Can anyone enlighten me re Zungu’s role in the squad?

This place is a madhouse sometimes. We experimented with the midfield at St Mirren in the league cup and lost. and FF went mental. Win the league early and he'll get plenty of gametime to judge him. As when we are hopefully well ahead in some home games soon. We've won nothing yet and there is no need to fúck about with trying shít out.
 
tazzabear said:
Not really had much chance of the settling in lark yet, has he?
Can’t visit the museums or go shopping.
Can’t go to a restaurant or a cinema.
Stuck in his flat or his hotel, nothing to do between shifts.
He should be used to it by now.
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Glasgow we’re talking about, hardly New York. Better off staying home at the best of times.
 
AppleBear said:
Couldn’t disagree with you more on this. Aribo is way more effective than Hagi in the floating ten or RW position.

When Jack plays alongside Davis and Kamara, he’s the one in the defensive role allowing Davis and Tav in particular to go forward linking up with the RF or number 10. Arfield is fantastic in that role too, allowing Davis and Kamara to sit further back and recycle the ball as you say though.
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Jack will tuck in to cover for Tav being close to the opponents byline but he is so much more involved in our buildup play than any of our midfielders, Arfield included. Jack rarely plays the final pass but he often feeds the ball to the player that does.
 
A backup player signing who comes on and helps us see games out with a physical presence. Every squad has a similar player, why we need a weekly thread on it is just FF
 
I said earlier that it's probably unfair to judge him on sub appearances- but allowing for that - I just don't see him as anything like a Davis type player personally

Their 'styles' are vastly different imo & even if Zungu were to replace SD - I think the whole teams set-up would have to change as well

I don't intend this to be a criticism of Zungu btw - just an observation
 
DougieJones said:
First up - this is not a thread intended to bash the guy, he looks neat and tidy, good attitude, useful for seeing out games where we’re ahead, but, is that it? I was expecting a. a goal threat from midfield and b. a physical, driving presence in the engine room. So far I’ve seen next to nothing in an attacking sense and the fact he’s scarcely mentioned when we’re 2 key mids down is slightly concerning.

Do we think he’s just settling in? Or is he turning out to be a square peg in a round hole kind of player? Given he’s only another 3 months to get a deal we better find out soon I think.
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I got slated when he signed I said it was underwhelming got pelters on here and on Twitter but it's pretty much panned out as I predicted yes he's good on the ball and can certainly ping it about but I think he lacks mobility he is very slow to react to things the pace of the game here seems not to suit him I'm sorry to say but he just looks like a bang average midfielder who isn't any better than what we have.

I don't think he's anywhere near the quality of our other midfielders Zungu as it stands is 6th choice for the midfield slots.

As it stands I wouldn't be buying him permanently.
 
Might be harsh on the lad but I don't think we've seen anything to justify the alleged £2m fee his club would want for him especially with only 12 months of his deal to run at the end of the season.

He hasn't looked anymore than a squad player so far.
 
Teddyjohn said:
I remember when we were first linked with Zungu there was a guy on here adamant for weeks that he’d be a better player than Davis.
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There's guys on here who still think he is a better option than Davis!

Not bashing Zungu as I've not seen enough of him to form an opinion but how anyone can say he's a better option than Davis from what we've seen of him is beyond me.
 
He plays the Davis role, Davis is bang on form so isn't getting dropped - he's also 36 years old so any smart football department would be looking at bedding in a replacement gradually. Maybe even signing one on loan with an option to buy to assess him for a year.
 
Aurelius72 said:
Glasgow we’re talking about, hardly New York. Better off staying home at the best of times.
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He might not have any family over here either!
I guess that adds to your argument though.
Seriously, there’s some decent social activity in our wee shithole.
Granted, a couple of weeks you’d see everything you’d want to, and plenty of wtf as well.
Would you like the isolation he might be living through just now?
 
He's settling into the squad in the same way Davis/Defoe were when they signed in January. I'm sure he'll be here next season and he'll be one of our better midfield options.
 
He might be regretting signing that additional contract with the French club. It's a little surprising we haven't seen more of him.
 
davmcc said:
There's guys on here who still think he is a better option than Davis!

Not bashing Zungu as I've not seen enough of him to form an opinion but how anyone can say he's a better option than Davis from what we've seen of him is beyond me.
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The best line on the thread.
 
Walters80 said:
Might be harsh on the lad but I don't think we've seen anything to justify the alleged £2m fee his club would want for him especially with only 12 months of his deal to run at the end of the season.

He hasn't looked anymore than a squad player so far.
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I think the evidence was pretty much out there when he signed.

Lack of genuine appearances for Amiens, in and out a team that was fighting relegation, dodgy injury record, most of the plaudits came from a one off great display against PSG and many South African fans seem to overhype him.
 
It is looking like his loan might not become permanent at the end of the season judging by his lack of appearances.
It may be he needs time like Borna did but today was the type of game he should have played in.
The manager clearly doesn’t trust him, especially when we are chasing a game
 
Not being used much so far and difficult to assess him. I think he was perhaps brought in as a Davis type player? Looks like even without Arfield and Jack he still isn't getting a chance. We are a bit lightweight in midfield without those 2 IMO.
 
Steve Davis is 36. Arfield is 32. Jack has long term, persistent injury concerns.

we need to be looking at players as longer term replacements.

and we can’t judge zungu as he’s barely features. Won’t stop us thoug
 
Coisty09 said:
It is looking like his loan might not become permanent at the end of the season judging by his lack of appearances.
It may be he needs time like Borna did but today was the type of game he should have played in.
The manager clearly doesn’t trust him, especially when we are chasing a game
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Why would we bring on a centre midfielder when we are chasing the game?
 
Totally get we cant judge Zungu based off what we’ve seen. But his lack of appearances paints the picture for us especially when we’ve been extremely light in the middle of the park and he’s hardly had a sniff. If the gaffer trusted him we’d of seen a bit more rotation in there
 
And for the don’t change a winning team argument to it. If Jack was fit there would of been rotation in there
 
We’re in a difficult run of games at the moment and he doesn’t seem to be trusted as yet.

He may get more opportunities when we have an easier run of fixtures but at the moment we can’t afford to experiment.
 
Looks like a bit of progression planning to me.

There’s a possibility that Kamara may leave in the summer if a big bid comes in while Davis will be another year older.

A year to settle in then slip straight into the first team?

I actually think that’s more likely than we’ve just made a mistake and Gerrard doesn’t fancy him.

Right now he can’t get a game because that afore mentioned duo have been relentlessly good.
 
To answer the original question he is an experienced deep end midfield player to provide cover for that area. If Davis was to be injured he would be in the team particularly when Jack is not available. Whether he is a "better" player or a "less good" player is a different question and one which, frankly, we don't really need to be digging into given our league position.
 
I see him as back up to Davis. He can also be used in games where possession is paramount. He is good at keeping the ball and even winning possession. I just he’d been a bit more adventurous. We’ve seen he has the long pass in his locker. Whether he’s not using it down to fear or instructions from the gaffer I don’t know, but I wish he’d use this talent to get us up the field quicker
 
I think center mid is out weakest position at the moment, need a center mid who can defend as well as create chances. Wonder if liverpool have any center mids available they could loan us that fit that bill.
 
Davie Meiklejohn said:
This place is a madhouse sometimes. We experimented with the midfield at St Mirren in the league cup and lost. and FF went mental. Win the league early and he'll get plenty of gametime to judge him. As when we are hopefully well ahead in some home games soon. We've won nothing yet and there is no need to fúck about with trying shít out.
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Indeed. After the St Mirren game the forum was full of threads criticising the change in midfield and how you don't change the formula that works.

Now this.

Remember when it was similar threads about Itten too?
 
Strange considering the long drawn out process to get him here. There is a player there I have no doubt but a long term davis replacement?....i suggest thats going to cost us slightly more than zungu.
 
Hurricane said:
Strange considering the long drawn out process to get him here. There is a player there I have no doubt but a long term davis replacement?....i suggest thats going to cost us slightly more than zungu.
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I don't think we could afford to buy someone to replace davis, would have to be an out of contract quality player coming here on a free like how we got davis for free in the first place.

To buy an in contract player of the quality of Davis would cost a fortune.
 
Coplandbear said:
I think the evidence was pretty much out there when he signed.

Lack of genuine appearances for Amiens, in and out a team that was fighting relegation, dodgy injury record, most of the plaudits came from a one off great display against PSG and many South African fans seem to overhype him.
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This.

Although accepting his appearances have been limited, he hasn't done anything to justify the lengthy pursuit. An average looking CV, which he's kind of living up to. I think we will look elsewhere in the summer.
 
Papasmurf said:
Why would we bring on a centre midfielder when we are chasing the game?
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Apologies as I did not explain myself very well.
I meant to say that if he had been considered good enough generally, today was the type of game he might have started to give Davis or Kamara a rest.
However, you are right that there would have been no point in putting him on today as we were chasing the game and needed players who could break down a defence.
The worrying part is that the one game he has started, we lost.
However, as I said above, he may need time to adjust and hopefully will end up as much as a success as Borna.
 
He’ll be here next season. He looks like he has a bit about him, and the club were after him for some time. Plus the fact that that’s he’s a Nike ambassador with a huge following in SA will mean that there will be a commercial slant on the signing as well.
 
Raumdeuter said:
Is he though?

Before mid December I'd agree but not now.
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Eh, yes. How many pin point cross field balls did he play to Tav today. A tactic that us been a key feature of our tactics this year. Final 3rd play was poor. He's bossed nearly every game the team got into the grove of.
 
A few times he has come on to close a game out and ends up on his arse and the other team break away then he settles so probably too risky at the minute.
 
He was brought in as depth and to provide a rotational option for Davis.

Some of our fans seem to think every player brought in has to be a first team regular or they’re a failure.

he’s done the job asked of him so far and we’ll likely move on from him at the end of the season.

I don’t understand why people get so crazy about it.
 
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