re: Rumor: Jozy Altidore is no longer in Poyet's plans

You still didn't answer my question though. If you're going to criticize at least throw some evidence in.

As for Jozy, I think hindsight is 20/20. He had a stellar year in Holland and turned it into a move to a bigger league. I don't think anyone thought Sunderland would be as bad as they've been, and I'll be honest that I, too, have been disappointed in some of Jozy's play. That said, I try to watch all of the Sunderland matches and I think he has improved his holdup play and is constantly giving big CBs fits. Against Stoke he was dominating Huth and Shawcross and got 3 yellows drawn against him due to his speed, technique, and movement into space. Two of those came against N'Zonzi, who got sent off. Also, after Jozy was taken off for Fletcher, suddenly Sunderland had no threat going forward and were on the backfoot for the rest of the game, despite having a man advantage.

Could Jozy do better? Of course. Strikers need to score. But the times when Jozy has the ball at his feet and can run at defenders are rarely existent, and even when Sunderland is on the break and he moves into the box the cross either gets shanked or Adam Johnson decides to go it alone. It's comical at times, and extremely frustrating to watch as a fan. His hold up play and one touch passing are pretty good, but he definitely needs to work on his movement. That said, again, I want to punch my screen every time I see him splitting the defenders and Cattermole pulls the ball back and passes it to John O'Shea. But he's gone now, so hopefully the attack benefits.

As Crazy keeps pointing out, strikers of Jozy's mold are late to develop. Didier Drogba didn't blow up until he was 25/26, or two years from where Jozy is now. Yeah, Drogba, one of the best strikers to play the game in the modern era. At this age Drogba was still playing in League 2 in France. He wasn't scoring as much as Jozy did in Holland, either, and he was in a weaker league for sure.

Give the guy some time. I have faith in him. I just get tired of reactionaries acting like he's the worst player to ever don a jersey, and jumping on every opportunity to remind us all how "AWFUL" he is. He's not awful. He's an ok striker playing for a shite team, but I think he has the potential to be a very, very good striker.