[Archived] Shabani Nonda Signs

[AxesFirstTouch]

He was good beofre he got this niggling injury. Hopefully he comes good again.

Niggling? He nearly snapped his bloody knee off!

[Walls]

Niggling? He nearly snapped his bloody knee off!

I presume he's on about his recent absence from the Rovers team...

[herbergeehh]

He wasn't "good" before his injury either, he was one of the best strikers in Europe at the time. Anyway, I agree with SR, he isn't Bellamy/Henry quick, but he has enough pace to cope as a fairly physical striker.

[gazsimm]

He's a good player and will get better for us i am sure if we give him the service i am sure he will start scoring the goals for us

[Rainmaker]

He's a good player and will get better for us i am sure if we give him the service i am sure he will start scoring the goals for us

Which is a problem due to our midfield not being at the top of their game, to say the least.

MGP - off form

Sav - injured

Reid - injured

Tugs - still a magician, but getting on a bit. If only he'd been 10 years younger, or 5 for that matter

Bentley seems the only midfielder firing on all sylinder s ATM

And in defence

Nelsen - injured

Neill - now injured

Bert MKII - injured

Oojier - nightmare start, will come good i think

[CAPT KAYOS]

Appears to have something about him but still waiting to see what though.

[blue phil]

His all round play has been good - sometimes excellent. The only problem is that he doesn't look like scoring.

That seems to go against his previous record, maybe that horrific looking injury did more harm than we realise.

I've seen enough to discount this bloke ever being a serious force. Not excellent , not good Not even adequate come to that .

[Exiled_Rover]

I've seen enough to discount this bloke ever being a serious force. Not excellent , not good Not even adequate come to that .

I question your judgement of players then.

[Eddie]

I've been impressed and I have to admit that I was sceptical when he signed. I thought of him as a poor man's Drogba and maybe he is (just this years Drogba rather than previous seasons). He has been better here than he has been anywhere else post-injury and I sure that he will improve. He's not going to be amazing, but he's a good player who will score goals.

[blue phil]

I question your judgement of players then.

I'll be the first to eat my words if he bags a couple against Scumchester at the weekend

[Blue blood]

I've been impressed with what I've seen of Nonda so far, although I do think he seems a little off his game after the injury.

Nonda holds the ball up well and brings other player into the game well too. He's physical, good in the air and creates a lot of chances for himself. Many of these chances however seem to be lacking power and conviction, which imo is his biggest weakness.

Overall though he's pretty promising in my book. When you take into account the injury, moving to a new league and settling in, and team lacking many of our top stars, I think what he offers and how he' performed is certainly worth having. He reminds me a bit of Bentley when he arrived in that there's so much promise yet far less end product than their should be. I reckon Hughes and co will shape him into a better player and get more end results from the initial good signs. However, I also reckon this will take a bit of time, but that the end result will be well worth it.

[Perth_Rover]

Niggling? He nearly snapped his bloody knee off!

Yeah, i meant his thigh strain/hamstring injuries he has had in the last few weeks

[blue phil]

Well I'm not eating my words about Nonda's nondescript peformances yet.....

Edited November 12, 2006 by blue phil

[USABlue]

Did not know he was on the pitch yesterday till he was subbed

[G Somerset Rover]

As of now I'd be dissapointed if we signed him in January-as we did with Bentley last year. I know he's adapting, that were not creating him many chances and that he had a huge injury etc but I'm sure that we could get a better premier league striker than him. Paying 2-4 million (or whatever Roma's asking price would be) would be too much of a gamble judging on how he's performed so far.

[Exiled_Rover]

He was alright yesterday, but once again he had no support from midfield. He won a few knock downs, only for a red shirt to gobble up the second ball.

On a negative note, the workrate from the front two is nothing short of abysmal. Defending starts from the front. Perhaps Hughes should have a word with Benni and Nonda.

[AxesFirstTouch]

Put Nonda in a side like Arsenal and he'd be scoring, Rovers simple do not create enough chances this makes our strikers look poor. It goes to show how good Bellamy was compared to his 'performances' for Liverpool.

[den]

Doctor Congo would like a permanent move.

[herbergeehh]

Unless we get Nonda on the cheap (£1m or so) I wouldn't really advocate a move, but as mentioned dozens of times - the biggest problem is the service. He's showed some good movement and strength, but his goalscoring nowadays seems to come from inside the box first and foremost, and against United we had just two or three decent crosses in there.

[G Somerset Rover]

Put Nonda in a side like Arsenal and he'd be scoring, Rovers simple do not create enough chances this makes our strikers look poor. It goes to show how good Bellamy was compared to his 'performances' for Liverpool.

I completely agree about the chances that our team create. But don't Arsenal already own a better version of Nonda in Adebayor?

[92er]

I thought he was excellent when he first arrived-and looked as though he had the ability to be a class striker. Now, he looks as though he has lost his way again. So I'm not currently hopeful that this gamble will come off.

On Saturday, MH seemed very unhappy at times with the movement of the 2 strikers. In my opinion they are not working as a partnership nor are they working for each other and I'm disappointed that either MH has not been working on this in training, or that what they have done has not worked!

[philipl]

I thought in the first half against the Mancs there were a couple of real flashes of menace from Nonda.

It must be beginning to bug him that he has only scored once so far but I think there is enough there to suggest that he is at least capable of a purple patch of performances for Rovers even if long term excellence might be illusory.

Looks like we are going to get him anyway. John Williams in the LET:

"We have an option to buy him. It's a very similar to the deal we agreed with Rangers for Zurab.

"Mark likes him, and if he feels he wants to keep him then the only thing that would stop a deal from happening is Nonda himself."

If it is so similar that the price is around £500K, we've got a bargain!

[USABlue]

To be fair, those of you who have suggested the service to him was poor, you are right.

[b12_simon]

I thought he was excellent when he first arrived-and looked as though he had the ability to be a class striker. Now, he looks as though he has lost his way again.

I think this points to the lack of service (now). Earlier in the season all our strikers looked more dangerous. Now our midfield trouble is starving them of good balls to get onto.

I like Nonda.

Simon

[bluebruce]

Put Nonda in a side like Arsenal and he'd be scoring, Rovers simple do not create enough chances this makes our strikers look poor. It goes to show how good Bellamy was compared to his 'performances' for Liverpool.

I agree we're not really putting enough chances up for the forwards, but this seems like a strange argument about Bellamy. He has better service at Pool, yet scores far less goals than he did at Blackburn, so far.