Diedhiou

[DT The Optimist]

Constant words from LJ  over the season  ‘lack quality in final third’ 

I have no doubt that will be addressed in close season if it means trading players who knows . Cannot doubt FD efforts, doubt his quality , support him or move him on ? 

[cidercity1987]

8 hours ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

I respect your opinion - but I don’t really agree with it.

We’ve had many, many players who’ve always given 100%, run themselves into the ground and shown lots of passion - but obviously most of them weren’t our record signing.

The things you’ve listed should be the absolute minimum demanded of every single player who dons our shirt - but a £5m+ player should be better than Fammy in my opinion - it’s not his fault, he didn’t decide the fee - but he’s not very intelligent, in a football sense, and his touch, movement and presence (given his size) are all pretty woeful ....

...we could have secured David McGoldrick on a free back in the summer ..... I reckon the season would have panned out differently if we’d secured his services ...

I dont suppose you are directly comparing McGoldrick to Diedhiou and coming to the conclusion we'd be much better with the former instead of the latter. In Diedhiou's injury hit career here he's 26 goals v McGoldricks 23, so that would be an outlandish claim to say the season would be different.

If however you were saying McGoldrick could have complemented Diedhiou then, whilst a little out of place with the rest of your post, I would agree.

[BS4 on Tour...]

1 hour ago, cidercity1987 said:

I dont suppose you are directly comparing McGoldrick to Diedhiou and coming to the conclusion we'd be much better with the former instead of the latter. In Diedhiou's injury hit career here he's 26 goals v McGoldricks 23, so that would be an outlandish claim to say the season would be different.

If however you were saying McGoldrick could have complemented Diedhiou then, whilst a little out of place with the rest of your post, I would agree.

Yes, complemented - I’ve said this in previous posts too. McGoldrick on a free last summer would have been brill to come in when Fammy needed a rest and he would have kept him on his toes too. They may even have been able to operate together - but we’ll never know - the Blades took a chance and McGoldrick delivered ...

[devoncider]

He is very good for us, in terms of what we need and where we are.

If he had an amazing first touch and improved finishing (on top of his other good attributes) he wouldn't be playing for Bristol City!

[Guest]

10 hours ago, wendyredredrobin said:

Not seen too much evidence of any running since he's been here though Dave.  Come to that, not much evidence of any jumping either.

I would love him to prove me wrong, but it looks like £5.2m down the drain to me.  What do you think we would get back if we listed him now?

He may well not be everyones cup of tea and at times looks poor, other times unplayable. If Assombalonga came here and asked to do Fammys job I doubt we would be much better off, if at all. Let's be fair if he was a lot more skilful and consistent he wouldn't be here, even though his consistency has improved a lot since Christmas.

But what you are saying is he would only be off on a free??

[UREDS_91]

You can clearly see hes worked on his control and touch since Christmas, hes vastly improved. As others have said if he put away the chances (like the one he missed last night) then he wouldnt be playing for us. He'd be challenging up there for the golden boot and be being sold for 20M. 

For what we ask him to do, hes great. Works 100%, missed 6 games and still has 13 goals, with some important winners! 

[havanatopia]

11 hours ago, Silvio Dante said:

The only question is whether a £7m/£8m striker would be risk free and get us over the line 

Ask Sheffield United.

[cidered abroad]

11 hours ago, yardy said:

You don't get much for 5 million these days and no doubt after this season Fammy's value would have risen. I get that people expect more being our record signing but they seem to forget that most of the time he is playing as a lone striker and is very isolated.

I think he is a problem to defend against for every team in the division, he puts up a fight and they know they've been in a game and sometimes he can be a game changer and scored some vital goals for us.

Still more to come from him too, i can see him improving next season.

 

He has done reasonably well this season. His goal tally is good considering the poor service he gets most of the time.

City's main method of attack is get the ball wide and launch lots of crosses. Problem with this is the great majority are in the air, many are either over hit or don't get past first defender. So its difficult for any strikers to score lots from that method.

Fammy would get more opportunities if we played the passes on the floor and through the middle, with quick, one touch passing. Unfortunately this style of attack is not in the Johnson Attack Manual.

[Sturny]

5 hours ago, JonDolman said:

Fam is a good championship striker. Does he suit playing in a passing, high possession side like us? Not really. If we were more direct then that would suit him. But passing it in and around the box, little give and goes by Paterson etc into his feet, it's not what Fam is good at.

He does play well for us though, but I feel some managers would get more out of him with a more direct approach like Warnock. 

This is why Fam has so often played much better away from home, in games where we might have less possession. 

I believe we would get good money for Fam. And some managers would absolutely love to sign him for all he brings to the team.

This. He is exactly that and performs like a good/average champ striker. People are expecting more but he simply just isn't that

I would be disappointed if we sold Fam, as he does what it says on the tin 

[MarcusX]

12 hours ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

I respect your opinion - but I don’t really agree with it.

We’ve had many, many players who’ve always given 100%, run themselves into the ground and shown lots of passion - but obviously most of them weren’t our record signing.

The things you’ve listed should be the absolute minimum demanded of every single player who dons our shirt - but a £5m+ player should be better than Fammy in my opinion - it’s not his fault, he didn’t decide the fee - but he’s not very intelligent, in a football sense, and his touch, movement and presence (given his size) are all pretty woeful ....

...we could have secured David McGoldrick on a free back in the summer ..... I reckon the season would have panned out differently if we’d secured his services ...

Bold is the key point, he didnt put the tag on his head so not HIS fault, therefore I think it's harsh to criticise him and judge him upon that fee

Take the "record signing" label away and he's a decent striker

[JoeAman08]

2 hours ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

Yes, complemented - I’ve said this in previous posts too. McGoldrick on a free last summer would have been brill to come in when Fammy needed a rest and he would have kept him on his toes too. They may even have been able to operate together - but we’ll never know - the Blades took a chance and McGoldrick delivered ...

This is important for me. We need someone else to provide foil for our other attackers. It is hard to play 40+ games in this division at a high level. Fam has needed rest and not been able to have it. 

The comment that drive me mad are he was 5.2m down the drain. Down the drain is someone who comes in and is nowhere near it and you sell off for a % of what you paid. I believe Fam will net us a profit when we sell him but at worst we get our money back. Therefore it is not money down the drain

[Sturny]

2 hours ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

Yes, complemented - I’ve said this in previous posts too. McGoldrick on a free last summer would have been brill to come in when Fammy needed a rest and he would have kept him on his toes too. They may even have been able to operate together - but we’ll never know - the Blades took a chance and McGoldrick delivered ...

I agree this would've been a great team but maybe McGoldrick wanted to be in the first team every game which I'm not sure we would've guaranteed. Would be nice to know we at least tried to sign him tho

[1bristolcity]

According to some on here last night amid all the hysterics whilst the match was still being played we sold him at half time for a fiver?

[italian dave]

11 hours ago, Davefevs said:

I watched a lot of him on YouTube when he was playing for Angers in France.  There is no way he’s a back to goal striker, nor a target man.

His game in France was running onto through balls and setting up others, which belies a big 6’2” striker....but that’s what his game was.  Too many people on here see his physique and think he’s target man.

He’s been asked to play an unfamiliar role, that’s not to his strengths.

He had some moments earlier this season when he didn’t look interested (Preston at home from memory).  LJ talked about him and Pato needing to do more.  Interesting that those were the two scorers tonight.  Interesting that they both scored shortly after that pep-talk at Ipswich to start our 15 game unbeaten run.

I thought (As @BS4 on Tour... states), that Fam was static Saturday....I don’t think he always is though.

I wonder if Fam got another little chat after Saturday, and has responded.  Balls do bounce off him, but not always, he has some sublime touches at times.

I think Pato got his rest (from a knee injury which he’d been playing through) over Easter, and played as well as I’ve seen since Xmas on Saturday.

Maybe LJ’s lesson is he needs to keep certain players on their toes more regularly.  But I’ll give him credit for maybe triggering a reaction from Fam tonight.

Great post. Maybe Fam needs a rest too: we have far fewer options than for Pato though. 

[Shtanley]

Fam, Semenyo and a new Kodjia/Reid style striker next season and we'll be swell.

[What the ????]

Don't forget he was not allowed to play the first.6 games when he might have added to his goals. If we replaced Reid with a quality striker we may have got automatic promotion. The onus lies with those in charge at the club, Tammy is the best we have to score goals,frustrating and should have scored more it is not all his fault.

[The Fat Controller]

As others have said, he is doing very well considering he is unsuited to the lone striker role. 

He needs someone to play alongside him. But not just that, whoever is playing up top with him needs to be instructed to stay close to him - that is where Diedhiou has been most successful for us. 

[bcfcredandwhite]

I think Fammy is a genius. He keeps us all guessing - mooching around, missing open goals and other sitters, fooling everyone into thinking he’s crap, BUT - then - just as the opposition start to relax around him - BANG! He scores!

Unorthodox tactic - but effective!

[Davefevs]

20 minutes ago, bcfcredandwhite said:

I think Fammy is a genius. He keeps us all guessing - mooching around, missing open goals and other sitters, fooling everyone into thinking he’s crap, BUT - then - just as the opposition start to relax around him - BANG! He scores!

Unorthodox tactic - but effective!

I did love the radio commentary last night along the lines of Fam scoring with his first chance....they were so excited they missed the airshot from 3 yards just before Millwall scored. 

Even his goal involved a poor touch, but a very good shot!

[sephjnr]

I stand by what I've said in the past, in his current role he is far more suited as a Hole player where what he's doing is much harder to guess.

If we are KOed tonight by Derby we have nowt to lose by putting him behind Weimann and any combo of Pato, Brownhill or another forward we want to bleed in. Even flipping said wheel into the hole and bringing Fam up as the game progresses should be enough to keep Hull on their toes.

[Redwhitepurple]

id work hard for the team for £10k a week! he has one job for £5.2million thats to get lots of goals. he has failed miserably again. just hurry up and cut our loses on the guy

[simon uk]

3 minutes ago, Redwhitepurple said:

id work hard for the team for £10k a week! he has one job for £5.2million thats to get lots of goals. he has failed miserably again. just hurry up and cut our loses on the guy

Getting goals is what famara can do. He isnt messi, but played in the right way, in a 2, with decent service, he will get 15 -20 goals in the championship. 

Flogging him for months on end because theres no decent back up, is a long hard grind, and its no wonder he has up and down games

[Gert Mare]

I think he is often isolated up top. I think the £5 million price tag was OTT. He lacks consistency. I agree that he would probably work better in a partnership. Doesn’t hold the ball up well enough for me.

[Charlie BCFC]

12 hours ago, Alex_BCFC said:

Scored a lot of important winning goals (today, Forest, QPR, Stoke, Brum, Ipswich). 

Service is quite frankly dreadful for him the majority of the time - and he isn't a natural goalscorer. Playing the tough role of upfront on his own he has done well - not his strength at all. Limited but certainly good enough for where we are right now. And not exactly one of the big issues in the team (Pack or Hunt).

Gets a lot of unfair stick I think - if he was played in a two upfront then I think you see a big difference in his all round play.

Spot on

[Charlie BCFC]

13 minutes ago, Redwhitepurple said:

id work hard for the team for £10k a week! he has one job for £5.2million thats to get lots of goals. he has failed miserably again. just hurry up and cut our loses on the guy

Weren’t you the belter who made a topic on how you wanted Johnson out?

[Clutton Caveman]

Fams idea of closing down is to jog towards the player with the ball and slow down if it looks remotely like a tackle may occur. Has he won one ball from closing this season. Have we seen him at full pace this year?

I have 2 more points

a) he has gone backwards since joining us in terms of pace, running into space and winning balls in the air which leads you to question the coaching for strikers (who is our strikers coach?)

b) We also once had a striker will potential but poor touch, speed and finishing. His name was Paul Cheesley. Alan Dicks got him back on his own each afternoon after training and made it clear this would continue until he improved. We all know the result.

I think we should not give up on Fam but until the fans and manager stop telling him that he is "doing OK" we will not get the best from him. I think that thought of extra training would have more impact with this lad than the threat of sitting on the bench.

 

[Davefevs]

38 minutes ago, Gert Mare said:

I think he is often isolated up top. I think the £5 million price tag was OTT. He lacks consistency. I agree that he would probably work better in a partnership. Doesn’t hold the ball up well enough for me.

I think some of the inflation was due to us making lots on Kodjia and them (SCO Angers) not wanting to be done again!!!

against Brum (home - spittlegate ) last season he actually played as the “small” guy alongside Djuric. It showed a different side to his game and whilst Morrison had to battle a much more physical beast in Milan, it meant Fam up against the smaller Harlee Dean and he gave him a difficult night. It was the game we played Bryan at RB and we played quite fluently off of the front two that night. I saw much more of the Angers Diedhiou that night than the one we see this season. 

[Alex_BCFC]

45 minutes ago, Clutton Caveman said:

Fams idea of closing down is to jog towards the player with the ball and slow down if it looks remotely like a tackle may occur. Has he won one ball from closing this season. Have we seen him at full pace this year?

Didn't he win ball most times in opposing half in a game this season? It was one of our players and can't think who else it might have been. I'm sure someone will know.

He definitely hasn't gone backwards - he is playing a different role to last season when he had Reid brilliantly partnering him.

Not really sure what people want from Fammy. Scored vital winners playing in a role that doesn't suit him.

[Gilli74]

He's improved as the season has gone on..... His work rate has deffo improved....

However for me, its less of he's not given the service, more of he's static, doesn't make the intelligent runs into space and doesn't offer himself in the most effective way. if you are saying he needs to play off someone then these runs are something he should be doing naturally surely ? giving the midfield an option other than knocking it to him with his back to goal and it being mis-controlled and loss of possession.

My next issue is his record of 13 goals .... yes I do expect more, even in the role he's playing.... reason for this is the sheer amount of chances he has and has had. I have little faith in him finishing, he doesn't seem to have a lot of composure in front of goal. (yes last night was a composed finish) but the amount of chances he's had where its 1 on 1 and its hit straight at the keeper of blazed over the bar, free headers missing the target etc..... if he only took a fraction of these extra chances he has he'd be in the 20's ....but there are just too many missed opportunities that id expect even a 5M player to put away.

I'm just not sure he has any more than he's shown.... 

[Cowshed]

1 hour ago, Clutton Caveman said:

Fams idea of closing down is to jog towards the player with the ball and slow down if it looks remotely like a tackle may occur. Has he won one ball from closing this season. Have we seen him at full pace this year?

I have 2 more points

a) he has gone backwards since joining us in terms of pace, running into space and winning balls in the air which leads you to question the coaching for strikers (who is our strikers coach?)

b) We also once had a striker will potential but poor touch, speed and finishing. His name was Paul Cheesley. Alan Dicks got him back on his own each afternoon after training and made it clear this would continue until he improved. We all know the result.

I think we should not give up on Fam but until the fans and manager stop telling him that he is "doing OK" we will not get the best from him. I think that thought of extra training would have more impact with this lad than the threat of sitting on the bench.

 

 

1 hour ago, Alex_BCFC said:

Didn't he win ball most times in opposing half in a game this season? It was one of our players and can't think who else it might have been. I'm sure someone will know.

He definitely hasn't gone backwards - he is playing a different role to last season when he had Reid brilliantly partnering him.

Not really sure what people want from Fammy. Scored vital winners playing in a role that doesn't suit him.

The answer is yes but an answer to the above poster is what do you want?

Two interceptions from a forward in a game is high but this can be self defeating. Players do not have the same recovery times from pressing. Players fatigue differently. The more a player presses obviously the more they fatigue and the less efficient they are. 

Its unfair to compare Famara to Reid who covered large distances and recovered quickly. Diedhiou can't do the same and neither could the rest of the squad.

2 hours ago, Clutton Caveman said:

Fams idea of closing down is to jog towards the player with the ball and slow down if it looks remotely like a tackle may occur. Has he won one ball from closing this season. Have we seen him at full pace this year?

 

Do you think it could be part tactical. Diedhiou will occupy the centre back, the ball is played to the full back and he will block the passing lanes cutting down on options then from a medium block City respond to their triggers?