Are you putting up the extra £5m?
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CMS, let's cut to the chase
- Thread starter Bozza
- Start date
Are you putting up the extra £5m?
Finchley Seagull
Well-known member
I don't want CMS to go as he is our top scorer and offers a lot more to the team than people give him credit for. However, we do need a striker who is going to take more of the chances we create. If we can get them to play alongside CMS, then great. If we need the money from selling him to fund this striker and Norwich offer £3 million or more, I would reluctantly accept the offer.
withdeanwombat
Well-known member
It's not CMS.
It's the system he's asked to work in.
Signed as a player who knocked in lorry loads of goals in an attacking team,he's now a lone striker in a team that often doesn't have its most likely attackers on the field,and he takes the blame for it.
Time for plan B.
It's the system he's asked to work in.
Signed as a player who knocked in lorry loads of goals in an attacking team,he's now a lone striker in a team that often doesn't have its most likely attackers on the field,and he takes the blame for it.
Time for plan B.
Meade's Ball
Well-known member
I'd prefer to sign a player that can either ply in the hole behind him, flicking balls through for him to dart onto and finish instinctively or a big hold-up man to again flick the ball onto him, but allow him to pick up steam and burst through. A happier CMS might be the best thing of all. He seems a bit frustrated, quite a lot as he did last season, trying too hard and being a little heartbroken when things don't go right. Maybe he's lonely, so we should get him a partner. Maybe he too much believes this is all or nothing for him and his chance to step up relied on him continuing his form from the league below. I hope he cheers up, mostly, and gets to love football a bit.
I agree with Dig about a paceless midfield and needing someone to burst through and remove the weight of sole responsibility from CMS' back. Crofts just isn't being that box to box midfielder of any relevance, and when Buckley isn't there KLL generally just stays out wide. On Saturday Bridge played a couple of beauties through for KLL to run onto, but his balls then into the box had very few people to get on the end of. Vicente would be a great person to bring off of the bench and really link the team together if things aren't going just right. I hope he comes back soon. And that Orlandi gets fully fit and nutmegs for fun again.
I agree with Dig about a paceless midfield and needing someone to burst through and remove the weight of sole responsibility from CMS' back. Crofts just isn't being that box to box midfielder of any relevance, and when Buckley isn't there KLL generally just stays out wide. On Saturday Bridge played a couple of beauties through for KLL to run onto, but his balls then into the box had very few people to get on the end of. Vicente would be a great person to bring off of the bench and really link the team together if things aren't going just right. I hope he comes back soon. And that Orlandi gets fully fit and nutmegs for fun again.
CMS is getting flack because he's an easy target. If Barnes was starting, he'd get the blame. If Harley was starting, he'd get the blame.
We always scapegoat one player. The team is not performing so if things don't improve its not individuals we should be looking at but, as others have said, the collective.
However, if we were offered silly money for CMS we would be stupid to turn it down. I'd be sad if he went though.
We always scapegoat one player. The team is not performing so if things don't improve its not individuals we should be looking at but, as others have said, the collective.
However, if we were offered silly money for CMS we would be stupid to turn it down. I'd be sad if he went though.
Hillian1
( . ) ( . )
It IS CMS, he knew the system Gus plays and agreed to come here, either he just came for the money or thought he could adapt to this system being he is a PROFESSIONAL footballer and should be able to.
Get rid, and if there's ANY truth in that 5mil bid from leeds, snap there f***ing arms off.
I disagree. Barnes and Harley would be getting it, because compared to others they are not universally popular. There are people who actively want to be able to blame them.
The situation with CMS is very different - pretty much everyone is desperate for him to suceed. He's hugely popular. The recent weight of comment about his performances is a reluctant, but ultimately honest reaction, to the clear and repeated deficiencies in his game.
LamieRobertson
Not awoke
Should be a third option on tht poll..re if offered 3million
LamieRobertson
Not awoke
yes u r right...although i would argue over some of the comments which arent an honest reaction but merely because certain peeps either like to spend there time slagging players off, attention seekers or are just joining the bandwagon etc
mejonaNO12 aka riskit
Well-known member
My feelings on CMS are this.
I like him. I like him a lot.
I KNOW people criticise the view point of 'he puts in effort' by saying 'but thats not enough' but I just CAN'T possibly dislike a player who tries THAT hard for the cause. Any criticism of CMS would never be personal because of that.
However, on the football side of things, I'm beginning to come round to the mindset of 'it hasnt QUITE worked'.
Dont get me wrong. he is certainly NOT a flop. He has 10 goals and other teams want him. That alone shows he is not a failure with us. It is now at the situation where if someone offered the £3m I wouldn't be upset to take it from a re-investment point of view.
I have NO doubts that CMS, in an other team, will score TONS. However, it's starting to become apparent that he is just a little too isolated for us. I would love nothing more than to get a strike partner in to compliment him, but I still think the £3m figure is just too good to turn down.
I like him. I like him a lot.
I KNOW people criticise the view point of 'he puts in effort' by saying 'but thats not enough' but I just CAN'T possibly dislike a player who tries THAT hard for the cause. Any criticism of CMS would never be personal because of that.
However, on the football side of things, I'm beginning to come round to the mindset of 'it hasnt QUITE worked'.
Dont get me wrong. he is certainly NOT a flop. He has 10 goals and other teams want him. That alone shows he is not a failure with us. It is now at the situation where if someone offered the £3m I wouldn't be upset to take it from a re-investment point of view.
I have NO doubts that CMS, in an other team, will score TONS. However, it's starting to become apparent that he is just a little too isolated for us. I would love nothing more than to get a strike partner in to compliment him, but I still think the £3m figure is just too good to turn down.
Craig Mackail-Smith Bio, Stats, News - Football / Soccer - - ESPN FC *
Last Season:
44 Starts (6 subs)
Shots 68
On Target 34 (50%)
Goals 10 (1 in 7 shots, 1 in 3.5 shots on target)
This Season:
20(1)
Shots 38
On Target 19 (50%)
Goals 10 (1 in 4 shots, 1 in 2 shots on target)
*ESPNSoccernet uses the AP stats, which can be a little iffy with shot count. Often times the player profile pages don't seem to match what the tally would be if you tally up each match report (as I've been doing, which shows 81 shots last season, 44 shots so far this season). Sometimes they don't count the shot if it resulted in a goal, sometimes they do. Apparently we had only 7 shots and none on target v forest, despite calderon and buckley shooting on target in each half, and gus referring to us having 11 shots in the first half alone, so take this as just an estimate.
I agree with HKFC. CMS is usually immune from criticism for until it's been a few games without scoring (though, it is taking shorter goalless runs each time - last season h'd need to get to 7 or 8 games without a goal before criticism started, now he's on 3 games since his last goal).
Barnes will receive criticism even if he scores (because it's not about goals! It's about performance... unless he puts in a performance and doesn't score, in which case what does it matter how well he plays if he doesn't do what he's paid to and put the ball in the net, or if it's another player they don't hate in which case the goals scored are a defence).
Harley only received praise for one game (v peterborough where he scored a great free kick - won by barnes, incidentally).
As to the bigger question, I think while we don't always get the ball quickly to him, he can have trouble turning with the ball (he can't seem to turn around without running in a giant circle, and when running with the ball v watford several times he just followed the path of the ball, even if he was behind the defender and it took him away from goal, his first touch can be awful at times meaning when we do get it to him, and in recent games he has been going to ground too easily too often looking for a free kick he is never going to get, both which lead to the ball coming straight back.
When he is on form he is great, and even when out of form he works his socks off, and does his best to draw defenders, creating space for other players to do their thing. I would be happy to keep him, but if he goes I hope we replace him with someone who will match his work rate, though I'm not sure someone with his workrate, but better/more consistent first touch, strength and finishing would be available to anyone in the championship for very long.
Gullys Cats
Sausage by the sea!!!
I agree, also I feel CMS is under a massive amount of pressure, and that doesn't help, at Peterborough goals came more freely because he was loving his footbal, now with the price tag, fans and lack of service he is starting to get frustrated. If it doesn't work for him here at the Albion I can guarantee he will be prolific again one day at another club.
Poor first touch (albeit no worse than Dobbie, Hoskins, Barnes), average positional sense, average strength holding off markers, turning circle of an oil tanker, poor decision making on a lot of the gut busting runs, needs a high ratio of chances to notch, and now starting to dive out of desperation. Team as a whole not flowing, nor passing directly or precisely enough to break quickly and provide backup for him. I think if there is a Championship striker in Craig then he needs a team in better shape than ours right now to regain any semblance of form/confidence. The talk about us not playing to his strengths is fair, but undermined when he misses so many simple chances and one on ones. I'm guessing that alone has dented his confidence.
Think Gus may have had enough of the experiment, as have a fair amount of supporters. Possible that the interest from a Prem club or two highlights a failing in Gus as much as the failing we see in CMS. We'll see in the long run (no pun intended).
Think Gus may have had enough of the experiment, as have a fair amount of supporters. Possible that the interest from a Prem club or two highlights a failing in Gus as much as the failing we see in CMS. We'll see in the long run (no pun intended).
Brighton Breezy
New member
Depends a) how much they were offering and b) whether or not Gus will ever play to his strengths.
Brighton Breezy
New member
i think if he goes whatever club he joins he will score for, which kind off points the finger at our system rather than himself as a individual , a player that can score goals like the one at burnley for instance shows he has the ability and skill so i think we should stick with cms and find the system that does work , if other teams recognise him as a player to improve their squad we should not be so hasty to offload .
Not keen to see him go - after all, he's scored 9 goals this season (half way through, so potentially a 20 goal a season striker) - but I would give him a lift to Norwich if I was bringing Grant Holt back the other way!)
Cars
New member
This. Don't know why he was on the wing so many times against Watford. Countless times he was crossing/ trying to cross the ball into the box. With crofts in front of goal.
Surely should of been the other way round?
Bognor Bystander
Looking for a new job
This (but not Billy Paynter)