Originally Posted by Cweedchop Unfortunately, they pay Premiership forwards to score goals. Wow, this is awesome.
Contradict yourself much? If the manager, in the midst of a relegation battle, has enough confidence in your to play 85 minutes against one of the top sides in the world, and subs off a veteran striker with Champions League experience (VoH) instead of you, I'm guessing Jozy's confidence is doing just fine. You can see Jozy learning with each and every game. And he has always been a handful for the World's top defenders. He manhandled Italy during the Confed Cup. He's raw. There's no denying he's raw. But he's capable of moments of brilliance and at the very least wins tons of free kicks. Clearly Phil Brown has no confidence in Jozy. He hasn't scored yet, but Brown still kept him on the field for 85 minutes today. I'm guessing that EPL scouts and coaches are savvy enough to not rely on a stat sheet to pick players. Anyone who doesn't have their head up their ass can clearly see that this kid has mountains of potential, and at the very least forces defenders to pay a lot of attention to him freeing up room for teammates. That's valuable, especially considering Jozy is barely 20 years old. I'm not too worried about him latching on somewhere, with or without a pantload of goals to his credit by years end.
Very true. I still think right now today he is better suited for Spain where there is a bit more time on the ball and his unrefined first touch won't be as much of a liability. Either way, he's doing just fine so far at Hull in my opinion. Even if he only bags a couple of goals by seasons end - and I have no doubt in my mind that he will find the back of the net if he keeps playing like he has the past couple of games - there is going to be plenty of interest in his services come this summer.
the "service" he gets worries me a lot. In games he is not learning a lot except how to chase and fight for the ball. By the time Hull gets in the final 3rd, do they ever actually pass the ball to anyone? Jozy's assist last weekend has to be one of the only deliberate passes I have seen near the goal from Hull. They play some butt-ugly soccer.
Small sample size, but: Hull when Jozy starts: 10 matches, 11 points, 1.10 PPG Hull when Jozy doesn't start: 14 matches, 10 points, 0.71 PPG Hull when Jozy is on the field: 879 minutes, 12 goals, 1.23 G/90 Hull when Jozy is off the field: 1281 minutes, 11 goals, 0.77 G/90
When Jozy wants french fries, he orders chips. I hope. I don't think I'm jumping to conclusions in thinking Jozy has noticed he hasn't scored a goal this season and he may be thinking, "When am I going to score a damn goal and when are my stupid teammates going to find me an opening to score?" True he gets no service and to say he wants to score a damn goal is not to say he lacks confidence, but it must be in the back or the front of his mind. If and when he scores his first goal, believe me there is going to be a huge celebration by his teammates and a huge sigh of relief by Jozy for getting it out of the way, and I will bet an order of fish and chips the announcer will say something like, "I bet he feels good to get that monkey off his back" or something of the sort. Jozy's a professional athlete and he didn't come to Hull for the learning experience, he came to play and score and win. But yes, for a forward who hasn't scored a goal, he's been good.
This data looks pretty strong. Would it be possible to also try and control for the competion somehow? I'm wondering if Jozy's time on the field has skewed towards games vs. stronger or weaker opposition. That could either weaken or strengthen the analysis.
6 of Jozy's 10 starts have been against top-half teams...arguably 7 as Stoke is 12th but 2 points behind Blackburn with 2 matches in hand. 7 of his 14 non-starts have been against top-half teams. He did not start against Burnley or Portsmouth (the two teams below Hull) nor did he start against Wigan (most goals conceded per game).
There's a reason they went out and got Zaki. They're not scoring goals. Now hopefully Brown will put Zaki and Altidore on the pitch at the same time. Zaki had some nice touches today in limited time.
I've spoken with Jozy professionally 4 times. The first time he was 16. Most recently was about a year ago. Every single time I have been blown away by how composed and mature he is. I would bet money that Jozy isn't stressing out over not finding the back of the net yet. This kid has an amazing ability to take everything in and move forward focusing on the positive. Maybe you're his best friend and you have more insight than I do into Jozy's current state of mind. I highly doubt that though. This kid doesn't stress out. I have no doubt that he really really wants to bag a goal. That's just the competitor in him. But I doubt he's losing any sleep over it knowing that he's getting minutes, setting up goals, and seemingly has the trust of his manager to go out there and help his team win.
Ha, I'm not his best friend, and you have as much insight as I do. I'm glad Brown has shown the faith in Altidore that he has. I remember two weeks ago people posting that Adu was done at Hull. I wasn't one of those people.
Well Adu was never at Hull, so those posters were right. As far as Altidore two weeks ago....I believe he was in Haiti helping out. I know he was planning on going, so I assume Phil Brown let him go. Some posters on BigSoccer have no awareness at all of what is actually going on with the players they supposedly follow.
Nonsense. For this game anyway, Altidore showed major improvement in being able to win balls in the air and hold the ball up and dish off to teammates. True, Altidore was on the front end of more passing moves than on the back end but Hull did pass pretty well in this game and Jozy did get the ball both in space and at his feet. I think we will see an improved player for the USMNT in Jne.
Yes, he reminds more of him all the time - for now, but I actually think he could be better. Some guys here have mentioned McBride and Jozy, but I don't think that will ever be the case . McBride could chase down everything and pressure the defense all day long. Jozy either doesn't have that stamina or has developed it yet. I think it's awfully hard for a big guy to move that much mass around the park for 95 minutes, the only guy I know who really did it was Drogba during his Mourinho days. Speaking of his mass - he certainly looks heavier and maybe more bulked than during his red bull days. And maybe it's because he's in the EPL now but... does anyone think that he's lost a little bit of speed, quickness because of it? ...I'm a big guy and even 5 pounds made a huge difference in my quickness. I am also thinking about Zamora and how cut he is, his body fat must be about 5% and he's definitely one of the quickest forwards around yet still big.
I re-watched the match. What really impressed me about Jozy is how he got better as the game went along, especially in his 1v1 battles with Terry. In the first half, Terry had him completely under control, as you would expect from a defender of Terry's stature. Then in the second, you could see Jozy adjust and start to get the better of Terry, and eventually draw the yellow card.
Didn't get to see the match...How was his off-ball movement? Was he camping out in one spot and waiting for the ball or was he making intelligent runs? I saw too much of the former in the last game of his I watched but that was awhile ago.
Even though you've been taking some heat for this, I think you're right. Athough he may handle it in the most positive possible way, and although he is improving Hull as a team, and even if Brown is telling him persuasively that what he's doing right now is a great contribution (because it is, and he's obviously making the team better), in some way he's both putting pressure on himself and the longer this goes on the more he'll feel it. He would have to be a really deluded complete idiot or a completely enlightened buddha to avoid that. From just his interviews and tweets, the latter would be more likely.
Clearly he wants to score, yeah, and I'm sure he'll be very happy when he breaks his duck (anybody know the origins of that phrase?). But you know when you're playing well...and I'm sure he knew going in that service was not gonna be great. He looked to me like a player whose only thought was 'let's get on with it...' not gesturing at teammates for poor service, not hanging his head when he lost the ball or didn't get to a pass. Now Jason Scotland, against Everton the other day, he had some missed opporunities and looked like he could cry...
Those were bad, to not even force a save on those two. I've been watching some bad streams, has Jozy missed any chances like those two that Scotland had? I haven't seen it.
I thought first half was just okay and he had a much better second half. One thing that is clear is he likes the ball at his feet and is quite effective when running at players. However, it is equally clear that Brown wants both his strikers parked in the box. In one sequence the ball was out wide and I kept thinking a forward would check in to get a ball to feet. As the camera panned towards the box, there was Jozy and VGoH parked in the box. It was pretty clear those are the tactics they are using. I look at it this way. He is learning a few new techniques and how to battle for those balls. That certainly can't hurt him at his age and was definitely a part of his game he needs to develop.
Drogba didn't even have a pro contract till he was 21. And that contract was written in French. I think Jozy's doing just fine.