never want to see Martin play for us again. Pizon, ayite, aliku and adeybayo are enough back up, especially given martin's current form/effort.

[Apprentice to the Maestro]

Like I've said before the manager is to blame for the situation.
The day Martin refused to play at Brighton he should have been sent back,then we would have had whole window to get someone.
Got a feeling Slava is ruing not doing it,so to save face he has to pick him.

Slav would've been a fool to send back Martin if he couldn't get a suitable replacement. He's doing a great job given he's been let down in the transfer market.

He went on strike before the window opened..Slavs could have gone to the board and said this fecker is going back to Derby,now back me In the window and give me the money to buy Rhodes or whoever.
He chose to keep Martin,he told the whole country about it in the press.
Bet he regrets it now.
Yes he doing a great job,I'm not saying he isn't.

I am not sure that we could or should have sent Martin back.

Whether we could would depend on the contract. We were intending to buy him permanently and it was a year long long so I doubt that there would be a clause to send back early and even more so we would not have got any money back and almost certainly would have had to pay Martin's wages for the season.

To whether we should have sent him back early I think the answer should be "No", not because he would be any use but because he and Derby wanted him back and they are our rivals.

That should be qualified by saying that we should have bought two more strikers.

i don't think we *should* have sent him back for the reasons mentioned above but i'm pretty confident we *could* have

Derby wanted him back and Sssshteve said their board were trying to make it happen

My understanding is in the very least they'd have paid his wages for the second half of the season (presumably £500k-£1m) and repaid half the loan fee (£1.5m). So on that basis we've probably paid at least £2m to keep him. Not to mention any additional money we could have got out of them.

What I was trying to emphasise was that I doubt that we could 'have sent him back' if Derby had not wanted him back, say if he was useless or homesick.

As you suggest, Derby could probably have asked for him back and negotiated a deal but we, quite rightly, told them "No"".

[Zendra]

As  a Derby man  Martin should be looking to put one over the old enemy , viz Forest . So  I say play him . We never really got going on Sat , Wigan stopped our football flow which of course they  were perfectly entitled to do .  But I don't remember shouting so loudly  when that last goal went in . I skipped back to Putney Station.

[BestOfBrede]

Where did you find the rope?

I'm not sure that Martin will have an eye on beating Forest as much as Derby getting a result tomorrow night!?

If we win and the shits don't, then we are above them!

Can you honestly say that you think he would attempt to put in an effort to have that happen?

I wish I could but really cannot see it, unfortunately!

Sad state of affairs I know.

Play Cyriac imo

[Darkside]

Well after 26 posts nobody has told us how Cyriac played, it's become another Martin slag-fest (which he deserves, but not on this thread)

[westcliff white]

Cyriac did ok, but and I say this to temper expectations he has come from an average league and may need time to adpat. I have seen the leage and seen him play in it, it is below the championship level, however some players are above the level and adapt quickly, so hopefully he is one of those.

As for Martin I was willing to give him the benfeit at the start of Jan, but the contract signing is a mickey take, however I still would not have sent him back because Derby wanted and needed him and why increase their chances. I owul dhave got two in and htink we tried but left it too late as always. For info my undertsanding is Derby offered to pay back the whole loan fee (as there was no recall clause and we would be doing them a favour), glad we stood our guns and showed we are not going to be messed apround or forced into things.

[MJG]

Well after 26 posts nobody has told us how Cyriac played

He looked small but busy with a turn of pace.
From his body language and movement he looks more like a central striker than say Kebano or Ayite.
Far too early to say how he will turn out.

[fulhamben]

Well after 26 posts nobody has told us how Cyriac played

He looked small but busy with a turn of pace.
From his body language and movement he looks more like a central striker than say Kebano or Ayite.
Far too early to say how he will turn out.

I'm glad that our striker, looks more like a striker than our midfielders ;-)

[MJG]

Well after 26 posts nobody has told us how Cyriac played

He looked small but busy with a turn of pace.
From his body language and movement he looks more like a central striker than say Kebano or Ayite.
Far too early to say how he will turn out.

I'm glad that our striker, looks more like a striker than our midfielders ;-)

So do I.
But then Kebano and Ayite are seen as alternatives for the main striker position by someone very senior i have been speaking to.

[toshes mate]

He went on strike before the window opened..Slavs could have gone to the board and said this fecker is going back to Derby,now back me In the window and give me the money to buy Rhodes or whoever.
He chose to keep Martin,he told the whole country about it in the press.
Bet he regrets it now.
Yes he doing a great job,I'm not saying he isn't.

Slav knew the situation with Martin long before that but (a) didn't have another striker to fulfill the role; (b) didn't have the luxury of a perfect start to the season in August and September; and (c) considered Martin at fifty percent better than Smith etc at one hundred percent.  He also knew the transfer team had been wholly inconsistent in their approach to both Martin and others, having experienced what was going on in the Summer.

If he sent Martin back he would have been surrendering to an untrustworthy regime who would have performed exactly as they did in January.  I am hoping the signals have gone out to Khan in the negotiations of his contract that SJ wants changes made that will allow him to obtain quality that wants to play here whoever we sign.

[MJG]

Well after 26 posts nobody has told us how Cyriac played

He looked small but busy with a turn of pace.
From his body language and movement he looks more like a central striker than say Kebano or Ayite.
Far too early to say how he will turn out.

I'm glad that our striker, looks more like a striker than our midfielders ;-)

So do I.
But then Kebano and Ayite are seen as alternatives for the main striker position by someone very senior i have been speaking to.

If that's someone like Jennings then fair enough. But if it's one of the business people like Mackintosh then it shows exactly what's wrong with our current setup

As to Cyriac, if you pass the ball to him and make a run then you'll get it back, quickly, to your feet, which sets him apart from Kebano already. He looks motivated, strong (for his size) and puts himself about a bit, which sets him apart from Kebano (again) Martin and Piazon. He's also fast, unlike Martin and Piazon. Based on his scoring record I assume he can finish, which would set him apart from Aluko. I thought he looked very good and hope he starts tonight.

Its not either

[keithh]

In answer to your question, I thought he did OK.

[westcliff white]

Well after 26 posts nobody has told us how Cyriac played

He looked small but busy with a turn of pace.
From his body language and movement he looks more like a central striker than say Kebano or Ayite.
Far too early to say how he will turn out.

I'm glad that our striker, looks more like a striker than our midfielders ;-)

So do I.
But then Kebano and Ayite are seen as alternatives for the main striker position by someone very senior i have been speaking to.

If that's someone like Jennings then fair enough. But if it's one of the business people like Mackintosh then it shows exactly what's wrong with our current setup

As to Cyriac, if you pass the ball to him and make a run then you'll get it back, quickly, to your feet, which sets him apart from Kebano already. He looks motivated, strong (for his size) and puts himself about a bit, which sets him apart from Kebano (again) Martin and Piazon. He's also fast, unlike Martin and Piazon. Based on his scoring record I assume he can finish, which would set him apart from Aluko. I thought he looked very good and hope he starts tonight.

Its not either

Kebano has played the striker / forward role before both in Belgium and for his Country, mixed success, but he can do it. He may be a better option than Cyriac to start if Cyriac still needs time to adjust.

[MJG]

Well after 26 posts nobody has told us how Cyriac played

He looked small but busy with a turn of pace.
From his body language and movement he looks more like a central striker than say Kebano or Ayite.
Far too early to say how he will turn out.

I'm glad that our striker, looks more like a striker than our midfielders ;-)

So do I.
But then Kebano and Ayite are seen as alternatives for the main striker position by someone very senior i have been speaking to.

If that's someone like Jennings then fair enough. But if it's one of the business people like Mackintosh then it shows exactly what's wrong with our current setup

As to Cyriac, if you pass the ball to him and make a run then you'll get it back, quickly, to your feet, which sets him apart from Kebano already. He looks motivated, strong (for his size) and puts himself about a bit, which sets him apart from Kebano (again) Martin and Piazon. He's also fast, unlike Martin and Piazon. Based on his scoring record I assume he can finish, which would set him apart from Aluko. I thought he looked very good and hope he starts tonight.

Its not either

Kebano has played the striker / forward role before both in Belgium and for his Country, mixed success, but he can do it. He may be a better option than Cyriac to start if Cyriac still needs time to adjust.

I think this is one of the problems thats been highlighted in discussing the striker issue.
We saw Martin/Smith/Woodrow as the main strikers. Ayite/kebano and to a lesser extent Piazon as wide attackers/midfielders. Where as the club see a couple of these players as strikers, but not in the narrow position we expect a striker to play or be like.

[westcliff white]

Well after 26 posts nobody has told us how Cyriac played

He looked small but busy with a turn of pace.
From his body language and movement he looks more like a central striker than say Kebano or Ayite.
Far too early to say how he will turn out.

I'm glad that our striker, looks more like a striker than our midfielders ;-)

So do I.
But then Kebano and Ayite are seen as alternatives for the main striker position by someone very senior i have been speaking to.

If that's someone like Jennings then fair enough. But if it's one of the business people like Mackintosh then it shows exactly what's wrong with our current setup

As to Cyriac, if you pass the ball to him and make a run then you'll get it back, quickly, to your feet, which sets him apart from Kebano already. He looks motivated, strong (for his size) and puts himself about a bit, which sets him apart from Kebano (again) Martin and Piazon. He's also fast, unlike Martin and Piazon. Based on his scoring record I assume he can finish, which would set him apart from Aluko. I thought he looked very good and hope he starts tonight.

Its not either

Kebano has played the striker / forward role before both in Belgium and for his Country, mixed success, but he can do it. He may be a better option than Cyriac to start if Cyriac still needs time to adjust.

I think this is one of the problems thats been highlighted in discussing the striker issue.
We saw Martin/Smith/Woodrow as the main strikers. Ayite/kebano and to a lesser extent Piazon as wide attackers/midfielders. Where as the club see a couple of these players as strikers, but not in the narrow position we expect a striker to play or be like.

I agree with your summary. For me a strike rhsould stay in the focul area, and for all of the issues we have with Martin, he does do that, Ross never did and that gave us some probelms at times. So whoever we play needs to do what a proper forward/striker does. Basically stay up top, movement into the channels when required, get in the box and above all score goals.

SImple really, hehe

[Mince n Tatties]

Sergi Enrich scored again last night in Elbars 4-0 win over Granada.