CONFIRMED Jordan Ayew

[Davalon]

Quite funny how some people get a thrill by slagging off our team - grass is greener clearly.

I think very few get a thrill from seeing a new player make his debut off the bench and be totally cooked after 5 minutes of action.

There's being not match fit and being totally unfit full stop.

He's a tiny bit younger than Jimenez. Both played at the WC and both came on in the second half yesterday.

One was full of running until the death, the other looked about as fit as a bloke pulled from the crowd.

 

[luffenhamblade]

I think very few get a thrill from seeing a new player make his debut off the bench and be totally cooked after 5 minutes of action.

There's being not match fit and being totally unfit full stop.

He's a tiny bit younger than Jimenez. Both played at the WC and both came on in the second half yesterday.

One was full of running until the death, the other looked about as fit as a bloke pulled from the crowd.

It tends to be the view of a certain section of our fans that none of our players are fit - just another way to slag off the team and more specifically CW in my opinion so yes there is a following on here for it. Personally I’d prefer this group just stuck to a thread where they can moan away but just my opinion. Enjoy the misery.

 

[Sean Thornton]

It tends to be the view of a certain section of our fans that none of our players are fit - just another way to slag off the team and more specifically CW in my opinion so yes there is a following on here for it. Personally I’d prefer this group just stuck to a thread where they can moan away but just my opinion. Enjoy the misery.

Do you include CW in that section? Only he keeps referring to players err, not being fit enough to err, start, or do longer than an hour.

 

[Badger Blade]

My assumption is that he's been signed as a short term O'Hare stopgap as someone who can play in behind and cover out wide but hopefully a more savvy footballer than O'Hare who ran around a lot but ultimately didn't deliver an awful lot of end product.

I just hope that we haven't caught Ayew at the point where his legs cease to function, just like Danny Ings' did last season

 

[Tarqs]

It tends to be the view of a certain section of our fans that none of our players are fit - just another way to slag off the team and more specifically CW in my opinion so yes there is a following on here for it. Personally I’d prefer this group just stuck to a thread where they can moan away but just my opinion. Enjoy the misery.

Perfect case of the blind leading the blind...

Or just plain ignorance.

 

[CaptainMorgans]

I assume you left 10 minutes after he came on.

Before that, he was good. A lot better than I expected.

After that, he was blowing out of his arse.

I didn't think it was possible, but we have signed someone who lowers the squad's average fitness levels.

To be honest, I watched from home so maybe didn't see the full picture and only remember those initial good bits of play.

My mate in the stands said he was walking around blowing out his arse after 5/10 mins per some of the other comments in this thread.

We probably only need him to be a 20 minute man and bring that first 5/10 mins across 20. It might be that it takes half a dozen cameos to get him there but he could still be useful.

 

[KMC-1889]

It's not just his stamina that's an issue, he's possibly the slowest professional footballer I've ever seen play at Bramall Lane. He wouldn't know which way Ings went in a foot race.

 

[Nick Jansky]

My main gripe is that we seem to be happy to overpay on expensive loans and not to consider paying our prospects properly, like Brooks, allegedly. (I have no idea what he was on or what his contract trajectory was but would wager diverting more towards him, Seriki, Peck, and any other prospect type signing - I always liked Twine at Bristol and they picked up a couple of significant players in Scott and Semenyo - rather than god knows what we spent on Phillips and Godfrey not playing for us or Holding/Mee types)

This will always be a problem for a club of our standing. Because of the way that contracts for academy graduates tend to work, once they break through and rise to prominence they will inevitably be underpaid compared to their true value. And the only way they can understand what their value actually is is for their agent to listen to overtures from other clubs to see what might be available elsewhere.

 

[Vass Borbokis]

To me he looks finished.
Leicester didn't want him in league one and celebrated him leaving.

It's no coincidence that Wolves were threatening down our right hand side after he came on, so Wilder switched him to the left, which is where the goal ends up coming from.

I genuinely don't see how anyone can take any positives from his appearance.
Gassed after 5 minutes and caught in posession multiple times.

 

[Roygbiv]

It tends to be the view of a certain section of our fans that none of our players are fit - just another way to slag off the team and more specifically CW in my opinion so yes there is a following on here for it. Personally I’d prefer this group just stuck to a thread where they can moan away but just my opinion. Enjoy the misery.

We are unfit as a group. Even Wilder is talking about getting through to the international break to get fitness levels up. I don't think it's a dig at Wilder, it's just a fact that the majority of the squad can't last 90 minutes due to long term injuries, age and lack of a proper pre season.

 

[Tarqs]

We are unfit as a group. Even Wilder is talking about getting through to the international break to get fitness levels up. I don't think it's a dig at Wilder, it's just a fact that the majority of the squad can't last 90 minutes due to long term injuries, age and lack of a proper pre season.

Who recruited em...

Problem is, we're bringing in players nobody else wants/will pay for. Partly because they aint worth what we're paying em.

 

[ATL Recs]

Pretty much what he did today. Encouraging debut.

not really

 

[Rufus T. Firefly]

We are unfit as a group. Even Wilder is talking about getting through to the international break to get fitness levels up. I don't think it's a dig at Wilder, it's just a fact that the majority of the squad can't last 90 minutes due to long term injuries, age and lack of a proper pre season.

A large majority of the crowd can't manage 90 minutes, due to age and ailments, up and down to the bogs after a few shandies.

 

[Roygbiv]

Who recruited em...

Problem is, we're bringing in players nobody else wants/will pay for. Partly because they aint worth what we're paying em.

It's the risk of our transfer policy. There is a potential huge upside to some of the players we've brought in but the likelihood is they'll never be fit enough to realise that. I get why we'd gamble on it with not much money but I think it can only be a sticking plaster to get us through what was always going to be a difficult season

 

[Roygbiv]

A large majority of the crowd can't manage 90 minutes, due to age and ailments, up and down to the bogs after a few shandies.

Guilty. I missed our goal against Norwich because I was in the bog

 

[CaptainMorgans]

It's the risk of our transfer policy. There is a potential huge upside to some of the players we've brought in but the likelihood is they'll never be fit enough to realise that. I get why we'd gamble on it with not much money but I think it can only be a sticking plaster to get us through what was always going to be a difficult season

When we were pursuing Phillips & Souttar, I mentioned how many games they'd played in the last 5 years and to expect them to both play 35 games would be the probability equivalent of rolling 2 sixes.

Whilst I understand taking the gamble because the rewards of the PL are so huge, I'm not positive that it's how we should be operating in terms of sustainability.
It all feels very geared towards Wilder & short-termism.

I don't think a DoF necessarily solves all our problems, but a bit of a strategy around bringing in players of different profiles, some with something to prove (Baldock, Fleck, O'Connell) and with some resale value wouldn't go a miss, nor would signing some better athletes.

I'm not knocking Wilder, but it feels like we're just stuck in a time warp with him. Everything we do has his fingerprints all over it and I wonder if it's more about him succeeding with us or the club succeeding longer term.

 

[Tarqs]

It's the risk of our transfer policy. There is a potential huge upside to some of the players we've brought in but the likelihood is they'll never be fit enough to realise that. I get why we'd gamble on it with not much money but I think it can only be a sticking plaster to get us through what was always going to be a difficult season

For the wages we're throwing out on bang average players at this level with little athleticism (or resale value), I'd rather pay fees and much lower wages on players that might actually have a proper upside and resale value.

It's what every other club tries to do.

 

[Sportbilly /Detroit Blade]

It's not just his stamina that's an issue, he's possibly the slowest professional footballer I've ever seen play at Bramall Lane. He wouldn't know which way Ings went in a foot race.

Can't be slower than Wayne Allison?!

 

[ChipButtyBlade]

I wonder if Wilder has signed Ayew to take the "fan focus" off his expensive boy wonder Cannon...........anyway i'm warming to Cannon now a little bit after his challenge on the Wolves player after just coming on......the pussy is turning into a bit of a tiger

 

[Roygbiv]

For the wages we're throwing out on bang average players at this level with little athleticism (or resale value), I'd rather pay fees and much lower wages on players that might actually have a proper upside and resale value.

It's what every other club tries to do.I

I totally agree but I'm not sure we have the scouting in place for that currently so it's a case of Wilder getting people in he trusts to get us through the season. Obviously, we can't carry on with this policy though. I'm hoping, probably naively, that the club are just using this season to get things in order. I'm ok with short term old players seeing us through this season if there's a genuine plan to change things behind the scenes.

 

[Tarqs]

I totally agree but I'm not sure we have the scouting in place for that currently so it's a case of Wilder getting people in he trusts to get us through the season. Obviously, we can't carry on with this policy though. I'm hoping, probably naively, that the club are just using this season to get things in order. I'm ok with short term old players seeing us through this season if there's a genuine plan to change things behind the scenes.

Unfortunately I see nothing from these owners that shows they have the slightest clue what they're doing.

In fact, one of the first deals they did this season, was tying Wilder down for another season. Doesn't scream long term planning to me.

 

[Sean Thornton]

I totally agree but I'm not sure we have the scouting in place for that currently so it's a case of Wilder getting people in he trusts to get us through the season. Obviously, we can't carry on with this policy though. I'm hoping, probably naively, that the club are just using this season to get things in order. I'm ok with short term old players seeing us through this season if there's a genuine plan to change things behind the scenes.

It seems to be a “ don’t get relegated squad” hopefully for one season only so the promised “it’ll be different” will start a season late.

 

[Scoips]

I thought Ayew was absolutely dreadful apart from that first shot across the far post - he's exactly what the Leicester fans said he was. Another overpaid, unfit, geriatric tortoise from Wilder's little black book. I thought bringing him on instead of Donovan was a sacking offence in itself - just when we needed some pace and energy to get ourselves up the pitch. Unfortunately, as you say, there is no plan from the owners, Bettis or our coaching staff - such as they are. We won't be going anywhere without at least one person on the board who understands football and can oversee things like our processes for recruitment, conditioning, coaching etc. It feels like the complete lack of any competent or coherent scouting system is Wilder's choice.

 

[TopBoy]

We are unfit as a group. Even Wilder is talking about getting through to the international break to get fitness levels up. I don't think it's a dig at Wilder, it's just a fact that the majority of the squad can't last 90 minutes due to long term injuries, age and lack of a proper pre season.

Probably not helped by signing 30-year-old players past their peak.

 

[Ginger Gnome]

Quite funny how some people get a thrill by slagging off our team - grass is greener clearly.

He was actually better than I expected him to be, he's just an unnecessary signing that takes up wages and bloats the squad, while adding nothing we needed.

 

[Champagneblade]

Looked like he had won a raffle to play for 30 mins today. Needs games granted but a sign of the state we find ourselves in unfortunately

That 3 week break comes at a good time. He can get a mini pre-season in if he avoids injury in the next two games.

 

[3Cheers4Ramirez]

Good chance to get him Up To Speed

 

[Tom Bott]

He was actually better than I expected him to be, he's just an unnecessary signing that takes up wages and bloats the squad, while adding nothing we needed.

We didn't need back up for Seriki until.


We needed back up for Seriki.

Also JOC and Souttar.

 

[Balham]

Did players ever used to be this unfit?

We are unfit as a group. Even Wilder is talking about getting through to the international break to get fitness levels up. I don't think it's a dig at Wilder, it's just a fact that the majority of the squad can't last 90 minutes due to long term injuries, age and lack of a proper pre season.

They're not unfit, they're unathletic. Big difference.

 

[Scoips]

They're not unfit, they're unathletic. Big difference.

Several of them are unfit as well as being unathletic.