What Do We Do With A Problem Like Mitro

[filham]

Last season we worshiped Mitro and couldn't imagine how we would get by without him, we valued him at £25m+.
Right now he is unlikely to be selected for our next match, inadequate strikers like Cav. or Kamara may well be ahead of him in the pecking order.
So what has gone wrong, more than just failure to recover from an injury surely.
What can we do about the problem:-
A further period of rest in the hope of recovery,
Take a sink or swim attitude and put him on from the start against Brighton
Give up and sell him in the next couple of days to make space for a replacement.
I have been calling for a recall but after his Burnley performance am full of doubt.

He was so good for us, we really need to know what the problem is.

[PaulJ123]

If Cav and Kamara are ahead of him, it's the management we need to be looking at.

[RaySmith]

I didn't think he was that bad - he got the ball in the net.

Burnley had their first choice cb playing - Tarkovsky, and i think Mitro found it tough, and definitely thought he wasn't getting ref protection, with little support.

When he 'scored' i thought we were just getting into the game with some good pressure from him and BDR - denied a really strong, much stronger than Burnley's, pen shout.

The main problem with Mitro i think, is that  his style and attributes aren't suited to the way Scott now wants to play.

But I hope he features v Brighton, and scores.

[KJS]

If Cav and Kamara are ahead of him, it's the management we need to be looking at.

What has Mitro done this season to even get selected

[sunburywhite]

We need to start giving him the ball even if its a hoof upfield

He cant do anything if he isnt getting the service

[filham]

We need to start giving him the ball even if its a hoof upfield

He cant do anything if he isnt getting the service

So if we play Lookman, Reid and RLC around him against Brighton will there be hope of a goal or two.

[Radiowhite]

We need to start giving him the ball even if its a hoof upfield

He cant do anything if he isnt getting the service

He doesn't even try to win the headers or receive the ball though

[milis]

Honestly, Mitro is far below expectations this season. Counter-attacking tactics have always brought good results to teams that play that way, but for something like that we would need a new striker who would fit into that style. If we can't get such a striker, Parker will have to find a way to wake up Mitro and get him back to life. Also in that case Parker will have to work hard with the team to practice attack variants and improve crosses accuracy. Tete has shown that he is able to find Mitro, but Robinson, Aina, Cavaleiro, Kebano and Brian should practice crosses and long passes day and night. Also, Tete showed in his early games that it worked best when crosses are done immediately instead of holding the ball and passing it back hundred times.

[milis]

Also, I understood the urgency for the high ball possession tactics - when your defense is abysmal you have to hold the ball as much as possible. But now when we have much better defense we should be more brave with more creative key passes and crosses.

[70sPimlico]

I think it interesting when a small number of posts over the last couple of years about Mitro's limitations, or, unsuitability for certain styles get dismissed. (Mine included)

If you play Mitro as the sole striker and the opposition deny the supply and/or (usually both) mark him out the game, he looks really ineffective.

But you come on here after a game last season when he was kept quiet and people say he didn't look interested nd its in someway down to his state of mind or state of fitness. However, if he is your sole focal point and you're in the championship, there will be days that he gets a bit of supply and/or the defence just can't handle him. Lets be honest, usually not the best defenders and on those days he will get you goals. Nearly 30 of them last season. But this comes at a price. Your other attacking players won't get the chances and will feed off long range worldies.

All the above happened. This isn't my fanciful view.

The other downside is that when the other team has the ball at the back, you may as well give Mitro a seat on the side and just say tae a breath and wait there until we will the ball back.

I happened to think last season (and I said it on here) that there is a place for Mitro, I preferred him as our plan b, as I thought we lose to much with him playing sole striker.

Clearly, Scott Parker feels the same. We play a more aggressive style, fighting to win the ball back, sitting back and breaking fast.

Mitro couldn't do that any season and he can't do that now. It doesn't mean something is wrong or he is not trying (although he does look particularly fed up).

He offers something unique and he is the best at it and we all love him but the defenders in the premiership are quick and strong.

Looking at the championship, I think out the top 6, only Reading and Watford would take him and guarantee him a starting spot. I just don't think Norwich, Brentford, Swansea or Bournemouth would.

If you take this as a post as me saying he is no good, you're not reading it.

[Statto]

I agree that Mitrovic isn't suited to our current tactics but cannot accept this argument that he's too limited to play against "quick and strong" PL defenders.

On his day he offers not just power but cracking finishing and skill, no less than what Zamora offered when he bullied Cannavaro (among other world class defenders) in 2008/09/10. Every player has his limitations - Pele for example wasn't particularly strong. It doesn't mean they can be snuffed out by a certain calibre or type of opponent.

At the end of the day, Mitrovic's record speaks for itself. Plenty of Championship defenders are PL quality (Tosin was one of them last season) and their coaching teams do their research. It's the fifth best league in the world. So if there was a simple way of snuffing Mitro out, he wouldn't be scoring that many goals. Even his PL record last time around was respectable for a club of our stature - 11 goals.

Going back to the Zamora comparison, personally I'm starting to think that if the cost of our present set-up is not getting the best out of Mitro, and we're not going to sign another striker of his calibre, then we should consider changing the set-up on that basis alone. Under Roy we played off a fairly static target man, but were still defensively solid and managed to squeeze 1-0 wins out of games against far superior opposition. Good managers at small clubs like ours pick tactics to suit the players at their disposal, not the other way around.

[ex-Pat]

STOP WITH THE MITRO NONESENCE ,He will be good when we get relegated...

[scotto2000]

Last season we worshiped Mitro and couldn't imagine how we would get by without him, we valued him at £25m+.
Right now he is unlikely to be selected for our next match, inadequate strikers like Cav. or Kamara may well be ahead of him in the pecking order.
So what has gone wrong, more than just failure to recover from an injury surely.
What can we do about the problem:-
A further period of rest in the hope of recovery,
Take a sink or swim attitude and put him on from the start against Brighton
Give up and sell him in the next couple of days to make space for a replacement.
I have been calling for a recall but after his Burnley performance am full of doubt.

He was so good for us, we really need to know what the problem is.

Play him regularly . He needs to feel the love.

[St Eve]

Play him and give him support

[keithh]

I think our team should have the ovaltine & cool downs after the game.

[colinwhite]

I agree that Mitrovic isn't suited to our current tactics but cannot accept this argument that he's too limited to play against "quick and strong" PL defenders.

On his day he offers not just power but cracking finishing and skill, no less than what Zamora offered when he bullied Cannavaro (among other world class defenders) in 2008/09/10. Every player has his limitations - Pele for example wasn't particularly strong. It doesn't mean they can be snuffed out by a certain calibre or type of opponent.

At the end of the day, Mitrovic's record speaks for itself. Plenty of Championship defenders are PL quality (Tosin was one of them last season) and their coaching teams do their research. It's the fifth best league in the world. So if there was a simple way of snuffing Mitro out, he wouldn't be scoring that many goals. Even his PL record last time around was respectable for a club of our stature - 11 goals.

Going back to the Zamora comparison, personally I'm starting to think that if the cost of our present set-up is not getting the best out of Mitro, and we're not going to sign another striker of his calibre, then we should consider changing the set-up on that basis alone. Under Roy we played off a fairly static target man, but were still defensively solid and managed to squeeze 1-0 wins out of games against far superior opposition. Good managers at small clubs like ours pick tactics to suit the players at their disposal, not the other way around.

The problem is Statto although you make some fair points,football has changed dramatically since Roy was at the club. Just about every team in th PL is now playing a back 3 with wing backs and players quick in press. Even Roy is trying  to offload Bentecke for that reason, and saha is his main striker. Not even Burnley base their strategy on pumping balls into the opponents box to get the big men on the end of it.
So at this level I bow to bennitez s judgement that Mitro is not a plan A and at best a plan B,as anattacking option ,sadly.

[blingo]

He'll never score if we don't let him play.

[Bassey the warrior]

Last season we worshiped Mitro and couldn't imagine how we would get by without him, we valued him at £25m+.
Right now he is unlikely to be selected for our next match, inadequate strikers like Cav. or Kamara may well be ahead of him in the pecking order.
So what has gone wrong, more than just failure to recover from an injury surely.
What can we do about the problem:-
A further period of rest in the hope of recovery,
Take a sink or swim attitude and put him on from the start against Brighton
Give up and sell him in the next couple of days to make space for a replacement.
I have been calling for a recall but after his Burnley performance am full of doubt.

He was so good for us, we really need to know what the problem is.

I didn't worship him last season. He wasn't as good as even the season before in terms of his all round game, certainly nothing on the beast we saw when he joined on loan.

He was a great finisher granted, but he no longer holds up the ball effectively and offers nothing linking up play with the other players. He's basically an old school target man for a team that don't play long ball and even when we do play a long ball he often loses it.

If we don't sign anyone we need to see more movement both in attack and in linking up play. He also needs to improve his fitness because he was definitely quicker in the past.

[Arthur]

He'll never score if we don't let him play.

Not a convincing argument considering Mitrovic has failed to find the back of the net in 40 of his last 45 appearances in the Premier League.

[AnOldBrownie]

He'll never score if we don't let him play.

Not a convincing argument considering Mitrovic has failed to find the back of the net in 40 of his last 45 appearances in the Premier League.

Wait...I didn't know it was that bad.   

Some players can make the jump...some can't.