Day 58 - Bojan
What happened there? Whatever the specifics, the outcome was very depressing. At the top of his game, Bojan left the pitch injured, not long after scoring a screamer in an FA Cup against Rochdale and that was basically the end of it. It isn't uncommon for a player to never quite be the same after an injury but with Bojan it never felt like he was given a fair opportunity to gather any momentum and so there will always remain a strong sense of frustrating indignation of what might have been.
In the summer of 2016, Stoke City signed Joe Allen from Liverpool, a signing which was presumably the ideal Glenn Whelan upgrade. It was obvious - A midfield duo of Joe Allen and Stephen N'Zonzi, Bojan occupying the central attacking space just in front of them with Xherdan Shaqiri and Marko Arnautovic on either side. Sounds amazing! But no. Joe Allen began the season playing in central attacking midfield with a disastrously and flukily great start, regularly scoring and getting assists. Obviously, being Joe Allen, that didn't last long, but for some insane reason that 6 game run was enough in Mark Hughes' eyes to persist with this obviously incorrect tactic for the entire season. Bojan was left largely on the sidelines watching Joe Allen play his creative role. Ridiculous.
Fast forward one year and we are relegated. A succession of managers all failed to provide Bojan a run of more than 1 game. Even in the games he started he usually got substituted very early. Granted he was never incredible at this stage, but with that type of creative risk-taking player, you need to give them a bit of momentum and licence to fail sometimes in order to get the confidence flowing. Ten minute cameos twice a month is not an effective way to use this type of player. And if this is the tactic employed by the manager, which it was by Paul Lambert, Gary Rowett and Nathan Jones, sub-par performances are are result of their poor decision making. Bojan even came out as suffering from depression during this time, to which Gary Rowett's response was to drop him from the bench to the reserves. Rowett regularly complained about the Stoke fans chanting Bojan's name when he wasn't in the squad. Well maybe if you are fortunate enough to inherit a second tier team with a player like Bojan in the squad, the complaint that you are playing the likes of Afobe, Berahino, Clucas, McLean and Tom Ince ahead of him is more valid than your complaint about Stoke fans wanting by far the better player to play.
Nathan Jones sold Bojan in 2019 as part of his determined mission to destroy Stoke City's squad. He signed Sam Vokes for £8m. Mental. Nathan Jones' signings included Lee Gregory, Stephen Ward, Liam Lindsay, Danny Batth and Scott Hogan. And he sold Bojan. What the fuck is that? Terrible. Idiot.
In the summer of 2016, Stoke City signed Joe Allen from Liverpool, a signing which was presumably the ideal Glenn Whelan upgrade. It was obvious - A midfield duo of Joe Allen and Stephen N'Zonzi, Bojan occupying the central attacking space just in front of them with Xherdan Shaqiri and Marko Arnautovic on either side. Sounds amazing! But no. Joe Allen began the season playing in central attacking midfield with a disastrously and flukily great start, regularly scoring and getting assists. Obviously, being Joe Allen, that didn't last long, but for some insane reason that 6 game run was enough in Mark Hughes' eyes to persist with this obviously incorrect tactic for the entire season. Bojan was left largely on the sidelines watching Joe Allen play his creative role. Ridiculous.
Fast forward one year and we are relegated. A succession of managers all failed to provide Bojan a run of more than 1 game. Even in the games he started he usually got substituted very early. Granted he was never incredible at this stage, but with that type of creative risk-taking player, you need to give them a bit of momentum and licence to fail sometimes in order to get the confidence flowing. Ten minute cameos twice a month is not an effective way to use this type of player. And if this is the tactic employed by the manager, which it was by Paul Lambert, Gary Rowett and Nathan Jones, sub-par performances are are result of their poor decision making. Bojan even came out as suffering from depression during this time, to which Gary Rowett's response was to drop him from the bench to the reserves. Rowett regularly complained about the Stoke fans chanting Bojan's name when he wasn't in the squad. Well maybe if you are fortunate enough to inherit a second tier team with a player like Bojan in the squad, the complaint that you are playing the likes of Afobe, Berahino, Clucas, McLean and Tom Ince ahead of him is more valid than your complaint about Stoke fans wanting by far the better player to play.
Nathan Jones sold Bojan in 2019 as part of his determined mission to destroy Stoke City's squad. He signed Sam Vokes for £8m. Mental. Nathan Jones' signings included Lee Gregory, Stephen Ward, Liam Lindsay, Danny Batth and Scott Hogan. And he sold Bojan. What the fuck is that? Terrible. Idiot.
Maybe he was past it and would never have recaptured anything near his best form. But it would have been nice for him to have the chance to build some confidence from a manager who showed some trust by allowing him 5 or 6 games in a row, instead of having to put in a man of the match performance in order to not be subbed in the 53rd minute. It is a shame, but it is best to focus on the positive - because of his incredible first two years, Bojan will always be a legend.
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