Stevie May

[shandypants]

Interesting reading the Wednesday fans perspective on Stevie May. I knew this overreaction would come eventually if Stevie May hit a barren spell.

Forget for a minute he's just moved country to a new league, is getting used to new team mates, a new style of play and for the first time has a little bit of pressure on him. He's so far got a 1 goal in 3 games ratio which isn't brilliant but not exactly terrible considering the above.

 

The most interesting thing about Stevie May is that everyone wants him to spend more time in the box, to improve his hold up/link play and to be more physical or learn to head the ball. In the years I've watched Stevie May I can tell you this:

 

1. His hold up play is rubbish.

2. His first touch is at times is questionable, at others is exquisite .

3. His heading ability is one of the worst I've seen.

4. He's not an olympic sprinter.

 

I think it's also important to understand how to play Stevie May to get the best out of him.

 

1. Don't play him in the box. Almost none of his 80+ career goals have come from poaching.

2. Let him drift wide on the left. That's where he's most dangerous. He loves to cut in, come across the box and shoot.

3. Accept that for him to score lots of goals he's going to hit about 20 shots in a game. 19 of these will be shockers and you will utter the words "For roger sake Stevie" many many times in a game.

4. Play balls into the channels for him. Let him drag the defence out and let him run into wide areas.

 

Stevie May has the capability to hit 20 goals this season. He often went on wee barren spells of 4 or 5 games to then turn up with a couple of back to back hat-tricks. He's a confidence player and a very lucky striker. Have a little faith and don't expect him to be a world-beater and he'll score plenty. 

 

We're fvvcckked then because that's exactly what's been happening!

[shandypants]

Just kidding.  However, when he does get the ball out wide or in the channel, he's easily usherred off it.  Also, he's not working himself into postions  and/or receiving the ball enough to have 20 chances per game (I know you exagerated a little there for effect). 

 

I feel to stand a better chance of scoring, he needs more time on the box. 

[shandypants]

Tv games?

 

 

My fat fingers strike again! 

[owls4effa]

As i see it if he doesn't go chasing the ball he'd never see it.
As much as i like Semedo's grit in the middle. He's too predictable.

As soon as a defender sees him with the ball he knows he isn't going to shoot or make a Lampardesque pass.

More like a darren Potter square pass.

The balls to our forwards on Saturday were Virtually non Existent until the introduction of Drenthe.

The Madine & May must be praying he starts at Brentford Tomorrow.

 Me too' How Hope kept him out of the side i dont know.

[gurujuan]

If GlasgowSaints description is accurate, it begs the question, why did we sign him? No striker will get 20 opportunities a game, never mind all courtesy from drifting in from the left. He has to be better than described, or, what we are seeing now surely?

[Guest GlasgowSaint]

If GlasgowSaints description is accurate, it begs the question, why did we sign him? No striker will get 20 opportunities a game, never mind all courtesy from drifting in from the left. He has to be better than described, or, what we are seeing now surely?

 

Clearly 20 shots is an exaggeration but he's not shy in shooting - from anywhere. You have to accept the fact that his shots to goal ratio in general is low but his goals to game ratio is always good.

 

He's a quality player though, you just have to give him a little time to settle.

[gurujuan]

Clearly 20 shots is an exaggeration but he's not shy in shooting - from anywhere. You have to accept the fact that his shots to goal ratio in general is low but his goals to game ratio is always good.

 

He's a quality player though, you just have to give him a little time to settle.

As someone who's seen quite a bit of him, what would you say would be the ideal partner for him? None of our existing strikers seem a decent fit. In fact, there isn't a pairing amongst them, which is one of the reasons I think we should return to a five man midfield

[Parsons Cross Owl]

He`s not up to it,as I have posted many times. Appalling Dud is May.

[IstillhateSteveBould]

Not if he was doing the same things at Forest that he's doing for us he wouldn't. 

 

 

What's the point in making the "intelligent" run if no-one can spot it?  I don't believe that May always makes the intelligent run (that our players can't spot) and always does the right thing  - quite often, he does absolutely the wrong thing.  Both May and Gray need to work on May's individual tactics.  If May is to improve then he needs to:

• Toughen up
• Learn to shield the ball better and to hold off players when running with the ball. He appears to have a lot of muscle bulk - he should use it.
• Work on his sprinting technique - he's painfully slow for a small guy.
• Work on improving his anticipation - he is half a second slower in reaction time to many of the opposition players that he is competing with
• Spend time in better positions - he needs to be in positions where he can receive the ball and create a threat.  Also, if he spent more time in the 18 yard box then our players would become used to the areas that he frequents and start finding him more. 
• Get closer to his strike partner - at times, the balls knocked up to Nuhiu (and Madine last Saturday) and May is miles away.  Part of the reason that Nuhiu doesn't find May with the pass is because he is nowhere to be seen. 

 

Obviously, I am being critical (there are some good things to May's game) but if he can't improve all of the above things quickly, then he needs taking out of the side and developing before returning because he's adding very little at the moment and possibly detrementing the side.  I'm sorry, but that's my honest opinion.  I really want him to be successful but he isn't adding much at the moment.  It's probably about a year or two to early for him to be in the team.

Firstly I think we have to remember we've paid less than a million for May. When you consider Callum Wilson cost Bournemouth £3m and Assombolonga cost Forest £7m or whatever it was, then maybe some people are expecting too much of him. Perhaps it is a big fee for us, but in reality it isn't. For such a price, we have to expect some flaws to his game.

I think you've correctly identified these. Lack of pace and lack of strength. If he did have these attributes, I dont think we'd stand a chance of signing him.

The rest of the "flaws" you've identified, I don't agree with. I think his anticipation is good. I keep saying it, but he comes alive in and around the box. He's constantly looking for the gaps and trying to gain an advantage over a defender.its a striker's instinct that Madine and Nuhiu don't have. He's got goals on the mind when we're attacking.

You mention his positioning and spending too much time away from the centre. I think this is down to the formation and Gray's instructions to defend from the front. In a 442, he'll often find himself closing a full back down or dropping back into midfield to pressurise a midfielder. If Gray played him centrally in a 433/451, he'd primarily be closing down centre backs and wouldn't get caught out of a position when a turnover of possession occurs. Personally I reckon this is the formation we should be using most of the time and will more than likely get the best out of May.

At the start of your post you say you don't think he's making intelligent runs. I disagree. I can't speak for the Watford game as I didn't go, but I've been to the other home games this season and on multiple occasions in all of them, I've screamed "play him in" as May makes a run that would put him through on goal if Maguire/maghoma/Nuhiu/Coke etc had the vision to pick him out. It's not May's fault they don't.

The longer he goes without goals or without service, the more frustrated he'll become. The more he'll drift and go searching for the ball. He'll s n a t c h at his chances when he gets them. Personally I don't think May is the problem, I think formation, tactics and lack of a clever passer off the ball all need to be addressed first.

[Parsons Cross Owl]

We should have kept the receipt- get shut

[owlZfan84]

Do folk not realise that without service, strikers don't score?

 

SM is crying out for a creatively midfielder who can pick out his runs and play him in.

 

I think the lad will come good, I really do.

[Guest GlasgowSaint]

We should have kept the receipt- get shut

 

9 games, 3 goals. 21 years old. New league, new team.  Glad to see you're giving the lad a chance.

 

And I thought Saints fans were fickle (we tend to write off our signings before they even play a game)!

[Guest GlasgowSaint]

As someone who's seen quite a bit of him, what would you say would be the ideal partner for him? None of our existing strikers seem a decent fit. In fact, there isn't a pairing amongst them, which is one of the reasons I think we should return to a five man midfield

 

He was best up next to Steven Maclean who you know all about. He's a terrific player who's hold up play issuperb and took all the knocks up there with his back to goal. Maclean was so intelligent we worked the ball into his feet for him to hold and lay off which brought the midfield forward and let May peel off left or right to open up space for us to send him in from the channels.

 

Unfortunately we just lost Maclean to a 6-month layoff. He made us, and Stevie May, tick.

[marshy]

Do folk not realise that without service, strikers don't score?

 

SM is crying out for a creatively midfielder who can pick out his runs and play him in.

 

I think the lad will come good, I really do.

Absolutely. 

[Miffed]

Starting to thing that Gray is from the "Dave Jones School of Wanting Footballers to do Everything"

 

On RS this morning Gray said that he sees Drenthe as an impact player. Better coming off the bench. As good as he was at attacking its the rest of his game that needs work on i.e tracking back.

Whats wrong with allowing creative players to be creative and someone else dropping back into a covering position? It worked wonders for King and Worthington.

 

Dave Jones did this with Antonio, expected him to be up and down the line, attacking at full pace, then tracking back and defending in the full back position. This is why he often looked tired very early on in games.

 

A similar thing is happening with May. Hes expected to drop back into midfield, pick the ball up out wide. Make runs for through balls (which never come because we always attack down the wings)

 

Why not just play him as an out and out striker? Hes the type of player who would score loads for someone else. Imagine him running onto the through balls that Watford were playing at the weekend.

Gray is already burning out the players.

[dmw]

Well this is Owlstalk so we expect a load of nonsense on here.

 

Stevie May is a class signing. He didn't get much joy against Watford because in the first half the team as a whole founds themselves up against a stronger, quicker, sharper team and resorted to hopeful hoof ball. For a chunk of the second half May was playing in midfield, and quite well at that. But over the whole game he didn't get a sniff of goal - not really his fault.

 

He has good skills on the ball, good movement, not electric pace but the ability to finish. He has not been getting loads of chances, because our build up play blows hot and cold, and he has also unfortunately missed a few really decent chances in the previous 2 or 3 games. As a result his scoring record with us is shy of what we'd have hoped for so he is getting stick. We expect this.

 

We have to stick with him. He is a big asset and will score goals. He has also been a key contributor along with Nuhiu in helping us "defend from the front" by harrying defenders trying to play the ball out from the back. We have not been playing as many teams who try to play that way so that skill has not been as valuable, but will be over the course of the season.

[SHUowl]

Do folk not realise that without service, strikers don't score?

SM is crying out for a creatively midfielder who can pick out his runs and play him in.

I think the lad will come good, I really do.

100%

[Brad_owl]

Stevie May is some player. Even Naismith and Strachan said as much during his international stint.

 

However some Owlstalkers don't agree and like to troll our own players.

 

Stevie May is probably one of our best players. The amount of times i have seen Nuihu shoot when he should have passed to him is beyond belief. Get a good striker in next to May, one who has half a brain and it will be a different story.  

 

You could play Messi but if he doesn't get chances he is not going to score and then would probably get slagged off on here. 

 

Add in a creative midfielder too and we will have a solid championship team.

Edited October 21, 2014 by Brad_owl

[gurujuan]

He's missed far more than he's scored, but yes I'd have to agree that we don't have the right partner for him

[IstillhateSteveBould]

we don't have the right partner for him

I'd have to agree. That's partly why I'd scrap 442 at the moment