Shoot me down in flames........

[mushRTID]

I can see all sides of the argument to be honest.

I thought he was really poor against the top teams last season and it wasn’t a massive shock a championship club didn’t take a punt on him, as I do not think he is that level.

As as been said he should have scored what he did being the focal point of a team that created plenty of chances.... but he missed too many too.

I wish him all the best though.

[WarwickRover]

Spot on buddy boy

[Park Rover]

I said exactly the same in January last year and got lambasted, missed too many sitters to be a top striker. Played in a team which created numerous chances, but someone more clinical ( Sharp) playing in that team would have scored far more. He also had the advantage of never being dropped however poorly he played.
Worked hard for us but now playing for a competitor in the same league, so I wish him all the best but hope he doesn’t score many goals, and if he has a poor run of games he will not have the same support he had here and will be dropped

[pib]

Don’t think we’ll be able to truly tell until the season is a bit older.

It’s all well and good JM’s departure giving other players a bit more confidence to take more shots on goal, but unless it results in more goals/wins for the team we won’t be better off overall because of it.

Yesterday was encouraging and shows we can get goals from other players in the team, but to me the biggest aspect of JM’s game we miss is his hold-up play and ability to lead the line. Get someone in who can do that and chip in with a few goals and we might just end up better off.

[Chris Black come back]

Rooney scored 8 league goals in his final season with Everton. A fantastic talent but Everton were hardly as exposed to him to the extent we were for goals from Marquis.

[Michael Shaw]

To be fair to JM he has done a lot for us over the years and it's unfair to be so critical now. He scored goals and that's what the game is all about, winning.
It will be interesting to see if he scores so many for Portsmouth, or if he is running out of steam.

[selby]

  BB, you should be cinders by now,  wake up lad, it's time to stop dreaming and go to work.

[Bentley Bullet]

Selby, I never imagined for one minute that you of all people would agree with me on the subject of Rovers players' ability, and with your track record, I'm rather glad you don't!

[Glyn_Wigley]

Rooney scored 8 league goals in his final season with Everton. A fantastic talent but Everton were hardly as exposed to him to the extent we were for goals from Marquis.

Actually he scored 9 league goals and was Everton's top league scorer that season. Doesn't losing your top league scorer expose you whichever team you are?

[scawsby steve]

This will turn out to be nothing other than a hindsight thread. Football's about results. If we make the top 6, we'll have done just as well without John; if we don't, we'll have done worse; simple as.

[selby]

  The fact is lads, he was worth well over a million pounds to another club to sign to get them goals, one of a  few in our history who has been good enough while playing for us to attract a sizeable fee, and the forwards we were left with at the end of the season, before the loan players came in apart from Sadlier, were recognised by most on this forum as being well below the standard to make an impression as scorers of goals in this division. That has not changed, they have not bothered the score sheet yet.

[mjg]

On the rare occasions that we played without marquis we played well and scored,  I said in January take the money and run, I still believe we should have 👍🏻

[Bentley Bullet]

  The fact is lads, he was worth well over a million pounds to another club to sign.....

He cost over a million quid. Whether he was worth it only time will tell.

[RedJ]

On the rare occasions that we played without marquis we played well and scored,  I said in January take the money and run, I still believe we should have 👍🏻

How many games did we play without him while he was here?

[selby]

  BB, I know why  you don't like him, but would bet even you would not pick any of our players to score more than him this season, although he is due an injury. if he plays the same number of games as he played the seasons he played with us, he is a fair bet to get 20 plus goals this season, and Portsmouth will not be far off the top of the division at the end of the season.

[mjg]

Not many . Don’t get me wrong I loved his work ethic, yes he could have scored a lot more goals than he did, but if he did that he wouldn’t have been a rovers player to begin with, the money offered in January was an offer I believe was a good offer for him being he couldn’t score a penalty and missed so many easy chances

[pib]

All strikers “should score a lot more” because naturally not every chance will go in. The guy got 26 last season and not many strikers do better than that.

[tommy toes]

Interesting comparison someone made re:Marquis/Barnes.
Both scored a lot, missed a lot, moaned a lot and came across as arrogant.
Fact is Barnes' goals got us out of the Conference and Marquis' goals got us where we are now.
God bless em and ta very much I say.

[mjg]

Just really frustrated me

[ScillyRover]

Pompey fans not too impressed with JM so far ...
From their forum “Quite why he signed Marquis for an inflated 2 million is beyond me.”

[Chris Black come back]

Rooney scored 8 league goals in his final season with Everton. A fantastic talent but Everton were hardly as exposed to him to the extent we were for goals from Marquis.

Actually he scored 9 league goals and was Everton's top league scorer that season. Doesn't losing your top league scorer expose you whichever team you are?

You are right - he scored 9 and Radzinski scored 8. So while they lost their top goalscorer, there was basically nothing in it really. It could quite easily have been Radzinski that season.  Their bigger problem was that their top scorer failed to break double figures, rather than anything else.

[Bentley Bullet]

Selby, it's nowt to do with not liking him. He scored plenty of goals for us. I believe there was a negative side to his presence in the team though. I always suspected that he was a bit of a bully and intimidated some of the players, which affected their performances, and maybe even their decision making. He possibly even intimidated the manager into selecting him during the times when he should have been dropped. He landed on his feet with us. He was undroppable and he knew it. He scored goals for us that he wouldn't have at another club because he would have been dropped for some of the games he scored in. I don't believe he will score as many at Portsmouth because he won't be selected when he doesn't deserve to be.

Do you honestly think that the fringe players wouldn't have added to their goal accounts had they played in his place when he deserved to be dropped?

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

BB makes some fair points. It is right to wonder if there were some negatives despite his goals. At times you cant disagree that he could be a pain, grumpy and his own worst enemy. Bit those times were outnumbered by his goals.  Only if we finish top 6 with a similar amount of goals scored can we be happy.

[selby]

  Yes, I believe that, they have failed to show goal scoring ability for too long, taking part in nearly eighty games for meagre returns is enough proof for me, as is playing in over twenty games since their last goal.
 We have to replace 40 plus goals from last season from Marquis and Wilks, plus the threat that Rowe had from midfield, especially in big games like the Charlton play off game.
 I can see Whiteman matching Rowe and Sadlier chipping in, also Ennis and the lad from Spurs scoring, but whether forty between them that is the question.
  Alfie has played well, no argument from me, but honestly BB, have you seen him take his man on the outside, have the body strength to shrug off a challenge, and show the quick feet and control in the area Sterling showed when setting up our second goal, or him drifting in to the position Taylor was to stab the winning goal home, or the instant control and touch Ennis showed to score our first goal from distance while under pressure.
   If you have, I must have missed it, and if we sign a goal scoring striker, Taylor gets fit, and Ennis, Sadlier and Sterling are really as good as they have showed  promise, if he does not start to add goals to his game he will have as much time on the bench this season as last.

[drfchound]

To be fair selby, you are being quite harsh again on Alfie.
He has always shown good technical ability and in my opinion, he has improved that and he does have quick feet.
He isn’t going to be overly strong given his size so that is an unfair comparison.
I never saw Mandeville bulldoze his way past a big CB and you obviously rated him.
As for the 40 goals that you mention, an average of eight per man between five players isn’t massive.

[Bentley Bullet]

Selby, Your hatred of Alfie May is very deep-set and knows no bounds. It is disturbing when a supporter can hold such a grudge against one of his own team's players that it becomes an obsession.

[Alan Southstand]

I’ve seen him do it in the u23’s last season, Selby. I can’t remember who we played in one of the games, but Alfie was almost unplayable! Now, if only he could transfer that into a proper league game; he’s getting closer as Saturday’s game showed, but there's still work to do on the end product. Sometimes, I think he tries too hard and he just needs to stay calm at the right moment.

That curler he tried on Saturday, that went wide and high of the far post, just about had everything leading up to the actual strike itself and then.......! DM spun 180deg in exasperation after he missed the target.

That said, I thought he was better than Sadlier on Saturday, certainly his work rate was far superior. Oh well, onto the next one.

[Reesielad]

When Alfie gets on the ball you know he’s going to run at people, gets the crowd going. He’s still not a regular first team starter for me but he’s getting better by every game. Give him time.


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[Campsall rover]

Selby, Your hatred of Alfie May is very deep-set and knows no bounds. It is disturbing when a supporter can hold such a grudge against one of his own team's players that it becomes an obsession.

No, to back up Brian he doesn’t hate him at all. He is just simply pointing out his deficiencies.
Anyone who understands the game should be able to see that he doesn’t go past his man and he doesn’t score goals.
Please tell me if he is more dangerous to the opposition than Sadlier, Taylor, Ennis or Sterling.
If he is we are watching different players.

Having said that, Alfie has improved beyond all recognition to the player he was 12 months ago.
His first touch is excellent and his overall awareness of who is around him and use of the ball has improved under DM beyond recognition.
But believe me defenders are not going to have nightmares playing against him for the reasons stated above. Now Ennis, Sterling, Taylor and Sadlier are going to cause a few sleepless nights imo.

It’s all about opinions of course, nothing is simply black or white is it.
Maybe DM can turn him into a goal scorer and i hope he does. But goal scorers are usually born not made and pace likewise. Work rate is something of a trade mark for Alfie but unfortunately he doesn’t have that electric pace over 10 yards to go past people.

Everyone loves Alfie, how can you not, he is living his dream, and that is why he gets so much praise but looking deeper into his game which is what some of us are doing (taking the blinkers off) shows his deficiencies at this level of football.

[Bentley Bullet]

Every player at this level has deficiencies. Our job as supporters is to praise the positives of our players and not delve into their deficiencies.

..........Unless of course, you're Selby.