Shola! He keeps getting passed o-ver!

Date	Compy	Opponents	Venue	Status	Mins	Gls
14 July 2001	ITC	Lokeren	Away	Started	70	2
21 July 2001	ITC	Lokeren	Home	Started	90	0
25 July 2001	ITC	1860 Munich	Away	Started	86	0
01 August 2001	ITC	1860 Munich	Home	Started	90	0
07 August 2001	ITC	Troyes	Away	Started	90	0
19 August 2001	EPL	Chelsea	Away	Started	71	0
21 August 2001	ITC	Troyes	Home	Started	90	1
26 August 2001	EPL	Sunderland	Home	Started	75	0
08 September 2001	EPL	Middlesbrough	Away	Substitute	9	0
12 September 2001	WC	Brentford	Home	Started	120	1
23 September 2001	EPL	West Ham	Away	Substitute	14	0
26 September 2001	EPL	Leicester City	Home	Substitute	3	0
30 September 2001	EPL	Liverpool	Home	Substitute	17	0
13 October 2001	EPL	Bolton Wanderers	Away	Substitute	4	0
21 October 2001	EPL	Tottenham Hotspur	Home	Substitute	9	0
17 November 2001	EPL	Fulham	Away	Substitute	1	0
27 November 2001	WC	Ipswich Town	Home	Started	90	1
01 December 2001	EPL	Charlton Athletic	Away	Substitute	1	0
12 December 2001	WC	Chelsea	Away	Substitute	1	0
15 December 2001	EPL	Blackburn Rovers	Home	Started	59	0
02 January 2002	EPL	Manchester United	Away	Substitute	9	0
24 February 2002	EPL	Sunderland	Away	Substitute	1	0
02 March 2002	EPL	Arsenal	Home	Started	64	0
09 March 2002	FAC	Arsenal	Home	Substitute	19	0
				2001-02	1083	5

A tough baptism of fire for the gangly one last season with 2 sub appearances in September before he got hurled into the deep end come December for 14 starts. He looked well out of his depth but struggled on and managed a couple of priceless goals and should have expected to feature more this season. As it turned out, injuries all round meant he spearheaded out Inter Toto campaign with Bellamy and managed 3 goals before finding himself firmly on the bench with Shearer's return except for the Worthington Cup where he bagged 2 more goals. The worry is that after fairly regular subs appearances throughout 2001 he has only been given 9 minutes in January and 1 minute in February before being expected to cope with Arsenal. Poor kid, no wonder he looks a bit unhappy.

He's never going to be able to show what he can do without the occasional run in the side so if that means Shearer has to come off when we go 2 goals clear then so be it. He's only had 3 subs appearances over 10 minutes for Heaven's sake, how can he possibly show us what he's made of?

-- Anonymous, March 12, 2002

Answers

Have to say I agree with you, but can we really afford to drop other people to experiment?

I remember his game against Troyes where he was awful in the first half, but ended up winning us a penalty and scoring a goal.

-- Anonymous, March 12, 2002

I think these figures are meaningless if we can't see whether he scores his goals in the Leazes end or the Gallowgate. :-)

Good stuff Softie. There must have been opportunities to bring him on for longer periods than he has had so far. It looks as though he's been used as a sub to run down the clock in the last few minutes of a game several times. He's got a lot of talent but needs to learn how to shoot. I'd like to see us resting Shearer or Bellamy in the last 20 mins and give Shola a real chance to become a more integral part of the squad and show what he can do. He's very young and can only get better.

-- Anonymous, March 12, 2002

Saying that, Lua Lua has a much better shot than Shola, as well as being quicker and can beat his man easier

How come he isn't being talked about like this?

-- Anonymous, March 12, 2002

absolutely adhere to above comments

The lad made a chance against the arse that he could, given more confidence, have buried.

He needs minutes on the pitch, with the support of his mentor Shearer, who is prepared to give a little time up on the park in the realisation of long term gain.

Same goes for Lua Lua

-- Anonymous, March 12, 2002

Shola's got time on his side - just hope he's patient and hungry to play. If he's going to be as good as we all hope then he'll force his way into the team and make Robson take notice.

LuaLua will come good if he looks up, calms down, and not give away the ball so much. Dropping the curly wig, red nose and squirting flower gag will help too.

-- Anonymous, March 13, 2002