John Akinde

[Red_Chelt]

Firstly Akinde was great.

Secondly(and it is obviously a personal opinion), I thought Maynard had his best 45 mins for us last night. He worked hard, was winning some physical battles, and slid a beauty of a ball through to Adebola, that Dele completely fluffed.

But generally he looked a lot hungrier last night.

The reason for the comparison between Maynard and Akinde is obvious. It can't be about football - because they are TOTALLY different players - you might as well compare Maynard to McAllister.

Its all about money.

(Here it goes slate away)Maynard cost 2.25m, Akinde £145k+add ons.

It really is that simple. For those of us that have supported City for a long time £2.25m is an ASTRONOMICAL amount of money to spend on 1 player.

Yes, its small(ish) beans in terms of quality strikers in the CCC, but not for a club like ours.

UNDOUBTEDLY, he has GREAT potential, but so does Akinde, and he cost £2m less. I just feel that a lot of people(myself not included), expected Maynard to hit the ground running and to have already been in double figures by now. Probably the worst thing he could have done to fuel this fire was to score his hat-trick against Antwerp on his debut - perhaps had he not done so he might not have the doom-mongers on his back already.

MAYNARD WILL COME GOOD - No doubt about that whatsoever. Its just that he is completely different to Akinde. I just think that Maynard will always be one of the strikers that we will be moaning about for 89 minutes a game for not getting involved, but still pop up to net the winner(i.e. an apparently lazy striker), whereas Akinde will be the striker - all hustle and bustle, a style of which we at City seem to love.

Agree entirely - Maynard will come good, he's young, inexperienced at this level and we might even have to wait a season. Give him the service (ie look at creating more from midfield) and he'll shine.

[Guest ashtonyate]

Firstly Akinde was great.

Secondly(and it is obviously a personal opinion), I thought Maynard had his best 45 mins for us last night. He worked hard, was winning some physical battles, and slid a beauty of a ball through to Adebola, that Dele completely fluffed.

But generally he looked a lot hungrier last night.

The reason for the comparison between Maynard and Akinde is obvious. It can't be about football - because they are TOTALLY different players - you might as well compare Maynard to McAllister.

Its all about money.

(Here it goes slate away)Maynard cost 2.25m, Akinde £145k+add ons.

It really is that simple. For those of us that have supported City for a long time £2.25m is an ASTRONOMICAL amount of money to spend on 1 player.

Yes, its small(ish) beans in terms of quality strikers in the CCC, but not for a club like ours.

UNDOUBTEDLY, he has GREAT potential, but so does Akinde, and he cost £2m less. I just feel that a lot of people(myself not included), expected Maynard to hit the ground running and to have already been in double figures by now. Probably the worst thing he could have done to fuel this fire was to score his hat-trick against Antwerp on his debut - perhaps had he not done so he might not have the doom-mongers on his back already.

MAYNARD WILL COME GOOD - No doubt about that whatsoever. Its just that he is completely different to Akinde. I just think that Maynard will always be one of the strikers that we will be moaning about for 89 minutes a game for not getting involved, but still pop up to net the winner(i.e. an apparently lazy striker), whereas Akinde will be the striker - all hustle and bustle, a style of which we at City seem to love.

You must look at midfield to see why Maynard is not scoring there is no one who has any vision to play the killer ball which the forwards needs to get around the backs of defences.

Watching Palace on Saturday Carle was doing the job for them and we have never replaced him we need a play maker in the team

[SimplyRed]

Akinde did very well on his debut and deserves the accolades he has received.

My only worry is that, with Akinde and Adebola, there is a tendency to supply them using the dreaded 'long ball'. While this can be effective for short periods (as it was last night), I would not wish to see us become a Watford or Stoke.

Hopefully, Akinde is the long term replacement for Adebola and will form a partnership with Maynard.

[Riaz]

Akinde did very well on his debut and deserves the accolades he has received.

My only worry is that, with Akinde and Adebola, there is a tendency to supply them using the dreaded 'long ball'. While this can be effective for short periods (as it was last night), I would not wish to see us become a Watford or Stoke.

Hopefully, Akinde is the long term replacement for Adebola and will form a partnership with Maynard.

Hopefully, Akinde is the immediate replacement for Adebola and will form a partnership with Maynard.

[Guest bigcheese]

The changes seemed to pay off.

More competition and hunger for places in the starting team has to be a good thing!

[Guest DanC]

You must look at midfield to see why Maynard is not scoring there is no one who has any vision to play the killer ball which the forwards needs to get around the backs of defences.

Watching Palace on Saturday Carle was doing the job for them and we have never replaced him we need a play maker in the team

I Never thought I would see the day where I agreed with one of your posts but that day has now come. It feels like it is a end of a era.

All the people that moan at Maynard should instead be moaning at the midfield as it is them that is not providing them with the service he requires. Not even Adebola wins the balls they supply him with so how they expect Maynard to win the same kind of balls is totally beyond me.