Joao to West Brom nonsense.

[Snowflake Royal]

Both Paunovic and Ince have described Joao as part of their “leadership group”. In fact he is the only player they both had in their group of five.

To me that suggests that he probably isn’t a disruptive influence.

Or the ‘leadership group’ is 4 no nonsense lads assigned to keep Joao under constant observation.....

[morganb]

From João's performance today, do we think his head has been turned or was that just sulky João of old?

[CountryRoyal]

From João's performance today, do we think his head has been turned or was that just sulky João of old?

Just sulky Joao. He’s never been one to fight for the cause.

[Ascotexgunner]

Gourley is really waving that FFP magic wand isn't he.

[From Despair To Where?]

I think its more the FFP shitty stick.

[Lower West]

Gourley is really waving that FFP magic wand isn't he.

Still getting parachute payments that Dai can only dream of.

[Snowflake Royal]

From João's performance today, do we think his head has been turned or was that just sulky João of old?

Just sulky Joao. He’s never been one to fight for the cause.

Chasing everything just isn't his game.

He was left completely isolated with 2 defenders on him or to press on his own. And the balls into him were mostly poor quality.

[CountryRoyal]

From João's performance today, do we think his head has been turned or was that just sulky João of old?

Just sulky Joao. He’s never been one to fight for the cause.

Chasing everything just isn't his game.

He was left completely isolated with 2 defenders on him or to press on his own. And the balls into him were mostly poor quality.

I do agree, but when he was in a position to do something positive, he didn't. Barely attempted to win anything in the air when he looked favourite, and frustratingly gave the ball away cheaply in the corner towards the end by trying to be too clever.

[Royal_jimmy]

João and Swift are quality players but we achieved oxf*rd all when both played for us

[blythspartan]

João and Swift are quality players but we achieved oxf*rd all when both played for us

I agree about but will always be grateful for their goals last season. Tbh I can’t recall us ever gaining promotion etc. with a creative midfielder like Swift. Osborn will always be my favourite but Caskey and Norwood who spring to mind didn’t help us to achieve anything either. I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong about this.

I rate Joao but he’s always been a bit hit and miss. He didn’t really get any service when he came on today but tbf the team were knackered. Also, I don’t think he’s fully recovered from his injury yet.

[Snowflake Royal]

Just sulky Joao. He’s never been one to fight for the cause.

Chasing everything just isn't his game.

He was left completely isolated with 2 defenders on him or to press on his own. And the balls into him were mostly poor quality.

I do agree, but when he was in a position to do something positive, he didn't. Barely attempted to win anything in the air when he looked favourite, and frustratingly gave the ball away cheaply in the corner towards the end by trying to be too clever.

I don’t think you can knock a striker with such a good scoring record. It's not like Cureton or ALF would have done any better, for example.

It's not like Long won a great deal or held the ball up very well either, and he had more support and IS a tireless runner and harrier.

Joao is simply never going to expend his energy that way. He shouldn't really have been brought on if the plan was to just sit back and defend. Camara or Ehib would have been better to just chase around harrying. Its a bit frustrating, but I don’t think it would have made any difference to the way the game unfolded.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Joao is a luxury player, he isn't a pressing forward as such, he won't hassle defenders and probably still isn't quite up to speed yet either which is probably why touches were bouncing off him.

Nothing much for me to worry about, neither are these rumours as I don't think we will sell him, just seems pointless to sell him at this stage.

[Royal Rother]

Irrelevant how talented the individual is, having 1 player who doesn’t battle for the cause in the way that the rest of the team does will not work.

Get rid.

[Hound]

What was disappointing with Joao is he DID press hard against Blackburn - at least before the game died a death

Think Ehib would have done a better job yesterday tbh

[Franchise FC]

While we’re winning, and however we’re doing it, I’m happy to let Joao transition back in smoothly
You have to remember that his legs are still made of Pringles

[Snowflake Royal]

Irrelevant how talented the individual is, having 1 player who doesn’t battle for the cause in the way that the rest of the team does will not work.

Get rid.

I'll take someone Joao's scoring record who doesn't rush about all the time every day of the week. And I LOVE hard working average joes.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Irrelevant how talented the individual is, having 1 player who doesn’t battle for the cause in the way that the rest of the team does will not work.

Get rid.

I don't think it's a case of not battling for the cause, he's just a different type of player to the likes of Long who will bust a gut running. Long won't occupy 2/3 defenders at a time with his physicality or have the strength and footwork to hold off and beat 2/3 players at a time whereas Joao will do that. Obviously he bags a few a season as well, would be silly to sell him, he's a very important player.

[Half Time Pizza]

João and Swift are quality players but we achieved oxf*rd all when both played for us

I agree about but will always be grateful for their goals last season. Tbh I can’t recall us ever gaining promotion etc. with a creative midfielder like Swift. Osborn will always be my favourite but Caskey and Norwood who spring to mind didn’t help us to achieve anything either. I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong about this.

I rate Joao but he’s always been a bit hit and miss. He didn’t really get any service when he came on today but tbf the team were knackered. Also, I don’t think he’s fully recovered from his injury yet.

I would say 1993/94 with Kevin Dillion pulling the strings and I would definitely consider finish runners up in1994/95 as succesfull so would include Osborn

[gazzer, loyal royal]

I think there’s more legs in this than we think. If we are now in a position where we need to shift one to get another in Joao could be one who we could get a decent fee for, large wages off the book and then get two in for him. We aren’t getting a left back unless we move someone out after Puscas

[blythspartan]

I think there’s more legs in this than we think. If we are now in a position where we need to shift one to get another in Joao could be one who we could get a decent fee for, large wages off the book and then get two in for him. We aren’t getting a left back unless we move someone out after Puscas

Not necessarily the case. Under the current restrictions we might already be able to afford most of Sarr’s wages without needing to offload Puscas so once he leaves we’ll be able to cover the Sarr deal plus there should be money left in the pot to cover other the wages of other players. Or Chelsea will most probably be paying most/all of Baba’s salary.

WBA have Kenneth Zohore who they are looking to let go so it wouldn’t be beyond the realms of possibility that we could get money plus Zohore. Ince doesn’t want Joao to leave though so it looks very unlikely.