Divin Mubama

[hypochondriac]

1 minute ago, Baird of the land said:

Seems to be the new whipping boy for some.

Are you suggesting he was really good and people are just pretending he wasn't great because they want a whipping boy?

[Baird of the land]

Just now, hypochondriac said:

Are you suggesting he was really good and people are just pretending he wasn't great because they want a whipping boy?

I thought was ok, not great but equally not terrible. 

[hypochondriac]

1 minute ago, Baird of the land said:

I thought was ok, not great but equally not terrible. 

I'm not sure anyone called him terrible?

[S-Clarke]

He's keen, got a bit of a headless chicken look about him at the mo though. Ball seems to bounce off him, rather than sticking. He has pace/power though, so we just need to get him in behind rather than throwing long balls up at him. 

He's obviously very raw, be interesting to see how he develops.

Edited Tuesday at 21:25 by S-Clarke

[Disco Stu]

Does Princewill Ehibhatiomhan know how to hold a ball up?

[Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd]

The problem is that he's inexperienced and that's not what's needed. We haven't got time to 'hope that he develops'. We need a proven goalscorer and somehow we've got less up front that we had a month ago. 

Honestly, this club.

[S-Clarke]

Just now, Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd said:

The problem is that he's inexperienced and that's not what's needed. We haven't got time to 'hope that he develops'. We need a proven goalscorer and somehow we've got less up front that we had a month ago. 

Honestly, this club.

Have you asked your Man City supporting friend what he thinks of him?

[Osvaldorama]

He didn’t really get any decent service or anything to work with tonight, in a difficult game. 
 

Think it’s quite harsh to judge him on that. 

[S-Clarke]

1 minute ago, Osvaldorama said:

He didn’t really get any decent service or anything to work with tonight, in a difficult game. 
 

Think it’s quite harsh to judge him on that. 

Yeah, we kept hitting it long to him - I don't think that's his game. I think he's a spin in behind type of player, get the ball on the ground and let him turn a CB. He's the quickest forward we have, lots of upper body strength too.

I think he can be a good attribute to us, as he's shown he can score goals at this level with Stoke. We just need to play him correctly.

[Football Special]

49 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

I don't think he's someone who can lead the line on his own. When Larin is tired or injured I'm not sure we will be scoring many. He's the type of player who would have been fine to bring in if we still had Stewart as well. Now we have to rely on him.

You are correct, we are so dependent on Larin its scary 

[Fabrice29]

48 minutes ago, Football Special said:

You are correct, we are so dependent on Larin its scary 

Only if we don’t change the way we attack. It’s perfectly possible we supply the strikers differently. We don’t have to keep smashing the ball up to Mubama if we don’t want to. 

We also don’t have to do that to Larin either but that’s a whole different debate.

[CSA96]

I think he’s got something. But we do need to stop just whacking the ball at him above hip height and expecting him to make something of it. He’s not Larin, who can do that at times. Mubama is more agile and lively and we need to harness that with more passes off the shoulder of the last defender for him to stretch teams late in games when they’re tiring 

[Maggie May]

8 hours ago, Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd said:

The problem is that he's inexperienced and that's not what's needed. We haven't got time to 'hope that he develops'. We need a proven goalscorer and somehow we've got less up front that we had a month ago. 

Honestly, this club.

He’s played more Championship games than Larin…

[revolution saint]

Get the impression Mubama is probably a decent finisher and will score goals if he's given chances but getting involved in the build up or holding the ball up isn't really his thing.

[CSA96]

4 minutes ago, revolution saint said:

Get the impression Mubama is probably a decent finisher and will score goals if he's given chances but getting involved in the build up or holding the ball up isn't really his thing.

Agree. Although he does look okay when the ball goes into feet. But when it's hit up to him at chest height or head height he looks uncomfortable, it's not his game

[saintant]

14 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

Yeah, we kept hitting it long to him - I don't think that's his game. I think he's a spin in behind type of player, get the ball on the ground and let him turn a CB. He's the quickest forward we have, lots of upper body strength too.

I think he can be a good attribute to us, as he's shown he can score goals at this level with Stoke. We just need to play him correctly.

Agree. We need to get him latching on to cute passes from Azaz like he did against Stoke. He's not a target man but if we hit it into the channels or down the wings accurately he'll probably have more chance of holding the ball up in those situations than a big lump to him from the back.

[sadoldgit]

We have a long history of bringing attacking players in and not playing to their strengths.

[Turkish]

3 hours ago, sadoldgit said:

We have a long history of bringing attacking players in and not playing to their strengths.

You in particular seem to have a habit of thinking everyone is a right winger 

[Disco Stu]

6 hours ago, revolution saint said:

Get the impression Mubama is probably a decent finisher and will score goals if he's given chances but getting involved in the build up or holding the ball up isn't really his thing.

I'm getting the same impression with Dobbin.

[StrangelyBrown]

7 hours ago, CSA96 said:

Agree. Although he does look okay when the ball goes into feet. But when it's hit up to him at chest height or head height he looks uncomfortable, it's not his game

Which begs the question why did we bring him in to be a single striker in a system that needs that player to win the ball in the air and hold the ball up?

Edited Wednesday at 18:33 by StrangelyBrown

[CSA96]

20 minutes ago, StrangelyBrown said:

Which begs the question why did we bring him in to be a single striker in a system that needs that player to win the ball in the air and hold the ball up?

I presume the answer would be so that the squad isn't totally one dimensional and has the ability to adjust and change at points to try different things and because he is highly-regarded in football circles and the club wanted to have a talented prospect rather than a poorer version of Larin

[StrangelyBrown]

1 hour ago, CSA96 said:

I presume the answer would be so that the squad isn't totally one dimensional and has the ability to adjust and change at points to try different things and because he is highly-regarded in football circles and the club wanted to have a talented prospect rather than a poorer version of Larin

Let's see how this pans out. I don't disagree with having options, but we'll need to adapt to a different style of play if we want to see the best of him. So far we seem to be treating him like a poorer version of Larin.

[Harry_SFC]

2 hours ago, CSA96 said:

I presume the answer would be so that the squad isn't totally one dimensional and has the ability to adjust and change at points to try different things and because he is highly-regarded in football circles and the club wanted to have a talented prospect rather than a poorer version of Larin

No problem with this but really given Larins inability to play consecutive games to a high standard we should've brought in another striker more in his mould, as well as Mubama. 

[CSA96]

1 hour ago, Harry_SFC said:

No problem with this but really given Larins inability to play consecutive games to a high standard we should've brought in another striker more in his mould, as well as Mubama. 

Agree, in an ideal world would've definitely done that (possibly ahead of spending £10m on a CB)

[Golac's Iron Gonads]

Is there any correlation between the posters writing off Mubama after 4 brief appearances and those claiming Broja was a nailed on future top 6 team player after 4 or 5 full games with us?

Edited Thursday at 03:20 by Golac's Iron Gonads

[saintant]

Mubama has played around 80 minutes league football and scored one goal. That's a decent record considering he's only getting 20 minutes per game. As others have said we need to adapt how we play when he is on the pitch. He's more of an Ollie Watkins (not suggesting he's on the same level) than a battering ram so requires the ball played on the deck into the channels and down the flanks to get the best out of him. Plus he needs more game time as 20 minutes doesn't give him enough time to hone his game or for his team mates to learn to play with him. 

[Saint Pete]

3 hours ago, saintant said:

Mubama has played around 80 minutes league football and scored one goal. That's a decent record considering he's only getting 20 minutes per game. As others have said we need to adapt how we play when he is on the pitch. He's more of an Ollie Watkins (not suggesting he's on the same level) than a battering ram so requires the ball played on the deck into the channels and down the flanks to get the best out of him. Plus he needs more game time as 20 minutes doesn't give him enough time to hone his game or for his team mates to learn to play with him. 

Agree with you, we do need to learn to feed him differently to Larin when he is on the pitch. I think he will do OK if we can do that. From a squad perspective though, it would feel a lot more comfortable if we had a viable stronger forward as backup too in case Larin gets injured and the team we are playing needs that type of player rather than the Mubama type. I'm not sure Prince is that guy based on his Salford record in League Two but let's see. 

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

On 02/09/2026 at 11:49, CSA96 said:

Agree. Although he does look okay when the ball goes into feet. But when it's hit up to him at chest height or head height he looks uncomfortable, it's not his game

While I've noticed he tends to be better when the ball is on the ground, surely he can work on headers and controlling the ball at chest height. 

Of more concern is his natural instinct. JWP did some crosses at Brum and Mubama was nowhere near getting to the ball. If the ball is bouncing loosely around in penalty area, you feel Larin will get a foot on it .... but Mubama doesn't seem to be in the right place. But it's early days and his attitude looks good.  

[Disco Stu]

What a colossal downgrade on Ross Stewart. Can't hold the ball. Can't win a header. Completely the wrong profile for what we needed.

[Osvaldorama]

Literally looked like he’s never played football before today. Horrendous cameo 

[MB]

This cunt is fucking useless, no better than Damion Downes. Massive mistake not to replace Stewart properly. 

[O_Lord_Marian]

Passenger and offered absolutely nothing. Not signing another striker could be the undoing of our season.

[Football Special]

16 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

What a colossal downgrade on Ross Stewart. Can't hold the ball. Can't win a header. Completely the wrong profile for what we needed.

He clearly isn't the Stewart replacement, he's the Damion Downs one and did a good impression of him

We're completely fucked if Larin can't play 

[Gloucester Saint]

18 minutes ago, O_Lord_Marian said:

Passenger and offered absolutely nothing. Not signing another striker could be the undoing of our season.

Yet another transfer window fuck up. Obvious another striker profile was needed, let 3 go on loan, another free and just replaced with this youngster. Fucking hopeless football club.

[Dman]

Send him back, play one of the kids. At least we’d be developing someone for our benefit. 

He’s absolutely woeful. Offers us nothing with his back to goal and doesn’t even try to get stuck in. 
 

[Miltonaggro]

Right now he is looking every inch the player who scored a grand total of 5 goals (3 league goals) in 26 games for stoke.  Young, so may get hungrier and improve, but Archer to Auxerre in the circumstances makes you think our coaching staff are fecking clueless. 

[Dman]

20 minutes ago, Football Special said:

He clearly isn't the Stewart replacement, he's the Damion Downs one and did a good impression of him

We're completely fucked if Larin can't play 

We’d have been better off keeping Downs. At least he’s our player and the game time might have improved him. genuinely no difference between the 2. 

[CB Fry]

I'm going to say i think he's brilliant, he's going to transform our season and also he's brilliant.

Just so I can be smug as fuck when the time comes.

Because every single player that gets written off on here becomes a world beater right? That's definitely how it works lads, right?

[ally_uk]

Yes let's right the lad off after like 2 games what a bunch of wank wipes haha 😄 

[Daft Kerplunk]

I guess we've been spoiled over the years with young players who have come in and looked like they were at the level they were playing, or showed they could play at that level quickly.  I certainly wouldn't write anyone off quickly but I struggled to see anything today that suggested we've got a player who will have the impact we need if we want to go up.  More than a whiff of Downs with that performance.  

[Football Special]

25 minutes ago, ally_uk said:

Yes let's right the lad off after like 2 games what a bunch of wank wipes haha 😄 

I'm not writing him off yet but he's looked fairly shit and nowhere near ready to lead the line. 

[Nordic Saint]

Today he looked like a poor man's Damion Downs. Let's hope he ups his work rate and improves quickly.

[RedArmy]

8 minutes ago, Football Special said:

I'm not writing him off yet but he's looked fairly shit and nowhere near ready to lead the line. 

I think he’s a player that would rely on those magic balls from Azaz and he wasn’t really at the races today. 

[Osvaldorama]

47 minutes ago, ally_uk said:

Yes let's right the lad off after like 2 games what a bunch of wank wipes haha 😄 

Don’t think anyone is writing him off yet but he absolutely has to do better. At least be a nuisance or try running in behind or something. Also could try controlling the football

[Jack]

 

1 hour ago, Osvaldorama said:

Don’t think anyone is writing him off yet but he absolutely has to do better. At least be a nuisance or try running in behind or something. Also could try controlling the football

I’m more than happy to write him off. At least Downs got himself in some useful positions to then fuck it up, this cunt just aimlessly wanders around not even being a nuisance. He seems a downgrade at this stage 

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

Didn't help that Saints decided to stop playing before the Lincoln goal.

However nothing stuck to him today. 

Frustrating, he's not a direct Larin replacement. So Tonda needs to understand how to utilise him better.

[Football Special]

15 minutes ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

Didn't help that Saints decided to stop playing before the Lincoln goal.

However nothing stuck to him today. 

Frustrating, he's not a direct Larin replacement. So Tonda needs to understand how to utilise him better.

I said back in the transfer thread that £9M just didn’t seem right for Dobbin, advocated early in the window our target should have been Lankshear who impressed me last season with his strength and movement,  he wouldn't have cost that much more 

Edited 2 hours ago by Football Special

[Harry_SFC]

No where near the level of Stewart unfortunately. The club have majorly fucked up and imagine it will cost us. Unless they can rectify it in January that is - if it isn't too late. 

[James]

Early days but he looks nowhere near the level we need. Stewart was one of the best strikers in the division and the rotation we had going with Larin brought out the best in both of them. It’s a shame that we went for a player that’s completely the wrong profile for what we want. Seems a cock up at this stage. 

[James]

12 minutes ago, Football Special said:

I said back in the transfer thread that £9M just didn’t seem right for Dobbin, advocated early in the window our target should have been Lankshear who impressed me last season with his strength and movement,  he wouldn't have cost that much more 

I’ve thought all summer we’d regret not pushing the boat out for Lankshear.