Rasiak

[Thedelldays]

going by many of the posts on here...we have our new comedy villian at the club...

 

 

why on gods green earth I do not know..

 

Yes he does not work as much as some others.

he he appears lethargic

yes, given a run in the team he scores goals for fun at saints..

 

 

if we had someone who has scored goals at saints like Raz has with the work rate of Ohmygod, then...umm. they simply would not be here right now..

[thesaint sfc]

Had to read that 3 times, but yes! I agree. Rasiak is the best player we could hope for in this league. If we didn't have him and were linked to him we'd all be going mad about it (in a good way!) Yet, because he is a saints player, everyone lays into him. We had the same with Ricardo Fuller.

[NickG]

Trouble is if he doesn't score he doesn't look good.

 

Thought he was quite poor on Saturday, bad first touch, gave the ball away and not looking sharp, however;

 

1) He was isolated as loan striker and came deep -he's not good at that

2) When he scored loads he didn't look good!

[Thedelldays]

Trouble is if he doesn't score he doesn't look good.

 

Thought he was quite poor on Saturday, bad first touch, gave the ball away and not looking sharp, however;

 

1) He was isolated as loan striker and came deep -he's not good at that

2) When he scored loads he didn't look good!

is it his fault for being played up front on his own...?

 

 

he does score goals at this club and at a higher level when given a run in the team...simple as that

[thesaint sfc]

Concerns me with Pardew being renowned for funny formations. Rasiak is the first player I think of when I think of players who don't work well on their own up front.

[NickG]

is it his fault for being played up front on his own...?

 

 

he does score goals at this club and at a higher level when given a run in the team...simple as that

 

no.

 

It is his fault that he couldn't trap a ball on Saturday.

 

If he can find form and score for fun I would love him in the team over a non-scoring worker.

[Scummer]

Concerns me with Pardew being renowned for funny formations. Rasiak is the first player I think of when I think of players who don't work well on their own up front.

 

He did a darn sight better up there on his own than Saga on Saturday.

[Thedelldays]

no.

 

It is his fault that he couldn't trap a ball on Saturday.

 

If he can find form and score for fun I would love him in the team over a non-scoring worker.

well...lets see how the season starts..

 

i just find is highly ammusing that many are proper having a go at one of the senior pros who has a very good proven record at this club who was made to feel completely unwanted last season..

 

we are lucky to have him here...i bet every single one of the other league 1 clubs would love to hae him at theirs...to many..probably 3/4 of the league, it would be a dream

[RobM]

My only criticism of Rasiak is his shocking, shocking first touch. He can't trap a ball or do anything useful with it when it gets to him, you just have to hope that when it bounces off of him it goes somewhere useful or somewhere he can get to.

 

That's why he doesn't make a good loan striker IMO. But if you play him off of somebody else, he is very effective. He spends most of the game looking lost but still manages to pounce on the balls put through to him by the other striker. In those situations he is one of the best in L1/CCC.

[Channon's Sideburns]

well...lets see how the season starts..

 

i just find is highly ammusing that many are proper having a go at one of the senior pros who has a very good proven record at this club who was made to feel completely unwanted last season..

 

we are lucky to have him here...i bet every single one of the other league 1 clubs would love to hae him at theirs...to many..probably 3/4 of the league, it would be a dream

 

Not disagreeing with what you've said above, but to be honest, even as good as he CAN be, that doesn't excuse him of being accountable for his performance..

 

Too many balls bounced off him on Saturday, and too often instead of moving his feet quickly enough, he just stuck a leg out...which only makes him look even lazier, even when standing still!!

 

I can't see any clubs coming in for him anyway, the best we can hope for is to offload Saga - he looks at least half a stone overweight and uninterested...Rasiak looked just as disinterested at Bournemouth.

 

My hope is that Pardew gets under Rasiak's skin - let's face it, wherever he's been he has scored goals, but he's more of an enigma - he could be SO much better if he put more effort in.

 

Still, I guess if not, he can still afford to shop at Waitrose in Lymington...

[Nexstar]

Hardly wetting myself at this 'scoring for fun' myth.

 

Pre-season -

 

Rasiak.............Played: 5 Scored: 0

 

4/5 Games being against teams that are worse than us.

 

You seem to think it was the fans that made him completely unwanted last season, despite the fact HE didn't want to be here last season, hence why he spelt all year out on loan.

 

At the minute I couldn't care elss if he goes, but if he stays I hope i'm proven wrong.

[NickG]

DellDays - did you see him on Saturday?

[Thedelldays]

Hardly wetting myself at this 'scoring for fun' myth.

 

Pre-season -

 

Rasiak.............Played: 5 Scored: 0

 

4/5 Games being against teams that are worse than us.

 

You seem to think it was the fans that made him completely unwanted last season, despite the fact HE didn't want to be here last season, hence why he spelt all year out on loan.

 

At the minute I couldn't care elss if he goes, but if he stays I hope i'm proven wrong.

 

 

oh, that is right..pre season is the bestway to judge players..

 

on that basis we were supposed to be brilliant last eason as we certainly looked the part in pre season

 

his only real proper run in a team came when, he scored loads and was dropped by burley for a non footballing reason..

[NickG]

he only scored about 1 in 3, good but not amazing.

 

I would take that this season, but its about 18 months now since he was scoring, so we can't just hope he returns to form - Pardew will have to judge and try and get him playing.

[Thedelldays]

DellDays - did you see him on Saturday?

no

 

but there is no way i am going to write of a season pro who has done the business at a higher level than where we are now after a defeat against AJAX ffs, nor a pre season where only a few weeks ago we did not know if we had a club and the manager has took his first session this morning...

 

you would have thought we might have learned before writing players off...

 

guess some have not

 

same goes with sagga...he got no end of crap last season despite coming in and having a far superior goals/game ratio than the others and was still and by some STILL getting alot of stick..

[RobM]

no

 

but there is no way i am going to write of a season pro who has done the business at a higher level than where we are now after a defeat against AJAX ffs, nor a pre season where only a few weeks ago we did not know if we had a club and the manager has took his first session this morning...

 

you would have thought we might have learned before writing players off...

 

guess some have not

 

same goes with sagga...he got no end of crap last season despite coming in and having a far superior goals/game ratio than the others and was still and by some STILL getting alot of stick..

 

You can add David McG to that list too. Highest scorer and hated by many.

[greg_hill]

Hardly wetting myself at this 'scoring for fun' myth.

 

Pre-season -

 

Rasiak.............Played: 5 Scored: 0

 

4/5 Games being against teams that are worse than us.

 

You seem to think it was the fans that made him completely unwanted last season, despite the fact HE didn't want to be here last season, hence why he spelt all year out on loan.

 

At the minute I couldn't care elss if he goes, but if he stays I hope i'm proven wrong.

 

Find it hard to take you seriously mate if you judge a striker by five pre-season appearances.

[Nexstar]

oh, that is right..pre season is the bestway to judge players..

 

on that basis we were supposed to be brilliant last eason as we certainly looked the part in pre season

 

his only real proper run in a team came when, he scored loads and was dropped by burley for a non footballing reason..

 

Well, at this time of the year it's the ONLY way to judge players. What else is Pardew going to judge them on, their skills of nicking handbags?

[Thedelldays]

Well, at this time of the year it's the ONLY way to judge players. What else is Pardew going to judge them on, their skills of nicking handbags?

seeing as this is pardews first training session and only saw the ajax game...then I doubt he will judge them from the cheltenham game to be honest

[NickG]

I Don't think people are writing him off - but saying its down to him to prove he is the player of a couple of years ago.

Certainly didn't look it Saturday - but that's one game, good opposition and before Pardew.

We can't write him off, but neither can we carry a top wage earner hoping they find the form from two years ago.

 

in 2004 he got 16 in 35 for Derby.

in 2006 he scored 17 by January.

[Nexstar]

I'm judging Rasiak on the games I've seen him in a Saints shirt, and so far he's been nothing short of SHOCKING. Lazy, bad first touch and has come close to scoring, which, for a striker, isn't great.

[Nexstar]

I Don't think people are writing him off - but saying its down to him to prove he is the player of a couple of years ago.

Certainly didn't look it Saturday - but that's one game, good opposition and before Pardew.

We can't write him off, but neither can we carry a top wage earner hoping they find the form from two years ago.

 

in 2004 he got 16 in 35 for Derby.

in 2006 he scored 17 by January.

 

Agreed, not impressed so far though.

[saint_stevo]

Rasiak will ALWAYS score goals.

 

If, after 15 games this season he has started the majority and not done the business, then you can slate him. He isn't there for work rate, he is there to put the ball into the bloody net, which he can do and will do given the service.

[Thedelldays]

I'm judging Rasiak on the games I've seen him in a Saints shirt, and so far he's been nothing short of SHOCKING. Lazy, bad first touch and has come close to scoring, which, for a striker, isn't great.

I would like to think

 

under a manager let along new manager with a club that might actually want him and that will exist next week..he might NOW start to get back to what he was a the talent is sure there

[NickG]

Rasiak will ALWAYS score goals.

 

If, after 15 games this season he has started the majority and not done the business, then you can slate him. He isn't there for work rate, he is there to put the ball into the bloody net, which he can do and will do given the service.

 

probably career of about 1 in 3 games.

[Thedelldays]

probably career of about 1 in 3 games.

which...is pretty good

 

all at a higher level than whre we are at now too

[Charlie Wayman]

Trouble is if he doesn't score he doesn't look good.

 

Thought he was quite poor on Saturday, bad first touch, gave the ball away and not looking sharp, however;

 

1) He was isolated as loan striker and came deep -he's not good at that

2) When he scored loads he didn't look good!

 

Poor only because our midfield sat so deep from the off to prevent a rout. There was only a few yards between the back four and the midfield FIVE, Rasiak was about forty yards further up field trying to do the job that strikers are paid to do. The only balls h ego were high balls hit more in hope than with precision. Early on he managed to get up to a fe and nod them back to support players but once they emigrated to their own penalty box of course Rasiak disappeared as the long balls up to him were coming from even further away and were never anywhere near enough to him to give him any chance at all.

 

Not a day to judge our strikers fairly so best to leave it to Pardew to sort out.

[thesaint sfc]

well...lets see how the season starts..

 

i just find is highly ammusing that many are proper having a go at one of the senior pros who has a very good proven record at this club who was made to feel completely unwanted last season..

 

we are lucky to have him here...i bet every single one of the other league 1 clubs would love to hae him at theirs...to many..probably 3/4 of the league, it would be a dream

 

At the end of the day, whatever any of you lot say, the above in bold is 100% true. People lay into Rasiak when we've got some of the local pubs Sunday leagues finest playing for us. Its ridiculous. We're very lucky indeed to have him, that's if he even stays!

[Arizona]

Wasn't there on Saturday, but it sounded like being the lone front man does suit him at all. Much the same as BWP, Saga, John, DMG, Jones, Fuller... infact pretty much every striker we've had in the last decade.

[saint_stevo]

from wiki-

 

He has stated he wants to finish his career at Southampton, he announced during the summer of 2009; "I want to finish my career at Southampton, I love the city, the area and most of all the fans. They are probably the noisiest fans in the country".

[thesaint sfc]

from wiki-

 

He has stated he wants to finish his career at Southampton, he announced during the summer of 2009; "I want to finish my career at Southampton, I love the city, the area and most of all the fans. They are probably the noisiest fans in the country".

 

That - I don't believe. I feel like he's been trying to get away from us for ages.

[scott_saints]

Totally with delldays on this one. Anyone who thinks Rasiak isn't good enough for this league is f**king stupid!!

 

Same goes for Saga tbf...

[Thedelldays]

That - I don't believe. I feel like he's been trying to get away from us for ages.

trying...we could not ship him out fast enough last season...despite being completely inept up front for best part of the season

[L1Minus10]

Playing 1 up only works if....

 

a) You have a player who is quick and good in the air and can also occupy two centre backs.

b) you have decent wingers

c) you have at least one dynamic central midfield player who makes runs forward and joins in

 

Kenwyne Jones and Beatts could reasonably satisfy criteria a). None of the current forwards can. To be fair, there are very few of these players about.

We haven't had a decent winger for years.

We haven't had a decent attacking central midfielder for years.

 

In short, Rasiak up fron on his own will never ever work.

[Foxstone]

Where we are now, then value for money is very important and does Big Greg justify his high wages in L1 ?

 

I prefer his all round play to John's, but both can score goals if given the service and perhaps John is far better suited to bullying those hairy arsed L1 centre backs than Greg is..

 

One of John or Greg I suspect !

[thesaint sfc]

Rasiak can't be arsed in friendlies. If we scores in the league I couldn't give a toss if he doesn't break a sweat all pre-season.

 

Any news of Saga? Does he want to stay now? If we could keep both we'd be looking very good, especially with an improving Paterson and maybe another signing or two.

 

Saga at the moment is my favourite player and I think his ability could be absolutely amazing. Some of the stuff we've seen him do is Premiership calibre. Based on what people have said to me though, he's put on a lot of weight and doesn't look the part at all. Desperately hope Pardew is a manager that can find players form. I'm not so sure he is personally, but I'd love to be proved wrong. Our strikers need a slaughtering as they all have enough ability to do really well in this league.

[Thedelldays]

Saga at the moment is my favourite player and I think his ability could be absolutely amazing. Some of the stuff we've seen him do is Premiership calibre. Based on what people have said to me though, he's put on a lot of weight and doesn't look the part at all. Desperately hope Pardew is a manager that can find players form. I'm not so sure he is personally, but I'd love to be proved wrong. Our strikers need a slaughtering as they all have enough ability to do really well in this league.

why do they..?

 

they just need to be managed..that is all

[hughieslastminutegoal]

Rasiak will ALWAYS score goals.

 

If, after 15 games this season he has started the majority and not done the business, then you can slate him. He isn't there for work rate, he is there to put the ball into the bloody net, which he can do and will do given the service.

 

With -10 points I'm not sure anyone has 15 games to prove themselves.

If Pardew quickly gets the rest of the team playing better and supporting the striker, and gives Rasiak a chance, then if Rasiak is still any good he'll need to start showing it pretty sharpish. Remember he has been out on loan and has not really done the business at those clubs either.

 

He needs to get his head around the fact that no club really seems to want him at the moment. If he has ability then it's poor attitude, and he'd better change it pdq.

Edited 20 July, 2009 by hughieslastminutegoal

[Marsdinho]

I cant understand how anyone that witnessed the Le Tissier era can describe another player as "lazy" or "not interested"

 

People used to describe Matty as that, and look what he did for us.

 

NB: No, im not comparing Rasiak to Le Tissier.

[hughieslastminutegoal]

I cant understand how anyone that witnessed the Le Tissier era can describe another player as "lazy" or "not interested"

 

People used to describe Matty as that, and look what he did for us.

 

NB: No, im not comparing Rasiak to Le Tissier.

 

But are you saying that his quality will make up for laziness? Because he hasn't shown that for the last couple of seasons, here or elsewhere, has he?

[egreog]

I'm not a fan of Rasiak at all........but IF his attitude is right he MAY do well in this league and score goals.........it is worth a go........personally I don't think it will be much easier for him that in the Championship, but give him a run and see how he gets on.

 

Its very interesting that he didn't do particularly well at Bolton or Watford, certainly not well enough for Watford to consider his wage value for money.

 

I think Pardew needs to get him working harder and fitter..........that way he will give himself the best chance of making it, or at least put himself in the "shop window"

[kpturner]

Rasiak is a God !

[saint1977]

Rasiak doesn't seem to be attracting much interest and does need to get fitter. If Pardew brings in 2 wingers with pace and a semi-decent delivery, he will score lots at this level though. They might not be pretty goals but that -10 will be history fairly quickly.

[Chez]

Always liked Rasiak, especially his ability to get away with a little push in the defenders back to win back post headers. I never could understand why we signed Stern John when we had almost the exact same player already here at the club.

 

He looked good on Saturday IMO and certainly made the effort. Needs some pace around him.

[Pat from Poole]

If he is picked regularly and playing in a team which gives good service, he'll get us 20-25 goals this season, could be the difference between getting in the play-offs and missing out.

 

I remember when he scored plenty in our play-off season that he regularly scored away from home where he got a bit more space. If we can get some pace on the wings and increase the speed at which we attack, he'll invariably get more space in home games as well.

 

He is the best finisher we have.

 

However, the wages are a definite issue.

[Andy_Porter]

I'm a big fan of Rasiak but even I can't defend how he's played so far this pre season.

 

I really hope as soon as the Millwall game comes around he's back to his old self, he simply hasn't looked interested in any of the 5 games so far. Apart from one header against Cheltenham he hasn't looked like scoring or even dangerous.

 

Hopefully he's just finding his feet and fitness and does want to be here with us next season.

 

Two from Rasiak, Saga, John, Paterson and Lallana would destroy this league. What we will need are wide men with pace who can work to Rasiaks strengths, we had no shape on Saturday and Gillett isn't the right player to be playing off Rasiak, we would have been better off going 4-4-2 with Saga and Rasiak up top. I've never understood why we've hardly ever played those two together upfront.

[Chez]

I'm a big fan of Rasiak but even I can't defend how he's played so far this pre season.

 

I thought he looked decent on Saturday. He held the ball up well, one stuff in the air and lea the line pretty well on his own.

[Frank's cousin]

Suffered from being alone up front with no midfield pushing on ... I hope we see two up front this seaosn if only because its more entertaining, but for me is also the key to us actually winning games - width, midfield not sitting too deep and two up front... simple

[Chez]

Suffered from being alone up front with no midfield pushing on ... I hope we see two up front this seaosn if only because its more entertaining' date=' but for me is also the key to us actually winning games - width, midfield not sitting too deep and two up front... simple[/quote']

 

we are going to need a right nad left midfielder to play the 4-4-2 formation and at the moment we only appear to have holding midfielders to play in the centre. Pardew is going to need to address this poor squad balance.

[Ashley Grute]

I think you can write-off the first few friendlies for Rasiak as he clearly wasn't interested and probably thought we couldn't afford him, but now the takeover has happened and we have Pardew in, if we can get him to stay I think he will score 20 goals at least next season- just up to the manager to get him to see the bigger picture!