I think the issue with Mbokani is that he's our best striker. He's not really a goal threat, and he evidently has that daft temperament issue that seems so common in footballers of African descent, yet he's still our best striker because he works hard and puts himself about. Which says a lot. The problem is, yet again we didn't address the striker situation. We got a cheap loan in and hoped that Hernandez would make the step up. After that our next striker is the one who couldn't get a game for us in the Championship. And this is why we need to be realistic with our expectations. Our squad is incredibly bare, and our striking options are worse than ever.
Tymon's growing in confidence each game, I don't expect us to look for a left back, or a centre back. We need a right back, a winger and a striker. Oh and a keeper, obviously.
we actually need two in the centre of midfield who can 1. pass 2 create and 3 tackle - unfortunately Livermore, Meyler and Tom fail in at least two of these requirements
Meyler and Tom barely play. Livermore, Clucas and Henriksen are fine, Mason might also be if we ever get him off the left wing.
not convinced about Livermore's passing, he's caught Meylerisis - Henriksen did well last night some good control along the lines and passed the Newcastle defence
I thought Hayden played well for them last night, missing out on him I find hard to believe. We need more speed in the whole squad, with an ability to pass forward, and see our players in space and pass to them. Instead we seem to buy players that lose 50-50 challenges, miss out on the second ball and pass to the opposition, whats that about?
Now's the time for MP to sit down with Abel, put an arm around him and whisper "I love you really, the team needs you and I'm going to put you up top with Anne" You know it make sense Mike
I don't understand anyone defending Mbokani on the grounds of frustration/being annoyed about the tackle. Maybe it's just me, but if I lost control my reaction wouldn't be to try and tickle someone's forehead with my fringe, it's going to be something that's got some potential to hurt them. The only time you're doing this half-arsed bullshit that footballers do is when you're still in control and you're trying to intimidate them into backing off because you don't want to lose it. In the real world that makes sense, you clearly get less hassle from the police if you square up to someone that's giving you **** and they clear off than you do if you just break their nose straight away. On a football pitch it's just ****ing stupid, it's the same punishment either way, so what you're doing is taking a definite red card now because you're worried you might get one in 5 minutes time if you don't.
Who's defended him? Also Lascelles poked his head at Mbokani first which is why Mbokani goes the headbutt. Stupid thing to do regardless but I thought at the time that's why he went with his head.
No excuses cos was a sending off. as a 'target man' , he should be use to getting clobbered. Having said that, someone, probably Tymon was wiped out down left wing, before M'bo which if ref pulled up, sending off incident wouldn't have happened
I'd say the 3 posts below are suggesting it was understandable frustration. That's not defending him in terms of saying it's right, but it is defending him by suggesting there's an explanation in he was pushed into losing it by their provocation rather than him just being an idiot. If he had snapped I'd be accepting it as part of the explanation (still not an excuse), but not for that incident, he was in control still or it would have been a more serious to hurt the Newcastle player.
Because there is an explanation. Most things will have an explanation for why they occurred. That doesn't mean anyone thinks that he was right to do it. As I've already said, watch the footage again. Lascelles hacks him, then moves his head towards Mbokani. Mbokani then reacts by butting him back with his own head. Both should have been off, and it was a brain snap because he had Lascelles in his face.
Everything has an explanation, it doesn't mean that everything that is put forward is correct to be offered up as part of the explanation. I never said anyone said he was right to do it. I said they were offering mitigation, making it a stupid, but less stupid thing to do than it was and I didn't agree with that element of it. If you're frustrated and snap, you actually snap, you don't do something half arsed like that. If he'd snapped it would have been a much bigger incident as he would have been trying to actually hurt Lascelles, and then there'd have been a full on brawl. What he did was an intimadatory act, a threat that he'll do something if Lascelles keeps going, it's not a "snapped" act. To do that you're still exercising control, if you're still exercising control then it's a conscious decision not an instinctive one, so then the only explanation is stupidity. As I said, real world it's the correct thing to do if you think it will put the other person off escalating it, on a football pitch it's not because you're taking a guaranteed punishment now to avoid maybe getting the same punishment later.
