My perspective on (K. Jones)

[future socawarrior]

I normally are against the masses AND here i go again.

The guy is fast, strong, Roy keane " a great finisher", aerial prowess, and troubles defences.
as for goals: Tevez, Adebayor, Kuyt all have as much goals as him and a much better midfield to give assists. The people on the forum who don't think he is good, obviously don't know much of the game.

John Terry: "He is a very good player, very hard working and probably the best in the air in the entire Premier League, he really is that good"

Roy Keane: "If certain strikers are worth £20 million, then he is worth £40 million and I would not swap him"

Steve Bruce: " “If you catch him on his day then because of his physical presence, pace and power, he’s unplayable. There’s not many people as big as the boy.”


So if these people in the league who are present, every week, have played with the best, watched the best play live agree that he is a quality player... why do you ( a person that probably never played pro, never played against him, or seen an actual pro game sit from your fox soccer channel) say he is not good. When he play for Trinidad and Tobago this campaign, he played with guys in center midfield that couldn't string passes out to the attacking third. It was mostly long-balls form the defence, do you think Jermain Dufoe would score 13 goals with Sunderland's midfield?


My thoughts: He obviously is good and is a threat to any defence. It would be great to see him play with a midfield to truly assess his striking talents. He has not played with a quality midfielder unlike Yorke, and with a transfer  in the foreseeable  future he could be a top striker with the help of a better midfield.

[Jah Gol]

According to sw.net stats he scored 4 goals in 45 games for T&T. Granted that he wasn't played as a forward in all of those games, it is still an unimpressive strike rate.

The fact that he could score against EPL teams is great. Its worth more to me as a T&T fan that he scores against Costa Rica and Honduras than Arsenal or Liverpool et al.

[royal]

According to sw.net stats he scored 4 goals in 45 games for T&T. Granted that he wasn't played as a forward in all of those games, it is still an unimpressive strike rate.

The fact that he could score against EPL teams is great. Its worth more to me as a T&T fan that he scores against Costa Rica and Honduras than Arsenal or Liverpool et al.

so why he cyar do both?

[College]

Nice post fwarrior...

I've said before that we take we own players for granted sometimes.  It takes white men in far away countries to tell we how good we is, and still we have a few on here who dont get it.

Like you suggested in your post, maybe it comes down to just knowing/not knowing the game..

[spideybuff]

His sense of posititioning wrong, he is just not a natural striker.

Or...he just doh have the heart to put in the work required to realise his potential.

[dinho]

sense futures..

my perspective -

KJ is a very good striker in his mould, but will probably never be a prolific scorer for TnT until a coach comes in and takes a decision to build the team, the structure and the tactics around him.. And for that to happen it would mean abandoning everything we cherish as inherantly "trinidad football".

In a sense people have been spoiled by Stern John's goalscoring prowess (yes i said it) and expect KJ to come right in and do the same.. Stern is a unique type of striker in that he could make goals out of nothing. Kenwyne is an entirely different type of striker and I would label him a "tandem" striker in that given the right service and approach, he can batter opposing defenders to make opportunities for himself and the other striker in his partnership.

For KJ to be truly effective in the T&T setup, he needs consistent aerial service from the wings and Trinidad has not had a winger that can cross the ball well consistently for as long as I've been watching football. Thats just not the way we play the game. I mean how often you go in the savannah or watch a team training and you see a session focused on wingers running to the byline and crossing the ball for strikers to finish. The conversion rate in those situations are usually pressure on the eyes.

As for the EPL.. fairness is comparing KJ to John Carew, Emile Heskey, Peter Crouch and Emmanuel Adebayor, strikers who operate in a similar role, not to Darren Bent. People underestimate just how much Bent profits from his partnership with Kenwyne, he is flourishing because KJ occupies alot of the attention from opposing defenders leaving him space to exploit. Look at the goalscoring of those names i mentioned above and the people that play around them and you will see quite a similar trend.

That fact is also a big part of the reason why Bent couldnt cut it at Spurs when ironically he was playing in the role KJ is playing in right now. He himself said that they had him down as a "target" striker and that was killing his game because he plays "off the shoulder"..  Go figure...

[Cocorite]

T&T just doh have a WINNING mentality. A WINNER looks at what he has at his disposal and figures out a way to win. KJ has certain strengths he is not Stern, Yorke, or Latapy he is KJ with KJ size, skills, temperment, strength, physical presence, etc. T&T needs to develop a WINNING mentality. Use ALL that is available to figure out a way to win against your opponents. Period.

BTW KJ enjoy your football and take care of your family for as long as you can. We're proud of you.

[elan]

KJ lack understanding of when to run and where to run. Many times the mids will pick up the ball and you will see hesitation on his movement. If he can learn to identify quicker "closed balls" from "open balls" he will transform his game big time. This is something that Dwight and Scotland is really great at.

[dreamer]

sense futures..

my perspective -

KJ is a very good striker in his mould, but will probably never be a prolific scorer for TnT until a coach comes in and takes a decision to build the team, the structure and the tactics around him.. And for that to happen it would mean abandoning everything we cherish as inherantly "trinidad football".

In a sense people have been spoiled by Stern John's goalscoring prowess (yes i said it) and expect KJ to come right in and do the same.. Stern is a unique type of striker in that he could make goals out of nothing. Kenwyne is an entirely different type of striker and I would label him a "tandem" striker in that given the right service and approach, he can batter opposing defenders to make opportunities for himself and the other striker in his partnership.

For KJ to be truly effective in the T&T setup, he needs consistent aerial service from the wings and Trinidad has not had a winger that can cross the ball well consistently for as long as I've been watching football. Thats just not the way we play the game. I mean how often you go in the savannah or watch a team training and you see a session focused on wingers running to the byline and crossing the ball for strikers to finish. The conversion rate in those situations are usually pressure on the eyes.

As for the EPL.. fairness is comparing KJ to John Carew, Emile Heskey, Peter Crouch and Emmanuel Adebayor, strikers who operate in a similar role, not to Darren Bent. People underestimate just how much Bent profits from his partnership with Kenwyne, he is flourishing because KJ occupies alot of the attention from opposing defenders leaving him space to exploit. Look at the goalscoring of those names i mentioned above and the people that play around them and you will see quite a similar trend.

That fact is also a big part of the reason why Bent couldnt cut it at Spurs when ironically he was playing in the role KJ is playing in right now. He himself said that they had him down as a "target" striker and that was killing his game because he plays "off the shoulder"..  Go figure...

Good post

[future socawarrior]

sense futures..

my perspective -

KJ is a very good striker in his mould, but will probably never be a prolific scorer for TnT until a coach comes in and takes a decision to build the team, the structure and the tactics around him.. And for that to happen it would mean abandoning everything we cherish as inherantly "trinidad football".

In a sense people have been spoiled by Stern John's goalscoring prowess (yes i said it) and expect KJ to come right in and do the same.. Stern is a unique type of striker in that he could make goals out of nothing. Kenwyne is an entirely different type of striker and I would label him a "tandem" striker in that given the right service and approach, he can batter opposing defenders to make opportunities for himself and the other striker in his partnership.

For KJ to be truly effective in the T&T setup, he needs consistent aerial service from the wings and Trinidad has not had a winger that can cross the ball well consistently for as long as I've been watching football. Thats just not the way we play the game. I mean how often you go in the savannah or watch a team training and you see a session focused on wingers running to the byline and crossing the ball for strikers to finish. The conversion rate in those situations are usually pressure on the eyes.

As for the EPL.. fairness is comparing KJ to John Carew, Emile Heskey, Peter Crouch and Emmanuel Adebayor, strikers who operate in a similar role, not to Darren Bent. People underestimate just how much Bent profits from his partnership with Kenwyne, he is flourishing because KJ occupies alot of the attention from opposing defenders leaving him space to exploit. Look at the goalscoring of those names i mentioned above and the people that play around them and you will see quite a similar trend.

That fact is also a big part of the reason why Bent couldnt cut it at Spurs when ironically he was playing in the role KJ is playing in right now. He himself said that they had him down as a "target" striker and that was killing his game because he plays "off the shoulder"..  Go figure...

Good post

i agree

[Socapro]

sense futures..

my perspective -

KJ is a very good striker in his mould, but will probably never be a prolific scorer for TnT until a coach comes in and takes a decision to build the team, the structure and the tactics around him.. And for that to happen it would mean abandoning everything we cherish as inherantly "trinidad football".

In a sense people have been spoiled by Stern John's goalscoring prowess (yes i said it) and expect KJ to come right in and do the same.. Stern is a unique type of striker in that he could make goals out of nothing. Kenwyne is an entirely different type of striker and I would label him a "tandem" striker in that given the right service and approach, he can batter opposing defenders to make opportunities for himself and the other striker in his partnership.

For KJ to be truly effective in the T&T setup, he needs consistent aerial service from the wings and Trinidad has not had a winger that can cross the ball well consistently for as long as I've been watching football. Thats just not the way we play the game. I mean how often you go in the savannah or watch a team training and you see a session focused on wingers running to the byline and crossing the ball for strikers to finish. The conversion rate in those situations are usually pressure on the eyes.

As for the EPL.. fairness is comparing KJ to John Carew, Emile Heskey, Peter Crouch and Emmanuel Adebayor, strikers who operate in a similar role, not to Darren Bent. People underestimate just how much Bent profits from his partnership with Kenwyne, he is flourishing because KJ occupies alot of the attention from opposing defenders leaving him space to exploit. Look at the goalscoring of those names i mentioned above and the people that play around them and you will see quite a similar trend.

That fact is also a big part of the reason why Bent couldnt cut it at Spurs when ironically he was playing in the role KJ is playing in right now. He himself said that they had him down as a "target" striker and that was killing his game because he plays "off the shoulder"..  Go figure...

Good post!

What will be proof of the points I've highlighted is if KJ leaves Sunderland and goes to a team like Man Utd and starts scoring like how Yorke used to do when Man Utd won the trebble because of the superior service he gets as compared with what he got at Sunderland.

Also if when KJ leaves Sundeland and Brent's goals suddenly start drying up it will show us the imporant role KJ played as their target man to free up Brent!

[weary1969]

His sense of posititioning wrong, he is just not a natural striker.

COSIGN

[rotatopoti3]

His sense of posititioning wrong, he is just not a natural striker.

Maybe Sunderland could use him as ah right winger.....he seems to like crossing the ball

[kev]

sense futures..

my perspective -

KJ is a very good striker in his mould, but will probably never be a prolific scorer for TnT until a coach comes in and takes a decision to build the team, the structure and the tactics around him.. And for that to happen it would mean abandoning everything we cherish as inherantly "trinidad football".

In a sense people have been spoiled by Stern John's goalscoring prowess (yes i said it) and expect KJ to come right in and do the same.. Stern is a unique type of striker in that he could make goals out of nothing. Kenwyne is an entirely different type of striker and I would label him a "tandem" striker in that given the right service and approach, he can batter opposing defenders to make opportunities for himself and the other striker in his partnership.

For KJ to be truly effective in the T&T setup, he needs consistent aerial service from the wings and Trinidad has not had a winger that can cross the ball well consistently for as long as I've been watching football. Thats just not the way we play the game. I mean how often you go in the savannah or watch a team training and you see a session focused on wingers running to the byline and crossing the ball for strikers to finish. The conversion rate in those situations are usually pressure on the eyes.

As for the EPL.. fairness is comparing KJ to John Carew, Emile Heskey, Peter Crouch and Emmanuel Adebayor, strikers who operate in a similar role, not to Darren Bent. People underestimate just how much Bent profits from his partnership with Kenwyne, he is flourishing because KJ occupies alot of the attention from opposing defenders leaving him space to exploit. Look at the goalscoring of those names i mentioned above and the people that play around them and you will see quite a similar trend.

That fact is also a big part of the reason why Bent couldnt cut it at Spurs when ironically he was playing in the role KJ is playing in right now. He himself said that they had him down as a "target" striker and that was killing his game because he plays "off the shoulder"..  Go figure...

Good post!

What will be proof of the points I've highlighted is if KJ leaves Sunderland and goes to a team like Man Utd and starts scoring like how Yorke used to do when Man Utd won the trebble because of the superior service he gets as compared with what he got at Sunderland.

Also if when KJ leaves Sundeland and Brent's goals suddenly start drying up it will show us the imporant role KJ played as their target man to free up Brent!

If he leaves, if he does likely to be the summer, I just don't think Bruce believes he can get the best out of him, he seems to be struggling (or thinks he is) to motivate him, thats what it looks like to me from the outside anyway. 

He won't go to Manu, to score goals regularly with even better service he needs to improve his control, awareness, anticipation and movement aswell as his shooting.

Bent has scored at every club, he misses quite a few opportunities but his record is there for everybody to see, even at Spurs when he didn't play much and was played as a lone striker, something he doesn't like and is not suited to his goals ratio was better than it is at Sunderland, despite not playing week in week out and quite a few sub appearances. 

Kenwyne will always score goals, in a better team he might score a few more, but he will never score as many as he should without the improvements above, fans forget in a better team the striker needs to be more aware, have better anticipation and movement to take advantage of the chances created, if the player isn't where he should be then when the ball is played he is not going to be there to put it in the net.

[Cocorite]

Agreed Kev, but it seems KJ has defensive responsibilities at times when he should be heading to the box.

[Eldo man]

To many coaches on this forum.Half of allyuh ent know ah dam thing...Man talking bout KJ this and that and de man need to improve on awareness and all kinda ah assness. KJ will never be a Stern or a York. KJ will be KJ. Let we encourage de man and wish him all de best. Everytime i watch de man play i does feel proud to be ah trini. Apart form York, KJ will be de next man to big up Trini in de EPL allyuh watch.

Yes KJ have things he need to work on i agree... but to much men does just blast de man for no reason.. KJ boy all de best, make trini proud.. keep doin yuh think and once yuh score yuh goal yuh will keep makin that paper.. forget them fellers on this forum.

[maxg]

His sense of posititioning wrong, he is just not a natural striker.

Or...he just doh have the heart to put in the work required to realise his potential.

ah pity they eh wha some ah we other fellas who possess all dem abilities...all dem ppl musbe blind, an only the true trini fan could see the trute...oh well since dey not callin we best....we might as well poke holes in KJ....dah's we natural position   

[kev]

Agreed Kev, but it seems KJ has defensive responsibilities at times when he should be heading to the box.

He does and he isn't always high enough up the pitch to get involved which is fair enough, but he just doesn't get into the box often enough or fast enough and always seems to wait for the ball to be played rather than going for an expected ball.  Its strange really but Bent gets caught offside too much, whereas Kenwyne never seems to get caught offside at all, I'm sure he does but not that often.  May seem a daft thing to bring up, but what is tends to show is one is standing and the other is off and running.

[Eldo man]

U know what role de coack give KJ?

[Bakes]

U know what role de coack give KJ?

Do you?

[Eldo man]

U know what role de coack give KJ?

Do you?

No Mr Bake i don't know.. I does just watch de man play he foot-ball. But it seems like others on this forum does be in de dressing room when de coach talking to KJ. Ask kev seems like he know!!

[Bakes]

No Mr Bake i don't know.. I does just watch de man play he foot-ball. But it seems like others on this forum does be in de dressing room when de coach talking to KJ. Ask kev seems like he know!!

Steve Bruce has been trying all season to light a fire under Kenwyne... on of his chief gripes is that KJ doesn't hustle enough.  So I don't think it's a stretch to suggest that Kenwyne not running enough is displeasing to his coach.  When you reconcile that with the praise that Bent gets it's pretty clear that he'd like to see a bit more of Bent's game in KJ.  Kev is exactly on point to suggest that Bent pushes the (offside) envelope and has the results to show for it.  KJ seems to be waiting on the perfect pass/perfect opportunity, which comes along once every blue moon... just like his goals.

[rotatopoti3]

Well if he waiting for a perfect pass...dat sound to me like

KJ iz ah LOAFER

[kev]

U know what role de coack give KJ?

Do you?

No Mr Bake i don't know.. I does just watch de man play he foot-ball. But it seems like others on this forum does be in de dressing room when de coach talking to KJ. Ask kev seems like he know!!

Sorry for boring you but here's my opinion / view of whats happening.

To me Bruce at the minute is displaying the classic signs of a coach who has too many players he doesn't really have confidence in / want.  He is changing the team in hope rather than expectation, especially the defence, I just thought a few of his picks/subs were strange but its happened too often for me other than he doesn't trust them.  Add to that injuries and suspensions and he has hit the panic button in the last month, looking from the outside his changes/subs are getting weirder and more bizarre. Now I have a little bit of an advantage because I have seen the players in a lot more games, they must be some of the best trainers in the world given 3 managers seem to rate the same players, but its not in training where it counts. 

The defence he obviously rates Turner very higher, so far he isn't living upto that in my eyes looks distinctly average, his great white hope is Mensah, but he is/has been forever injured, when played he has looked a decent player most of the time, but the truth is its pointless having a player that you can't play and at this moment in time he hasn't played enough to tell whether he is worth it.

Midfield as said at the end of the transfer window he left himself badly short we only have 2 CM's Cana and Cattermole, Cana the way he plays is always going to get suspensions through 2 yellow cards making a red or the totting up process.  Cattermole has been injured and has picked up another.  Reid wasn't in Bruce's plans at the start of the season, but forced himself into the team and has been our best creative player by a country mile.  Henderson is only a kid, one that looks like he could have a future, but isn't a CM which is where Bruce has been playing him because of necessity, his form as with most kids will go up and down so he needs taking out of the firing line now and again, he has not been. Richardson, Malbranque simply don't offer enough often enough and needs replacing with pacey players. 

Forwards he has Bent and Kenwyne, he wants to play 442, he likes a target man and wants to paly that way.  Bent is what he is and will always get his fair share of goals.  In my eyes Bruce has tried threats, praise etc on Kenwyne and he doesn't believe its working.  I just think he is tsruggle with Kenwyne's personality (laid back) and struggles to understand it.  It suggests to me he thinks he isn't getting what he should be getting out of Kenwyne and he now has doubts he can, is this down to Kenwyne or shows a lack of skill on Bruce's behalf, a bit of both I suspect.  Campbell (who seems to be getting a lot of stick off some fans) hasn't really been given a chance, when he has played he has played out wide, he is the type of player that really needs to play with a Kenwyne type partner, his only chance to do that will be if Bent gets injured (understanably), he needs games and a couple of goals, feel a bit sorry for him really because its not going to happen and his career is on hold until it does, the longer it goes on the harder it will be for him.  He is only young and if I was the club look at loaning him out tbh.  The rest are a waste of space. 

I can easily see Kenwyne being sold in the summer for the above reasons, personally would prefer competition for him in another target man at the club, don't think the club can afford to do that at the minute with much higher priorities elsewhere in the team. The reason I say that is his 1st 6 months he was outstanding, unplayable and rightly gained all the plaudits, some on here went way overboard but thats a different story. The injury played a part but his form had dipped before that, just again without knowing Kenwyne it seems to me he had a point to prove and did it, now he has been automatic choice with no other threat to his position in the squad and he looks "comfortable", he might need a better team around him but to me he definately looks like he needs competition for his place.  Just my opinion.


He doesn't really want either FB, Bardsley or McCartney

[sjahrain]

The truth be told there are more reasons why this team is not performing than just blaming it on KJ
The truth be told KJ may just be a victim of the ills of this team
Yes KJ has his short commings as all do but all is not his fault nor doing....

The defence is sub par and so is the midfield.....update and then reevaluate

Rastafari

Truth is true and true through truth

[spideybuff]

His sense of posititioning wrong, he is just not a natural striker.

Or...he just doh have the heart to put in the work required to realise his potential.

ah pity they eh wha some ah we other fellas who possess all dem abilities...all dem ppl musbe blind, an only the true trini fan could see the trute...oh well since dey not callin we best....we might as well poke holes in KJ....dah's we natural position   

The point is, KJ's shortcomings are quite fixable. Is not a lack of talent or technique or physique. Is things that should be improved through training. That is the main problem. So the coach(es) wondering, why they not being improved upon. Either the coach(es) doh know how to get him to improve or he not willing to do the work to improve. Is not a question of him not being talented enough to make the grade. That is the difference between him and "we other fellas" who possess tham abilities.

[fordy]

i agree with alot Kev has had to say. In my estimation, KJ has the tools to become one of the best in the EPL but at the current rate he is not fulfilling his potential. His work rate is piss poor (compare his work rate in the world cup as compared to the last 8 months for both club and country), his touch is awful, his awareness in and around the box is suspect and his off the ball movement is horrible...actually non instinctive as a good striker should be. I saw someone mentioned his defensive responsibilities and tried to use that as an excuse for him not being in the box as much....not trying to compare apples to grapes...but Drogba has a similar responsibility on set pieces and you see where he is at on the goal scoring charts. I am proud to see KJ playing at the highest level but because I'm proud of him I like everyone else would like to see him fulfill his true and full potential instead of being another trini who we would sit down at gatherings and say "boy dat fella was ah boss player and he do this and that" and truth be told he didnt accomplish nothing. Granted the team he playing on has many deficiencies but as an individual his class should be able to rise above all of that...ala Yorke at Villa....ala Latapy at Falkirk. Class is class and if he polish up his great attributes and maximize that enormous potential we can then class him with the big names in the EPL. For now he is just a promising talent for both club and country.

[kev]

The truth be told there are more reasons why this team is not performing than just blaming it on KJ
The truth be told KJ may just be a victim of the ills of this team
Yes KJ has his short commings as all do but all is not his fault nor doing....

The defence is sub par and so is the midfield.....update and then reevaluate

Rastafari

Truth is true and true through truth

I am not suggesting the team is not performing because of KJ.

KJ isn't a victim of the ills of the team, if taht was the case care to explain, why his play was head and shoulders above what it is now in his first 6 months at Sunderland in a worse team.None so blind as those that won't see.

[diamondtrim]

To be straight wit everybody...I personally find dat KJ overrated, is a duncy footballer and lack d basic skills (first touch and passin) to be a good far less complete striker.

But d ting is dat he in England playin in d premiership and I postin here about a man i do not like as a footballer...so d ppl dat have d knowledge and experience far more dan me (or most of d forum ppl) see someting in him dat worth payin him thousands of pongs a week.

Whether d pan playin target man, gettin service, throwin way, whaever...d man consistently is always d subject of some kinda big move talk...so we hadda respeck d man game....it hav something dem coaches adn some players seein in d man dat dey like and want to use.

KJ go find he way soon enough

[Jefferz]

we past whether or not de man have potential.

kenwyne is a striker, his role is to score goals, it eh tuh defend, it eh really tuh run down man who have de ball (though its appriciated if he does) or even hold up the ball and pass it around (though again, its appriciated if he does it),

IT IS TO SCORE GOALS.


if he hasnt been doing that then he isnt doing his job.

I have faith in him, but he needs to get his consistency right and do it soon... no point being a defoe or robbie keane who flurrish every once in ah while and den yuh see dem gehin transfer two and three times over the coarse of a couple seasons.

I want to see the drogba potential fulfilled.