Lubala

I believe we paid good money for him but has failed to deliver and for the majority of time looks like he’s not up to the standard required by NC
 
He has not been tried in a front two with Madine yet , so maybe like with Yates, That could be what he needs to come to life ?!
 
He’s got a lot of developing to do. Looked lost thrown into it, which was in retrospect a poor Coach Critch decision. Not writing him off though.
 
Sadly, while others around him have got better, he seems to have got worse. 🙁 You can see the skill is there, but it looks like a motivational problem. I have no idea how to fix him. I'm sure Critch and Calderwood are working on it. We have to hope he'll improve.
 
It's easy to dismiss Beryly as not good enough.

He was a striker at Crawley. He's only ever been played in a left of left wing position. I'd stick him up front tomorrow. Right in the middle. He's got touch, skill and pace. Play him as a centre forward. passes in he can twist, turn and shoot, balls over the top he can run onto.

I hope he gets a chance to be a centre forward before writing him off.
 
Just not got into it yet. From what I've seen of him he's struggled with responsibility of an overcomplicated passing game and taking up a fixed position, not on his own though. I'm guessing he wants more of a free role to drift inside and being told it's OK to shoot, or to try to make an impact off less possession with someone else doing his defending. Like Kaikai has been doing since the recent change with Hamilton starting to find him in the middle off cut backs.

The recent formation change is basically the same as what he was playing on the left of at Crawley.

Can see why they went for him as a punt, same as a few others, but they're not quite Peterborough yet when it comes to snaffling up lads who they know they can throw straight into a fluid attack because they've been watching them for a few years. One of a few things where they've been trying to run before they can walk and had a wake up call.
 
Just not got into it yet. From what I've seen of him he's struggled with responsibility of an overcomplicated passing game and taking up a fixed position, not on his own though. I'm guessing he wants more of a free role to drift inside and being told it's OK to shoot, or to try to make an impact off less possession with someone else doing his defending. Like Kaikai has been doing since the recent change with Hamilton starting to find him in the middle off cut backs.

The recent formation change is basically the same as what he was playing on the left of at Crawley.

Can see why they went for him as a punt, same as a few others, but they're not quite Peterborough yet when it comes to snaffling up lads who they know they can throw straight into a fluid attack because they've been watching them for a few years. One of a few things where they've been trying to run before they can walk and had a wake up call.

And what exactly have Peterborough done? People creaming over Peterborough. They've done nothing but start the season well.

They sold one player to Brentford. Brentford are the benchmark if anything.

And I'd back us long term over Peterborough.
 
And what exactly have Peterborough done? People creaming over Peterborough. They've done nothing but start the season well.

Pretty sure he’s talking about Peterborough’s 10/15-year record of picking up promising players from lower leagues who’ve then developed, been sold on the rinse and repeat ... and he’s right, we’re not there yet ...

... but at least we’re trying and showing something resembling strategy in doing so
 
He scored enough goals per game for Crawley at an early stage of his career, to suggest there's a player who can be developed and can keep progressing. There's clearly more there than to just dismiss him as 'not good enough'. Probably the bigger question is whether he fits into what we want to do. If he doesn't, then you have to wonder why we bought him.
 
I would not write him off but he has not been great , at best a place on the bench . Maybe good coaching can help him develop.
 
He scored enough goals per game for Crawley at an early stage of his career, to suggest there's a player who can be developed and can keep progressing. There's clearly more there than to just dismiss him as 'not good enough'. Probably the bigger question is whether he fits into what we want to do. If he doesn't, then you have to wonder why we bought him.

That's right. Feels like there's been two different directions going on so far, recruitment and playing style. And Lubala is just one who has been caught up in that. Signed a load of players and thrown them into a system that looks above the ability level of who they've brought in, to me. And the coaches. Tried to focus too much too soon on an ideal and now had to be more realistic, and bring in help.

And yes Brentford is an example as Mac says above, but they're way ahead. We'd be signing Lubala off a second season in lge2 where he'd been moved up top off the wing and scored 15-20 if we were at that stage.

I think when they've looked around at recruitment policy they have seen what Peterborough do by being on the look out for emerging talent. JCH signing got the headlines but they used some of the Toney fee on a lad who Ferguson was personally scouting himself at Cheltenham over a year ago. I don't think we've been doing that, not least because of covid. Signings maybe more based on stats or agent contacts to try to get something up and running.
 
Patrick Bamford had a barren spell when at a different club & look at him now. You never know with football. Give him a proper chance.
 
Patrick Bamford had a barren spell when at a different club & look at him now. You never know with football. Give him a proper chance.
That's right. Same with Lundstram, who didn't look much when he was with us. Basham, who many thought wasn't good enough for the Championship. John Fleck, who could barely get a game - could be the start of a long list. Lubala may come good, it's just too early to tell.
 

Big, powerful, with pace, all the attributes you'd want for a central striker.
You only have to watch his penalties to see he doesn't lack confidence.
Only time will tell if he can make it at a higher level,i hope he does
 
On any level it can't be right to be making judgments on players that have only had a handful of games.
This lad wasn't just brought in on a whim.
He was recruited as a young player with pace, basic skills and ability who will hopefully benefit from the coaching here and reach his full potential.
Lets just see how things develop and hope he turns out to be an inspired signing.
 

Big, powerful, with pace, all the attributes you'd want for a central striker.
You only have to watch his penalties to see he doesn't lack confidence.
Only time will tell if he can make it at a higher level,i hope he does
I am not sure we have signed the same bloke ! He looks much taller and physically built on that video !! 😃
 
He's clearly a bit of a rough diamond. You'd like to think with Critchley's background he was well aware of his strengths and weaknesses and is confident he can develop him over the long term. Hard to tell with undisclosed fees but it sounded at the time like he was our highest fee paid.
 
Front three tonight where he was given more freedom to move around and get involved.

Just a shame Critchley had them pricking about overplaying again after half time thinking the coast was clear and it ended up as a fifth red card of the season.
 
Players need time after joining and the problem with our start is it built up pressure and thats not a good environment to come into.

Especially with all new players needing time to gel.

It can take some a while to bed in fully.

If you have an experienced team and you buy one or two and they come into a team thats flying, its much easier to bed them in with confidence.

Anyway, he's looked better tonight, but it was against lesser opposition.

Tbf he looked similar in spells, like to run at people etc but it wasn't working and little end product previously. Still need to improve and shoot more and get that goal.

Let's hope he continues the improvement and gains confidence.
 
Has he been reading my post? That assist was quality and played some excellent forward passes. Really want him to score though.
 
Had to eat my words last night - thought he was terrific - whether he'd get that much time and space again in a League One game I'm not sure. At least we saw his potential and now he has a benchmark to work from.
 
Back
Top