The General wrote:Bakayoko is getting a lot of criticism which in my opinion for yesterday's performance is unjustified.Yes he got a couple of things wrong but he got a lot right.He did win a number of headers,those that say he didn't should visit Specsavers.His effort and energy was way in front of most performances in the second half of last season.
Over the years we love to vilify our strikers many of whom go on to better things.Try Butler,Grigg,Deeney.
Let's give our young players support instead of dog's abuse.Any sport is massively about confidence and ill informed criticisms do nothing to help.There are far too many who only like to see the negatives-let's have a bit more balance please.
I'm sorry but just because something is criticised it doesn't mean it is ill informed or unbalanced.
Yes he did win the ball in the air.
As for effort and energy, I'm sorry I don't agree. He had one burst at the end of the game (which actually resulted in him giving away a foul that led to the Gillespie save). To not chase the ball down with 5 minutes to go was absolutely criminal when it was played over the top. I can't remember if we'd already scored or not but either way it could have been the difference between holding on or not. Too often Chambers (and the people that don't think he is worth a two year contract need to have a look at themselves, easily our most important player) picked up the ball and everything in front of him was static. He had absolutely no options. That's not JUST on Bakayoko but he was one of the culprits.
He's also not got the brain to play on his own up top. Whitney can think Oztumer is a striker all he wants but he's not. He plays deeper than that which left one up top. Too often he was pealing out onto the the wing to find the ball. I'm sorry but with one up top you absolutely can not do that. If you get the ball, who you aiming for in the centre? If he had a proper strike partner it wouldn't be an issue but it leaves us stuck with the ball out wide, nobody in the middle and nothing threatens.
I'm not one who gives him "dog's abuse" and I will always support and encourage any player that pulls on a Walsall shirt when I'm there. Some people's criticisms may be unjust but there are certainly some fair ones there too.