Diony

[DT The Optimist]

Diony ? Who here had ever heard of him before he signed ? One in ten of us, one in twenty? Who knows.  MA said we had him in sights for ages and  beat off interest from other clubs to get him.  A really massive signing. He also said-he will be our record signing. It is hard to be subjective when we have seen about two lots of 20 minutes and one whole half, but this guy is supposed to be a 5 million plus striker if we sign  him and-will substantially break our transfer record.

Not sure what the small print is on the deal but-do we have to sign him ? Does it  depend on games  played ? All I saw to date were  fancy flicks that achieved nothing, but you got to give him-a few games. That will be more than Woodrow or Engvall have been given. 

None of us see what happens on the training ground, I hope they see more than we saw in 45 today 

[Tomo]

Is this a mental thread after such a limited amount of game time ? - or am I going mental not understanding player pressure? 

It was clear to see, that Diony didn't have much impact but the whole team through the game away today...

To be fair to him, he swivelled and turned the Sunderland defenders a few times (using his strength) and in my opinion, he has a better 1st touch than Famara!

Time will tell - but give the lad a few more minutes before writing him off!

Tomo

[reddoc]

34 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

I heard that and (sense of humour failure), to say it once - ok. To say it two or three times was chronically disrespectful and not close to being funny when you’re supposed to be a serious caller. Would he call Bobby “cornrow top” and be afforded the same latitude?

I thought, on subject, Diony was poor today. The positive for me was his strength on a couple of occasions, and for me, undoubtedly the right decision (not in hindsight) to give him 45 but he needs to get up to speed - and fast.

Completely agree, whether you like the Diony or not, and making that judgement this early is foolishly premature, couldn't help feeling the bloke on the radio was a classic case of laughing at rather than with. We moan about the less than gifted from Rovers and Yeovil that ring in, but possibly have to accept that our own gene pool doesn't run as deep as we'd like it to. 

As for the subject itself. At least he has a first touch, something Diedhiou criminally lacks, currrently our record signing. Took his second well today, tried mighty hard to balls up the first. Currently I'm underwhelmed by the pair of them but in the long run have a feeling Diony may have more to offer.

 

[shelts]

Should’ve scored . Nice movement. Terrible service to him as in all of his other appearances 

[ScottishRed]

1 hour ago, 1960maaan said:

I meant more, St Etienne didn't get much for £9m. We don't pay anything if we don't want him, and so far WE DON"T WANT HIM !!

I would imagine that we are paying his wages plus a loan fee.

[WECANDO]

Strikes me that we now have Diony who is trying to acclimatise when we have Enkvall who already has done that, well nearly. Would have liked Enkvall on instead of Diedhiou for the last 20 mins as the latter was clearly knackered and had stopped working. Diony has some pace and aggression. But when he had a chance to shift he seemed to panic and hit the ball anywhere. One thing which I thought hindered him was Patterson adopting a free role and running in and out of the forward line. This left a big gap on the left wing with no outlet for him I.e. to pass and go. Perhaps a few games in the U23s might help by playing in a lesser game and hopefully score a goal or two. Think they’re playing Liverpool’s U23s soon. Thought he had a big call for a penalty when he was blatantly tugged. 

[Wrongagain]

Watching him I get the feeling he will deliver, I like him and think he has potential, just hope we have the time to wait!

Yes The 2nd half cried out for Engval to be given a chance, seeing vids of his games in Sweden he has a hell of a lot to offer up front in terms of agility, certainly a better option paired up with Diedheu

Dont think we will see much of Engval at all, our management are blind to his potential ?DNA?

[1960maaan]

1 hour ago, ScottishRed said:

I would imagine that we are paying his wages plus a loan fee.

I'd guess a % of his wages and maybe not a loan fee. He hasn't scored for his parent club and looks like they want rid, I'd be amazed if the fee was anywhere near £9m too. Not been very successful with loan strikers this year. Woodrow and now Diony, I'd have a word with the scouting set up.

[Der no.2]

4 hours ago, Phileas Fogg said:

I think it’s partly because he *looks* clumsy on the ball. He’s not graceful and sometimes his touch is lacking.

Important thing is his strong points are very good and he’s scoring goals.

A little felt on his boots wouldn’t go amiss;)

[Full nelson]

5 hours ago, Pezo said:

Diony will score in the play-off final to send us to the prem.

This made me chuckle 

[RED4LIFE]

This thread has made me run out of likes for the first time.

For clarity,  they have gone to the posters that have said we need to give him time.

Admittedly, he didn't make a huge difference, but I remember at least one huge tackle he made after tracking back to just outside our box that deserves credit. 

It's early days and he is way out of sorts, but I think if he gets the backing from both management and fans he will raise his game massively. Let's not forget it's never easy to come from a different country and do your best straight away for lots of reasons. Let's get behind him and see if that helps.

[RED4LIFE]

3 hours ago, Beni71 said:

Overseas player moves to new country and new club and playing a different system. Of course of all that should be irrelevant as he’s a footballer....from a personal perspective I moved job 3 months ago, same company, different division, same discipline. Took me two months to acclimatise and do the job. Sometimes a little perspective is needed. 

Exactly this. 

In the not too distant past, I moved to a big company doing a job that I've done for years but with a lot more responsibility. Yes, I had the knowledge but you have to get used to what your new company are expecting from you and it was a huge learning curve. It took  a few months of me feeling liked I was blagging it but I now feel like I'm a valued employee as I have proved my worth, but it was definitely uncomfortable for a while and I never had the added pressure of having to move to a new country and a different country to add to that pressure.

[havanatopia]

6 hours ago, Aaron-Bcfc said:

Can see why he hasn't scored a goal all season.

And there is the rub all day long is it not?; we needed a poacher, an on form goal scorer and we bring in a guy who is not only not scoring for his parent club but is not even playing. 

LJ must have one helluva rabbit up his sleeve. Hattrick at Elland Road it is then.

[Swede]

I am afraid I didn't see anything from him today.

I really want him to succeed and maybe it's too early to judge.

Some of his link up play was good but the rest was a bit hit and miss.

With that chance laid on a plate for him any striker would have buried it but he snatched at it and scuffed the shot.

His movement was, well, non existent.

He had a really good opportunity today with no pressure and I don't think he did himself any favours.

I hope I am proved wrong.

 

[Lordofthebling]

7 hours ago, RED4LIFE said:

Exactly this. 

In the not too distant past, I moved to a big company doing a job that I've done for years but with a lot more responsibility. Yes, I had the knowledge but you have to get used to what your new company are expecting from you and it was a huge learning curve. It took  a few months of me feeling liked I was blagging it but I now feel like I'm a valued employee as I have proved my worth, but it was definitely uncomfortable for a while and I never had the added pressure of having to move to a new country and a different country to add to that pressure.

Fair play but with respect, this is football. It's the same rules in every country - just kick the bag of air into the net.

If the manager does not feel he is mentally ready, id hope that would show up on the training pitch and he wouldn't be out there on a Saturday.

I know he looks nervous and I do hope that after his first goal it kicks on.

[Major Isewater]

10 hours ago, CityCiderEd said:

So in all honesty is there anything you have seen yet that makes you think he's a goalscorer which is why presumably we got him on loan.He didn't really do that well playing in a two today did he.

Yes, he was in the zone to miss .

 I don't know if he's the answer but I trust our recruitment and coaching staff who have got more right than wrong.

He has scored for fun in Ligue 2 and eleven goals in a newly promoted Dijon side that struggled in Ligue 1. This lead to his big transfer to St Etienne and the start of his problems :

I believe it's in his head  and he's probably trying too hard . I am hopeful that he does a " Harry Kane " and clicks when he gets a goal and not a " Hari Kiri ". 

[Olé]

I get the whole over-reaction backlash, as football fans we are always far too quick to judge, and I am as positive and glass half full as the next person, BUT anyone who actually thinks Diony needs defending would do well to have seen (or at least remember) Korey losing his **** with him yesterday at 3-0 up. When a mild mannered player like Korey reacts badly to how you're playing, there's a good chance you're having a shocker. 

Also a £900k player let alone a £9m one needs to be putting his foot through the ball when Diedhiou did everything to set him up in the box. That WAS embarrassing. I don't understand why people are saying everyone said the same about Diedhiou. He scored on his debut and was about our best player at Birmingham. This isn't history repeating itself. He's obviously out of form and low on confidence but lets not go all emperors new clothes.

[Chappers]

As fans, what can we say. His performances to date have been woeful, with little positive other than the fact that his confidence looks shot, so that may explain a lot. So what do we do? Keep playing him in the hope that something clicks, or wreck his confidence even more if it doesn't? We have 15 important games left, that is one heck of a gamble to take. Taylor and Woodrow may not be the greatest, but they slot seamlessly into our pattern of play, and it is that togetherness that has carried us so far this season, rather than individual brilliance.

[Andy082005]

12 hours ago, RedM said:

Certainly interesting. The other players almost fell over themselves to give him assists for as clear chances as he’ll ever get. They wanted him to score. They have trained with him, especially over the past few days in Dubai, if he was as hopeless as he is showing they would have froze him out wouldn’t they, especially when the game was slipping away?

 

No because they are not 9 years old....

[Judda]

15 hours ago, ReggyRed said:

Oh here we go writing someone off after 3 sub appearances.

Matt Smith got the same from everyone and turned into a bit of a legend. Hopefully it will go the same for the bull!

[Frenchay Red]

Plenty of calls for a bit of patience and time for him to adjust to our style and pace of the championship. But these comments could equally apply to Engval if he was given a similar opportunity.

Why we haven't done this is very odd, he has hardly had any playing time since returning from the last loan. 

[RedM]

30 minutes ago, Andy082005 said:

No because they are not 9 years old....

You know what I mean. I didn’t see it but I just read mild Korey was ripping into him, I did see Korey freaking out but didn’t see who it was aimed at in particular. Footballers on the whole are naturally selfish infront of goal, Diedhiou on a hat-trick gave up his chance to lay it on for Diony, if he wasn’t confident in him I doubt if he would have done that, it’s a hell of a sacrifice.

Weird sub choices, Woodrow has been here all season and Engaval ignored to bed in a very new loan player  with little confidence, although I agree being 3-0 up in a game should have been one of the best times to do this. 

[Redtucks]

14 hours ago, RedM said:

We can only wait and see whether he has got it or not and whether he suits us. Unfortunately as others have said we don’t have the luxury of time. Frustrating though when you hear other teams sign someone the day before and slot straight in and score a pot full. It just doesn’t happen for us like this.

It used to.....

John Galley???

Joe Royle???

 

[Dr Balls]

11 minutes ago, Frenchay Red said:

Plenty of calls for a bit of patience and time for him to adjust to our style and pace of the championship. But these comments could equally apply to Engval if he was given a similar opportunity.

Why we haven't done this is very odd, he has hardly had any playing time since returning from the last loan. 

And this is what I just don't get. You can knock how competitive Swedish top division may be compared to the Championship, but at least Engvall was scoring. And from what little we have seen of him, he certainly seems a better replacement for Bobby than Diony. And with Taylor injured, there is no one else who quite plays that role.

In terms of Diony, we have taken a player on loan who is out of form & low on confidence. What did we expect to happen? He is still under pressure, just different to what he experienced at St Etienne, so it's hard to see how he is suddenly going to start banging in the goals. He had one golden opportunity and he shinned a back pass to their keeper! I saw glimpses in his first game of someone with some speed & strength, but that was not playing with Diedhoui. He showed very little yesterday, and certainly did not close down anything like Bobby, which immediately gave Sunderland more space playing out from the back.

If we had cup games, you might try  starting him in those, but we don't have any more of those, just 15 crucial league games. Unless he scores a hatful in an under-23 game, I am struggling to see how we can play him into any form without disrupting how we play as a team.

Bobby Reid is essential to how we play and needs to be kept fit and on the pitch. Diedhoui is clearly back on it after injury and bang in form. Engvall is the enigma that we rarely get to see but at least has looked "up for it". Woodrow has looked disaffected but has at least scored the occasional goal. Unfortunately Diony seems so far from scoring at the moment that it's painful to watch.

[RedRock]

9 hours ago, RED4LIFE said:

Exactly this. 

In the not too distant past, I moved to a big company doing a job that I've done for years but with a lot more responsibility. Yes, I had the knowledge but you have to get used to what your new company are expecting from you and it was a huge learning curve. It took  a few months of me feeling liked I was blagging it but I now feel like I'm a valued employee as I have proved my worth, but it was definitely uncomfortable for a while and I never had the added pressure of having to move to a new country and a different country to add to that pressure.

Fine. So what the **** is the logic of getting a player in when challenging for promotion, who is going to take at least 2 months getting up to speed, assuming he ever does? On this scenario, it’s going to be mid-March before we start getting any return by which time, certainly, auto promotion and possibly even a play off place may well be out of our grasp. 

OK an acquisition if we don’t really have ambition to push on for promotion and have a contract to buy him at a give away price. My understanding is that doesn’t apply and we’ve ended up taking an ‘Arnie ‘ style punt, in a situation when promotion was  in our grasp. 

The frustrating thing is that as a Club, yet again, we don’t seem to learn from our past mistakes.

In mid-January, we needed a couple of impact players. Players that would hit the ground running turning loses into draws, draws into wins. Our good old transfer policy has delivered us three players who aren’t even match ready, let alone result changers.

Mental. 

 

 

[Frenchay Red]

8 minutes ago, Dr Balls said:

And this is what I just don't get. You can knock how competitive Swedish top division may be compared to the Championship, but at least Engvall was scoring. And from what little we have seen of him, he certainly seems a better replacement for Bobby than Diony. And with Taylor injured, there is no one else who quite plays that role.

In terms of Diony, we have taken a player on loan who is out of form & low on confidence. What did we expect to happen? He is still under pressure, just different to what he experienced at St Etienne, so it's hard to see how he is suddenly going to start banging in the goals. He had one golden opportunity and he shinned a back pass to their keeper! I saw glimpses in his first game of someone with some speed & strength, but that was not playing with Diedhoui. He showed very little yesterday, and certainly did not close down anything like Bobby, which immediately gave Sunderland more space playing out from the back.

If we had cup games, you might try  starting him in those, but we don't have any more of those, just 15 crucial league games. Unless he scores a hatful in an under-23 game, I am struggling to see how we can play him into any form without disrupting how we play as a team.

Bobby Reid is essential to how we play and needs to be kept fit and on the pitch. Diedhoui is clearly back on it after injury and bang in form. Engvall is the enigma that we rarely get to see but at least has looked "up for it". Woodrow has looked disaffected but has at least scored the occasional goal. Unfortunately Diony seems so far from scoring at the moment that it's painful to watch.

Agree 100%. 

On another thread Diony is getting a lot of blame for the 2nd half attacking performance, but the reality is that Reid being subbed removed any link up play between midfield and attack. The front two were mostly isolated. Taylor can play the Reid role to some extent, but is not available, and from what I've seen of him Engval can also probably do a better job in that situation than Diony.

I do feel a bit sorry for Engval and feel he ought to get more game time. He's got to be more up to speed than Diony.

[Ryan_BCFC]

I thought he had some good link up play at times and gets into decent positions but loses his cool in front of goal, he had a glorious chance to kill the game off but totally miss kicked it. I guess it's hard to judge after 3 sub appearances but some good and some bad.

[BTRFTG]

Diony made half a dozen or more brilliant runs all of which came to nothing as we've nobody at the club who's remotely on his wavelength or timeline. Not once did the ball get to him. Those of you preoccupied with the ball wouldn't have even seen them. He's Maynard and requires quick ( and I mean quick) ball to feet in front of him down the channels. Every run he made yesterday was over three seconds before our midfield even realised he'd gone.

If there's a criticism of Diony make it at WeeLee and our scouts - why recruit a player whose game is nullified by our ponderous and over-elaborate supply line? Wrong bloke in wrong system.

[Phileas Fogg]

5 minutes ago, BTRFTG said:

Diony made half a dozen or more brilliant runs all of which came to nothing as we've nobody at the club who's remotely on his wavelength or timeline. Not once did the ball get to him. Those of you preoccupied with the ball wouldn't have even seen them. He's Maynard and requires quick ( and I mean quick) ball to feet in front of him down the channels. Every run he made yesterday was over three seconds before our midfield even realised he'd gone.

If there's a criticism of Diony make it at WeeLee and our scouts - why recruit a player whose game is nullified by our ponderous and over-elaborate supply line? Wrong bloke in wrong system.

Yes agreed. I noticed this too - his runs are like a Kodjia or Maynard as you say. We haven’t used a player in that style since Kodjia and our midfield just aren’t used to it.

They have been playing all season with Reid dropping into that pocket but Diony wants to beat the defensive line instead. Crying out for some through balls to feet just in front of him.

Would’ve been interesting to see if they’d had more success with Paterson or Walsh playing behind Diony feeding him those balls. I reckon he’d have looked more impressive if LJ had changed Diedhiou for Walsh at 3-1.

[Super]

I see the weak central defenders and the left back have got away with it. Certainly not down to diony why we threw away a 3 goal lead.