What Do We Do With A Problem Like Mitro

[General]

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

+1 - it's purely a tactical decision if Kamara and Cav are ahead of him and in my opinion it's the wrong decision. Mitro has more than enough to offer this team, especially if the other two attacking players are Lookman and BDR. At this point if we go down it'll be because of Parker in my view. He's being too stubborn and conservative. That and the fact TK doesn't seem to want to get players through the door in time. It's so frustrating as we've got what could be a very good first team 11 in the building and we're throwing it away.

[70sPimlico]

We stay up with a proper striker in the team or we dont without one.

I see it as simple as that. Parker has built his ultimate defensive team to start games now....we saw much of it in his plan b subs last year when he went to 3 cbs....but in those games we were under pressure and rode our luck at times holding out. We are now doing it for game after game.

Mitro is the best striker we have in the squad. He simply should play because we will only stay up winning games, and goals win games, and he's the best long term (rest of season) option we have. If your banking on Cav getting another 5 goals this season then go sit down and contemplate that and let me know how he will do that?

Completely agree that if we're not bringing another striker in, & that ,depressingly is starting to look more & more likely then we have to find a way with Mitro
When the ship needed to be steadied & the new defenders were being bedded in I can see why he wasn't being played. We were looking to counter & defend from the front & with all the will in the world Mitro is not going to be comfortable in that system, he actually said that himself about his final days at Newcastle
Now we have to start winning games & quickly ,so as the only player with a history of scoring goals, he really has to be persevered with , either that or get another quality striker in, but can't see that happening. We can't keep drawing our way to safety
My worry and this is speaking as a big Mitrovic fan, is it's pretty evident something is not right with the player, he doesn't look as fit or as sharp as he was, body language not always great either, he now seems to cut a forlorn figure. I know it's not always easy for out of form ,low on confidence players to come in & shine when they're not regularly starting,but even last season, despite all the goals there were times where he was very quiet
As I said I love him & desperately want to see him firing again but I do worry

Agree with all that pretty much, but id still play him

Just putting it out there as a conversation piece, more than something I particularly think, but is there a chance that he is a bit of a flat track bully that has kinda been sussed out. Cut out the crosses, don't give him space, don't fall into the trap of giving him easy "diving" opportunities and you're going to thoroughly frustrate him.

But the more I think about it, I do think his first touch is not as good, which is normally a sign of confidence.

I am still hopeful we'll have a striker in

[HillingdonFFC]

We stay up with a proper striker in the team or we dont without one.

I see it as simple as that. Parker has built his ultimate defensive team to start games now....we saw much of it in his plan b subs last year when he went to 3 cbs....but in those games we were under pressure and rode our luck at times holding out. We are now doing it for game after game.

Mitro is the best striker we have in the squad. He simply should play because we will only stay up winning games, and goals win games, and he's the best long term (rest of season) option we have. If your banking on Cav getting another 5 goals this season then go sit down and contemplate that and let me know how he will do that?

Completely agree that if we're not bringing another striker in, & that ,depressingly is starting to look more & more likely then we have to find a way with Mitro
When the ship needed to be steadied & the new defenders were being bedded in I can see why he wasn't being played. We were looking to counter & defend from the front & with all the will in the world Mitro is not going to be comfortable in that system, he actually said that himself about his final days at Newcastle
Now we have to start winning games & quickly ,so as the only player with a history of scoring goals, he really has to be persevered with , either that or get another quality striker in, but can't see that happening. We can't keep drawing our way to safety
My worry and this is speaking as a big Mitrovic fan, is it's pretty evident something is not right with the player, he doesn't look as fit or as sharp as he was, body language not always great either, he now seems to cut a forlorn figure. I know it's not always easy for out of form ,low on confidence players to come in & shine when they're not regularly starting,but even last season, despite all the goals there were times where he was very quiet
As I said I love him & desperately want to see him firing again but I do worry

Agree with all that pretty much, but id still play him

Just putting it out there as a conversation piece, more than something I particularly think, but is there a chance that he is a bit of a flat track bully that has kinda been sussed out. Cut out the crosses, don't give him space, don't fall into the trap of giving him easy "diving" opportunities and you're going to thoroughly frustrate him.

But the more I think about it, I do think his first touch is not as good, which is normally a sign of confidence.

I am still hopeful we'll have a striker in

That touch you mention is spot on, when he first joined he was immense, he would kill it , hold off defenders with his strength & lay it off practically every single
I don't know if it's because premier League defenders are  quicker & cuter to intercept & get a foot in or because he's not as physically sharp? But the ball doesn't seem to stick like it once did

[colinwhite]

We stay up with a proper striker in the team or we dont without one.

I see it as simple as that. Parker has built his ultimate defensive team to start games now....we saw much of it in his plan b subs last year when he went to 3 cbs....but in those games we were under pressure and rode our luck at times holding out. We are now doing it for game after game.

Mitro is the best striker we have in the squad. He simply should play because we will only stay up winning games, and goals win games, and he's the best long term (rest of season) option we have. If your banking on Cav getting another 5 goals this season then go sit down and contemplate that and let me know how he will do that?

Completely agree that if we're not bringing another striker in, & that ,depressingly is starting to look more & more likely then we have to find a way with Mitro
When the ship needed to be steadied & the new defenders were being bedded in I can see why he wasn't being played. We were looking to counter & defend from the front & with all the will in the world Mitro is not going to be comfortable in that system, he actually said that himself about his final days at Newcastle
Now we have to start winning games & quickly ,so as the only player with a history of scoring goals, he really has to be persevered with , either that or get another quality striker in, but can't see that happening. We can't keep drawing our way to safety
My worry and this is speaking as a big Mitrovic fan, is it's pretty evident something is not right with the player, he doesn't look as fit or as sharp as he was, body language not always great either, he now seems to cut a forlorn figure. I know it's not always easy for out of form ,low on confidence players to come in & shine when they're not regularly starting,but even last season, despite all the goals there were times where he was very quiet
As I said I love him & desperately want to see him firing again but I do worry

Agree with all that pretty much, but id still play him

The problem is that its not the defense ,that has been fixed its the whole team ,system tactics and how we press both with a low line and offensively from the front. Our effectiveness of late has also been our ability to play on the counter. Sitting deep and countering  at pace enables the team to create chances that we simply dont get back having Mitro in the team. If we want to keep possession and get the ball out wide in order to put balls into the box ,then mitro has to play. But so many saying that Mitro would have scored cavaleiros chances when the simple answer is that he would never have been in that position to start with. Mitro was great when we had alot of posession in the opponents final third and we could fir the ball into his feet and play off him. We simply dont have the team to play that football in this league, and byt the way losing the ball there leaves you wide open to the counter ( as Palace showed very clearly). The risk is that we start shipping more goals if Mitro plays as we lose out in press. Agree that Cavaleiro is  not the attacking answer (although he has been nowhere near as bad as some have made out ), but lookman could be with BDR as the two wider front men as we have been playing.
Once Robinson is back cav wont get a game if you ask me. Mitro coming off the bench at the end of the games could still be important for us ,but he looks a million miles away from the player he was. If  we have to rely on Mitro to get the goals we really will go down in my opinion.

[toshes mate]

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

+1 - it's purely a tactical decision if Kamara and Cav are ahead of him and in my opinion it's the wrong decision. Mitro has more than enough to offer this team, especially if the other two attacking players are Lookman and BDR. At this point if we go down it'll be because of Parker in my view. He's being too stubborn and conservative. That and the fact TK doesn't seem to want to get players through the door in time. It's so frustrating as we've got what could be a very good first team 11 in the building and we're throwing it away.

I absolutely concur with the view that Parker is very nervous about conceding lots of goals when we are beaten.  His salvation as a head coach has come from organising his team to be harder to score against, playing well against good sides, and suffering some poor decision making by officialdom.  But against Burnley he threw Mitrovic into a team which was not organised defensively, not thought through in midfield, and largely inept in attack for whole periods of a game at Craven Cottage where the visitors looked like the side playing at home. 

That, IMO, shows Parker's true flaws as a tactician and does not suggest he has even touched upon solving the conundrum of how you set up a side that uses their only true strike force as a weapon and not just one of eleven players selected to meet the obligation of having to play out a game.  By leaving out Mitrovic for so long Parker has created the problem for himself.  The defence was fixed via the quality of Andersen as a defender and a natural leader who takes pride in his work.  Parker says he wants quality from Mitrovic but what true strikers need are chances.  How can Mitrovic be sharp when he gets so little game time?  Doesn't he deserve the same tender loving care given to those who Parker apparently thinks are worthy of him?   What is Parker's problem with Mitrovic?

Mitrovic would also be able to take pride in his work if he can lead the frontline in the way he once did for us, and not be just another player in a squad that looks attractive but cannot score enough goals to win games.   And that is Parker's problem ... he has to win games ... and we are not scoring the goals necessary to achieve that without Mitrovic.

[Woolly Mammoth]

It is not the management that should be looked at, it is the Crack Recruitment Unit led by our Leader assuming he is not still sleep walking.
Perhaps the run out that Mitro had on Sunday is the loosener needed for Mitro so that Scott can unleash him on an unsuspecting Brighton & Hove Albion tomorrow. Assuming of course that Mitro is not carrying any injuries that we don't know about.
Also it keeps the opponent guessing who Fulham will select, as I am sure Dunk and his Merry men won't look forward to Mitro putting himself about.
With so much at stake for both teams there will be a few mind games and plans Alpha to Zebra during preparation time. Also if necessary substitutes if brought on earlier enough could make a big impact.
Not a game for faint hearts, only a game for Warriors plus some quality which we have in abundance.

[bobby01]

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

+1 - it's purely a tactical decision if Kamara and Cav are ahead of him and in my opinion it's the wrong decision. Mitro has more than enough to offer this team, especially if the other two attacking players are Lookman and BDR. At this point if we go down it'll be because of Parker in my view. He's being too stubborn and conservative. That and the fact TK doesn't seem to want to get players through the door in time. It's so frustrating as we've got what could be a very good first team 11 in the building and we're throwing it away.

I absolutely concur with the view that Parker is very nervous about conceding lots of goals when we are beaten.  His salvation as a head coach has come from organising his team to be harder to score against, playing well against good sides, and suffering some poor decision making by officialdom.  But against Burnley he threw Mitrovic into a team which was not organised defensively, not thought through in midfield, and largely inept in attack for whole periods of a game at Craven Cottage where the visitors looked like the side playing at home. 

That, IMO, shows Parker's true flaws as a tactician and does not suggest he has even touched upon solving the conundrum of how you set up a side that uses their only true strike force as a weapon and not just one of eleven players selected to meet the obligation of having to play out a game.  By leaving out Mitrovic for so long Parker has created the problem for himself.  The defence was fixed via the quality of Andersen as a defender and a natural leader who takes pride in his work.  Parker says he wants quality from Mitrovic but what true strikers need are chances.  How can Mitrovic be sharp when he gets so little game time?  Doesn't he deserve the same tender loving care given to those who Parker apparently thinks are worthy of him?   What is Parker's problem with Mitrovic?

Mitrovic would also be able to take pride in his work if he can lead the frontline in the way he once did for us, and not be just another player in a squad that looks attractive but cannot score enough goals to win games.   And that is Parker's problem ... he has to win games ... and we are not scoring the goals necessary to achieve that without Mitrovic.

I tend to agree with you here tosh, IMO Mitro really misses the crowd, I have always felt he plays his best when he feels loved, you could always see his smile when we sung Mitros on fire.

[Deeping_white]

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

+1 - it's purely a tactical decision if Kamara and Cav are ahead of him and in my opinion it's the wrong decision. Mitro has more than enough to offer this team, especially if the other two attacking players are Lookman and BDR. At this point if we go down it'll be because of Parker in my view. He's being too stubborn and conservative. That and the fact TK doesn't seem to want to get players through the door in time. It's so frustrating as we've got what could be a very good first team 11 in the building and we're throwing it away.

The thing is though, we're 12th in the league when ranked for expected goals, and also joint 12th for shots taken per game, meaning that based on creating good scoring opportunities AND shooting in general, we're nowhere near worst. That's based on the supposedly conservative system we've been using to mostly good effect since playing Leicester. We know Mitro and Cav aren't a like for like so if you swap the two out, it instantly makes a huge difference to the way we play.

There's no guarantee that we suddenly start scoring because we swap the two, because Cav plays in a way that stretches teams, and Mitro isn't mobile and wants to be a focal point. He couldn't even do it against a Burnley B team with Tarkowski marking him, that shows that he's not likely to be the saviour that everyone wants him to be. What we need is someone with Cav's pace that's able to finish a bit better, which is a multi million pound question because every team wants that sort of player. Perhaps swap Cav and Lookman and try and keep him as the guy to finish chances, but swapping out a quick player for a target man doesn't really do much for us because they system is working, it's just being let down by not having a clinical finisher

[MJG]

Fulham should have scored 20 Goals if you used Xg, we only have 14.

Mitro should have 4 goals he only has 2, but his Xg per 90 mins is by far the best in the squad.

Mitro 0.46
lookman 0.31
Cavaleiro 0.27
Reid 0.22
kebano 0.22
Kamara 0.19
RLC 0.16

I go back to my point, hes best striker in the club and should play.  Hes only played 8.8 games in reality

He has the best expected assists as well over 90 mins.


I'd add that for all the rave reviews of how our defence is better, last 14 games our expected goals against is 1.64 per game, the first 4 it was 1.63. We are still giving the same quality of chances up.

[colinwhite]

Stats dont say much to me . we are competetive now which we were not at the start of the season.Besides we have played all the top 7 in the last nine games which hasnt ben taken into Count.

[filham]

At the end of the day the only important stat. is goals scored.
The problem is that Mitro is not looking at his best and the important stat. is that he is not scoring goals. However none of the other strikers are scoring and I feel that Mitro is more likely to score than any one else.
Interesting to see who Parker selects to start tomorrow, surely he can't continue with Cav. up top.

[Statto]

Stats dont say much to me . we are competetive now which we were not at the start of the season.Besides we have played all the top 7 in the last nine games which hasnt ben taken into Count.

Yep there's no way you can compare our first 4 games, when we conceded 11 goals, to our last 14, when we conceded 10. If a stat or metric tells you our defence was comparably good in both periods, that says more about the imperfections with the stat being used, than it does about our defence

But with Mitro it's backed up by other numbers rather than contradicting them. Goals, assists, domestic, international, xG all point to a top quality player (unless you do something mad like exclude headers)

[Black, White and Fred]

I think the penalty miss for us then followed up by the Serbia penalty miss against Scotland has wrecked his head. Even thinking back to QPR when he made a run but the ball went to Kebano and he scored, Mitro's response of putting his hands on his head and I have watched that back he continues to do so even after turning around and seeing Kebano and others celebrating (Watch the highlights back if you like). This I think was because he is so desperate to score. I however don't see the rest of his game that we are used to seeing, like the 30 yards thumps, the dropping deep and linking play. Also he is so static in the box when balls do come in, which makes defending him so much simpler for the opposition defenders.
He to me seems to be sitting on the last defender shoulder hoping for an easy goal to get him back on form rather than trying to have an impact on other areas of the game.  I would love to see him banging them in again, but it won't happen unless he plays himself out of this rut.

I have posted this video of the highlights from the 2018 season where he seems to have it all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZZhFIquAJo&ab_channel=ScoutingFootball
This was only 2 and a bit years ago, there is no physical reason unless there is a long term injury we are not aware of so it must be in his head.
I also know Parker plays us different to how Slav did, but he is still part of a front 3 in Parkers system and I feel like he can do more to get involved in play and I don't think this is all down to a lack of service as the video proves he has the ability he just doesn't seem as hungry as he once was. I mean the guys 26 years old, hes hardly slowing down as he is reaching the end of his career.
This is of course all my opinion, but this is what I am seeing.

[perry geyton]

Let's also not forget that RLC needs to up his game and score some goals, we have goals in this team, Lookman, BDR, Cairney if he was playing and Cav of course 🤣. !!!! Keebano and AK Etc.

[colinwhite]

At the end of the day the only important stat. is goals scored.
The problem is that Mitro is not looking at his best and the important stat. is that he is not scoring goals. However none of the other strikers are scoring and I feel that Mitro is more likely to score than any one else.
Interesting to see who Parker selects to start tomorrow, surely he can't continue with Cav. up top.

Actually Filham you can score as many goals as you like but if you concede all the time your not going to win any games. Of course we want to score more goals ,but its even more important we are solid.

[Black, White and Fred]

Speaking of Cav what happened to Cav's finishing? I seem to remember him banging them into the far post after cutting in for fun when he first joined.

[AnOldBrownie]

Imo...he doesn't score enough goals at this level for us to rely on him the way we did in the Championship.   Even in 18/19 he "only" scored 11 goals in the EPL.   I think he played 37 games...  and he was completely healthy for most of that season (unless I'm not remembering it correctly).

He had a good start...then he would go a long run of games without scoring a goal.

By comparison, Bamford has scored 10 goals this season.  Obviously a lot of that has to do with the style of play.

It may be unfair to put all that weight on him...but in the Championship he embraced having that weight on his shoulders.

Now he's up against better defensive setups and better defenders.   

He's our best scoring option, yes...but we need another option to play off him to relieve some of that pressure.

[Statto]

Even in 18/19[/url] he "only" scored 11 goals in the EPL.   I think he played 37 games...  and he was completely healthy for most of that season (unless I'm not remembering it correctly).

He had a good start...then he would go a long run of games without scoring a goal.

By comparison, Bamford has scored 10 goals this season. 

Worth noting Bamford's team are on course to get twice as many points and twice as many goals this season as we did in 18/19

11 goals for a crap team is respectable, make no mistake about that.

People expecting someone to get 20 goals for us are dreaming. 20 goals a season players in the PL are worth £40m. Any player that scores 20 goals for us in a PL season will be leaving at the end of that season, guaranteed. 

For a bit of perspective, McBride's best was 10 and Zamora's was 8. Even Saha and Berbatov, 13 and 15 respectively. 

[mrmicawbers]

Can we use Mitro in a Bobby Zamora type play?Where he holds up and brings in the midfielder's and Wingers.Maybe he's not as mobile but maybe a thought to change it about a little.

[AnOldBrownie]

Even in 18/19[/url] he "only" scored 11 goals in the EPL.   I think he played 37 games...  and he was completely healthy for most of that season (unless I'm not remembering it correctly).

He had a good start...then he would go a long run of games without scoring a goal.

By comparison, Bamford has scored 10 goals this season. 

Worth noting Bamford's team are on course to get twice as many points and twice as many goals this season as we did in 18/19

11 goals for a crap team is respectable, make no mistake about that.

People expecting someone to get 20 goals for us are dreaming. 20 goals a season players in the PL are worth £40m. Any player that scores 20 goals for us in a PL season will be leaving at the end of that season, guaranteed. 

For a bit of perspective, McBride's best was 10 and Zamora's was 8. Even Saha and Berbatov, 13 and 15 respectively.

I think that's my point.   Why I said relieving pressure by having someone else as a goal scoring threat as well.