Fairy nuff. I don't think the initial shot was off target, but I don't think it would have gone in without the huge deflection (seemed a weak enough shot that the keeper had covered)
Either way, wouldn't be getting too excited over one goal - I think the bigger positive is that he got back into the starting line-up after a couple of games on the bench.
Lucky break today with the goal. Seemed to have done a bit better than recent games judging by their forum and twitter. He has a long way to go, let’s hope he can push on
Yeah I'm on the same page as you about him. Don't think the goal (or OG) means a whole lot in and of itself. He has a lot of work to do to turn his momentum around and at least if he's playing he'll get an opportunity to try.Originally Posted by pineapple stu
The ball is round and has many surprises.
I open this thread with trepidation each time. Good to see there is some, some positivity about his performances. Hopefully the loan proves successful for him.
Connolly is the first name in my starting eleven with the Ronan kid. The other 9 a debate. Ryan Manning is another playera with flair and a set of skills.
Should be pointed out it was his good run that pressured the defender to concede the OG for the first goal, Connolly was in a great position to finish if defender had missed. From the hightlights i saw (admittedly very brief) he seemed to be sharp. Whether his goal was an OG or not it was a nice turn and shot, bit more decisive than ive seen him recently. He latched onto a poor pass later in the game and went on a good run taking on the last defender and getting decent enough shot in. Bodes well. At 1.30 here:
The last goal conceded by Derby was Shenanigans Incorporated ! !
I'm pleased for Connolly. He gets a lot of stick, especially on another rival forum. But that little bit of cockiness he supposedly has isn't necessarily a bad thing. Many of the top players have that, and better that than for him to be racked with self-doubt.
Wilder's no fool and seems to have a lot of faith in the lad. Let's hope he can kick on from here.
Last edited by Trequartista20; 14/02/2022 at 5:51 PM.
Named in the Championship team of the week.
Interesting comments from him here on confidence and his frustration over a lack of game-time:
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/sport/...ilder-23096429
Last edited by tetsujin1979; 15/02/2022 at 2:05 PM. Reason: Embedded tweet
Some great comments there. Seems humble and credits teammates too. Good to see he has struck up a rapport with Wilder. Very interesting few months ahead for this lad.
Would be good to see him playing and scoring regularly. There was so much promise with the crop of young strikers, we just need one or two to come good. Still feel that Connolly and Obafemi are more likely to become established goal scorers than Idah or Parrott. They have a hunger and sharpness about them when in the groove.
I think you're right. Idah could be a good no.9 in a 2-man strike force perhaps
Folding my way into the big money!!!
On the bench tonight for Middlesbrough. That may be related to the latest break-up with the girlfriend, but an analysis (Ned Holmes, Football League World) of Connolly's performance over his first 12 games suggests that he has not been as successful a loan signing as Boro had hoped. A total of 935 minutes played, 2 goals, zero assists. Just 42% of his 31 shots were on target. He made 110 passes and received 93. The other January loan signing forward, Balogun of Arsenal (20), played for 230 minutes less. He had only 16 shots, but 56% were on target. He scored twice and provided 2 assists. as well as making 143 passes and receiving 113. Chris Wilder has been non-committal about the possibility of signing Connolly permanently during the summer.
No surprise he has no assists. He’s an absolute glory hunter
Above is a good summary. I had a look through Boro forum after his last goal and the praise was fairly muted for him at best. General disappointment.
His pros seem to be:
Good pace
Good strength
Decent technically
Makes good runs
Good attitude (His workrate, conditioning and attitude seem good - yes I know the stories in the press etc and he has a touch of arrogance / narkiness about him - not bad if channeled in right way)
Cons:
Very poor finisher
Greedy / selfish in around goal (But not in the good way) OR total lack of awareness of players around him -
Takes the wrong option alot!
I believe he has the tools to be a decent level PL player as a wide attacker in, for example, a 433 providing assists and chipping in with a respectable amount of goals 5-8 a season.
However the only way that happens IMO is if he stops being a selfish f@cker in and around the box and starts trying to be a provider too. Focus on taking the right options for the team and plays with his head up.
If he doesn't work very hard on that part of his game I can see him being a championship / L1 player which is a waste considering the pros above.
I'd agree with all of that! Always thought he was being played in the wrong position. With the attributes he has, he's not a striker (or forward, whatever that position is called these days!). But he's boxed and penned into that position now unfortunately.Above is a good summary. I had a look through Boro forum after his last goal and the praise was fairly muted for him at best. General disappointment.
His pros seem to be:
Good pace
Good strength
Decent technically
Makes good runs
Good attitude (His workrate, conditioning and attitude seem good - yes I know the stories in the press etc and he has a touch of arrogance / narkiness about him - not bad if channeled in right way
Cons:
Very poor finisher
Greedy / selfish in around goal (But not in the good way) OR total lack of awareness of players around him -
Takes the wrong option alot!
If it was 4-4-2 he would be a winger; he can beat players, create space, and if it was drilled into him to be less greedy and never shoot, he'd have a ton of assists and be a great asset to any team!
Quite a different player but Damian Duff was a poor enough finisher - imagine he was greedy and played up front instead of out wide!
As it is he's wasteful and so badly utilised. He could be a top quality winger, but at the moment he's L1/Championship Striker material at best.
Last edited by Buller; 07/04/2022 at 5:27 PM.
Last week's news (literally), but seems the police were called to Aaron's house to deal with a domestic bust-up, and his missus has packed the bags (again)
You wonder are you starting to see his and Parrott's careers starting to diverge? Parrott with the head down, out of the news, and starting to score regularly for the first time in senior football. Connolly...not quite.A source [said]: “Their relationship had been toxic for some time before this. They broke up last year then wanted to give it another shot, but it just doesn’t look like it’s going to work. Lucinda had a nice night out with her friends but later went to his place where things completely erupted.
“She’s had to put up with a lot during their relationship and she questioned him about him apparently cheating on her."
At least he's still starting games, so that's something.
In terms of the four forwards that broke through around the same time, Idah, Parrott, Obafemi and Connolly - they've all had their own very individual routes to this point.
Idah always seemed to have the right attitude, it's just been injuries and maybe a lack of loan moves that has held him back.
Parrott was so far above the standard at underage level that we maybe shouldn't be too surprised that he took it for granted that he would find it easy in the men's game. His improved attitude in recent months is a huge step forward for him and is hopefully the turning point.
Obafemi looks to have improved his attitude also, hopefully that's a permanent change, though I'd worry there might still be setbacks for him, he just seems too easy going off the field at times.
Connolly is almost a different case again in that senior men's football initially seemed to come naturally to him in a way it's didn't for the others. The goals against Tottenham and a few other performances that season set him apart from the others at the time.
Maybe in hindsight it was the worst thing that could have happened to him, he thought it was that easy and the goals would keep flowing.
It's hard to know if he's had that penny dropping moment yet and it's just not happening on the field for him, or if he hasn't had it and is still waiting for things to come good for him rather than making it happen himself. Of course the real concern now is that he possibly just hasn't got the mentality for it, in which case he'll be playing down in the lower leagues before too long.
He's the least natural goalscorer of the four, so workrate and attitude is even more important in his case to compensate for that.
Can see Brighton looking to sell in the summer and making something off him. Will be down to the final two years of his contract and like Molumby they'll probably loan him out again with a clause to buy.
My concern about Connolly is that I feel like he would need to hit a low point to build himself back up to where he could get. I don't want to pay heed to the paper speculation but on a few other fronts he comes across as the cliched flash lad that is satisfied to have made it as a pro footballer. And he has enough qualities that he will be good enough to play at a level like the Championship or League One for his whole career and be paid sufficiently well to maintain his image of himself in his head as the pro footballer with money for a long time.
It just feels to me like he will coast along until he reaches a low point or has the penny drop moment or maybe just simply he matures- it's easy to forget how young these guys are.
And Idah is gas in that regard. I don't believe he was the prodigious talent from a young age like Connolly and Parrott were - one with incredible pace and the other with amazing technique - so he has worked harder and utilised his natural height and honed his skillset to make himself a lovely number 9 that will get better with age.
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