Vinicius: Why?

[Whitestone]

Last couple of appearances he has stopped trying to be Mitro.

I think it was more a case of him being asked to play like Mitro. Not his fault. The difference is clear to see when we play to his strengths.

[Black and White Town]

I'm so pleased to be proved wrong about him.

[Luka]

Last couple of appearances he has stopped trying to be Mitro.

I think it was more a case of him being asked to play like Mitro. Not his fault. The difference is clear to see when we play to his strengths.

We might never know the reason but the rest of the team seem to have responded to him more since the change of instructions or mind set. Im happy for the man.

[Deeping_white]

Turns out when you play some half decent passes into his feet and give him something along the ground to run onto he's actually half decent. Amazing what a bit of confidence and service can do for his game, and I'm glad we've stopped assuming he's a poor man's Mitro and lumped crosses at him all game because it's given him a chance to give a good account of himself

[Kimbleman]

Absolutely agree plus all those around me today also agreed, he starts the next game up front. Mitro can't just waltz back into the starting eleven after an eight match lay off (as much as I love him). Vinnie....he can give us a different means of attack. Definitely loves the ball played to his feet NOT his head and with TC and Harry he gets the supply. £5m....bloody bargain!

[Bassey the warrior]

I'm so pleased to be proved wrong about him.

Echo this, I hold my hands up to thinking he wasn't good enough but he's proving me wrong.

[hovewhite]

He is now being played the correct way and had a run of games hence looking like a striker.

[..FOF..]

So the title of this thread can be changed to "Vinicius: Wow!"?

[Sting of the North]

I agree that Vinicius has been playing well lately, very good yesterday, at least first half.

However, I don't really understand why people seem to have forgotten that when we use Mitro most efficiently we also play a lot of balls to his feet. We don't just lump it to Mitro, as many seem to believe (even do we have that alternative with him of course). What we are doing now is in my opinion more like how we use Mitro when we are on song.

Previously when Vinicius played the odd game we tried to play it to his feet, but he hardly managed to win a single duel, or control a single ball. As the season went on, the whole team seemed to lose form, and when we didn't manage to reach our best levels we resorted more and more to endless crossing into the box. This wasn't overly effective, regardless of striker.

If these perceived changes in approach was because of Mitro's injury (which seemed to limit his movement), Vinicius inability to have any effect on the games earlier on, something else entirely or a combination of factors is open for interpretation I guess.

I guess my point is that the team is now using Vini more like we used Mitro at the start of the season. As for Vini's uptick in form, I believe this has more to do with some more consistent game time than anything else. The other players can now trust him to actually challenge when involving him in the play. Is this what caused our perceived change of play, or is it the other way around (our change of play caused Vini's uptick in form)?

[FFC1987]

I agree that Vinicius has been playing well lately, very good yesterday, at least first half.

However, I don't really understand why people seem to have forgotten that when we use Mitro most efficiently we also play a lot of balls to his feet. We don't just lump it to Mitro, as many seem to believe (even do we have that alternative with him of course). What we are doing now is in my opinion more like how we use Mitro when we are on song.

Previously when Vinicius played the odd game we tried to play it to his feet, but he hardly managed to win a single duel, or control a single ball. As the season went on, the whole team seemed to lose form, and when we didn't manage to reach our best levels we resorted more and more to endless crossing into the box. This wasn't overly effective, regardless of striker.

If these perceived changes in approach was because of Mitro's injury (which seemed to limit his movement), Vinicius inability to have any effect on the games earlier on, something else entirely or a combination of factors is open for interpretation I guess.

I guess my point is that the team is now using Vini more like we used Mitro at the start of the season. As for Vini's uptick in form, I believe this has more to do with some more consistent game time than anything else. The other players can now trust him to actually challenge when involving him in the play. Is this what caused our perceived change of play, or is it the other way around (our change of play caused Vini's uptick in form)?

Very good point. 'I don't really understand why people seem to have forgotten that when we use Mitro most efficiently we also play a lot of balls to his feet.' If anything, we're more critical of him when we do try lumping it to him because he loses quite a head aerial duals and as much as he's a big man, its simply not his game. He's not a typical old school centre forward flicking the ball on. He's way better than that! Balls to feet and his aerial genius is beating his man in the box for a goal, not balls hanging and him winning flicks.

[wback]

I think the issue isn't playing high balls - no one (even Mitro) wins everything (though if you remember vs. Man Utd, before 'the incident', they'd basically decided to stand off him and let him take it down - he'd won the battle so conclusively).

The issue with V is the ball to chest, or the bouncing ball. Either his strength or his touch aren't quite there and the defenders have been bullying him or nipping in. To feet, he seems much better.

(I think, in part, it's why Tosin has come back in - better zipping it along the ground than Diop, meaning we 'get out' better).

V has done well enough recently that I don't think (dare I say it) we'll see a huge improvement (some, but not huge) when Mitro comes back. Our overall play is really good, but we don't create a ton of chances. V hasn't "missed" anything with a high xG and it's not as if Mitro's conversion rate is perfect.

[S.F.Sorrow]

I agree that Vinicius has been playing well lately, very good yesterday, at least first half.

However, I don't really understand why people seem to have forgotten that when we use Mitro most efficiently we also play a lot of balls to his feet. We don't just lump it to Mitro, as many seem to believe (even do we have that alternative with him of course). What we are doing now is in my opinion more like how we use Mitro when we are on song.

Previously when Vinicius played the odd game we tried to play it to his feet, but he hardly managed to win a single duel, or control a single ball. As the season went on, the whole team seemed to lose form, and when we didn't manage to reach our best levels we resorted more and more to endless crossing into the box. This wasn't overly effective, regardless of striker.

If these perceived changes in approach was because of Mitro's injury (which seemed to limit his movement), Vinicius inability to have any effect on the games earlier on, something else entirely or a combination of factors is open for interpretation I guess.

I guess my point is that the team is now using Vini more like we used Mitro at the start of the season. As for Vini's uptick in form, I believe this has more to do with some more consistent game time than anything else. The other players can now trust him to actually challenge when involving him in the play. Is this what caused our perceived change of play, or is it the other way around (our change of play caused Vini's uptick in form)?

Agreed! This also means we probably won't need to spend a lot of money on a new striker, which seemed like an absolute necessity a couple of weeks ago. If Vinicius keeps this up he's not just a very good backup striker but someone who can actually compete with Mitro for a place in the starting 11. Any transfer funds that can be saved for strengthening other positions is very good news indeed. We can probably get at least two defenders for the price of a decent PL striker.

[wback]

Agreed! This also means we probably won't need to spend a lot of money on a new striker, which seemed like an absolute necessity a couple of weeks ago. If Vinicius keeps this up he's not just a very good backup striker but someone who can actually compete with Mitro for a place in the starting 11. Any transfer funds that can be saved for strengthening other positions is very good news indeed. We can probably get at least two defenders for the price of a decent PL striker.

This is an important point - his upward trajectory (more minutes, better understanding with the rest of the team) makes me think he could be a very adequate back up, and get 20-25 mins a game pretty regularly. Probably saves us £15m if we really want to spend that elsewhere.

But I still wonder what we'd be like if we were able to find a really mobile striker... better I think.