Jordan Ayew - sold to Swansea

[KRS]

Not exactly a confidence inspiring piece...its upto Ayew now to prove his doubters in the media wrong.

[OCD]

I've only got the reports to go by, but his the one signing that I have doubts about. Hope to be proven wrong though.

[Matt Collins]

We need someone to run in behind and I'd play him next Saturday

But if he gave the ball away a lot more than anyone else in France you do wonder about how he'll cope with English football.

[Ron Manager]

Unless I am mistaken isn't Jordan Ayew our most expensive purchase in the summer window?. I would think Paddy Reilly and Tim Sherwood must have done their homework on him. Certain articles I have read suggest he might be a problem boy. Lets hope he keeps his head down and works for the team.

[Summers]

He's definitely our riskiest signing, but he's got the potential to score a lot of goals and be a special player. He's the type of player who could get fans standing and cheering, if you know what I mean. That fast, skillful, dynamic player who can make things happen. We'll see. It could go the other way, and he could be a moody and lazy, but I'm gonna be hopeful.

[ciggiesnbeer]

Good. I am delighted to have a striker who is "frustrating" on the pitch and always looking to break away or be selfish. We need a wild card up front.

It does bring up one point though which had not occurred to me before. We are going to be hit pretty hard by the African Cup of Nations.

[Matt Collins]

In 2017

[ciggiesnbeer]

In 2017

Oh cheers! I forgot they have the two competition thing going. Bit of a relief.

[cdbearsfan]

Good. I am delighted to have a striker who is "frustrating" on the pitch and always looking to break away or be selfish. We need a wild card up front.

It does bring up one point though which had not occurred to me before. We are going to be hit pretty hard by the African Cup of Nations.

It's not until 2017, and at present we'd have a maximum of three players missing. I'd suggest that Gestede has, at best, a 50% chance of qualifying with Benin. Gueye and Ayew probably have about 75% and 90% chances of qualifying with, respectively, Senegal and Ghana.

If a player was to go all the way to the final (or even the semis due to the ACN's ludicrous inclusion of a third-place play-off) he'd probably miss three games and (if we qualify) our FA Cup Fourth Round game.

Not exactly disastrous, especially as our opponents will likely be affected too. It might be worth applying for a Keane-style loan from MLS to see us through though, as if Gestede and Ayew did both make it, we could be lacking forwards.

[Dante Lavelli]

Is Ayew a traditional striker?  From that report, it suggests that he is whereas I thought he was more versatile than that, an inside forward?
With Ayew (possibly), Gesede, Kozak (both definitely) and the potential signing of Berbatov and/or Adebayor then we will have little threat from the channels and our midfield could get swamped (assuming we have two upfront) as none of them are inclined to drop deep.

I'm a tad worried by this.

[ciggiesnbeer]

Cheers! I feel better now

[Matt Collins]

I think he can play right across the front. But I don't think he'd be happy wide of a four man midfield

Agree about the flanks - especially as grealish and Gil are seen as no 10s and not wide players

I'm not really sure what he's got planned to be honest. We've been 442 or 4411 in all the friendlies but I don't think it suits our players very much.

[Dante Lavelli]

Hmmm.  Interesting that Gueye was told he'd be playing on the right of a 433 yet we've hardly used it pre-season.

[Matt Collins]

Yeah I've thought that. I think we should.

[A Northern Soul]

As for Ayew's tendency to be lazily caught offside, I would think that could have been said for Benteke, Savo and JPA - none of whom in the main didn't pay us back with other qualities instead