Replacing Itten with Sakala

He’s more of a wide forward from what I’ve seen so far, so playing him through the middle and launching aimless long balls was never going to work.
 
Our game is based on short passing, making space, pressing teams into their own penalty box and getting the ball wide. Sakala looks the sort of player who wants the ball played over the top so he can use his pace behind defenders. No comparison but Leicester’s style suits Vardy. Sakala‘s style does not suit ours.
 
The Kamberi comparison is simply wrong, but on the limited time I have seen Sakala, I have been less than impressed.
 
We need a cheap version of Defoe. One of those players like John Robertson from Hearts, Novo, Rod Wallace. Where the argument was they aren’t good enough and the counter argument was but look at the goals they score. Only Defoe in the current squad makes it look easy to be in the right place at the right time.
 
Maybe the type of football we play is part of the problem. Itten? Sakala??
It's a fecking giraffe we need up front if our game plan is to get it wide and then throw it high into the box 9 times out of 10.
 
He’s not looked up to much so far, but I’m happy to give him more time. He’s come with a good pedigree, and I’m not ready yet to completely dismiss that.

I think we need to be utilising Defoe more for these last 10-15 minutes. We know we’ll get goals from him to help finish games off.
 
derek28 said:
Sakala is like for like, who for Morelos, Roofe or Hagi out our front 3, even Kent or Wright? He is noting like any of them.
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I meant more from a tactical point of view.... We don't change how we play when we bring him on, we try and utilise his pace in behind the same as we do with Wright, Kent etc and we tactically remain the same but with itten we definitely had a change of approach when he came on, we used him as a target man at times when needing a goal and his hold up play was excellent when it had to be.
 
mck1872 said:
How anyone can judge Sakala and come to this conclusion based on what we have seen is utterly mental, would like to see what your thoughts on Lundstram were after a few games.
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We moan at the Scottish press for telling us our signings are shit then we do it ourselves when they have barely had a chance to get up to speed.
 
Jamie said:
Sakala needs so much work on his game that it’s frightening to think that if we are chasing a goal he is our only striking option off the bench. I wasn’t Itten’s biggest fan but he scored us a few big goals last season that helped clinch 55, seems mental we replaced Itten with Sakala. Florian Kamberi is a better player that Sakala.
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You were doing well until the last line
 
I hope the boy comes good for us, I really do , but from what I’ve seen it looks as though he plays the game with his left boot on his right foot and his right boot on his left foot
 
how many minutes has he had so far, 2 starts I think it is And when he comes on its to put a shift in which he does.

yes he is very raw and misses chances, he will need time to adapt to us and us to him.
 
Sakala gives us something different.
If Morelos is through one on one, you can say with some certainty he’ll always get caught.
Sakala can actually overtake defenders.
Granted Sakala is not the finished article, but neither is Morelos. Alas we can’t afford the complete striker. They tend to play for the oil clubs.
 
Pretty much every signing Gerrard has made other than McGregor and Helander have taken a while to get up to speed. Give him time, he’s raw. If Gerrard didn’t rate him he wouldn’t be getting minutes. He’s getting consistent game time which is a good sign.

Don’t think Itten should be out on loan mind you.
 
Our options for Centre forward are Alfredo, Roofe, Sakala and Defoe. If Alfredo was out for a long period of time it would be Roofe starting the majority of matches as the central striker. Sakala is more likely to start matches as the right or left sided no.10. He's an upgrade on both Jones and Stewart who were no longer part of the managers plans.

Clearly he wasn't brought in as a direct replacement for Itten. I doubt they knew Itten would be leaving when Sakala signed the pre contract. There was likely interest in him over the summer and he was keen to go out on loan to get more game time after losing his international place.
 
I have to say so far I’m really not impressed. You can argue he’s not had much game time but usually you can tell if a player has something about them over a short period of time…..I’m really not convinced but would hope to be proved wrong.
 
FhillBear said:
I get a bit frustrated when people hit out with the chat about how young and raw he is. He's 25 in March.

Perhaps I'm a fuckwit when it comes to football but I'd expect a player's game to be relatively well advanced by this stage, and in any event I cant see how he is going to get the game time required to see him improve.

We are quite obviously utterly pratted so I guess this is the market we operate in now - some will work, and others wont. Too early to say with Sakala but I cant see him getting the minutes he needs unless there is an injury or extended period out which would force the manager's hand.

Early days but based on what I've seen he just looks totally lost.

Kamberi is utter dugshite though.
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With all due respect to the place, he was still playing football in Zambia aged 20.

Its clear he hasn't had a proper football teaching in his teenage years.

Ross Wilson did loads of business from Belgium in his previous roles, clearly somebody he thinks can be worked on and made into somebody useful.
 
Bigbluebear said:
With all due respect to the place, he was still playing football in Zambia aged 20.

Its clear he hasn't had a proper football teaching in his teenage years.

Ross Wilson did loads of business from Belgium in his previous roles, clearly somebody he thinks can be worked on and made into somebody useful.
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This is the kind of market we are and should be working in. Improving players! Doesn’t always work out but Fashions raw attributes seen him alright in Belgium. The next step for him is adapting to the game here, then we will have a good player on our hands.
 
Talktalk said:
You were doing well until the last line
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Haha I stand by my comment that Kamberi would be a better option than Sakala right now but maybe he just needs time to settle but I see a player with very poor technique and awareness, hopefully he proves me wrong. All I really meant was we spent roughly 2.5m on Itten who wasn’t great and I don’t think there’s much if any between Itten and Kamberi. I think we need better than all of the 3 players mentioned and I think our recruitment in that 3rd striker position has been very poor since Gerrard came in.
 
Kamberi was and is, dugshit at fitba.

Willing to give Sakala time. His finishing hasn’t looked great though.
 
Jamie said:
Haha I stand by my comment that Kamberi would be a better option than Sakala right now but maybe he just needs time to settle but I see a player with very poor technique and awareness, hopefully he proves me wrong. All I really meant was we spent roughly 2.5m on Itten who wasn’t great and I don’t think there’s much if any between Itten and Kamberi. I think we need better than all of the 3 players mentioned and I think our recruitment in that 3rd striker position has been very poor since Gerrard came in.
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Defoe and Roofe were both very good signings. The problem Itten had was he could only really play the central role which meant his game time would be limited while Alfredo is here. It's better if your back up striker can play other roles too, like Roofe is able to do.
 
Sakala fits the SG player mould though. Whilst he has some way to go in front of goal, his close control is vastly improved.

I get the OP's point about Itten / Kamberi - but perhaps the issue with them is that they don't show the ability (or hunger) to go beyond the level they've reached. I think Pat Reilly - the US basketball coach once said (apologies if not word for word) 'in sport if you're not going forward, you're going backward'.

In that regard, Itten and Kamberi would be considered a diminishing asset best ditched. Sakala on the other hand suits our business model whether impatient fans like it or not.
 
DylanGer said:
Not really comparing apples with apples -Itten was bought at a reasonable fee and wanted away or rather game time. In reality Itten wouldn't have got much game time this season either.

Whilst you can make an argument that we can write players off too soon quite often there's specific detail involved for example Barasic struggling looked like more of a confidence issue rather than a technical issue.
Sakala simply doesn't look like a forward, he has pace but he really does look awkward as a player-that's a different type of criticism and I can't think of too many players who looked awkward and then made it with us...
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Sakala has a lot of Umar Sadiq about him, that attempt at a header today was straight out of the big man's Rangers textbook. If what I read on here is true though, the big man has gone on to dumfound us all and become a Player. For that reason alone I will give Fashion a bit more time.
 
ScottyRFC1872 said:
He should have scored that header today.
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He would have had he not got a slight shove by the St Mirren defender it puts him off. Thought he done fine when he came on he's not a striker that's for sure he looks more like someone who could play the wide 10 role but it's early days for him.
 
BoyciesDa said:
Shankland financial package would have been peanuts compared to Sakala and Itten.
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Yeah I mean he's ripping it up in Belgium looks a massive mistake that we didn't sign him. He's nowhere near good enough and doesn't even fit into how we want to play. If we ever end up back in the championship then he might come in handy as that is his level.
 
Itten has 1 goal all season. Isn’t exactly a regular in the Fürth team and was completely anonymous at the weekend.

Not the answer either and exactly why he was shipped out on loan with an option to buy.
 
Being brutally honest, i’ve seen nothing but some pace. Pretty poor first touch, for someone quick i would’ve expected a novo like work rate when closing down but I’ve yet to see that.

He’s not had a massive amount of time to show what he can do, that being said i don’t understand the clamour for him to start from a lot of folk either
 
Jamie said:
Sakala needs so much work on his game that it’s frightening to think that if we are chasing a goal he is our only striking option off the bench. I wasn’t Itten’s biggest fan but he scored us a few big goals last season that helped clinch 55, seems mental we replaced Itten with Sakala. Florian Kamberi is a better player that Sakala.
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What is it with people like you?
Firstly, whatever level Sakala is, give him a chance to develop.
Remember, we all knew, well it would seem not all, Sakala wasn’t the finished article.
He was bought to develop and be part of our “model”.
As for any comparison with Itten or even Kamberi, I’d suggest Sakala is much more likely to develop into a first pick than either the other two whose main point of difference was strength and power.
Qualities that most defenders cannot match quite easily, more so
 
If we'd get our game played more directly from the back his best qualities would be in much better use. If there's 11 players waiting with defensive line lying deep into their own third I think there's not much he can do.
 
tazzabear said:
What is it with people like you?
Firstly, whatever level Sakala is, give him a chance to develop.
Remember, we all knew, well it would seem not all, Sakala wasn’t the finished article.
He was bought to develop and be part of our “model”.
As for any comparison with Itten or even Kamberi, I’d suggest Sakala is much more likely to develop into a first pick than either the other two whose main point of difference was strength and power.
Qualities that most defenders cannot match quite easily, more so
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Hahaha relax. All I’m saying is in such an important season having him as the 3rd striker and someone we could be looking to come off the bench and change a game for us is worrying. I hope he does develop into a first pick. I would say we 100% need a better quality of striker to come off the bench from January onwards.
 
He has been brought on quite early in games for Morelos a few times already this season when the game was still hanging in the balance at the time. A minor thing but that shows you the management team must think he has something to offer, as there's not many games last season Itten got flung on for Alfie when the game was still in the balance.

He hasn't shown a lot so far though, granted albeit I thought he done ok in the European game he started.

The fact he hasn't had a couple of more starts at least in Kent's absence is worrying because Kent is going to walk back into the team when he's ready and Roofe and Morelos will pretty much start most games as well. It's hard to see where the time comes that he gets the run of games he really needs?
 
mck1872 said:
How anyone can judge Sakala and come to this conclusion based on what we have seen is utterly mental, would like to see what your thoughts on Lundstram were after a few games.
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I am still not sure about Lundstram. I find him slow and slows down the play too much. He had a few good games but has also cost us a few expensive goals
 
bkerr72 said:
He would have had he not got a slight shove by the St Mirren defender it puts him off. Thought he done fine when he came on he's not a striker that's for sure he looks more like someone who could play the wide 10 role but it's early days for him.
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Agree, I noticed that the St Mirren player slipped and nudged into Sakala, just as the ball arrived.
 
Bringing Sakala on for 10,15,20 minutes every couple of games to then fire long punts up at him is extremely harsh to judge him on

And I say the same for Itten as well.

Our second half performances of late have been utterly abysmal. Yesterday was another one of those.
 
Looks to have very little technical ability. Perhaps a couple of goals will help his confidence and then he may look much better.

I'd rather have Itten.
 
Football is a confidence’ based game, you just have to look at us as a unit compared to last season. Scottish football at the best of times is hardly a welcoming place for young foreign players, one only has to look at Alfie’s treatment.

I think we have to trust that one of the best central midfielders to play the game, his very experienced coaching team and Ross Wilson can spot a prospect. To that end not every player they identify will cut the mustard in Scottish football.

For instance, I always thought Zungu looked very composed and could always find space, sadly he didn’t seemed to have that progressive forward thrusting progressive edge to his game. But he definitely wasn’t a bad player, he just wasn’t suited to our system.

Sure Itten was a great young prospect in his home league and mostly due to a lack of game time due to Alfie’s form he hasn’t progressed…Again it doesn’t mean he’s a dud! Sakala needs time and more exposure to first team football and to be fair I wouldn’t judge anybody based on the state of St Mirren’s pitch yesterday, it looked as if they’d self sabotaged it.
 
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