Libor Kozak

[paul_e]

How long is left on his contract?

Ends in the summer i think.

[Ad@m]

A strange player, he seemed a natural finisher

spending 6.5 million euros on a replacement capable of scoring somewhere between 10 to 15 league goals in a season as the first-choice was fine

I still don't get why some people have this view of him .  He has never, ever been a goal scorer.  He's 27 years old and has only scored more than 10 in a season once, scoring 11 in the Czech 2nd division, which must be a similar standard to the Midlands Combination League.

It seems to stem from the fact he won the Europa league golden boot one year with Lazio but in the same season he made 20 domestic appearances and scored zero goals.

He makes Gabby look prolific.

[PeterWithe]

In one-on-ones he looked a player likely to score goals, I've not looked but his goals to game starts ratio cant be that bad can it?

I'd still get shot mind.

[IAmTheOneIanOlney]

It seems to stem from the fact he won the Europa league golden boot one year with Lazio but in the same season he made 20 domestic appearances and scored zero goals.

Anichebe had a similar sort of season early on at Everton. 4 in 9 in the UEFA Cup, looking like a real prospect. 1 in 27 in the league the same season.
 

[passitsideways]

A strange player, he seemed a natural finisher

spending 6.5 million euros on a replacement capable of scoring somewhere between 10 to 15 league goals in a season as the first-choice was fine

I still don't get why some people have this view of him .  He has never, ever been a goal scorer.  He's 27 years old and has only scored more than 10 in a season once, scoring 11 in the Czech 2nd division, which must be a similar standard to the Midlands Combination League.

It seems to stem from the fact he won the Europa league golden boot one year with Lazio but in the same season he made 20 domestic appearances and scored zero goals.

He makes Gabby look prolific.

Europa League golden boot mightn't be anything too special, but nothing to sneer at (I had a quick look at who they were scored against - 7 of the 10 coming against Panathinaikos, Stuttgart, and Gladbach, so not exactly the backwaters of Europe). I was more referring to the fact that he did manage 4 goals in 14 league appearances for us, 6 of which were off the bench.) It's a small sample size, I know, but he could attack crosses, make a nuisance of himself against centre backs, and find space for himself in the box. Still kinda shit overall, mind, but having those three things alone gives you a good shot at reaching the fairly modest 1 in 3 ratio needed to hit double figures in the league.

[aj2k77]

He's 27 and bad injuries aside has scored 14 goals in top flight football. A top level goal scorer he has never shown himself to be, we got ripped off at the price we paid purely on a few games in the Europa league.

[old man villa fan]

He's 27 and bad injuries aside has scored 14 goals in top flight football. A top level goal scorer he has never shown himself to be, we got ripped off at the price we paid purely on a few games in the Europa league.

At the money we paid, it was always going to be a gamble.  Different country, different style of play, would playing more often improve him etc., all things that you do not know the outcome of when we buy players.  We paid a similar amount for Benteke with a reputation that was hardly much better and he came off big time.  The gamble didn't come off but you cannot say we were ripped off because it was a gamble.

[Clark W Griswold]

I never thought he looked terrible by any stretch of the imagination, he had bad injuries which set him back also. Various managers have overlooked him though, maybe because he's made of glass, maybe because he's an asshole around the place or maybe because they just don't rate him but I suppose they can't all be wrong.

[paul_e]

I never thought he looked terrible by any stretch of the imagination, he had bad injuries which set him back also. Various managers have overlooked him though, maybe because he's made of glass, maybe because he's an asshole around the place or maybe because they just don't rate him but I suppose they can't all be wrong.

Maybe, and this is my thinking, because he trains like he's frightened and they won't dare put him into a competitive match.  He wouldn't be the first person to have the injuries and set backs he's had to have mental baggage from it.  I liked him when he first arrived, I thought there was a decent player in there with good instincts in the box who could've done a good job alongside Benteke with a more creative player in behind but we never got to see it.

[Matt C]

Overpriced at 7m but looked like he might have something to offer when he first arrived but it was vintage Lamberk that he dropped Benteke for him.

He's finished as a player of any decent level now but has done remarkably well to come back from those injuries - good luck to him.

[Holte L2]

I've seen all of his performances live.  Hes always reminded me of a poor man's Tony Cascarino.

[Bestmate]

I've seen all of his performances live.  Hes always reminded me of a poor man's Tony Cascarino.

Praise indeed! That missed header in the san siro still haunts me!

[PeterWithesShin]

I thought he looked decent enough before the injury, he's been awful since it though. His performance at Derby is one of the worst i've ever seen by a professional footballer and I saw Balaban. It's how I imagine George Weah's 'cousin' looked that time for Southampton.

[Risso]

I thought he looked decent enough before the injury, he's been awful since it though. His performance at Derby is one of the worst i've ever seen by a professional footballer and I saw Balaban. It's how I imagine George Weah's 'cousin' looked that time for Southampton.

George's cousin nearly scored, as I recall!

[SoccerHQ]

From a monetary and forward-thinking standpoint, I think his signing made sense - we were expecting to get only one more season from Benteke anyway, so spending 6.5 million euros on a replacement capable of scoring somewhere between 10 to 15 league goals in a season as the first-choice was fine (I mean, I'm pretty sure Steven Fletcher went for double that amount after managing a 12 goal season for Wolves), and letting him settle into English football without the added pressure of replacing Benteke was sensible.

The problem was at the time we also desperately needed a forward with real quality who could either play off Benteke or provide goalscoring from out wide, because even back then everyone pretty much agreed that neither Gabby nor Weimann were trustworthy just yet, and so they subsequently proved.

Yeah that summer we were strongly linked to Kioyate who's now at Seville and Younes Belhanda who's playing a key role for Nice, both attacking midfielders which we needed more than another targetman striker.

I saw Kozak pretty much as everyone else...slow, cumbersome and technically mediocre but he did have the ability to anticipate and poach a few goals for us. Would've probably been a decent squad striker for us but you could see the injury ruined him when he came back and played a few games this time last year and this year the Derby game said enough.