CMS - The biggest waste of money?

[Codner's Wallop]

CMS whole game is based on running onto a through ball past flat-footed defenders. Might work in League One but not enough flat-footed defenders in the Championship for him to be very effective.

Good point. We'd all like to see CMS partnered with a big guy who can give him the little flicks to chase. Unfortunately, he shone in a Peterborough side which included a strong midfield for League 1 and weaker opposition so a plain 4-4-2 worked wonders for the team and CMS.

Despite our fantastic defensive displays last season, Albion's midfield is nothing special at Championship level. Agustein, JFC, Lopez, Orlandi and Buckley all under-performed. Throw in the injuries to Stephens and Crofts, and if anything we had a midfield 'team' worthy of the lower half.

To have any chance of playing a 4-4-2 and thus giving CMS his strike partner, Albion's midfield needs to seriously up its game or I'm afraid it's another season of 4-5-1s and another frustrating year for CMS....

 

[spring hall convert]

How are we going to blame David Burke for this one? There must be a way.

 

[ewe2]

Maybe a swop plus cash,with Posh for their striker!

 

[somerset]

Signing a striker that needs a partner for a system that has him on his own was always an odd move.

a 5' 8" striker is always going to need support,.... anyone with eyes should have been able to forecast that scenario...... sadly Gus didnt it seemed.

 

[British Bulldog]

Maybe a swop plus cash,with Posh for their striker!

Good idea, but the big drawback is by the time we get around to completing the deal CMS will be a free agent anyway.

 

[Monsieur Le Plonk]

To be honest CMS looked one of the sharpest last night. Yeah he didnt bag, but he had some very poor service to feed on, and the one or 2 balls he did get on the end of he had some lovely touches.

In comparision O-Grady looked completely naff.

We 100% still need another striker, dont get me wrong, but I reckon CMS will get 10-15 goals this season.

Funny old game. For me COG showed some decent touches and good hold up play. CMS was his old clumsy yet spirited self.

 

[Binney on acid]

What complete & utter crap! Messi wouldn't have got into figures playing in such a negative, ponderous, one dimensional side. Just look at the goal away to Burnley and you'll see the quality that is CMS. I just hope that the tippy tappy tedium that we've all had to endure for eons hasn't destroyed CMS.

 

[Mellotron]

Ashley Barnes was a far more natural centre forward - yeah, I said it.

 

[Quinney]

What complete & utter crap! Messi wouldn't have got into figures playing in such a negative, ponderous, one dimensional side. Just look at the goal away to Burnley and you'll see the quality that is CMS. I just hope that the tippy tappy tedium that we've all had to endure for eons hasn't destroyed CMS.

Have to agree, the service to COG in the first half was v poor. he held it up well and laid it off , looked strong. 2nd half was slightly better but then we had KLL and CMS on and the midfield played the ball into the channels. Would have been nice to see COG and CMS play together.

 

[JBizzle]

To be honest, I still see him leaving before August 31st. When we signed him it was with the best intentions and high hopes, but the way we try and play simply does not play to his strengths. I have literally no idea why Gus (or whoever) signed him when he clearly has zero intention of playing a system that gets the best out of him.

It's Gus' implementation of a more standard 4-5-1 that still prevails today, so for the full 4 years of his contract CMS has had to try and change his game to fit. The problem is, it's not benefited him or the team because his strengths do not match the profile of striker we need.

I said this on another thread, he's very similar to Baldock in my mind and I think if we sign Baldock he will have the same problem.

 

[symyjym]

Michael Owen has always rated him, and I have always suspected that he recommended him to Bloom, being horse buddies and all that, and that is why we paid such good money for him.

I like CMS as a person and he works hard so I hope he proves himself this season, but Bloom probably did pay way too much for him.

 

[Rookie]

What complete & utter crap! Messi wouldn't have got into figures playing in such a negative, ponderous, one dimensional side. Just look at the goal away to Burnley and you'll see the quality that is CMS. I just hope that the tippy tappy tedium that we've all had to endure for eons hasn't destroyed CMS.

Are you high

 

[Rod Marsh]

Funny old game. For me COG showed some decent touches and good hold up play. CMS was his old clumsy yet spirited self.

I felt the same regarding Agustein and Crofts.

 

[spring hall convert]

Ashley Barnes was a far more natural centre forward - yeah, I said it.

Better finisher for sure.

 

[Mellotron]

Better finisher for sure.

FAR better reading of the game
Better hold up player
Better finisher
Better at linking up/passing
Better at heading

Admittedly he's not as good at running around at 300mph with the ball whacking off his shins.

 

[spring hall convert]

FAR better reading of the game
Better hold up player
Better finisher
Better at linking up/passing
Better at heading

Not as good at running around at 300mph with the ball whacking off his shins.

Agreed. I know which of the two I'd rather still have at the club.

 

[maidstoneseagull]

I think the price was right at the time, for a number of reasons it hasn't worked out. It was a pretty exciting transfer when we got him and beat off strong competition. When he was in form the first part of 2011/12 he was a real handful. It's a shame he's not got back to that level. I hope it works out better this year.

We need to play to his strengths and I don't think we ever really have. He likes to run on to balls over the top or out wide, we don't give him the service.

 

[Simster]

What complete & utter crap! Messi wouldn't have got into figures playing in such a negative, ponderous, one dimensional side. Just look at the goal away to Burnley and you'll see the quality that is CMS. I just hope that the tippy tappy tedium that we've all had to endure for eons hasn't destroyed CMS.

Good God. He's been poor for most of the last 3 seasons when he's not been injured. One quality strike at Burnley doesn't change that, any more than people should have changed their opinions on Ash Barnes after his superb goal at Bournemouth last season.

And talking of Barnes, he'd have been a far more reliable fallback in our current situation (no Ulloa) than CMS.

FAR better reading of the game
Better hold up player
Better finisher
Better at linking up/passing
Better at heading

Not as good at running around at 300mph with the ball whacking off his shins.

Completely correct. Not a world beater, not as quick or mobile as CMS, but did the basics very well.

 

[BensGrandad]

FAR better reading of the game
Better hold up player
Better finisher
Better at linking up/passing
Better at heading

Not as good at running around at 300mph with the ball whacking off his shins.

CMS is way above Barnes in ability would any manager offer £2m for Barnes never ever.

 

[Rod Marsh]

FAR better reading of the game
Better hold up player
Better finisher
Better at linking up/passing
Better at heading

Not as good at running around at 300mph with the ball whacking off his shins.

I agree with a lot of those statements, however when CMS didnt play I felt you could see the opposition defenders walk 20 yeards further up the pitch as they knew we were never going to get in behind them. CMS and Buckley were the only players that would do that regularly. Thus it made the midfield more conjested and more difficult for our technical players to play. When CMS did start, defenders had to drop off, space in midfield was created and also the central defenders had less time on the ball to play out of defence.

That's the way I see it anyway.