[Archived] Nikola Kalinic

[DE.]

Actually, I've seen him play games where he has shown his physical strength to be quite good, he seems to be ridiculously clumsy on the ball though and he falls over way too easily. I don't think physical strength has anything to do with him falling over constantly, more to do with really poor balance and clumsiness. Sometimes there's no one pressuring him at all and he falls over anyway.

Perhaps you're right, but Bramble outmuscled him numerous times today. Any beefy centre-back will easily neutralise his threat in our current system.

[MarkBRFC71]

Said it all along but to get the best from Niko the system has to change. He's a good player, but he needs a strike partner to be a great one.

The mind boggles that we're still persevering with the single striker when we don't have the players for it, given our results this season it's not really been that effective and it's awful to watch.

What's worse though IMO is that by moaning all summer about desperately needing a striker, the manager has effectively admitted that he wasted £6m on a player that he must not have seen play - if he had it would have been obvious that he cannot play as a lone striker.

[bellamy11]

What is more baffing is that the manager stated at the beginning of last season that the only thing stopping him playing a 4-4-2 was the brilliant form of Dunn. Given Dunn's unreliability and lack of pitch time recently, what is the justification for not reverting back to what was supposedly Sam's preferred system in Dunn's absence?

[RibbleValleyRover]

What is more baffing is that the manager stated at the beginning of last season that the only thing stopping him playing a 4-4-2 was the brilliant form of Dunn. Given Dunn's unreliability and lack of pitch time recently, what is the justification for not reverting back to what was supposedly Sam's preferred system in Dunn's absence?

Good point.

I've come round to the viewpoint that Niko just isn't going to make it here as Sam is too inflexible to adjust to get the best out of him. Either he needs support from the wing, or he needs a strike partner. As a fan its quite frustrating to watch as you just know that the lad could offer so much more if you built your team and tactics around him. Something you think we would have done considering the price we paid for him.

[thenodrog]

Good point.

I've come round to the viewpoint that Niko just isn't going to make it here as Sam is too inflexible to adjust to get the best out of him. Either he needs support from the wing, or he needs a strike partner. As a fan its quite frustrating to watch as you just know that the lad could offer so much more if you built your team and tactics around him. Something you think we would have done considering the price we paid for him.

There is no 'I' in team.

[MarkBRFC71]

There is no 'I' in team.

There is when you're skint and you've splurged £6m on a player that you're not getting anything from in the current system.

[Exiled_Rover]

Kalinic shows flair and excellent control on the ball, he did very well for example at one stage in the first half but Emerton yet again failed to play a good ball. Id play Kalinic alongside a targetman like Benjani or Roberts but it wont happen under Sam.

Or, dare I say it, Di Santo.

[den]

I've come round to the viewpoint that Niko just isn't going to make it here as Sam is too inflexible to adjust to get the best out of him. Either he needs support from the wing, or he needs a strike partner. As a fan its quite frustrating to watch as you just know that the lad could offer so much more if you built your team and tactics around him. Something you think we would have done considering the price we paid for him.

You can't change your tactics to suit someone not playing well, just as you don't build your team around someone not playing well.

Believing that he will be some kind of different player if we change the system is just kidding ourselves. Nicko, is Nicko, wherever you play him.

[MeanGreenMachine]

What ######….

You play a style to suit the players at your disposal. Kalinic in a decent footballing side would score goals on a regular basis. Sadly pumping the ball to him at head height with not a player in 20 yards means he struggles badly.

Kalinic is the sort of striker you could build a side around, sadly we don’t have the ambition to play abit of football. This will never happen but if we could bring in someone like Robbie Keane and had Dunn fit and played the ball on the ground we could cut teams to pieces upto as they are 3 players who are clever and link play beautifully.

[Amo]

^ Well said. Den appears to be of the school of thought that a quality player should play well regardless of his tactics or team-mates. Some of the PL's best would struggle for goals with our style of play. Big Sam isn't looking for a goalscorer. He wants a hulking battering ram to hold up play, win flicks and draw free-kicks. Kevin Davies was his star man at Bolton and he was hardly prolific. Kalinic can't play that role, and it's something Sam should have been privvy to before splashing £6m on him.

[den]

^ Well said. Den appears to be of the school of thought that a quality player should play well regardless of his tactics or team-mates.

Pretty much, yeah. Whenever I played football Topman, the best players were the best players whatever the tactics. The poorer players were pretty poor most of the time as well, whatever the tactics.

Generally speaking, good players will shine through.

[Majiball]

There is no 'I' in team.

But there is a "me".

[LDRover]

I've seen enough of Kalinic now to have the opinion that he's not good enough - regardless of the system. He's not strong enough, certainly not quick enough, not good enough in the air and his finishing is mediocre. Three things I'll give him are a good workrate, decent first touch and good movement.

6 million - what would we get for him if we were to sell him? 2 million tops IMO.

[MeanGreenMachine]

Based on tactics which only include smashing the ball upto him and giving him no support.

[Amo]

Pretty much, yeah. Whenever I played football Topman, the best players were the best players whatever the tactics. The poorer players were pretty poor most of the time as well, whatever the tactics.

Generally speaking, good players will shine through.

Sorry, but that's such a glib way of looking at it. If that was true, why is history full of players flopping at one club only to play out of their skin at another?

If you don't think Kalinic's good enough for this level, full-stop. Fair enough. Many of us have seen enough to think he could do well in a team that plays to his strengths.

[sweet]

For me, the problem isn’t with the formation we attempt to play. Nor is it with the ‘target man’ that we employ. It is with the wide players. Tonight in my opinion, showed that Diouf and Emerton are certainly not right for the roles.

We try to play a 4-5-1 without the ball, come, 4-3-3 with the ball. Unfortunately, for this to work the players in this role require good acceleration, and good technical abilities (not to mention a hard work ethic and a good defensive game). Diouf possess good technical ability but no acceleration. Emerton has decent pace/acceleration but no technical ability.

This leaves us doing well in a 4-5-1, but when we gain possession we struggle with the 4-3-3 aspect that is required, to convincingly turn from defence into attack. The two are not quick enough to support the striker and get into the box if needed. Diouf can beat a man but doesn’t have the pace to get away from him, so is left with the only option to hastily cross, usually with no one in the box who is able to convert it into a goal. Emerton cant really cross or beat a man, so we are usually left with the only option of him charging at their defence, in which most cases possession is lost. As possession is lost. we are hit on the counter, as we are a very slow team we find it very hard to deal with.

Interestingly most people seem to think we need a creative midfield player, to play in the centre, for me this is useless until we sort out the wide players. Kalinic is still going to be isolated an unable to hold up the ball that well, with no real support what is he going to do? We will also be left worst off defensively if we employ an attack minded centre midfielder. For me that is not our most pressing issue, the key to our game comes in the wide players, which we drastically need to address.

[sweet]

Also because Diouf and Emerton do not posses adequate pace etc, Kalinic therefore has to play a much deeper role so that the 3 work are able to work as a unit when we do attempt to attack. This leads Sunderland to be able to operate a much higher defensive line and cut out the space we have to operate in when we do have possesion. When Benjani came on last night, as he does possess some pace this was slightly bettered, as it forced sunderland to play deeper, this is why I feel Benjani found he had slightly more space to play in than kalinic.

[den]

I've seen enough of Kalinic now to have the opinion that he's not good enough - regardless of the system. He's not strong enough, certainly not quick enough, not good enough in the air and his finishing is mediocre. Three things I'll give him are a good workrate, decent first touch and good movement.

6 million - what would we get for him if we were to sell him? 2 million tops IMO.

Agreed.

[den]

Sorry, but that's such a glib way of looking at it. If that was true, why is history full of players flopping at one club only to play out of their skin at another?

What's glib about saying that the best players are generally the best players, whatever the tactics/formation? Talent is talent.

As for "history being full of players flopping at one club only to play out of their skin at another", that doesn't happen as often as you might think.

[sweet]

Agreed.

I personally believe that Sams determination to bring in a target man in the summer was an admission that Kalinic cannot play the role. And if he cant play that role, then there is no place for him at rovers. Because we are not going to be changing tactics anytime soon, takeover or not.

I personally believe if the takeover goes through, and we have the money to buy a quality target man, we will have seen the last of kalinic.

[beerwins]

Looks a decent footballer when he has players around him, unfotunately this doesnt happen very often at Rovers.

The lad might have done well at a club that likes to attack and get plenty of players forward to support but I cant help look at him and think he was 6 mill wasted, a proper target man would have served us a lot better and we would have a lot less attacks break down if he could hold the ball better.

He does'nt seem to have improved in the time he has been here whether it be tactics or not he should'nt be our no 1 striker.

[MeanGreenMachine]

What's glib about saying that the best players are generally the best players, whatever the tactics/formation? Talent is talent.

As for "history being full of players flopping at one club only to play out of their skin at another", that doesn't happen as often as you might think.

Really. Would a young Owen shine in our side playing the tactics we do? Some players are suited to playing certain ways, the real worldie players can adapt and shine at any role.

Kalinic in the views of 90% of the media and alot of rovers fans is Kalinic is a classy player.

[Exiled_Rover]

Pretty much, yeah. Whenever I played football Topman, the best players were the best players whatever the tactics. The poorer players were pretty poor most of the time as well, whatever the tactics.

Generally speaking, good players will shine through.

So you played professionally then?

[Exiled_Rover]

Really. Would a young Owen shine in our side playing the tactics we do? Some players are suited to playing certain ways, the real worldie players can adapt and shine at any role.

Kalinic in the views of 90% of the media and alot of rovers fans is Kalinic is a classy player.

A young Owen probably would do ok playing in our system because he was so ridiculously quick before his hamstring injuries that we could simply bang the ball over the top to him/into the channels and let him chase it. He wouldn't thrive though.

It's why if you're not going to play 2 upfront, I'd play the other Diouf up top on his own. He's at least physical enough and quick enough to cause two centre backs problems. Kalinic simply isn't - but that's because he's not a target man.

[BPF]

I've seen enough of Kalinic now to have the opinion that he's not good enough - regardless of the system. He's not strong enough, certainly not quick enough, not good enough in the air and his finishing is mediocre. Three things I'll give him are a good workrate, decent first touch and good movement.

6 million - what would we get for him if we were to sell him? 2 million tops IMO.

Fully agree with that. A lot of people on here that say otherwise were Di Santo Sympathisers too.

Good squad player at best.

Don't forget though, we are just 'a stepping stone' for him.