yeah he's a beast, probably shouldn't be playing in this league with his talents
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Aleksandar Mitrovic's two goals in Fulham's 4-1 victory over QPR this afternoon takes his tally in the Championship so far this season to 12. That means the Serbian international has scored the same number of goals as Cardiff City's entire squad and three more than tomorrow's opponents Swansea.
Mitrovic's scoring record for Fulham in the Championship is just astonishing. It reads as follows:
2017/18 - 17 apps, 12 goals
2019/20 - 40 apps, 26 goals
2020/21 - 12 apps, 12 goals
Totals - 69 apps, 50 goals
yeah he's a beast, probably shouldn't be playing in this league with his talents
Did you here the short debate of 5 Live about him about midday today? The question was asked why doesn’t he match his Championship form in the Premier League. One suggestion was that he doesn’t work hard enough, tracking back etc, another that Fulham aren’t good enough up there so play a more reserved style, even though it doesn’t work for them. One said it was his work off the ball that hadn't attracted interest from more established Premier League clubs. The Championship forward who they really bigged up was Ben Brereton of Blackburn, born in Stoke but plays for Chile. Scored in a 3-0 win against Venezuela in a World Cup qualifier, his third in 8 appearances. Also got a hat trick against us. They even went as far as he’s the type of forward that Newcastle should be going for in January.
I didn't hear the radio debate, but for whatever reason Mitrovic is almost unplayable at this level and mediocre at best in the Premier League. He's 27 now, so I guess there's still time for him to make a proper mark in the top flight.
Brereton-Diaz is just 22. He has 10 goals in 12 Championship appearances for Blackburn this season and 2 goals in 4 appearances for Chile. He plays alongside Gary Medel and Alexis Sanchez for them and started all three of their World Cup qualifiers in the last week or so.
You do wonder how he'd perform in the German top league as its good but not as competitive club by club as Premier??
I was quoting his games this season (he played a few games for Chile at the end of last season). By comparison, Mitrovic has 2 goals in 4 appearances for Serbia this season. Surprisingly, he failed to find the back of the net against Luxembourg last week. Can City's defence match Luxembourg's on Wednesday evening, I wonder? I have doubts....
Mitrovic is a flat track bully who was missing in action for nearly all of last season and the same will apply even if he scores a hat trick against us on Wednesday.
There was a decent feature on Brereton Diaz a few weeks ago on Football Focus. Must have been around the last international break.
Well worth a watch if it's still on Iplayer
Correct, I first heard it applied to the Zimbabwean born batsman Graham Hick who spent six years playing county cricket for Worcestershire as a qualification period to enable him to play test cricket for England through residency. During that time Hick would often cash in spectacularly when batting against limited county attacks on good wickets. Such was Hick’s success rate, that he was hailed as one of, if not the, best batsmen in the world, something which, of course, only served to up the expectation, and pressure, on him when he made his England debut in 1991.
However, although test cricket tended to be played on better batting wickets than he was used to, the step up in class in terms of the bowling he faced found him out as they exploited holes in his technique and a degree of mental frailty. Hick still had a long test career and there was the occasional fine innings as well, but, as a basic guide, a batting average of 40 over a career lasting years is generally regarded as a sign of good international batsman or batter as I should say these days - Hick played eighty five tests in a nine year career and averaged 31, compared to an average in county cricket of 52.
I’d say Mitrovic is probably better equipped to succeed at the top level than Hick was, but something holds him back - last season, it seemed to me to be a combination of a lack of peak fitness ( he looked overweight to me), a lack of movement and, possibly, a lack of belief in himself, but he’s contributed nowhere near enough in his two seasons playing in the Premier League with Fulham, while I would say he was a bit more effective, but hardly a world beater, when he was there with Newcastle.