Lua Lua, can someone give him some coaching

[Brighton Mod]

I watched with amazement as Lua Lua headed a break last night only to slow, turn back and completely lose the momentum. He stood motionless ont he sideline having passed the ball inside and watched Tex struggle with three men, didn't see the obvious ball to his right when he had only one defender infront of him.and above all for man that spends alot of time falling and diving, why the hell didn't he go down when fouled in the box at Bournemouth. He has the ability to make the wrong choice on so many occassions, its so frustrating.

 

[Birdie Boy]

Whilst they are coaching him, can they do some fitness work as well, would be nice if he started and finished a game for once.

 

[brightonmark1234]

hes got so much talent and pace so why doesnt he use it and he makes it so easy for the defenders

 

[Scoffers]

I remember the subject of coaching Lua Lua came up in the Seagulls Over London meeting that Gus Poyet attended, I don't recall the exact words that Gus used but he seemed to suggest that they had tried to coach Lua Lua but nothing seems to stick, so it's like just give him the ball and see what happens

 

[kevo]

I agree it wasn't Kaz's best game last night (he started well, faded in the second half) but the way he gets slated on here is beyond belief. Loads of people giving him 4/10 and saying he was 'very weak' or 'very poor' on the player ratings thread. He wasn't that bad at all. Seriously wonder what game these people are watching.

He is our best creater of chances, holds the ball up well, good distribution and decent crosses, and the ability to score from range - basically the one player we have who always looks like he might make something happen. And for those of you saying he never gets back or tackles, they seriously need to go to Specsavers. This is plainly nonsense. He works hard and often gets decent tackles in to stop the other team getting forward.

Give the guy a ******** break.

 

[Notters]

I agree it wasn't Kaz's best game last night (he started well, faded in the second half) but the way he gets slated on here is beyond belief. Loads of people giving him 4/10 and saying he was 'very weak' or 'very poor' on the player ratings thread. He wasn't that bad at all. Seriously wonder what game these people are watching.

He is our best creater of chances, holds the ball up well, good distribution and decent crosses, and the ability to score from range - basically the one player we have who always looks like he might make something happen. And for those of you saying he never gets back or tackles, they seriously need to go to Specsavers. This is plainly nonsense. He works hard and often gets decent tackles in to stop the other team getting forward.

Give the guy a ******** break.

Very much agree. He was certainly one of the better players in the first half.

 

[Munkfish]

I have no real gripe with Kaz, I would hate for him to ever play against us, the only issue I really have with him, is his decsion making around the box, he is always looking for that shot and well its bloody predictable, Defenders know he is going to cut in and look for it everytime. it would be nice to see him move the ball across the box every now and then.

I think its hard for him becuase i am sure a lot of the time, even he doesnt know what he is going to do with it.

 

[Superphil]

What was frustrating was that after about 60 minutes he's clearly run his lot, why didn't the manager substitute him. The run the OP mentions, I think was around 65-70 minutes, I'm not so sure that he didn't just run out of energy and simply didn't have the legs to carry on. He perked up a bit a while later, but for me, at around 60 minutes, it should have time to change him.

That said, I think he is our most watchable and exciting player, always trying when he isn't shagged out, and can cross, run, score and get back and put in a tackle. Regardless of whether he'll be able to do it for 90 minutes, it's time for the club to start negotiations, get him signed up on a new contract for 2, 3 or even 4 years, it'll be a travesty if we get to the end of this season, his deal runs out, and he ****s off to one of our competitors next season (we do have previous in this area).

 

[perseus]

Changing Direction

I have no real gripe with Kaz, I would hate for him to ever play against us, the only issue I really have with him, is his decsion making around the box, he is always looking for that shot and well its bloody predictable, Defenders know he is going to cut in and look for it everytime. it would be nice to see him move the ball across the box every now and then.

I think its hard for him becuase i am sure a lot of the time, even he doesnt know what he is going to do with it.

Very much this. I thought he was arguably the best player on the pitch. He he wasted out wide and deep as he can cause more damage in the centre and nearer the opposing goal. Needs a bit more nous nearer goal.

Tracked back into the right back position to stop McManaman near the end.

 

[Brighton Mod]

I agree it wasn't Kaz's best game last night (he started well, faded in the second half) but the way he gets slated on here is beyond belief. Loads of people giving him 4/10 and saying he was 'very weak' or 'very poor' on the player ratings thread. He wasn't that bad at all. Seriously wonder what game these people are watching.

He is our best creater of chances, holds the ball up well, good distribution and decent crosses, and the ability to score from range - basically the one player we have who always looks like he might make something happen. And for those of you saying he never gets back or tackles, they seriously need to go to Specsavers. This is plainly nonsense. He works hard and often gets decent tackles in to stop the other team getting forward.

Give the guy a ******** break.

I cannot disagree with what you say, he does however slow the game down, while he thinks about what to do and playing him in the centre doesn't work because he doesn't have the visoin to play in that position. As I said in my original post he is frustrating.

 

[leigull]

What was frustrating was that after about 60 minutes he's clearly run his lot, why didn't the manager substitute him. The run the OP mentions, I think was around 65-70 minutes, I'm not so sure that he didn't just run out of energy and simply didn't have the legs to carry on. He perked up a bit a while later, but for me, at around 60 minutes, it should have time to change him.

That said, I think he is our most watchable and exciting player, always trying when he isn't shagged out, and can cross, run, score and get back and put in a tackle. Regardless of whether he'll be able to do it for 90 minutes, it's time for the club to start negotiations, get him signed up on a new contract for 2, 3 or even 4 years, it'll be a travesty if we get to the end of this season, his deal runs out, and he ****s off to one of our competitors next season (we do have previous in this area).

Very much agree with this. He's either a last half hour or a first hour player, no more. Was crying out to be subbed yesterday and was a big part of us failing to pose any attacking threat in the second half. I know he has his public strops (via Twitter) when he does get subbed or doesn't start games, but he doesn't ever justify a full 90 minutes.

 

[Ex-Staffs Gull]

My frustration with him is that he gets into some great positions, does the hard work that many others cant do, and then attempts the 30 yard curler which will mostly be dragged wide or sail over. As said above, have a go on occasions, but try something different as an end product a bit more often.

 

[Diablo]

Lua Lua has been and in my opinion still is the ultimate impact player. I don`t think I`ve seen him play a good 90 mins. But how often has he been brought on with 20 to go and made huge difference. Quick tricky darting runs good crosses and late goals.

 

[sebtucknott]

hes got so much talent and pace so why doesnt he use it and he makes it so easy for the defenders

I really don't think he's that quick. He has good acceleration but that's it.
The amount of times he has the ball with 20-30m open space infront of him and he doesn't use it or gets caught up by the defender.
It's a shame because if he did work on his top speed he would be lethal.

 

[London Irish]

The LuaLua baiting is pathetic. Laid on a goal for Tex on a plate last night - yes, faded in the second half but that's how we should play him, let's set out and win games in the first half rather than in the last 10 minutes

 

[Superphil]

Looks like most people know how best to use the man.

I did say most people.

Likewise, I think we can all see that McCourt can't change a game when he's brought on for 3 minutes.

Like I said, most people can see this.

 

[JCL666]

Incredibly inconsistent and horrific stats when it comes to shooting. Works hard but sometimes makes the wrong decision.


But definitely the most exciting player we have. It's his unpredictability and apparent complete disregard for tactics etc that make him so great to watch.


God I miss the days when we had him, Vicente and Buckley as options or even all on the pitch at the same time

 

[Ninja Elephant]

Kazenga LuaLua has proven over the course of the last couple of seasons that he is only a league 1 standard footballer, and he is someone we need to replace. Elliott Bennett is the standard of player we should be looking at if we genuinely want to improve, and the kick and rush occaisonal acceptable performance type of player needs to be binned.

 

[Guy Fawkes]

I agree it wasn't Kaz's best game last night (he started well, faded in the second half) but the way he gets slated on here is beyond belief. Loads of people giving him 4/10 and saying he was 'very weak' or 'very poor' on the player ratings thread. He wasn't that bad at all. Seriously wonder what game these people are watching.

He is our best creater of chances, holds the ball up well, good distribution and decent crosses, and the ability to score from range - basically the one player we have who always looks like he might make something happen. And for those of you saying he never gets back or tackles, they seriously need to go to Specsavers. This is plainly nonsense. He works hard and often gets decent tackles in to stop the other team getting forward.

Give the guy a ******** break.

from the 2014/15 stats page on the offical club site:
Kazenga LUALUA (Midfielder) 3 assists, 2 in the league & 1 in the cup.

For such a good crosser and creative player, that is a seemingly poor statistic.

To me somehting doesn't look right, i wonder if he hasn't fully recovered from his serious injury, , the quick attacking being coached out of him or a lack of match fitness now, whether it's a lack of belief or confidence that he can do what he used to or whether he is just winding down his contract and waiting to move on in the summer (which i hope isn't the case as i would like to see him stay)

When he first joined us he used to run at people and go either way, now he seems to stop and then try to beat a player when he could have carried on running at them and either got around them (he has the tricks and skill to do this on previous occasions) or got a foul but now he just tried to gain a short distance and cross it but without good control, direction and accuracy. I would love to see him carry the ball into the box (he only did this once against Wigan and hardly ever this season) for him to run at players again without having to stop first and return to be more like the Lua Lua of old.

When he first joined we all thought he was going to be a great player in the premier League, he was exciting to watch and a potential match winner but sadly the seems to have lost something from his game and i fear he will not reach the heights that he may have done with the talent he has. I really hope he can get back to his old self, breaking away quickly and scaring the opposition defenders when he is running at them and not be afriad to go on alone and run at goal rather than stop and let their defence re-organise, if he does again, it's likely the opposition commit less forward and it helps our defence out too.

 

[ali jenkins]

He has always been best coming off the bench rather than starting. When he is fresh and defenders are tired, that is when he wins his most fouls and puts the most crosses in. He is also unable to run more than 10-15 yards with the ball before stopping, checking back and then letting the defence catch up with him.

He needs to receive the ball out wide, within the last 20 yards of the pitch.