I don't think either Mitro or Toney are world beaters by any stretch. However both would be extremely useful to us this season - or at least they would be if we were capable of changing tactics. Mitrovic will always score goals if you play to his strengths. I honestly don't think he would score many goals in this set up as it stands. Bruce is still hamstrung by a squad that needs to play defensive counter attack. Rafa's tactical legacy means I can't see how Mitro would be any more successful under the current regime given how ill suited he was to Rafa's tactics. To be fair to Rafa he never bothered giving him false hope and allowed him to go rather than stagnating his career. People keep saying Gayle won't score goals in the PL. He had a rotten season under Rafa, and he struggled to nail a place at Palace in his 3 seasons. Goals are the same size as the championship, and whereas he may not score hatfuls, I think you could get a reasonable return if you could keep him fit (which is a massive problem). I think he is currently our best striker personally. Even under Rafa when no striker would have scored much, I thought he was good at times because he stretched defences and allowed the likes of Ritchie to get further up the pitch. He is very clever off the ball and does a lot of unselfish work for the team. He looked fantastic before injury struck again in that Wolves. If Bergkamp had delivered that touch and then assist to Almiron, we'd have never heard the end of it. With Toney, who knows, he was never given a chance.
I have to say I don't think Rafa made an error selling him if he had no intention of playing a style to suit him. Sometimes in football things just don't work out. Not every player can be moulded to suit a managers style. I don't think Mitrovic could be coached to play the way Rafa's likes his strikers too. You can say you don't like Rafa's style, but I don't think its fair to slaughter him for trying to buy players who suit his style.
Would have Mitro any day of the week over Joelinton,in all honesty is there anyone on here who believes Mitro would have only scored 1 goal all season?
Mitro is and was a good striker. He is capable of scoring 10-15 goals per season in the PL if you play to his strengths. He’s not a great striker but you can’t IMO, say he wouldn’t score goals in the PL as he has. He wouldn’t have been effective in Rafa’s system. He would score goals in an adapted more attacking version of Rafa’s system though. Rondo had a good half season here. His first half was not impressive as he was slow and overweight and unfit. He was very good once he obtained fitness and performed probably at the best he’s ever played in the PL. Joelinton, what to say? Firstly, try playing him in his position and then judge him. Writing the above seems so much better than saying I agree with some of what Pouchy said. I just couldn’t bring myself to say or write that.
Umnmn yeah, that, like. Rondon slaughtered defenses and was unstoppable towards the end of last season, Mitro was never even close to that level. Mitro can smash it in the championship, but struggles with leading the line in the Prem, maybe if we hadn't played him up front by himself at such a young age he'd have been a star, or maybe if Fulham had put someone capable alongside him instead of a clown like Schurlle. ... or maybe he'll just never be that good in the Prem, who knows. But if Fulham don't go up, I can guarantee that there won't be any Prem teams trying to buy him.
Did someone really just say Rondon was unstoppable Jesus that's beyond rose tinted. This notion that Mitrovic was crap is a bit silly too. Indeed in his PL season, his record was similar to Rondon. We played to Rondon's strengths. We never played to Mitro's strengths. He was a bad fit for us once Rafa came in. He is all wrong for how Rafa plays, and to be fair Rafa never even hid that. He was in and out in the Championship with Gayle preferred, and then he was sold. His record under McClaren was actually comparable with Rondon. Rondon hit 11 in 32 and Mitro 9 in 34. He scored 11 in 37 in a poor Fulham side. Very similar and given how young Mitro was and it was his first experience of English football, I think it is fair to assume he has potential at PL level - provided you play to his strengths. Rondon needs the same, pretty much any striker does. It was a good sale for us and good buy for Fulham. There was no point in retaining him under Rafa regardless if you think he is better than what we had. He would never have made it under Rafa, who was good enough to not stagnate his career.