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Lukas Nmecha enigma

Joined
May 16, 2014
Messages
1,284
I want Lukas do to well, but there are some things I find baffling in his short period as a substitute today.
the good points at the game today.
(1) the excellent strike on goal which led to Potts last goal
(2) very effective in holding up the ball near the corner flag near the final whistle to run the clock down, despite the close attention of 3 QPR defenders
where I wish he could improve....
(3) the half hearted way he tries to close defenders down despite having fresh legs. He has the ability to cover a lot of ground quickly, but when approaching a defender he does so with a seeming indifference. The contrast to Stockley could not be more apparent.

Disconcertingly, who saw him trudge off down the tunnel at the end of the final whistle, unlike the rest of the players celebrating together, and acknowledging the fans.
small things to improve on and get folks more on his side....
 
twickerspne;n3424912 said:
I want Lukas do to well, but there are some things I find baffling in his short period as a substitute today.
the good points at the game today.
(1) the excellent strike on goal which led to Potts last goal
(2) very effective in holding up the ball near the corner flag near the final whistle to run the clock down, despite the close attention of 3 QPR defenders
where I wish he could improve....
(3) the half hearted way he tries to close defenders down despite having fresh legs. He has the ability to cover a lot of ground quickly, but when approaching a defender he does so with a seeming indifference. The contrast to Stockley could not be more apparent.

Disconcertingly, who saw him trudge off down the tunnel at the end of the final whistle, unlike the rest of the players celebrating together, and acknowledging the fans.
small things to improve on and get folks more on his side....

Or just help him to wave good bye.
 
twickerspne;n3424912 said:
I want Lukas do to well, but there are some things I find baffling in his short period as a substitute today.
the good points at the game today.
(1) the excellent strike on goal which led to Potts last goal
(2) very effective in holding up the ball near the corner flag near the final whistle to run the clock down, despite the close attention of 3 QPR defenders
where I wish he could improve....
(3) the half hearted way he tries to close defenders down despite having fresh legs. He has the ability to cover a lot of ground quickly, but when approaching a defender he does so with a seeming indifference. The contrast to Stockley could not be more apparent.

Disconcertingly, who saw him trudge off down the tunnel at the end of the final whistle, unlike the rest of the players celebrating together, and acknowledging the fans.
small things to improve on and get folks more on his side....

1. That’s been him all season, creating chances but not getting the goals. If he’d got his one goal earlier in the season, I think he’d be on half a dozen by now, it’s that confidence thing.

2. Why run the clock down when you’re 4-1 up ffs?

3. That could be because he’s used to premier league defenders! :), seriously though, I’d expect this is the sort of thing Man City would hope he’d improve on in the Championship and if I were AN, I’d have worked on that with him.
 
I’m not a fan of the lad and I think his attitude is wrong for us; doesn’t work hard enough, looks like he’s going through the motions (hence his pisspoor attempts at closing defenders down), trying not to get injured and giving the distinct impression he’s too good for us and shouldn’t be slumming it off the bench in the Championship. Didn’t notice the incident at the end, but others did and apparently AN wasn’t very impressed with him heading straight down the tunnel and called him back for a half-hearted clap. Half-hearted sums him up I think and Im not sure why some still think this lad will be a big player for us.
As it stands, I can’t see him making it as a proper player at all.
More likely he’ll turn out like Chuks Aneke, L1 or L2 at best.
Too much, too young as The Specials once said.
 
He will be a decent option for us between now and the end of the season. He fell into a lot of responsibility here earlier doors, because the club failed to sign a target man in the summer. He's learning on the job and shouldn't really have been asked to lead the line a lot for us.

He was the best player on the park at Rotherham easily. He will eventually play higher than this level but up until now he has been adjusting to men's football.

I could see him going on loan to a bigger Championship club next season and scoring a lot of goals.
 
LostinSpace;n3424917 said:
Why run the clock down when you’re 4-1 up?

Which Gallagher was doing as well. It was really the one glitch in the overall performance. With two minutes left and a lead of that margin we should have been all out to get another.
 
sedgwick__7;n3425088 said:
He will be a decent option for us between now and the end of the season. He fell into a lot of responsibility here earlier doors, because the club failed to sign a target man in the summer. He's learning on the job and shouldn't really have been asked to lead the line a lot for us.

He was the best player on the park at Rotherham easily. He will eventually play higher than this level but up until now he has been adjusting to men's football.

I could see him going on loan to a bigger Championship club next season and scoring a lot of goals.

Aye, I agree wholeheartedly with that. Saying he's League 1 or 2 at best is ridiculous.

You can clearly see that he's a gifted footballer, but because he doesn't score many goals (at the moment) and sprint around like a madman... people write him off as shite and say he'll end up in the lower echelons. People said exactly the same of Welbeck and Carroll too.

Unfortunately for us, we've got him at a time where he's still very raw, after spending most of his football ​career playing against young boys.

Him not kissing our ass or clapping the fans doesn't bother me in the slightest either. I've never expected that of a football player.
 
Preston1880;n3425097 said:
Aye, I agree wholeheartedly with that. Saying he's League 1 or 2 at best is ridiculous.

You can clearly see that he's a gifted footballer, but because he doesn't score many goals (at the moment) and sprint around like a madman... people write him off as shite and say he'll end up in the lower echelons. People said exactly the same of Welbeck and Carroll too.

Unfortunately for us, we've got him at a time where he's still very raw, after spending most of his football career playing against young boys.

Him not kissing our ass or clapping the fans doesn't bother me in the slightest either. I've never expected that of a football player.

Yep. Thought about the Welbeck and Carroll point myself. Josh King is another example.

You'd think that people wouldn't write off another raw, young, but clearly talented teenager at this point when those three former loanees all became Premier League regulars and full internationals. Welbeck and Carroll have played at senior international tournaments, and Welbeck has won the Premier League and played Champions League football.

All those three were on their first loans when they came here, just like Nmecha, so to consign him to lower league football off the back of his first loan spell in mens' football is absolutely ridiculous imho.
 
sedgwick__7;n3425106 said:
Yep. Thought about the Welbeck and Carroll point myself. Josh King is another example.

You'd think that people wouldn't write off another raw, young, but clearly talented teenager at this point when those three former loanees all became Premier League regulars and full internationals. Welbeck and Carroll have played at senior international tournaments, and Welbeck has won the Premier League and played Champions League football.

All those three were on their first loans when they came here, just like Nmecha, so to consign him to lower league football off the back of his first loan spell in mens' football is absolutely ridiculous imho.

Great post.

Nmecha clearly has talent, bags of it.

I just think he see's his stint with us as a sort of work experience and that is likely down to those around him and the pampered life young players in academies at mega rich clubs like City have. He definitely could have done more but I agree with others that chucking him into the main man role in Neil's 4-2-3-1 system wasn't a great idea, but Neil was left with little option due to injuries and the fact the 4 signings we made this month should have been made in the summer.
 
Of the two, I prefer Barker.

He (Barker) actually tries to - and sometimes succeeds in - making things happen.

Nmecha, I think, is hyped up. Sadly, he has been a let down for us. Yet to score for us although apologists will claim he has one (when the defender booted it into the net). :p

Nowt against the lad - I obviously don't know him - but like I previously said, goals are a strikers currency and his exchange rate is extremely poor...
 
Jack Daniels;n3425127 said:
Of the two, I prefer Barker.

He (Barker) actually tries to - and sometimes succeeds in - making things happen.

Nmecha, I think, is hyped up. Sadly, he has been a let down for us. Yet to score for us although apologists will claim he has one (when the defender booted it into the net). :p

Nowt against the lad - I obviously don't know him - but like I previously said, goals are a strikers currency and his exchange rate is extremely poor...

Did get the consolation goal in that defeat at Rotherham.
 
Jack Daniels;n3425127 said:
Of the two, I prefer Barker.

He (Barker) actually tries to - and sometimes succeeds in - making things happen.

Nmecha, I think, is hyped up. Sadly, he has been a let down for us. Yet to score for us although apologists will claim he has one (when the defender booted it into the net). :p

Nowt against the lad - I obviously don't know him - but like I previously said, goals are a strikers currency and his exchange rate is extremely poor...

I would strongly, politely disagree with you.

Nmecha hasn’t scored enough, no doubt about that, but he has made things happen at times.

Won a pen at Villa, which was a catalyst for putting us back into the game. Won a pen vs Wigan. Was brilliant in those 2 games as he was vs Brentford. Assist for the winner at Forest. Goal at Rotherham (IMO) and was our best player that day (not difficult though). His powerful effort yesterday led to a goal.

He’s had some bad days, understandable given his inexperience, but in short I feel he’s been far more threatening than Barker, who has contributing basically nothing in the league when he’s played.

I suspect this is why AN currently has Nmecha in the squad and Barker in the stands.
 
Nmecha is a typical talented premier league youngster trying to learn his trade in his first loan. He'll probably be better for the experience and will one day be a top half championship bottom half PL player. He is clearly still adapting to proper football and in a season or two someone will see the benefits. The point of the loan from city's point of view wasn't for him to score us a bucket load and light up the league but to gain some experience and get closer to being a good player. Decent option off the bench but not a first choice striker yet imo, not his fault we didn't make the signing we all knew we needed in Stockley til a year after it was necessary.
 
There's a big difference between U21 \ reserves matches where the result doesn't really matter compared to displaying technical ability in front of the coaches. Here he's having to play in matches where the result matters more than his individual performance and he's being put under real pressure for the first time. Added to that, the crowd and experienced opposition who don't always play fair.

Before this his confidence was sky high, now the pressure and step up in difficulty is having an effect. Man City will want to see how he reacts to that as much as how he performs at this level. He's had a lot put on him early, not least the Man City wonderkid expectations and Tbh it looks like he's finding it tough. But he's a good option from the bench and I can only see him improving with time so we are better keeping him. Our luck with injuries suggests we'll need as many bodies as we can get for the next few months.
 
kbd_pne;n3425151 said:
I would strongly, politely disagree with you.

Nmecha hasn’t scored enough, no doubt about that, but he has made things happen at times.

Won a pen at Villa, which was a catalyst for putting us back into the game. Won a pen vs Wigan. Was brilliant in those 2 games as he was vs Brentford. Assist for the winner at Forest. Goal at Rotherham (IMO) and was our best player that day (not difficult though). His powerful effort yesterday led to a goal.

He’s had some bad days, understandable given his inexperience, but in short I feel he’s been far more threatening than Barker, who has contributing basically nothing in the league when he’s played.

I suspect this is why AN currently has Nmecha in the squad and Barker in the stands.

Nmecha has talent, there's no doubt about that. Drops deep, links play pretty well and shows good awareness and touch. This video that i recall from last summer largely sums up what's he's about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmXPZE5k3bo

The issue to me is that he's a "forward" rather than a "striker". I suspect that at lower levels his physical strength and skill has allowed him to score a lot of goals through creating them himself but you need to be a truly outstanding player at senior level to do this regularly. Its notable from the video and his general play that he doesn't actually get into the box all that much so, as it stands, he isn't going to get all that many.

In my mind, good player, will probably have a good career, but he doesn't look likely to become a prolific scorer at present.
 
It is also a question of our players getting used to him, where he likes to be played, how to get the ball to him in the way that suits his pace. Our players have to get used to him as well as him to us and with all the chopping and changing up front and in midfield this season it has been very difficult.
In a settled team with players on the same wavelength he will be an excellent player.
 
kbd_pne;n3425151 said:
I suspect this is why AN currently has Nmecha in the squad and Barker in the stands.


One is a striker of which we had few with Robinson, Moult and until recently, Maguire out injured hence why he was getting game time. Now that Maguire is back and Stockley has arrived...

Barker, on the other hand, has been injured himself and has had (and now has) Barkhuizen, Maguire, Potts and when fit, Bodin and Robinson in front of him. He simply, for one reason or another, hasn't had that extended run in the team that Nmecha was afforded.

If everyone was fit, Nmecha doesn't make the 18, Moult for one steps in front of him (5 goals, better link up, better awareness).

Feel free to disagree KBD, makes for healthy debate.

Nemcha is another Anichebe, promises a lot as a young player but ultimately, flatters to deceive.
 
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