Holy shit, that escalated quickly!
The boy was affectionately dubbed by many of you as perhaps the 'next' Messi. He's clearly got the talent and when he first arrived, he really was looking brilliant pre-season. Nobody doubted his ability, but it was his physical side that let him down. In our first game of the season against Aston Villa, Bojan started and there was so much hype. It was all about him, he's going to tear the Prem apart all that stuff. Then about 1 minute into the game, big Ron Vlaar (Aston Villa centre back) absolutely clattered him and he disappeared for 89 minutes. He seemed scared to pick up the ball. He disappeared and with that, our team underperformed against a very poor Aston Villa and we lost a game we would usually comfortably win (we beat them 4-1 at Villa Park last season).
The Premiership isn't like La Liga, it's a very physical league (despite the diving and feigning injury). It's the juxtaposition of technique vs physique where defenders like Vlaar, John Terry, and even our own Ryan Shawcross are considered some of the hardest players in the league.
He then came off the bench against Hull to put in a superb cross of which the ensuing melee resulted in a goal and us taking a point in the last minute. However, his issues of physical build were still exposed. Yes, he made the goal against Hull, but for the rest of the time, I remember him being pushed off the ball easily by stronger players.
He then found himself in and out of the team, and I think many of us feared for his future. He didn't get on in our famous away victory against Manchester City and once again looked very weak against Leicester at home who, much like Aston Villa, used their physical presence to keep Bojan out of the game. After the Leicester game, he was used just once in six games, given a 20 minute spell when we were 3-1 down against Sunderland. Coming on for 20 minutes in an away game when you're 3-1 down, some were writing him off. However, I wonder if Mark Hughes (former Barca striker and our current manager) was simply working it out and perhaps had little Bojan working out like crazy at the gym.
Anyway, then there was that ridiculous boot throwing rumour by The Sun. While I imagine some of you are English and know what The Sun are like, to my Spanish friends, The Sun is like the worst gutter journalism on the planet as I'm sure you're aware. They make stories up to inflame situations and rows. Their most famous edition involved them accusing innocent Liverpool fans of pick pocketing the dead at Hillsborough and urinating on police officers. They refused to apologize for these pretty vulgar accusations for nearly 25 years until about 2 years ago when the Hillsborough report specifically mentioned The Sun's article being linked to the a high profile police officer in an attempt to cover up police failings on the day. As you can imagine, both Hughes and Bojan said it wasn't true but obviously, it intensified speculation to his exit and a couple of Spanish clubs came knocking. Anyway, he played in the League Cup game against Southampton and looked better but still not quite there.
The first game where we started to see something like
this Bojan was against West Ham. Hughes opted to start him partly due to injuries but also because our other options were more defensive. He looked stronger on the ball, more confident. West Ham are a known physical entity and yet Bojan was taking the piss at times. He was battling, winning the ball, and he wasn't being knocked off. Part way through the second half, James Collins did what he does best and took out Bojan. We all thought, will he disappear? He didn't. Bojan looked pretty good until Hughes took him off with 20 minutes to go. It was a massive improvement and many of us felt he needed to start against Tottenham.
If his West Ham performance was good, it was the Tottenham game that he really made his mark. A confident, stronger Bojan walked out on the pitch and caused Spurs nightmares. He scored a terrific goal 6 minutes into the game and was involved in everything we did. I went onto a Spurs forum and someone said "he's done fuck all, all season, and we've just made him look like Messi". While there was a certain accuracy to this, I think it's fair to say that Bojan had finally come into form and since then, his performances haven't dropped. He and Ryan Shawcross are the first on the team sheet every game. When Bojan isn't fit, we miss him. Against Manchester United at home, we dominated the game, United defended strongly but we missed Bojan so much, and drew instead of winning. I think with Bojan, we almost certainly would have won.
Like I said above, Bojan has put on 8 pounds worth of muscle weight and the difference is noticeable. He isn't being knocked off the ball now. He's beating players with the technique he brought from Barcelona and the physique he's built since working out at our club.
I know many of you like to follow Bojan's progress and I'm happy to report back how he's getting on. We play Rochdale in the FA Cup on Monday night. It's quite possible Hughes will not play Bojan for this game. Rochdale are much lower in the football leagues and it would be good to give him a rest for a game we should really win with our second team. The other reason he may not play is because Rochdale's pitch is rather rough, and a quick, skilful player like Bojan runs the risk of injury.
However, I will bet my house that Bojan will start against QPR at home, so that is the next time Bojan will play. QPR are not a very good team defensively, so it's the kind of game Bojan could cause havoc in. They do, however, have Joey Barton in midfield, so I'm sure Barton will want to 'leave his mark' literally, on Bojan.
