Bartos Bialkowski & Antoine Semenyo

[Spoons]

1 hour ago, PHILINFRANCE said:

Hmmm, I’m not so sure.

Nine goals in five games equates to 83 goals over a season, and I suspect (our defence notwithstanding) that would result in us finishing in the play offs at least - on the subject of which, when we went to Wembley back in 2008, our leading scorer, a certain Mr Byfield, didn’t score very many goals at all (9?).

And we didn’t get promoted with Darren did we. If we would have bought a decent striker in January to help out byfield and adebola it might have been different. 
 

I would love to know if semenyo thinks he’s a striker? 
 

His touch is shocking, but dribbling he looks a real threat. He doesn’t shoot enough either for a striker.

[Davefevs]

5 hours ago, And Its Smith said:

Too many are single player stats focused.  Juventus scored fewer goals when Ronaldo was playing but that was masked by his goals. I think United are the same. He scores big goals for them but if he wasn’t playing they might not need late winners.  
 

Semenyo is a must start. He came deep quite a bit today and his control and pass was good. I think he’s improving massively. Unfortunately some have written him off but I am sure he will prove them wrong 

Football is a simple game, but has many complexities to it.  Pairings, partnerships etc have a big bearing.  Stats help qualify things, but other than the score line stat, there is subjectivity and interpretation involved.  Today, I thought O’Dowda had a quiet first half (he’s been decent most of the season), but at least on two occasions he got into a great position and Pring hit bad passes.  A simple example of how a teammate can make another look better or worse.

I create loads if stats, like goals (for and against) whilst the player is on the pitch, points gained or lost whilst a player is on the pitch.  It’s not earth shattering stuff nor any huge trend, but every now and again, an “extreme” will show up, that makes me delve a bit deeper and ask why.

4 hours ago, GrahamC said:

Bialkowski now has 2 assists for us, today he passed to Weimann & v Ipswich away a few seasons ago he managed to divert Famara’s header that was going wide, into the net.

Can’t imagine many other opposition keepers have done this.

Pre-match I was gonna tweet that he might throw one in his own net - he’s that type of keeper!  But I thought better of it, thinking I’d look stupid if he had a blinder.

4 hours ago, Spoons said:

I really don’t buy into playing a striker that doesn’t score goals, yes team has scored 9 in 5 when he started up front but no team will get promoted or be in play offs with a striker that doesn’t score. 

Luckily we have an attacking midfielder that has 12 in 25!  

4 hours ago, JoeAman08 said:

Anyone have thoughts on their possible red card for handball/last man in second half? Looked clear where I was or did Antoine actually foul him? Haven’t seen it mentioned. We don’t seem to get any luck on those sorts of things. 

I think the foot-up gave referee Hooper a way out of making a big decision.  Imho it was a fair challenge, Antoine was about to burst clear.  But I’m biased.

[2015]

Wasn't Bialkowski the keeper who slated us after our defeat at The Den last season. 'Worst team they played all season'.

Cheers for the assist and 3 points Bart

[David Brent]

26 minutes ago, Spoons said:

And we didn’t get promoted with Darren did we. If we would have bought a decent striker in January to help out byfield and adebola it might have been different. 
 

I would love to know if semenyo thinks he’s a striker? 
 

His touch is shocking, but dribbling he looks a real threat. He doesn’t shoot enough either for a striker.

I’d say his touch is improving tremendously. Lost count of the amount of times recently he’s plucked a long ball out of the air.

[Pezo]

51 minutes ago, David Brent said:

I’d say his touch is improving tremendously. Lost count of the amount of times recently he’s plucked a long ball out of the air.

It certainly is, 50% of his touches look championship quality now, problem is the other 50% that hit his other foot or a heal or any other part of his body that he wasn’t planning on it hitting.

He is sorting it out though and has come a long way since the lost puppy that he looked like in his first game. If he can sort out his touch then he will create chances for himself and we might have a player that fulfils the potential that Chelsea saw.

[firstdivision]

7 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Team = 9 goals in 5 games since Antoine started again. He has 1g and 3a in that, plus a big part in our winner.

The fans who say sell him, loan him, he’s not this, he’s not that are watching a different game to me. He offers something very different - dynamism, which we’ve been missing so much.

He’s not going to turn into Maradona but I bet most defenders at our level would prefer not to play against him, especially when he runs at them.

[Porto Red]

5 hours ago, Spoons said:

And we didn’t get promoted with Darren did we. If we would have bought a decent striker in January to help out byfield and adebola it might have been different. 
 

I would love to know if semenyo thinks he’s a striker? 
 

His touch is shocking, but dribbling he looks a real threat. He doesn’t shoot enough either for a striker.

Nothing personal Spoons; but I simply cannot stand by any longer whilst I watch this beloved forum of ours decline irretrievably into grammatical turpitude. 

There is, and always has been, a perfectly good English usage here which is increasingly being replaced by this cretinous Americanism, and that is "had". "If we had..." You see? It's shorter, clearer, and has always been seen in our mother tongue until quite recently. Not "if we would have...", please! 

I trust I can count on the support of all forum users to help eradicate this nonsense from these shores. 

Cheers, HNY, and FTG

[KevP]

At least it wasn't "would OF " !!!

[italian dave]

13 hours ago, Fordy62 said:

On the subject of the former, his name seems to have stuck in my head for some reason I can’t quite place. So a big thank you to Bart for the first goal. 

 

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/millwall-bristol-city-worst-championship-5378547

[Fordy62]

4 minutes ago, italian dave said:

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/millwall-bristol-city-worst-championship-5378547

I knew why it was!  

[Davefevs]

6 hours ago, firstdivision said:

The fans who say sell him, loan him, he’s not this, he’s not that are watching a different game to me. He offers something very different - dynamism, which we’ve been missing so much.

He’s not going to turn into Maradona but I bet most defenders at our level would prefer not to play against him, especially when he runs at them.

Yep, totally agree…he plays a bit “off the cuff”, but I think his return has been a key part of a slightly more pleasing style of football….and excitement.

[bcfc01]

8 hours ago, David Brent said:

I’d say his touch is improving tremendously. Lost count of the amount of times recently he’s plucked a long ball out of the air.

Totally agree.

Some of that control has been excellent.

Defenders will hate having him running at them with his power and speed. If he can add a few goals here and there, he could save the club a lot of money.

[firstdivision]

8 hours ago, 2015 said:

Wasn't Bialkowski the keeper who slated us after our defeat at The Den last season. 'Worst team they played all season'.

Cheers for the assist and 3 points Bart

To be fair, he was bang on. It’s simply that you rarely hear another professional say it out of general respect…and just in case it comes back to bite you. 

[Northern Red]

8 hours ago, 2015 said:

Wasn't Bialkowski the keeper who slated us after our defeat at The Den last season. 'Worst team they played all season'.

Cheers for the assist and 3 points Bart

Yep. The best bit was that they followed up that game last season by getting smacked 6-1 at Coventry a week later.

[CiderJar]

13 hours ago, Spoons said:

I really don’t buy into playing a striker that doesn’t score goals, yes team has scored 9 in 5 when he started up front but no team will get promoted or be in play offs with a striker that doesn’t score. 

A couple of examples of a team that may get promoted or be in the play offs with strikers who do not score but who possibly provide for the strikers who do...

[NcnsBcfc]

14 hours ago, GrahamC said:

Bialkowski now has 2 assists for us, today he passed to Weimann & v Ipswich away a few seasons ago he managed to divert Famara’s header that was going wide, into the net.

Can’t imagine many other opposition keepers have done this.

He's a strange keeper isn't he?

Always seems to be of the verge of some calamity or something. But obviously does some things right, as has played pretty much every game for Millwall in the last 3 seasons; as well as about 200 appearances for Ipswich before then as well.

Not a player that I've ever looked at, and thought "I wish he played for us"

[Leveller]

40 minutes ago, NcnsBcfc said:

He's a strange keeper isn't he?

Always seems to be of the verge of some calamity or something. But obviously does some things right, as has played pretty much every game for Millwall in the last 3 seasons; as well as about 200 appearances for Ipswich before then as well.

Not a player that I've ever looked at, and thought "I wish he played for us"

In 2018 his name came up several times in the Transfer Forum when we were looking for a keeper and he was at Ipswich, I think. DaveFevs basically said he was a good keeper but not good with his feet! I thought we might go for him but he ended up at Millwall. Seems like his kicking hasn’t improved.

[Major Isewater]

1 hour ago, CiderJar said:

A couple of examples of a team that may get promoted or be in the play offs with strikers who do not score but who possibly provide for the strikers who do...

Mitrovic does 87 miles per gallon, not that impressive…

[Red-Robbo]

Antoine definitely looks to have improved beyond all recognition in his recent games, compared to some of the enthusiastic but underwhelming appearances he's made in the past.

In terms of ball skills, he's up there with Massengo as arguably the best at the club. His passing has improved immeasurably and he's the most robust attacking player we have: he makes it stick.

I'm undecided whether he'll eventually bag a brilliant goal and - combined with his good all-round game - this will lead to a goal rush as he suddenly finds his strike form, or whether he'll remain a terrific attacker who just lacks the killer instinct in the box.

If it's the latter, should he play an advanced MF role? Wells would have converted his one-on-one chance yesterday, as would the majority of strikers in the division. 

[Mr Popodopolous]

On 02/01/2022 at 21:04, Fordy62 said:

I think that the important thing here is that we starting to see the emergence of something resembling good football. It won’t all come at once, but that’s twice in two games we’ve now had some really good periods of play. 

I'd add to that and agree with your point, but at times vs Huddersfield we also piled it on in the 2nd half- there was a phase of play in that one where at 2-1 down we were putting some pressure on shots and corners- and then hit the post (Semenyo?)- but they broke up the other end and it was soon 3-1, but I think there were some good signs even in that.

We've also seen some useful stuff in individual games or halves earlier in the season...but this feels like it's more likely to be consistent.

On 02/01/2022 at 20:48, Spoons said:

I really don’t buy into playing a striker that doesn’t score goals, yes team has scored 9 in 5 when he started up front but no team will get promoted or be in play offs with a striker that doesn’t score. 

Assists are also of use as well as his energy and pace- 2 assists vs Huddersfield, and one goal at Hull- otoh he hit the post vs Huddersfield at a key time but I'd rather he was in the side as opposed to out of it.

[Mad Cyril]

If they were playing against us, I would be worried when Semenyo had the ball near our box, but calm as you like when Martin did...

[Port Said Red]

Antoine has always had a great ability to get to the touchline and force his way past defenders, what he has improved is what he does with the ball once he is in that position. I have always said that his "football brain" is 3 or 4 year's behind other players of his age, which I put down to his late development in the game.

What is surprising me though is how quickly he is closing that gap. Those amateur moments are quickly being erased from his game,  although they still exist as we saw in the 93rd minute on Sunday.