Mitrovic

[WindyCity]

It's a flaw in the teams 'DNA', we are back to everything has to go through Mitro, defenders 'double up' on him.

Yep, and that's a problem.  This team actually played better without Mitro for much of the final run to gain promotion.  If he is in the team, SP has got to come up with a better scheme which can allow others to potentially contribute offensively.  All this cross in to Mitro stuff doesn't work a lot fo the time, and as noted, opposition can concentrate/double team him when he's in the danger area.  Don't get me wrong, I like Mitro, we might not have been promoted last season without Mitros' goals earlier in the season, but, at the same time, we really didn't need him in our promotion run.  As I said, SP needs to come up with a better plan.

[blingo]

Without him coming on in the game against Brentford we may well still be in the championship. He drew the players for Bryan to score the first and assisted the second goal. How can you say we didn't need him in our promotion run?

[WindyCity]

Without him coming on in the game against Brentford we may well still be in the championship. He drew the players for Bryan to score the first and assisted the second goal. How can you say we didn't need him in our promotion run?

Sorry, not buying.  Rationalization.  And I do like Mitro.  That said, everyone could see he was on a bad wheel.  Yes, credit to him on the give and go with Bryan.  But I'm looking at the overall picture, and FFC played without his services for most of that final run playoff push.

[FFC In Oz]

Without him coming on in the game against Brentford we may well still be in the championship. He drew the players for Bryan to score the first and assisted the second goal. How can you say we didn't need him in our promotion run?

Sorry, not buying.  Rationalization.  And I do like Mitro.  That said, everyone could see he was on a bad wheel.  Yes, credit to him on the give and go with Bryan.  But I'm looking at the overall picture, and FFC played without his services for most of that final run playoff push.

Are you joking?

We scored a few goals without Mitro against crap teams.  Whoopie doo.

Who is going to score our goals if we don't have Mitro? Kamara? BDR?

[Denzil Dexter]

Mitro is our best offensive player by a million miles for this Division. Who else will score?

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[john dempsey]

This is a new slant on things
lets question mitro's ability
because the coach doesn't know what he's doing.

[Plodder]

This is a new slant on things
lets question mitro's ability
because the coach doesn't know what he's doing.

I didn't question Mitrovic's ability. I questioned whether his attacking strengths are the ones that fit into this team.  It isn't an unknown phenomenon.  Teams often struggle to incorporate top quality players (e.g. Brooking, Hudson, Currie for England in midfield) who don't fit naturally into the team's way of playing; think Berbatov for us.  It's a bit meaningless as we don't have this choice, but if we did, I would take Watkins ahead of Mitrovic for us, not because I think he is a "better" player, just that his attacking strengths are more suited to our style than Mitrovic's.

[rebel]

This is a new slant on things
lets question mitro's ability
because the coach doesn't know what he's doing.

Not at all, it's a question of is Mitro being utilized to the best effect.
Could Klopp get this team and Mitro to perform better? I think so.

[rebel]

This is a new slant on things
lets question mitro's ability
because the coach doesn't know what he's doing.

I didn't question Mitrovic's ability. I questioned whether his attacking strengths are the ones that fit into this team.  It isn't an unknown phenomenon.  Teams often struggle to incorporate top quality players (e.g. Brooking, Hudson, Currie for England in midfield) who don't fit naturally into the team's way of playing; think Berbatov for us.  It's a bit meaningless as we don't have this choice, but if we did, I would take Watkins ahead of Mitrovic for us, not because I think he is a "better" player, just that his attacking strengths are more suited to our style than Mitrovic's.

Good post.

[AnOldBrownie]

Without him coming on in the game against Brentford we may well still be in the championship. He drew the players for Bryan to score the first and assisted the second goal. How can you say we didn't need him in our promotion run?

Agree with this...but I also think we've been too reliant on the cross since we were last relegated. Mitro is good on the ball. It's too bad that Cav, Knock and BDR don't play that well with him.

Not Mitros fault at all though.

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[Denzil Dexter]

This is a new slant on things
lets question mitro's ability
because the coach doesn't know what he's doing.

I didn't question Mitrovic's ability. I questioned whether his attacking strengths are the ones that fit into this team.  It isn't an unknown phenomenon.  Teams often struggle to incorporate top quality players (e.g. Brooking, Hudson, Currie for England in midfield) who don't fit naturally into the team's way of playing; think Berbatov for us.  It's a bit meaningless as we don't have this choice, but if we did, I would take Watkins ahead of Mitrovic for us, not because I think he is a "better" player, just that his attacking strengths are more suited to our style than Mitrovic's.

The team was supposed to be built around Mitro (our best player)  so you're saying Parker plays a style that he's not best suited to? He was top scorer in the champs. How did he manage that? Imagine if he played in a style he was suited to. He'd have scored 50! [emoji23]

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[St Eve]

Mitro needs some support. Unfortunately we spent a fortune, relatively speaking, on Cav and Knocks. Neither of who can cross and aren't premiership level

[The Rational Fan]

play him as centre back
big strong aggressive

If we can be one of the 18th Best Premier League defense this season, we will stay up. But we are a long way from the 18th best, and we need a statistically great ball winner, Mitro as CB would not be my next option but it is also not as stupid as it sounds.

[The Rational Fan]

Mitro needs some support. Unfortunately we spent a fortune, relatively speaking, on Cav and Knocks. Neither of who can cross and aren't premiership level

If Knockaert can put the ball on target, like he did a few years ago, then he could be dangerous.

[Bryanthebroom]

This is a new slant on things
lets question mitro's ability
because the coach doesn't know what he's doing.

I didn't question Mitrovic's ability. I questioned whether his attacking strengths are the ones that fit into this team.  It isn't an unknown phenomenon.  Teams often struggle to incorporate top quality players (e.g. Brooking, Hudson, Currie for England in midfield) who don't fit naturally into the team's way of playing; think Berbatov for us.  It's a bit meaningless as we don't have this choice, but if we did, I would take Watkins ahead of Mitrovic for us, not because I think he is a "better" player, just that his attacking strengths are more suited to our style than Mitrovic's.

The team was supposed to be built around Mitro (our best player)  so you're saying Parker plays a style that he's not best suited to? He was top scorer in the champs. How did he manage that? Imagine if he played in a style he was suited to. He'd have scored 50! [emoji23]

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At the moment, we play a posession-based style that sees us play from the back, through midfield, getting our wingbacks up, then we should have the option to get it wide, and get a cross in the box - or continue some intricate passing through the middle with our two wingers coming inside - our box to box midfielder joining in with Mitro.

Unfortunately, this passing style leaves us massively vulnerable to the counter (we keep losing possession in our own half.).  I'd rather just play it long to Mitro, then get runners off him. Parkerball aint going to cut it in this league.

[Jack Fulham]

As the end of last season showed, we are a team that seems to play better without Mitrovic.  He has excellent qualities, and it isn't his fault (although his attitude could be better in terms of spending less time in pursuing personal battles on the pitch and arguing with the referee) ; it's just that with him up front, the rest of the team seems fixated on getting the ball wide and firing in a cross, without instinctively relying on other varied methods of attack, and that isn't their strength.  I think we will go down irrespective, but I think someone like Watkins (a more mobile, channel running forward) would suit us better than Mitrovic.  The latter also has a big persona which seems to loom over most of the rest of the team, many of whom (sub-consciously?) seem to regard their primary role as feeding Mitrovic rather than taking responsibility themselves

I do not think the tactics helped last season with inverted wingers who have a tendency to cut in and shoot. Mitrovic is exceptional even with poor service. He scores goals with limited opportunities gets difficult chances on target as well. Very rarely see him put one over or wide and tidy in possession. Might be an idea to play Bryan left wing with Robinson left back, Kamara on right wing to try a wreak havoc with his pace.

Bryan - Mitrovic - Kamara

Onomah
Reed - Zambo

Robinson ? ? Tete

[love4ffc]

A lot of people seem to think Mitro is a one trick pony.  That crosses put in the box for him to try headers on is the only thing he is good for.  I would also include Scott in the above statement. 

The problem in my eyes is that Scott has 75% of all play going wide trying to spread the field and the opposition.  The result, 75% of all play is crosses into the box.   I Would prefer for the play to be more random.  Some route one, some crosses, some through balls for players to run onto and some one two give and go passes that set players in behind the defense. 

For me it is makes it unpredictable for the opposition and hard to defend.  I also would drill two formations into the squads.  One more attacking and one more defensive.  No more chopping and changes unless it's minimal.   

A nice video to remind everyone that Mitro is not a one trick pony.   

[sonnyjim]

We might of had better build up play in the games he didnt play last season but this is a league with much more quality in it and and Mitrovic is probably the only Premiership quality player we have, along with Anguissa.

I agree we need to be more unpredictable and not just keep crossing the ball in to him but part of the reason we keep doing that is we don't have enough quality elsewhere on the pitch to do anything else.

If we improved our defence we would take a bit of pressure off of our attacking players to do something else or counter attack when we get the ball back.

[Burntheashes]

WE NEED MITRO.

And yes a plan without Mitro is also needed.

[Sting of the North]

I think this thread is based on a false premise. In my opinion we didn't play better without Mitro towards the end of last season. We grinded out results, but we barely created any real scoring chances at all although we had many shots from outside the box if I remember correctly (including the Arter one that the goalie gifted). Many of those games were probably some of our least positive from an attacking point of view. If it hadn't been for a last minute goal by Onomah in one game or a totally lucky goal by Arter (good shot after just messing up and losing the ball) at the stroke of half time in another we would hardly have scored at all. This is of course somewhat subjective, but in my opinion we were not good from an attacking point of view, although stable defensively.

I do agree that our play can bea little too predictable sometimes, but that is a tactical problem not an issue with playing Mitrovic. As someone mentioned above, he is not a on trick pony and can score in many ways. What he doesn't offer is of course speed, and as a consequence he won't test defences by running in behind too often. But we do have more than one player on the field and they are all allowed to run, and as such I don't think the solution to our problems is to replace our best player.

All in my opinion.