[Archived] Nikola Kalinic

[waggy]

nicola is one of the most frustrating strikers to watch,unless lard@rse plays 2 up top he will never improve.the swivel in the box was fantastic,the save from gomes even better,but this lad needs support

[Amo]

Way too much totally unfounded faith in Kalinic on this board.

Why? People can see the guy has talent. He's only 22 years-old, playing his second year of top-level football, and tbh he's had a tough time chasing lost causes for most of his Rovers career. I reckon he could do with a strike-partner, but I haven't given up on him as a lone striker. With the right players in support, we'll get the best out of him.

[Exiled in Toronto]

I'm tired of waiting for him to come good - he's no different than to a year ago. Shows the odd good touch e.g. the turn, but when he has the ball at his feet moving forwards, he always seems to make the wrong choices, runs into a blind alley then falls over.

[waggy]

I'm tired of waiting for him to come good - he's no different than to a year ago. Shows the odd good touch e.g. the turn, but when he has the ball at his feet moving forwards, he always seems to make the wrong choices, runs into a blind alley then falls over.

true at blackpool spit had to point at him and tell him to get in the box,when he was running to the wing

[Exiled in Toronto]

true at blackpool spit had to point at him and tell him to get in the box,when he was running to the wing

Early on at Newcastle we had a 2 on 2 and he didn't play the man in, kept running and lost it. Same at Spurs after 5 mins, should've played Junior in, kept running and lost it. Same old story.

It's 10 months since his 'breakthough' game away at Villa in the semi.

[Stuart Ripley]

Criticism of kalinic is based largely on the fact that this season and for much of last he has been our main striker. It is not a good situation for anyone (including him) when a developing striker is the main target man, if we don't buy a lead striker then he will continue to draw criticism and suffer in confidence as a result. I feel for the guy. But was he bought as one for the future or as a our main forward? He will only develop alongside a seasoned pro. Our activity in the transfer market has been nothing short of criminal in this area. He is frustrating, but the problem is not him and more the club's failure to bring anyone up top. Everytime we are linked with an under 25 year old I cringe. SORT IT OUT

[den]

I'm tired of waiting for him to come good - he's no different than to a year ago.

[Al]

If a player is not making it by 22, particularly a striker he is never going to be top class. I fear our 6 million could have been better spent elsewhere, although on whom at the time I'm not sure. Maybe we would have been better with a quality midfielder with the benefit of hindsight.

I have watched Kalinic for two seasons now and I fear that he is still 3rd choice behind Roberts and Benjani.

[Commondore]

I don't think Allardyce can be blamed for the loss at White Heart Lane, but I'm very curious about what he thought he was going to achieve by replacing Kalinic at the break. Niko was having a good game, and neither him nor the team benefited from that substitution. Roberts was always going to come on at some stage, but surely he could have played alongside Kalinic rather than replace him?

I honestly think Niko's height and work rate is deceiving, he would probably do better playing as a secondary striker to a target man rather than being the main focus point for our attack.

[alexanders]

If a player is not making it by 22, particularly a striker he is never going to be top class. I fear our 6 million could have been better spent elsewhere, although on whom at the time I'm not sure. Maybe we would have been better with a quality midfielder with the benefit of hindsight.

I have watched Kalinic for two seasons now and I fear that he is still 3rd choice behind Roberts and Benjani.

two words: Luca Toni.

[sparky12]

3 simple words!!! Four Four Two

[Amo]

Diego Forlan - Not good enough for Old Trafford but went on to become one of the world's best strikers.

I'm not saying Kalinic is in the same league as Forlan, but our fans are turning their back on him too quickly.

[den]

Diego Forlan - Not good enough for Old Trafford but went on to become one of the world's best strikers.

The reason Forlan went to Old Trafford in the first place, was because United knew that he was "one of the worlds top strikers". Anyone who watched him at Man U could see he was a good player, but for whatever reason, he just couldn't score the goals for them. The more he didn't score, the more his confidence dropped. He was a top striker before Man u, and he still is a top striker.

[Exiled_Rover]

The reason Forlan went to Old Trafford in the first place, was because United knew that he was "one of the worlds top strikers". Anyone who watched him at Man U could see he was a good player, but for whatever reason, he just couldn't score the goals for them. The more he didn't score, the more his confidence dropped. He was a top striker before Man u, and he still is a top striker.

Nice revisionist history there, Den.

[den]

Nice revisionist history there, Den.

No, seriously, I always thought Forlan was a good player ER. So did Man Utd, otherwise they wouldn't have paid £7m for him from Independients, almost 9 years ago. Even at OT he had bags of skill, could go past players, great movement, great control. However, he couldn't get the goals and that affected him badly.

Hardly an instance of a youngster not being good enough at 21 though, then improving after that age, is it? Forlan was playing first team football at Independiente at 19 years old and was sold on at 22 for £7m.

[Torgeir]

The reason Forlan went to Old Trafford in the first place, was because United knew that he was "one of the worlds top strikers". Anyone who watched him at Man U could see he was a good player, but for whatever reason, he just couldn't score the goals for them. The more he didn't score, the more his confidence dropped. He was a top striker before Man u, and he still is a top striker.

He was seen as a striker with a lot of potential, but also as a striker known for squandering a lot of chances despite scoring quite a few goals. He ended up continuing to squander but stopped scoring at ManU, until he eventually regained his confidence in Spain. Saying he was "one of the worlds top strikers" is like claiming Chicharito is one too, a bit over the top me thinks.

[den]

He was seen as a striker with a lot of potential, but also as a striker known for squandering a lot of chances despite scoring quite a few goals. He ended up continuing to squander but stopped scoring at ManU, until he eventually regained his confidence in Spain. Saying he was "one of the worlds top strikers" is like claiming Chicharito is one too, a bit over the top me thinks.

Not my choice of phrase Torgeir, that's why I used the quotation marks.

[Torgeir]

Not my choice of phrase Torgeir, that's why I used the quotation marks.

Okay, my mistake then

[67splitscreen]

Not from the same mould as Forlan and certainly not top class in terms of being a worldie but a certain Kevin Davis was ushered out of Ewood as a failure at 22/23 years old after scoring one goal in 23 games.

I think it's fair to say he has been successful for the last 6-7 seasons, with a one in four strike rate.

Personally I do think it's the system that Kalinic is not suited to, plus a lack of nous, he rarely gets the upper hand on central defenders and then we have all the other mitigating circumstances.

[den]

Okay, my mistake then

He's a top player, but world class? - all a matter of opinion.

[Torgeir]

Kalinic deserves an extended run of games playing with a partner up front. Only then can he be properly judged in my opinion. Not saying it is too early to judge him, but we're judging him based on him playing a role he's not cut out for, more times than not alone upfront with little or no support. Let him play a few games along with Roberts and let them work their socks off together, then sub one of them for Hoilett who can take advantage of tiring defenders.

He's a top player, but world class? - all a matter of opinion.

Golden ball should equal world class one would think.

[den]

Not from the same mould as Forlan and certainly not top class in terms of being a worldie but a certain Kevin Davis was ushered out of Ewood as a failure at 22/23 years old after scoring one goal in 23 games.

I think it's fair to say he has been successful for the last 6-7 seasons, with a one in four strike rate.

D'oh, I'm not going to get into all this again - it's all been discussed earlier on this topic. My point has always been that if a young striker doesn't make the grade at a club by the time he's reached 21/22, it's very unlikely that he will make it at that level in the future, because strikers don't improve much after that age. Davis had made the grade at Southampton, he then for whatever reason, lost his way for a long time.

It's all been done to death, but the earlier comment from a poster on here, saying that Niko was no better now than he was when he first came to the club, made me smile. Let's not start again on this because this is a thread about Kalanic, unless someone has seen improvement in his displays?

[67splitscreen]

D'oh, I'm not going to get into all this again - it's all been discussed earlier on this topic. My point has always been that if a young striker doesn't make the grade at a club by the time he's reached 21/22, it's very unlikely that he will make it at that level in the future, because strikers don't improve much after that age. Davis had made the grade at Southampton, he then for whatever reason, lost his way for a long time.

It's all been done to death, but the earlier comment from a poster on here, saying that Niko was no better now than he was when he first came to the club, made me smile. Let's not start again on this because this is a thread about Kalanic, unless someone has seen improvement in his displays?

I wasn't attempting to resurrect the Davis debate, just an example that what works for one player at given club does not necessarily work at the next club, or vice versa.

Drogba was hardly prolific as a 20 year old with La Mans where he stayed until he was 24, 12 in 64 games. His goal tally increased dramatically from there on.

[CrazyIvan]

D'oh, I'm not going to get into all this again - it's all been discussed earlier on this topic. My point has always been that if a young striker doesn't make the grade at a club by the time he's reached 21/22, it's very unlikely that he will make it at that level in the future, because strikers don't improve much after that age. Davis had made the grade at Southampton, he then for whatever reason, lost his way for a long time.

It's all been done to death, but the earlier comment from a poster on here, saying that Niko was no better now than he was when he first came to the club, made me smile. Let's not start again on this because this is a thread about Kalanic, unless someone has seen improvement in his displays?

Ian Wright

Les Ferdinand

Teddy Sheringham

To name just three...

[den]

Drogba was hardly prolific as a 20 year old with La Mans where he stayed until he was 24, 12 in 64 games. His goal tally increased dramatically from there on.

Yep, we've done Drogba before. Drogba was a late developer but because of these circumstances:

"When Drogba finished school he switched cities to study accountancy at college and he had to change clubs, becoming an apprentice at Ligue 2 club Le Mans. However, his first two years there were marred by injuries and he was physically struggling to cope with the training and match schedule.[9] Former Le Mans coach Marc Westerloppe later remarked that "it took Didier four years to be capable of training every day and playing every week". Furthermore, Drogba's complicated family life meant that he had never attended a football academy and only began daily football training as a fully grown adult."

This original discussion was about Paul Gallagher, when I mentioned that at his age [22 I think he was at the time] he wouldn't improve much. Loads of people totally disagreed with that.