Stadt

It's not just about Daka's individual actions but how he occupies the oppostion in a way Ayew just doesn't. If Daka was in that situation above situation it's plausibly 4 v 3 instead of 3 v 3 and a greater chance of a tap in (something we've barely done all season). Ayew will superficially look better at holding the ball up in that there won;t be the obvious loose touches like you'll get with Daka but the net result is the same or worse. Ayew's hold up play doesn't benefit the team, when you think of Iheanacho's hold up it added fluency to our attacks whereas usually Ayew ends up running towards his own goal and plays a backwards/square ball, he does everything glacially which negates dropping deep in the first place. Not to mention that we can press coherently with Daka rather than watch Ayew half-heartedly press.

The 6 being much further ahead of the 10 is a problem too. This why BDCR and Ayew are such poor foils for each other, if Ayew is the flag 9 the 10 needs to run beyond him, he doesn't

This is representative - where the **** is the no 9? He finally comes to into shot BEHIND Luke Thomas as the ball is dead after a shot

I'd forgotten about the Mavadidi chances tbh. Neither of them had good games but Ayew is really ineffectual at hold up and bring others into play, given that he drops deep all the time making 11 passes is poor. Basically dispossessed once for every 2.5 passes made! I'm not saying Daka is brilliant just that the we function like a team when he's in the side because we have 11 layers playing where they should. Ayew Attack Touches 27 Touches in opposition box 3 Dispossessed 4 Non-penalty xG 0.01 Top stats Minutes played68 Goals0 Assists0 Expected goals (xG)0.01 Expected goals on target (xGOT)0.00 Expected assists (xA)0.03 xG + xA0.04 Accurate passes10/11 (91%) Daka Top stats Minutes played22 Goals0 Assists0 Expected goals (xG)0.03 Expected goals on target (xGOT)0.07 xG + xA0.03 Accurate passes5/5 (100%) Chances created0 Shots on target1 Shots off target0 Shot accuracy1/1 (100%) Defensive contributions0 Attack Touches9 Touches in opposition box0 Successful dribbles0/1 (0%) Dispossessed0 Non-penalty xG0.03

Ayew controlled the ball pretty much everywhere other than we needed him. BDCR and Ayew exacerbate all the worst qualities in each other’s game. The wingers were isolated time and time again because the central two were just never in a positive position to receive the ball - which is why we created no real open play chances

Ayew and Reid stunted so many of our attacks yesterday. Reid got a completely unintentional assist and the other goal was a set piece. If we play like that with that XI we’re going to lose more often than not. We lost to Norwich.

Daka didn't need to be rotated, he's only started 13 games all season. Every time the wingers broke they had no option centrally as Ayew was miles behind the play. BDCR usually was too. As soon as Daka and Mukasa were on we just looked far more like an actual team.

Justified as Ayew and Reid had little to no positive impact on the game. That was the main gripe

He hides in possession, just doesn’t show for the ball. It was night and day when Mukasa was on, he immediately stood out as passing option. With Ayew and Reid we have two wingers that aren’t dynamic enough to play out wide anymore so they’ve ended up on the middle by default. Then, they end up drifting anywhere other than the 9 and 10 positions - just doesn’t work

Perimenopausal player

Was much more confident on possession, turned, carried and played a few more probing passes than usual.

Won in spite of him, every time Mavadidi or Fatawu picked up the ball in space they had no option because Ayew was somewhere at LB, RB, DM, anywhere other than where he’s supposed to be playing. Even when he does ‘hold the ball up’ it’s so laboured and slow there’s no advantage to it. Daka linked up better in 20 minutes than he did all game

I've already donated but bumping this - come on FT, if you've ever moaned about KP but not donated put your money where your mouth is

He's created some of our better opportunities of the season too, James' goal against Wrexham was like the first good chance we'd created all season

#WhenTaken #742 (10.03.2026) I scored 854/1000🏆 1️⃣📍810 km - 🗓️4 yrs - 🥈172/200 2️⃣📍1.2 km - 🗓️11 yrs - 🥇182/200 3️⃣📍3.4K km - 🗓️2 yrs - 🥈134/200 4️⃣📍3.9 km - 🗓️14 yrs - 🥈173/200 5️⃣📍607 m - 🗓️6 yrs - 🥇193/200 https://whentaken.com

0.40 G+A per 90 - this season, not terrible. He's only actually started 13 games whereas Ayew has started 22 and our PPG is better with Daka.

#WhenTaken #741 (09.03.2026) I scored 726/1000🎗️ 1️⃣📍2.5K km - 🗓️8 yrs - 🥈134/200 2️⃣📍3.1 km - 🗓️22 yrs - 🥈147/200 3️⃣📍442 km - 🗓️2 yrs - 🥇184/200 4️⃣📍2.1K km - 🗓️23 yrs - 🥉92/200 5️⃣📍973 km - 🗓️2 yrs - 🥈169/200 Crap, much prefer playing on a desktop

Connections Puzzle #1002 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟪🟪🟪🟪 That was too easy

Corporal punishment being the unpopular aspect

Martyn Glover - No Mr, Argyle

We never cut our losses quickly. Imagine if we'd moved Praet, Perez, Soumare etc on early, even if we'd recouped 50% of their fess we'd have been up long tern because of the wage savings. We've been bad at churning through players - we didn't even have to sell a marquee player every summer. We could have raised £40m+ by just shifting the excess most summers. Castagne, Pereira and Justn was overkill. Just as Iheanacho, Daka and Vardy was all the while we had glaring holes at LB and RW.

Dan Barnett was previous commercial director I think?

Mavididi/Monga Daka Fatawu James Mukasa Choudhury Thomas Nelson CB Aluko Stol Just get some legs in midfield

If we don’t win this I think it’s curtains, there’s obviously more points to play for but I just can’t see us winning more than once or twice if we can’t beat these in the circumstances

Bring back corporal punishment for fly tippers. I'd love to launch their household waste at them whilst they're in stocks. There are lots of worse crimes but it completely enrages me, scruffy, lazy c unts