Mo Elyounoussi

[Ted Bates Statue]

12 minutes ago, MAY-Z said:

Elyonoussi - Not a PL player, no idea what the scouts saw in him to feel he's suited for the PL. Weak on the ball, poor off the ball, slow as hell.

 

maybe they saw the Elyonoussi you were drooling over on page 1

 

everyone can agree that Carrillo was bad and was always going to be bad but the others had all shown a reason to be sign, even Hoedt who had played for Lazio and Netherlands at that point

Yep everyone was drooling over this guy as our new Tadic.

Happy to hold up my own hands and admit to trying to add Ings and Vest to the list of shit players not good enough for us.

[MAY-Z]

3 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

No idea who I'd seen, I reckon I thought he was someone else! 

You could tell he was too slow for this league the moment he stepped out on the pitch for us though, you'd have hoped professional scouts would have figured that.

I do remember at the time we were battling it out against Everton for Hoedt, apparently. But again, as soon as he stepped out onto the pitch you could tell he wasn't suited. We've got scouts paid thousands to be the judge of players suitability for this league and they got it wrong too many times.

But the fact that it happened so many times in quick succession does seem to me that maybe the problem was more with the club as a whole, the coaching / manager set up being a huge part of that?

 

remember Boufal was also considered a massive coup as other bugger clubs were interested in him too.

 

if Ralph hadn’t come in Vestergard would be added to the list too

[S-Clarke]

21 minutes ago, MAY-Z said:

But the fact that it happened so many times in quick succession does seem to me that maybe the problem was more with the club as a whole, the coaching / manager set up being a huge part of that?

 

remember Boufal was also considered a massive coup as other bugger clubs were interested in him too.

 

if Ralph hadn’t come in Vestergard would be added to the list too

Yeah, we had a shitty setup for around 4 years. It was the point in time where Ross came in and started to oversea everything. We had the change around which gave him and Les more and more influence on incoming player transfers.

Their decisions in and around the 2016-2018 period have killed us, we had a huge amount of money from the VVD, Mane deals (100m ish) etc that should have been used sensibly by us to build for the long term. Yet we made a complete and utter mess of it. The fact our club thought Redmond was a clever replacement for Mane says it all.

It'll take us some time to lose the influence of Ross and co. I think the first signings we can judge to have come purely from our new setup have been KWP, Diallo - so that's an improvement already.

It wasn't all bad though to give them some credit - we did sign Armstrong, Ings, Bednarek, Vestergaard amongst the carnage and they have been sound investments for us. It's just a shame that the failure rate has outweighed the success rate, certainly on the 'big' statement signings which we couldn't really afford to get wrong.

Edited 15 February, 2021 by S-Clarke

[Noodles34]

9 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

Yeah, we had a shitty setup for around 4 years. It was the point in time where Ross came in and started to oversea everything. We had the change around which gave him and Les more and more influence on incoming player transfers.

Their decisions in and around the 2016-2018 period have killed us, we had a huge amount of money from the VVD, Mane deals (100m ish) etc that should have been used sensibly by us to build for the long term. Yet we made a complete and utter mess of it. The fact our club thought Redmond was a clever replacement for Mane says it all.

It'll take us some time to lose the influence of Ross and co. I think the first signings we can judge to have come purely from our new setup have been KWP, Diallo - so that's an improvement already.

It wasn't all bad though to give them some credit - we did sign Armstrong, Ings, Bednarek, Vestergaard amongst the carnage and they have been sound investments for us. It's just a shame that the failure rate has outweighed the success rate, certainly on the 'big' statement signings which we couldn't really afford to get wrong.

I don’t blame the club for singing Redmond. English player who was good for Norwich, I think a few other clubs in for him. Think at the time it was considers a nice little coup. As I said before, they’re not all going to work out and Redmond just hasn’t developed into anything worthwhile. He’s a poor mans Walcott, who is never going to get any better. Got no problem with the club taking chances on players like him and Adams, but it’s our foreign policy that is really not working out. Revert back to British players or at least players that have played here. Yes, we could miss out on the next Mane but we’d also miss out on the next Ely. 

[madge]

When djenepo arrived he scored some quality goals and looked a right handful. He looks shot confidence wise. I think there is a good player there. The other issue is if you look at where he often receives the ball recently it’s often in our own half. He’s also had to put a lot of work in defensively, not offensively. Personally I’d give him a run up front or just behind. He can genuinely beat a player and he haven’t got many in our squad that can and beating players creates space elsewhere. I’d much rather give moussa a run up Front than redmond at present 

[Ex Lion Tamer]

15 hours ago, Noodles34 said:

I don’t blame the club for singing Redmond. English player who was good for Norwich, I think a few other clubs in for him. Think at the time it was considers a nice little coup. As I said before, they’re not all going to work out and Redmond just hasn’t developed into anything worthwhile. He’s a poor mans Walcott, who is never going to get any better. Got no problem with the club taking chances on players like him and Adams, but it’s our foreign policy that is really not working out. Revert back to British players or at least players that have played here. Yes, we could miss out on the next Mane but we’d also miss out on the next Ely. 

He wasn't good for Norwich. My Norwich mate warned me about him straight away, and initially had to eat his words when Redmond started quite well for us

[Dusic]

Redmond for £10m has been fine. He has played lots of games and was instrumental in us staying up in Ralph's first season, when he won Players Player of the Season and Fans Player of the Season.

He is no Sadio Mane, but he was never going to be.

Has he been a good signing for the fee? Absolutely.

Plenty of poor signings to reflect on post Pochettino but Redmond isn't one.

[Hayling Saint]

1 hour ago, Dusic said:

Redmond for £10m has been fine. He has played lots of games and was instrumental in us staying up in Ralph's first season, when he won Players Player of the Season and Fans Player of the Season.

He is no Sadio Mane, but he was never going to be.

Has he been a good signing for the fee? Absolutely.

Plenty of poor signings to reflect on post Pochettino but Redmond isn't one.

Totally agree with that.

[spyinthesky]

Interesting to note that Celtic were beaten by bottom club Ross County and Elyounoussi managed to garner a rating of 3.27 for the game.
Appreciate this isnt much of an indication but it was the lowest of any of the Celtic players.
Doesnt give us much hope of recovering any of the clubs original investment.

[S-Clarke]

3 minutes ago, spyinthesky said:

Interesting to note that Celtic were beaten by bottom club Ross County and Elyounoussi managed to garner a rating of 3.27 for the game.
Appreciate this isnt much of an indication but it was the lowest of any of the Celtic players.
Doesnt give us much hope of recovering any of the clubs original investment.

To be fair, he was brought on as a sub on the 85th min. Probably didn't get a touch.

But he hasn't performed great this year, he's been pretty pants for them all told. Not sure we'll get much for him, probably another loan.

[SuperSAINT]

6 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

To be fair, he was brought on as a sub on the 85th min. Probably didn't get a touch.

But he hasn't performed great this year, he's been pretty pants for them all told. Not sure we'll get much for him, probably another loan.

Celtic have had a choppy time this season — His numbers don’t look too bad overall (I know it’s the SPL)

[SuperSAINT]

Very quiet on him so far this summer.  I wonder if we will actually shift him or if he will be given a chance.

 

[Lighthouse]

13 minutes ago, SuperSAINT said:

Very quiet on him so far this summer.  I wonder if we will actually shift him or if he will be given a chance.

 

He’ll end up somewhere, even if we are paying half his wages.

[Roo1976]

10 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

He’ll end up somewhere, even if we are paying half his wages.

Maybe just maybe the season loan has toughened resolve to say be comparable to Redmond and Walcott?...........worth  a punt again?..........ill fetch my tin hat.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

How many players older than 22 have failed at a club, gone out on loan, done quite well and then come back and turned out to be good? There must be examples but I can't think of any

[Saint Garrett]

8 minutes ago, Roo1976 said:

Maybe just maybe the season loan has toughened resolve to say be comparable to Redmond and Walcott?...........worth  a punt again?..........ill fetch my tin hat.

Thing is, I wouldn’t be against him coming back as an option, if we weren’t already stuck with bang average wide players (Redmond Walcott Djenepo). 
 

IMO we need to be bringing in an guaranteed improvement on all of those on the left hand side, so unless we’re going to get rid of both Redmond and Moussa, I don’t want to see Elyounoussi back. 

[Jeremy Corbyn]

45 minutes ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

How many players older than 22 have failed at a club, gone out on loan, done quite well and then come back and turned out to be good? There must be examples but I can't think of any

The ultimate comeback kid:

[Ex Lion Tamer]

24 minutes ago, Jeremy Corbyn said:

The ultimate comeback kid:

Legend!

[Suhari]

29 minutes ago, Jeremy Corbyn said:

The ultimate comeback kid:

The 'loan' was just a smokescreen. The reality was he'd had a massive curry session and needed a long sit down.

[magnet]

.

Edited 24 June, 2021 by magnet

[Jeremy Corbyn]

45 minutes ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

Legend!

The fact he's only 35 blows my mind.

[SuperSAINT]

[Dusic]

Hopefully we can £5m or so for him and both parties can move on, he obviously doesn't have a future at Saints and another loan does no favours.

[Nolan]

Squad number 24.... The number he had at Sarpsborg, Molde and Basel.

We've obviously let him choose that so it looks like he's definitely back in contention.

[Dusic]

38 minutes ago, Nolan said:

Squad number 24.... The number he had at Sarpsborg, Molde and Basel.

We've obviously let him choose that so it looks like he's definitely back in contention.

I am fairly sure he will leave as things he struggled with (the pace and tempo of the PL, acceleration to get away from his man) he will still struggle with. Ralph saw him for a while and then loaned him out twice to a shit league where he was very inconsistent.

We already have Armstrong, Redmond, Walcott, Djenepo and Tella who can play his position and have been linked with signing someone there also.

Long has his number back but will still leave so I wouldn't read much into that.

[S-Clarke]

30 minutes ago, Dusic said:

I am fairly sure he will leave as things he struggled with (the pace and tempo of the PL, acceleration to get away from his man) he will still struggle with. Ralph saw him for a while and then loaned him out twice to a shit league where he was very inconsistent.

We already have Armstrong, Redmond, Walcott, Djenepo and Tella who can play his position and have been linked with signing someone there also.

Long has his number back but will still leave so I wouldn't read much into that.

My view is that he's sticking around, we've decided to keep him and pulled off off the market in my opinion.

Gives us more depth, but I kinda agree with you in the sense that it's pointless depth as he's proven he's not cut out for this league. But it's another body.

[Whitey Grandad]

23 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

My view is that he's sticking around, we've decided to keep him and pulled off off the market in my opinion.

Gives us more depth, but I kinda agree with you in the sense that it's pointless depth as he's proven he's not cut out for this league. But it's another body.

A replacement for Jankewitz?

[Nolan]

To be fair, He scored two and didn't lose against the French Champions, Lille, last season, and scored against AC Milan.

If a complaint last year was in our strength and depth, then he should be an option. 

[Ivan Katalinic's 'tache]

It's a funny one. On the face of it, if someone said we would be adding Celtic's star attacking midfielder to our ranks, a player who scored 17 goals last season for them, we'd be looking for another Van Dijk/Wanyama/Armstrong success story. But, because that player has been here already and not really been a success in the limited game time he had, we've adopted the sense he'll never come good. I guess, if he is being given another shot, we can only hope the 2 years he's had at Celtic has given him confidence, toughened him up physically and given him a better understanding of "British" football in readiness to have another crack at doing well in the Premier League.

Edited 12 July, 2021 by Ivan Katalinic's 'tache

[Danbert]

Would rather we kept Lemina, personally. I can't remember Elyounoussi ever making any sort of telling contribution when he played for us.

[suewhistle]

The last two posts sum up the dilemma really. I'd probably prefer to keep Lemina and hoik him for Smallbone or similar if he shows signs of having one of 'those' games on Danbert's basis that he can potentially be good but Mo never has. Has his time at Celtic helped him: presumably we will see in pre-season, and Ralph will be watching them with a particularly beady eye..?

[SuperSAINT]

22 minutes ago, suewhistle said:

The last two posts sum up the dilemma really. I'd probably prefer to keep Lemina and hoik him for Smallbone or similar if he shows signs of having one of 'those' games on Danbert's basis that he can potentially be good but Mo never has. Has his time at Celtic helped him: presumably we will see in pre-season, and Ralph will be watching them with a particularly beady eye..?

I know we could pretty much have said this at any point this summer -- But I feel we're in need of an update from Ralph on where we're at with the squad.

He's normally pretty honest.

[Saint Garrett]

IMO if we keep him, it’s because no one will buy him. Clearly has got something, but the lack of ability and pace stood out massively when he last played for us. 

[Charlie Wayman]

11 hours ago, SuperSAINT said:

I know we could pretty much have said this at any point this summer -- But I feel we're in need of an update from Ralph on where we're at with the squad.

He's normally pretty honest.

Can you handle the truth? How long have you been a Saint's fan? 

 

[Charlie Wayman]

26 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

IMO if we keep him, it’s because no one will buy him. Clearly has got something, but the lack of ability and pace stood out massively when he last played for us. 

You mean like Ward Prowse two or three years ago?

[skintsaint]

6 minutes ago, Charlie Wayman said:

You mean like Ward Prowse two or three years ago?

Yeah good point, but JWP is now playing a defensive midfield role where it isn't too obvious. Mo unfortunately is a wide attacking player where you need that pace/acceleration these days. Maybe Mo can be dropped back into a defensive role too but never seen enough of him to know if he can tackle 

[tajjuk]

Armstrong is not exactly quick, he's a strong runner with the ball, but hardly has bursting pace in behind. He's also been our most effective player in those attacking mid positions. 

Those positions are more about cutting inside, working hard, driving at players through the middle and being able to finish/create chances, especially round the edge of the box. Whether he can do any of that I have no idea, but he does have a better goalscoring record than Armstrong did at Celtic. 

IIRC he mainly seemed to struggle with the pace of the game when he first joined, so maybe the time in Scotland has helped him adjust, who knows. 

Should also remember the guy only got 8 starts in the league, in a season that was pretty poor overall and some of which was managed by Hughes, in his first year after joining from a different country. Some benefit of the doubt should be afforded to him IMO. 

Edited 14 July, 2021 by tajjuk

[Saint Keef]

I remember watching him play his debut and thought he looked ok, but then he just didn't do it after that. The ideal scenario is that his two years at Celtic will have done wonders for him, Ralph now likes what he is seeing in him and we keep him as a good option off the bench perhaps. It would be like having a new "back-up" plan without having to go out and spend. That is the ideal scenario.......I'm a dreamer, I know, but I would love it if he came good and proved us all wrong.

I still think that if someone comes in for him with an offer of 4-5 million we'd probably let him go.

[Saint Garrett]

3 hours ago, Charlie Wayman said:

You mean like Ward Prowse two or three years ago?

Not at all, because JWP had the technical ability, and he plays in the middle. Plus he is exceptional at set pieces. Elyounoussi is an attacking player who lacks technical ability, gives the ball away too much, and has no pace. 

If Ralph thinks he deserves another chance then I'm all for it, but I'd be concerned if we're relying on him next season. Not sure he's an "impact player" to come off the bench either

[stevy777_x]

10 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

Not at all, because JWP had the technical ability, and he plays in the middle. Plus he is exceptional at set pieces. Elyounoussi is an attacking player who lacks technical ability, gives the ball away too much, and has no pace. 

If Ralph thinks he deserves another chance then I'm all for it, but I'd be concerned if we're relying on him next season. Not sure he's an "impact player" to come off the bench either

Classic case of us not selling whilst we have the opportunity.

Same as Forster last year, his stock was high and if we really had wanted to sell him which made perfect business sense, we could have said you have no future here and be done with it.

Elyounoussi comes back with 17 goals last year, with 2 years left on contract.

Just flog him off ffs.

He ll probably end up having a crap season with us as he doesn t have the level and we ll end up giving him out on a freebie next summer. 
 

I know we are struggling for cash but we are not exactly making the right financial decisions to get out of this mess.

[SambaMaverick]

I'm willing to give him a go even though I saw nothing of him first time round that suggested he could make it in the Championship, let alone the PL. What's a couple million these days? As above - maybe Scotland has given him the kick up the arse he needed, his stat lines certainly aren't bad. 

[LuckyNumber7]

23 minutes ago, stevy777_x said:

Classic case of us not selling whilst we have the opportunity.

Same as Forster last year, his stock was high and if we really had wanted to sell him which made perfect business sense, we could have said you have no future here and be done with it.

Elyounoussi comes back with 17 goals last year, with 2 years left on contract.

Just flog him off ffs.

He ll probably end up having a crap season with us as he doesn t have the level and we ll end up giving him out on a freebie next summer. 
 

I know we are struggling for cash but we are not exactly making the right financial decisions to get out of this mess.

That only works if clubs are willing to buy the player. Remember Forster turned down a move to Celtic last summer and I don't recall hearing of any interest from any other clubs.

I'm sure if we get a half decent offer for Moi we'll accept and hopefully he'll go, but again other clubs don't exactly appear to be queing up to buy him. It's not as simple as saying "just flog him".

[BERMUDASAINT]

36 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

Not at all, because JWP had the technical ability, and he plays in the middle. Plus he is exceptional at set pieces. Elyounoussi is an attacking player who lacks technical ability, gives the ball away too much, and has no pace. 

If Ralph thinks he deserves another chance then I'm all for it, but I'd be concerned if we're relying on him next season. Not sure he's an "impact player" to come off the bench either

Did you watch him play for Celtic last year? Or are you fixed on your old assessment and not willing to update your out of date opinion? I guess no one can improve over the 2 years once you have decided his fate.

I hope he can produce like he had in Scotland for the Saints! Positive thinking, have a positive day fellow Saints

[Saint Garrett]

3 minutes ago, BERMUDASAINT said:

Did you watch him play for Celtic last year? Or are you fixed on your old assessment and not willing to update your out of date opinion? I guess no one can improve over the 2 years once you have decided his fate.

I hope he can produce like he had in Scotland for the Saints! Positive thinking, have a positive day fellow Saints

Didn't see huge amounts from him, but difficult to judge in such a pathetic league.  Like I said, I really hope he can come back and smash it up and get 20 goals from midfield, but it seems unlikely. I'm not sure he can change his core attributes that much from playing in the equivalent of League 1. 

[ErwinK1961]

6 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

Didn't see huge amounts from him, but difficult to judge in such a pathetic league.  Like I said, I really hope he can come back and smash it up and get 20 goals from midfield, but it seems unlikely. I'm not sure he can change his core attributes that much from playing in the equivalent of League 1. 

I'd take 5.. beats Djenepo, Redmond, Tella, Walcott, Minamino - ties with Armstrong.

[Billy the Kidd]

1 hour ago, stevy777_x said:

Classic case of us not selling whilst we have the opportunity.

Same as Forster last year, his stock was high and if we really had wanted to sell him which made perfect business sense, we could have said you have no future here and be done with it.

Elyounoussi comes back with 17 goals last year, with 2 years left on contract.

Just flog him off ffs.

He ll probably end up having a crap season with us as he doesn t have the level and we ll end up giving him out on a freebie next summer. 
 

I know we are struggling for cash but we are not exactly making the right financial decisions to get out of this mess.

Have you not noticed the outgoing business we’ve done this off season? Totally goes against your final paragraph, it is exactly what we’ve been doing to raise cash. 

It isn’t as easy as flicking on the PS4 and listing ‘em. 

[beatlesaint]

I recall when he signed Mark Hughes saying he would excite the fans........so I'm waiting to see that 😆 

[wild-saint]

honestly dont think he could be much worse than Redmond and Djneppo.

[Saint86]

Our starting CAMs next year should be Armstrong and Tella. Then you have Redmond, Walcott, Djenpo, and maybe Mo (not seen enough of him) as back up. Also Perraud can play left wing extremely capably if needed. Strikers will be ings and/or Armstrong, Adams, and Obafemi. Its a decent enough team for a mid table finish and will again come down to injuries and squad depth - but at least this year the covid rules on recovery facilities etc should be relaxed!

The reality is that we're very much in transition even now - we're still trying to balance the books and off load Les' long contract squad players, whilst building a new team and remaining stable. its by no means easy task given our financial state.

Edited 15 July, 2021 by Saint86

[TWar]

5 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Our starting CAMs next year should be Armstrong and Tella. Then you have Redmond, Walcott, Djenpo, and maybe Mo (not seen enough of him) as back up. Also Perraud can play left wing extremely capably if needed. Strikers will be ings and/or Armstrong, Adams, and Obafemi. Its a decent enough team for a mid table finish and will again come down to injuries and squad depth - but at least this year the covid rules on recovery facilities etc should be relaxed!

The reality is that we're very much in transition even now - we're still trying to balance the books and off load Les' long contract squad players, whilst building a new team and remaining stable. its by no means easy task given our financial state.

I really don't think Tella is very good at CAM. He was decent enough as a striker but I can't personally remember one game where he really excelled as a CAM. Our CAM's should be Armstrong and someone new or we will really struggle imo.