Aleksandar Mitrovic has hinted that Rafa Benitez never adopted a system that suited him or played to his strengths, feeling his spell with Fulham is the first time he’s felt ‘comfortable’ since making the move to England.
The 23-year old had two and a half hit and miss years on Tyneside before sealing a loan move to Fulham in January – a spell which became the beginning of the end of his Newcastle career after scoring 12 goals in 20 games and leading them to promotion.
He looked a real threat in their opening day defeat to Palace and has been speaking to the press about his move to Fulham today.
Here’s what he’s had to say during his latest interview with The Telegraph, suggesting he never felt comfortable at Newcastle in the ‘system’ and the ‘way we played’ – feeling that everyone at Fulham knows his strengths and uses them:
“In England, this (at Fulham) is the first time that I really feel comfortable in the system and in the way we play.
“I think the manager and my team-mates, they all know my strengths and try to use them in the best way that they can.
“That is my style of play, my strength: hold up, playing with my back to goal,”
“The result was that I scored a lot of goals and we won games.”
The Serbian then revealed how he plans to prove his doubters wrong, feeling he has the ‘ability’ and ‘quality’ to play in the Premier League and mix it with the best.
“It is a better league with much more quality. But I know I have the ability, I have the quality.
“I want to show everybody that I can play in the best league in the world and score goals.”
Where do you sit on Mitrovic’s time at the club?
Was he misused and wasted or do you feel Rafa had every right to exclude him from his system?
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For me Mitrovic has many qualities, but he’s not a top class striker. He wins headers, but not enough and doesn’t often find the target when he does. He’s strong, but not as strong as most Premiership defenders and, therefore, loses out, or resorts to fouling. He’s got a decent shot, but as shown in the World Cup and in last weekend’s match, he doesn’t have a pile driver of a shot, which is down to timing as much as sheer power. He’s not blessed with pace and doesn’t work in the wipers role that most forwards do. His biggest failing is that he rarely anticipates the play and doesn’t gamble into space to get ahead of defenders. He’s not a poacher, because of that. He will improve as he learns the game and matures, but I doubt that he’ll be a 20, or even 15 goals a season man. I think Rafa knows what he wants, can see what Mitrovic is and he’s not good enough. I’ve watched him play for Serbia 8, or 9 times, as well and he doesn’t make the runs the players want and you can see the frustration on their faces, because ultimately he’s the target man. I think we should move on from him and get behind the players we’ve got!
Davy Craig(Quote)