New boss gives me a chance - Grabban

[The Great Mass Debater]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31415629

I think thats a bit cheeky with respect to Neil Adams. He was Adams' signing and he generally backed him, but when Grabban's form dropped off and he looked like he couldnt score for toffee Adams rightly dropped him. 

It was up to Grabban to earn his place back. Thats the reality of having a competitive forward line. He wasnt doing the business, Jerome was. Cant be no favours.

Im a bit bemused as to why Grabban has been favoured over Jerome, though I havent seen any games recently so cant comment, but Jerome hasnt really let us down and is our top scorer, whereas Grabban missing opportunities has definitely cost us points this season.

By all accounts Grabban is playing well, but to attack Adams for dropping him when he was sh*te frankly strikes me as a bit brattish.

Anyone agree or disagree?

 

[eatonparkboy]

Obviously AN's only real signing has been Andreu and I don't know what involvement he had initiating the Dorran's move. So he had a fresh canvas to got to work on. Grabban was in with as much chance of starting as anyone but obviously, initially, AN didn't pick him to start. But an injury forced his hand and to be fair to Grabban, he has taken his chance well.

But he shouldn't disrespect the man who brought him to the club and undoubtedly improved his lifestyle. I do not like this American style of reporting and commentating where somebody has a good game and they are world beaters. AN has enough fire power at his disposal to replace Grabban after a bad game. He should remember that.

 

[GJP]

I can see his point of view and I agree with him.

 

[Canaryboy]

I can't quite see his point of view to be honest, most fans were arguing that Grabban remained in the team far longer than he should have done when he lost form earlier in the season, with Hooper on the bench for quite some time after returning to fitness.

Perhaps his complaint was that he wasn't given enough of a chance to win his place back? So he felt he was just discarded once he'd lost his place, so perhaps implying that Adams had difficulty keeping the squad happy a little like Hughton did? 

Hopefully Alex Neil is a bit more like Lambert in that respect, keeping the squad happy and motivated instead of having his favourite 16 and leaving the rest out in the cold. 

I'm much more interested in Lafferty's comment which was "chance to play in my position", which suggests that he wasn't aware that he was coming in as a left winger. That can only mean one of two things: 1) Adams didn't communicate as well as he should have done, or 2) there was an intention to sign a left sided player that summer but we didn't manage it.

It would be difficult to claim that it was number 2, because we could have got a left sided player in the loan window. So I'd quite like to know why Adams signed a forward and then played him on the left wing, seemingly with a failure to tell the player in question that this was the intention. if I met Adams that's the one question I'd want to ask him. 

 

[Beauseant]

Grabban looked incredibly lazy early on, so when the goals dried up he was vulnerable. From what the two of them have said Neil has told him that he wants workrate and Grabban has responded superbly. He was brilliant both against Charlton and Wolves and  never let defenders settle.

 

[GJP]

I never thought Grabban was lazy. That was always unfair, in my opinion.

 

[Yellow Fever]

I agree that Grabban was never lazy. The key factor is that Jerome has had a tight hamstring for the last few weeks and Neil doesn't want to risk a major injury. That's why he's been coming on as sub as a means of easing him back. Grabban has taken his chance well though and competition is always a good thing.

 

[Yellow Fever]

On the plus side, however, Birmingham are leading Boro 1-0 at half-time, with Boro down to 10 men as their GK has been sent off for a professional foul.

 

[Boyerboy]

Whether Grabban was lazy or not depends on the definition but he did not press defenders as Jerome did or as he himself has done since his restoration.

 

[GJP]

Jerome's never been that great at pressing defenders.

 

[Beauseant]

I think that most people would accept that Grabban's workrate is much higher than in the early part of the season whether or not "lazy" is an appropriate word. I remember going to Reading and getting annoyed because he came on and torpedoed several promising attacks by dawdling back from offside positions. He also never challenged for high balls (and in fact rarely does now).

 

[Yellow Fever]

It'll be interesting to see what happens when Jerome is fully fit again.

 

[Din]

To be honest though, would he ever have broken into the starting line-up if Jerome didn't have a hamstring problem? I doubt it to be honest. Obviously it's great that he has played because he's done really well in the last few games and deserves to be starting, but I think that was more by luck than judgement. Not having a go at Neil at all, because it's all very well playing Grabban but if he doesn't have any confidence then he's never gonna score, Alex Neil has clearly instilled him with that confidence and fair play to him on that.

I also don't think that Grabban is having a go at Adams particularly when he says that he found opportunities hard to come by. I think people are reading too much into it. I simply think he's saying he 'found opportunities hard to come by'. The fact is you couldn't blame Adams at all for playing Jerome and Hooper ahead of him, because when Grabban did get a chance he didn't take it, whereas those two often did.

 

[Watling the Gnome]

"I also don't think that Grabban is having a go at Adams particularly when he says that he found opportunities hard to come by."

It doesn't smack of self-awareness really, does it?

Grabban scored a lot of goals, but his goals to chances ratio was poor and for every goal he scored, he missed three or four more excellent chances - the memorable example being the Scum game where he went for the difficult chip rather than the easier option of rounding the keeper.  Dropping him for someone better at holding the ball up was the right thing to do, and if he was at all self-aware then he would acknowledge this.

 

[GJP]

Well I do think I can see it from Grabban's point of view. We start the season well and he's in the team. He's scoring goals, playing well and everything is pretty good.

Then Jerome comes along and it doesn't really work between him and Grabban as a partnership. Jerome makes an early impact with goals (just as Grabban had done) and pretty quickly the crowd haven't got a lot of time for Grabban and maybe he feels the manager doesn't really believe in him all of a sudden.

Jerome misses a chance and it's almost like nobody notices. Grabban misses a chance and it's moans and groans.

I always found it strange how quickly Grabban lost the backing of the crowd, especially after he scored a winning goal at Portman Road.

And I think Grabban is actually a bit underrated. I've always seen him as a better player with the ball than Jerome and I think he works harder too. That's not to say I don't rate Jerome, because I do.

 

[morty]

Well I do think I can see it from Grabban's point of view. We start the season well and he's in the team. He's scoring goals, playing well and everything is pretty good.

Then Jerome comes along and it doesn't really work between him and Grabban as a partnership. Jerome makes an early impact with goals (just as Grabban had done) and pretty quickly the crowd haven't got a lot of time for Grabban and maybe he feels the manager doesn't really believe in him all of a sudden.

Jerome misses a chance and it's almost like nobody notices. Grabban misses a chance and it's moans and groans.

I always found it strange how quickly Grabban lost the backing of the crowd, especially after he scored a winning goal at Portman Road.

And I think Grabban is actually a bit underrated. I've always seen him as a better player with the ball than Jerome and I think he works harder too. That's not to say I don't rate Jerome, because I do.

Agree with all of that.

I think our fans are particularly impatient and anxious this season.