Paul Onuachu

[SuperSAINT]

2 minutes ago, Tommy said:

Can we not chant for this fraud to get minutes. He's so far away from the quality needed in the premier league its not even laughable yet we have fans that see him like the next Drogba. 

You shouldn’t talk badly about the next Drogba.

[HKsaint]

1 hour ago, Tommy said:

Can we not chant for this fraud to get minutes. He's so far away from the quality needed in the premier league its not even laughable yet we have fans that see him like the next Drogba. 

Well you are right. He didn’t play well today 

[OttawaSaint]

He'll never score for Saints.

There...I said it. 😆 

[Toussaint]

6 hours ago, OttawaSaint said:

He'll never score for Saints.

There...I said it. 😆 

I think that depends on how much game time he is given. I’m of the view that if he was to start some matches, and we were to play to his strengths, he’d definitely score goals. He’d also create chances for others.

There … I’ve said that!

[Saint_clark]

1 hour ago, Toussaint said:

I think that depends on how much game time he is given. I’m of the view that if he was to start some matches, and we were to play to his strengths, he’d definitely score goals. He’d also create chances for others.

There … I’ve said that!

It's like the people who dismiss Chris Wood. Now 2nd top scorer with 8 goals already.

[Give it to Ron]

10 hours ago, Tommy said:

Can we not chant for this fraud to get minutes. He's so far away from the quality needed in the premier league its not even laughable yet we have fans that see him like the next Drogba. 

Absolute rubbish people want to see him on because we have no outlet or focal point. I have not seen or heard one person say he is the next Drogba.

Just because some think he can do a job in last 20 minutes of games doesn’t make a player who has scored all over Europe a fraud.

Our squad is far away from Prem league standard.

[Lighthouse]

46 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

It's like the people who dismiss Chris Wood. Now 2nd top scorer with 8 goals already.

Chris Wood has consistently been a 10-12 goal a season PL player throughout his career. Paul Onuachu has never scored in England.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

The question is, why has no other Premier League club come in and picked him up if there's this untapped potential waiting to be unleashed? The fact is that every other top fight club in Europe's major leagues has come to the same conclusion as us

Edited 4 November, 2024 by Ex Lion Tamer

[skintsaint]

11 hours ago, Tommy said:

He's so far away from the quality needed in the premier league its not even laughable

....could be said for a lot of the squad tbh.

[Miltonaggro]

At the game with my nipper on Saturday and he made the sage comment 'Onuachu would win more headers if he didn't jump!' - this is true, he has the timing of a Morris Marina and the aerial threat of Warwick Davis in a sleeping bag.  If Tranzonspor come calling after Christmas we must send this Turkey to Turkey, even at a loss.  

[Toussaint]

1 hour ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

The question is, why has no other Premier League club come in and picked him up if there's this untapped potential waiting to be unleashed? The fact is that every other top fight club in Europe's major leagues has come to the same conclusion as us

I think the answer to that question is he’s had so little meaningful game time they wouldn’t really be aware of him. Anyone who went to Arsenal would have witnessed his s potential, he looked good against top class opposition.

[LeBizzier69]

2 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

Chris Wood has consistently been a 10-12 goal a season PL player throughout his career. Paul Onuachu has never scored in England.

By the look of it, he's played 460 odd premier league minutes - impossible to compare the two given that TP has played the equivalent of 5 games in the PL. 

[Saint_clark]

1 hour ago, LeBizzier69 said:

By the look of it, he's played 460 odd premier league minutes - impossible to compare the two given that TP has played the equivalent of 5 games in the PL. 

Yep. When Onuachu has played nearly 200 premier league games then we can compare.

[Turkish]

2 hours ago, Miltonaggro said:

At the game with my nipper on Saturday and he made the sage comment 'Onuachu would win more headers if he didn't jump!' - this is true, he has the timing of a Morris Marina and the aerial threat of Warwick Davis in a sleeping bag.  If Tranzonspor come calling after Christmas we must send this Turkey to Turkey, even at a loss.  

if anyone can get him performing is Russ. 

[sandwichsaint]

3 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Yep. When Onuachu has played nearly 200 premier league games then we can compare.

That won't be with us then, unless he's going to be playing into his seventies.

[OldNick]

3 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

Chris Wood has consistently been a 10-12 goal a season PL player throughout his career. Paul Onuachu has never scored in England.

Perhaps if the numbskull who puts him on for 5 minutes would allow the odd cross into the box we may see a better return. Wood would not score for us as by the time the ball comes in it doesn't make the centre of the box and is cleared as it is against RM principles to hang crosses in the the 2 dwarfs we have up front. 

Im still an advocate of AA and CA on each side with TP in the middle. The 2 on the wings can still help with midfield duties while TP occupies their defenders. If we try a high ball down the middle either of our current forwards cant compete, it is unfair to expect them to. I still go back to when he came on against Leicester, their defenders who were running around smoking cigars were all of a sudden in a right mess as he was strong and able to hold the ball up.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

7 hours ago, Toussaint said:

I think that depends on how much game time he is given. I’m of the view that if he was to start some matches, and we were to play to his strengths, he’d definitely score goals. He’d also create chances for others.

There … I’ve said that!

We don't look as though we're ever going to play to his strengths. There is only Plan A. The whole system isn't set up for his strengths. He doesn't look likely to be able to play into many of the system's strengths (not going to do some of the jobs Adams did). It doesn't look as though the team have had a single session on the scenarios where we need a goal and he comes on to get it.

4 hours ago, Miltonaggro said:

At the game with my nipper on Saturday and he made the sage comment 'Onuachu would win more headers if he didn't jump!' - this is true, he has the timing of a Morris Marina and the aerial threat of Warwick Davis in a sleeping bag.  If Tranzonspor come calling after Christmas we must send this Turkey to Turkey, even at a loss.  

I'm not going to be able not to think of Warwick Davis in a sleeping bag, when TP comes on. 🙂

[Whitey Grandad]

14 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

We don't look as though we're ever going to play to his strengths. There is only Plan A. The whole system isn't set up for his strengths. He doesn't look likely to be able to play into many of the system's strengths (not going to do some of the jobs Adams did). It doesn't look as though the team have had a single session on the scenarios where we need a goal and he comes on to get it.

I'm not going to be able not to think of Warwick Davis in a sleeping bag, when TP comes on. 🙂

I’m sure there’s a player in there somewhere. Maybe two.

[saintwbu]

2 hours ago, OldNick said:

Perhaps if the numbskull who puts him on for 5 minutes would allow the odd cross into the box we may see a better return. Wood would not score for us as by the time the ball comes in it doesn't make the centre of the box and is cleared as it is against RM principles to hang crosses in the the 2 dwarfs we have up front. 

Im still an advocate of AA and CA on each side with TP in the middle. The 2 on the wings can still help with midfield duties while TP occupies their defenders. If we try a high ball down the middle either of our current forwards cant compete, it is unfair to expect them to. I still go back to when he came on against Leicester, their defenders who were running around smoking cigars were all of a sudden in a right mess as he was strong and able to hold the ball up.

Does Martin demand our players regularly blast crosses into the first defender or float it into the keeper’s arms? 

A game that sticks in the mind was Brentford at home under Selles - I reckon we could still be there now and we wouldn’t have put in a remotely decent cross. We’ve not added a good crosser of the ball since really. Ironically the only two players i’ve seen put in a good cross on a half regular basis is probably Manning and Fraser, who get absolutely slaughtered on here. Our crossing of the ball is utterly woeful. 

Edited 4 November, 2024 by saintwbu

[Holmes_and_Watson]

16 minutes ago, saintwbu said:

Does Martin demand our players regularly blast crosses into the first defender or float it into the keeper’s arms? 

A game that sticks in the mind was Brentford at home under Selles - I reckon we could still be there now and we wouldn’t have put in a remotely decent cross. We’ve not added a good crosser of the ball since really. Ironically the only two players i’ve seen put in a good cross on a half regular basis is probably Manning and Fraser, who get absolutely slaughtered on here. Our crossing of the ball is utterly woeful. 

Not crosses as such, but Bree was bought, in part, for his ability to play the ball from deep, to release players like TP. Very different from Martin's set up.

THB seems more likely to do well from corners, these days. Maybe there's some improvement?

 

[saintwbu]

19 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

Not crosses as such, but Bree was bought, in part, for his ability to play the ball from deep, to release players like TP. Very different from Martin's set up.

THB seems more likely to do well from corners, these days. Maybe there's some improvement?

 

Two of the ones I can recall THB doing well with from corners were delivered by Manning - against Everton and hitting the bar vs Leicester. Think Fernandes took the Stoke one? That of course was also good. 

[beatlesaint]

7 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

Chris Wood has consistently been a 10-12 goal a season PL player throughout his career. Paul Onuachu has never scored in England.

He has started 4 games for Southampton since he arrived, he has made 11 sub appearances, I suspect the minutes played in those barely add up to a full game. He has hit the woodwork what? 3 times? He has fed off scraps as nobody has seemingly worked out a ball at height into the box for a guy at 6ft 7 might be a good idea. His chances to score have been somewhat limited. We aren’t talking Che Adams here where he’s getting five chances a game to score 1 goal. 
 

I would love to see him get a start, partner Archer up front and have him as an outlet when we are under pressure but I doubt it will happen as it doesn’t fit Russball. 
 

Chris Wood would struggle to score playing RM’s style.

Edited 4 November, 2024 by beatlesaint

[Lighthouse]

27 minutes ago, beatlesaint said:

He has started 4 games for Southampton since he arrived, he has made 11 sub appearances, I suspect the minutes played in those barely add up to a full game. He has hit the woodwork what? 3 times? He has fed off scraps as nobody has seemingly worked out a ball at height into the box for a guy at 6ft 7 might be a good idea. His chances to score have been somewhat limited. We aren’t talking Che Adams here where he’s getting five chances a game to score 1 goal. 
 

I would love to see him get a start, partner Archer up front and have him as an outlet when we are under pressure but I doubt it will happen as it doesn’t fit Russball. 
 

Chris Wood would struggle to score playing RM’s style.

He did nothing under the man who actually wanted him when he signed, has been unable to displace some pretty mediocre strikers under Selles and Martin and apparently nobody is particularly interested in signing him. He’s done nothing under any manager to make me think he’s actually good.

[OldNick]

4 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

He did nothing under the man who actually wanted him when he signed, has been unable to displace some pretty mediocre strikers under Selles and Martin and apparently nobody is particularly interested in signing him. He’s done nothing under any manager to make me think he’s actually good.

Ron Davies wouldn't be picked by RM as Paine would not be allowed to cross a high ball, the same with RIckie. Tall Paul needs to be fed and then we can see if he can cut it.

Its infuriating to have an asset (not just high ballsas he can hold the ball up) and not using it.

[Midfield_General]

I heard an interesting thing earlier about how the evidence that heading the ball can cause dementia means that heading practice in training has been cut right back all the way up to Premier League level, with the knock-on effect that less practice basically means the classic defensive header is becoming more of a lost art.

Some smart managers have picked up on this, and are capitalising on it by putting more crosses into the box, hence big, old-fashioned, physical forwards like Wood, who thrive on crosses, doing better than expected. 

No idea if the stats back it up, but it's an interesting possibility to consider when you're short of goals and have got a 6 foot 8 striker to call on. 

Maybe lumping it in to the big man will become the hip new data-driven trend, then Russ can get on board with it. 

Edited 4 November, 2024 by Midfield_General

[Saint Billy]

12 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

Chris Wood has consistently been a 10-12 goal a season PL player throughout his career. Paul Onuachu has never scored in England.

Perhaps he would if he got the service Chris Woods gets.

[Lighthouse]

25 minutes ago, Saint Billy said:

Perhaps he would if he got the service Chris Woods gets.

Maybe. Then again you could say that about Rasiak and any number of other target man strikers. All we know for certain is that he’s thirty and apart from us, nobody outside of the Belgian and Danish leagues has ever bothered to sign him.

[egg]

5 hours ago, beatlesaint said:

He has started 4 games for Southampton since he arrived, he has made 11 sub appearances, I suspect the minutes played in those barely add up to a full game. He has hit the woodwork what? 3 times? He has fed off scraps as nobody has seemingly worked out a ball at height into the box for a guy at 6ft 7 might be a good idea. His chances to score have been somewhat limited. We aren’t talking Che Adams here where he’s getting five chances a game to score 1 goal. 
 

I would love to see him get a start, partner Archer up front and have him as an outlet when we are under pressure but I doubt it will happen as it doesn’t fit Russball. 
 

Chris Wood would struggle to score playing RM’s style.

447 PL minutes, but yep, only 4 starts. I don't think he's ever been played to his strengths in any of that time. 

Like you, I'd like to see him playing up top with Archer. Feed him crosses and I think he'll do ok. 

Edited 4 November, 2024 by egg

[Dark Munster]

5 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

He did nothing under the man who actually wanted him when he signed, has been unable to displace some pretty mediocre strikers under Selles and Martin and apparently nobody is particularly interested in signing him. He’s done nothing under any manager to make me think he’s actually good.

You mean the manager who was sacked 11 days after we signed him?

Edited 4 November, 2024 by Dark Munster

[suewhistle]

I was reading some BTL comments in a newspaper about Chris Wood and how at Forest they are playing him in a way that feeds his strengths, which perhaps never happened at Newcastle. Although I don't think TP is very good he certainly hasn't been helped by our tactics. Was it at Man City where he was at the back of the box, unmarked, waving for the ball in the sort of position that the keeper couldn't have come for it. Needless to say we recycled the ball..

There was a decent fast cross from AA on Saturday, which somebody just missed, but apart from Manning occasionally we don't really have anybody to put in the early curved cross that he would need if he were on the pitch.

 

[coalman]

10 hours ago, suewhistle said:

I was reading some BTL comments in a newspaper about Chris Wood and how at Forest they are playing him in a way that feeds his strengths, which perhaps never happened at Newcastle. Although I don't think TP is very good he certainly hasn't been helped by our tactics. Was it at Man City where he was at the back of the box, unmarked, waving for the ball in the sort of position that the keeper couldn't have come for it. Needless to say we recycled the ball..

There was a decent fast cross from AA on Saturday, which somebody just missed, but apart from Manning occasionally we don't really have anybody to put in the early curved cross that he would need if he were on the pitch.

 

Though the idea of playing Manning as a winger is somewhat horrifying. Admittedly less horrifying that asking him to mark a pacy winger.

[danjosaint]

12 minutes ago, coalman said:

Though the idea of playing Manning as a winger is somewhat horrifying. Admittedly less horrifying that asking him to mark a pacy winger.

Does make u wonder if we ever thought about Reiss Nelson on loan instead of Fraser and Cornet as a winger rather than trying Manning would've been huge upgrade 

[disconnect]

Sugawara's fairly good at crossing isnt he? Or at least getting to the edge of the box and getting a ball in. Noting he has decreased doing this since he's been trained into our ways...

[Lord Duckhunter]

16 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

He did nothing under the man who actually wanted him when he signed,

Dear god, 😂😂😂 

 

He played second half against Brentford when we were already 2 down and 74 mins against wolves (when he went off it was 1-1). 

[Lighthouse]

11 hours ago, Dark Munster said:

You mean the manager who was sacked 11 days after we signed him?

TBH I wasn’t even going to mention that bit, I’m just trying to make the point; he’s thirty years old and has done nothing, anywhere, under any manager outside of Denmark (Elyounoussi is awesome), Belgium (Steve De Ridder is awesome) and a brief loan in Turkey (Cenk Tosun is awesome).

Nobody - not one of the 19 other PL managers who play fast paced, direct, attacking, goal scoring, get it forward football - seems to be interested in signing him either.

[Rebel]

I think its probably best for everyone involved if we sell him to Trabzonspor in the January transfer window.

[david in sweden]

1 hour ago, Rebel said:

I think its probably best for everyone involved if we sell him to Trabzonspor in the January transfer window.

to be fair, his first outings with us were nothing to write home about, but the rest of that season's team weren't very special either.

His record in Belgium (not a bad league) was impressive to say the least, and although Turkey may not be above Championship level

they found a way to get him scoring goals.   So what are we doing wrong? 

The man is around 6'8" and he can be first to head the ball whilst most defenders are jumping to try and get there. 

I recall that many people laughed at Peter Crouch (at first ...way back then), but the enormous strides he took defied the

fact that he only looked slow until he got going, quickly outpaced defenders and did score some important goals.

 

There is no way we will recover the £18 mill.  for Onuachu.   (The Turks are flat broke and can't afford more than  £ 7 mill.)

ANSWER : there are around 10 games before the New Year, so give the man some decent game time and see what he is capable of. 

Let him be the " first striker change" and see what happens.    In our present position  we have nothing more to lose.

IF ..he doesn't score goals, then maybe he is better off somewhere else, but what an asset he could become if we can find a way

to give him some support and integrate him into the side.  Moving onto another club maybe the easy option, but if he does move

and continues scoring with them .......I fear we are doing something radically wrong by missing the opportunity to find out.  

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

On 04/11/2024 at 16:38, OldNick said:

Ron Davies wouldn't be picked by RM as Paine would not be allowed to cross a high ball, the same with RIckie. Tall Paul needs to be fed and then we can see if he can cut it.

Its infuriating to have an asset (not just high ballsas he can hold the ball up) and not using it.

The Man City game typified our approach to Tall Paul. Minutes to go, he's just come on and we win a free kick 20 yards outside their penalty area. Do we (a) Lump it in to TP to see if he can get on the end of it because that's why he's been brought on, or (b) Pass sideways and eventually back to our goalkeeper? Of course, we chose Option B!

Play him with Archer because playing Archer with Adam A is playing two players with similar styles (except Archer is miles better). 

[Football Special]

22 hours ago, Rebel said:

I think its probably best for everyone involved if we sell him to Trabzonspor in the January transfer window.

Still think that's likely, might depend on whether we have the Loch Ness Drogba back to fitness by then 

Tall Paul is becoming a cult hero though, gets a great reception from the fans when warming up along the touchline 

[OldNick]

On 05/11/2024 at 11:47, david in sweden said:

to be fair, his first outings with us were nothing to write home about, but the rest of that season's team weren't very special either.

His record in Belgium (not a bad league) was impressive to say the least, and although Turkey may not be above Championship level

they found a way to get him scoring goals.   So what are we doing wrong? 

The man is around 6'8" and he can be first to head the ball whilst most defenders are jumping to try and get there. 

I recall that many people laughed at Peter Crouch (at first ...way back then), but the enormous strides he took defied the

fact that he only looked slow until he got going, quickly outpaced defenders and did score some important goals.

 

There is no way we will recover the £18 mill.  for Onuachu.   (The Turks are flat broke and can't afford more than  £ 7 mill.)

ANSWER : there are around 10 games before the New Year, so give the man some decent game time and see what he is capable of. 

Let him be the " first striker change" and see what happens.    In our present position  we have nothing more to lose.

IF ..he doesn't score goals, then maybe he is better off somewhere else, but what an asset he could become if we can find a way

to give him some support and integrate him into the side.  Moving onto another club maybe the easy option, but if he does move

and continues scoring with them .......I fear we are doing something radically wrong by missing the opportunity to find out.  

Unfortunately vanity will stop this happening. Not only in attacking situations is his height helpful, defending corners and free kicks his height will also be a help.

It is infuriating that RM seems determined not to give it a go. I understand his principles and thats all well and good but he is leaving about £50-60 million on the bench or sitting at home on 3 players that he hasnt really given a proper chance. Perhaps if they by mistake put Stephens on the back of their shirts he may play them ( i hasten to add that Im not anti Jack, just using him as an example)

Edited 6 November, 2024 by OldNick

[6ft8saint]

I see those idiotic Turkish journos are creating more fake news stories about TP. 

As for not scoring. If we played like forest more and kick the ball up the pitch. I think he could be be our own chris woods

 

He score 17 last season. And 23 for genk

[Turkish]

4 hours ago, 6ft8saint said:

I see those idiotic Turkish journos are creating more fake news stories about TP. 

As for not scoring. If we played like forest more and kick the ball up the pitch. I think he could be be our own chris woods

 

He score 17 last season. And 23 for genk

Hi Paul 👋🏼👋🏼👋🏼👋🏼

[saintant]

This needs a bump. Shame on Martin for ignoring this guy and giving him no chance until today. RM is probably relieved TP got injured but he's left himself with egg all over his manicured beard.

Edited 24 November, 2024 by saintant

[Harry_SFC]

Just now, saintant said:

This needs a bump. Shame on Martin for ignoring this guy and giving him no chance until today. RM is probably relieved TP got injured but he'd left himself with egg all over his manicured beard.

Agreed. 12 games too late and now the season is over already.

[petermcpete]

Has anyone said it after today's performance.....good feet for a big man!

[saintant]

1 minute ago, petermcpete said:

Has anyone said it after today's performance.....good feet for a big man!

Who knew - clearly not Russell the Bouffant.

[HarvSFC]

We've really misused him. He's good, would cause a lot of issues for teams worse than Liverpool. Shame he's now injured.

[saintant]

I imagine he felt great out there today showing what he can do and sticking two fingers up to Russball - bet he felt six feet tall......oh, hold on.

[Dellyears]

3 minutes ago, HarvSFC said:

We've really misused him. He's good, would cause a lot of issues for teams worse than Liverpool. Shame he's now injured.

Is the other guy we signed from Sunderland fit yet, only seen him for half an hour, never learnt his name. He could replace Tall Paul

[Harry_SFC]

6 minutes ago, HarvSFC said:

We've really misused him. He's good, would cause a lot of issues for teams worse than Liverpool. Shame he's now injured.

Apparently it was just cramp. Understandable given how little he's played.