The irony is that sort of criticism is lazy in itself. I never once watched Oztumer play and thought he looked lazy. He would cover ground. He would chase defenders down. Sometimes he just didn’t get in the game, it happens.
It’s always the same with flair players. If they don’t produce it every game, which nobody outside of Lionel Messi does, people go “oh well, he just isn’t trying”. Happened with Sawyers, happened with Oztumer, happened with McDonald last season when he was head and shoulders best player.
If your scoring or assisting the not chasing back or helping out goes unnoticed, Mcdonald plenty of times I’ve seen him lose the ball and just trott back with no intention of winning the ball back, LAZY in my book. And from reading the Bristol forum it looks like Ozzy falls into that category.
Felt like Gordon was anticipating a January move before his injury, and he hasn’t really been right since. Not to question his commitment, he’s always works hard, but he has lost his spark.
I watched him play, I don’t need to read a forum to disagree with that analysis.
I think McDonald has been lazy at times this season. I think last season he worked his socks off when he was playing his best. That is why I specified last season …
I think many fans don’t understand the level to which players perform these days. Giving 100% effort isn’t enough. Being physically on top form isn’t enough. There’s a huge mental element and a player needs to be 100% right mentally, week in, week out, to really play to the best of his ability.
Sawyers is the perfect example - Dean Smith knew just how to manage him and he turned into an exceptional player. I worry what Allardyce has done to him at West Brom and hope that he finds a manager he can re-instill that confidence.
I can only think that the same has happened to Oztumer - he was a big fish in a small pool at Walsall and suddenly became a small fish in a big pool at Bolton and Charlton. I wonder how much this affected him and what it would take to get himself back to those top levels? I don’t think for one minute that it will happen but, actually, coming back to the security of Walsall, where the vast majority of fans would love and appreciate him, could be ideal.
I’m sorry but if I’ve had issues at home, I still give my all at work if not I take a couple of days off. Just because they are footballers it’s OK not to perform ???
And yet you watched him for us?! Chasing and pressing all over the pitch.
He went elsewhere, it hasn’t worked out and plenty have previously come back, some worked, some haven’t but he’s certainly someone I’d be very happy to take the risk on for a year or two if it goes well.
You’re not reading what I’m saying. Having off the field issues or mental issues does not mean you shouldn’t give 100%. It does mean that you’ll lack that extra 1%-2% that, in the speedy modern game, makes all of the difference - between reaching that cross and not reaching it, between seeing that killer pass and not seeing it, between timing that tackle perfectly and just missing it. As I said, Gordon is the perfect example - giving 100% but always just a yard off the pace.
In fact, lots of managers tell players not to expend energy in areas of the pitch they don’t have an effect. They argue that you should reserve your energy for when you can really effect the game and give it 100 percent when the ball is in those areas.
“he doesn’t track back” isn’t really a fair way to judge a players output
Because A) That is at a much higher level than we are at now, B) that is with no idea of the circumstances around it and C) Comparing him to McDonald is like comparing an Aston Martin to a Ford Mondeo. I have seen what Oztumer can do over a sustained period.
You could fully understand him wanting to try his luck in championship, he earnt it but Bolton was probably the worst move he could’ve made given they were a financial basketcase and he was playing for Phil Parkinson who’s one of the least likely to play through a number 10 in whole football league.
Brentford would’ve been a decent fit in those times but they probably did their metrics on him and concluded he wouldn’t scale up to championship and they’ve been proved right on that as usual
Surprised it didn’t work out for him at Charlton though given he’s from there and would’ve thought Bowyer would’ve got some good form out of him so that is a concern .
End of the day the club needs a midfielder who can actually score more than 3 goals a season as that’s been pretty difficult in last 3 years since Edwards got his bad injury.
I liken it a bit to getting Milan back. He didn’t do much after leaving and I was sceptical when he came back in 2015 but generally he played a decent enough part in squad role in nearly getting club promoted.
Completely agree, some very one dimensional analysis of Oztumer on this thread.
He was clearly very poorly advised after leaving Walsall. Why on earth would a 5ft 3 play maker join a Phil Parkinson Bolton team battling relegation? He was never going to prosper in that environment and it’s seemingly knocked his confidence.
We all know his ability and the glimpses we saw in that cup game earlier this season show that he still has it in his locker. Whether it’s the right signing for us in terms of squad building is uncertain given that I would like to see Holden given a proper run at the number 10 spot, but to label Oztumer as ‘lazy’ is quite frankly lazy.
Mate I’m struggling with your logic here, you’ve spent months sticking up for a bloke who couldn’t win a game for ■■■■. However a player who was fantastic for us is now not good enough
