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Current Player Thread Nik Prelec

Player Photo

16.Nik Prelec

Position: Forward
Nationality: Slovenia 🇸🇮
Departed: DATE
Previous Clubs: Austria Wien (Loan), WSG Tirol (Loan), Cagliari, WSG Tirol, Olimpija Ljubljana (Loan), Sampdoria
Instagram: nikprelec
 
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TheDukeOfBanburyshire said:
Dick, you're embarrassing yourself my friend.
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But you said you didn’t see it how I saw it, surely by definition that means the opposite to what I said ? And all I said was he’s no goal threat, better than Harris on the ball and doesn’t possess the industry of Lankshear. I’m happy to be corrected but it seems you’re contradicting yourself if I’m supposedly ‘embarrassing myself’. It’s fairly simple, which of the only three points I made do you disagree with ?
 
I think you were perhaps being a bit too literal?
I didn't say "I see each and every of your points made on Prelec as the exact opposite", did I?

I thought I'd qualified my opinion on Prelec in my response. I do think he's a goal threat (although could be even more so if he were deployed properly), I do think he's better on the ball than Marris (I think that is clear to see and almost goes without saying), and I think the last point depends on your definition of industry, but he gives an awful lot physically in duels, which Lankshear doesn't, either due to intent or a lack of strength and/or experience.

I haven't really got the energy to bicker about it, mate.
 
What a performance from Prelic yesterday. He held the ball up well and bought the midfield into play with his lay offs. He also won a lot of headers which unfortunately Shemmy or Mills weren’t close enough to attack the flick ons.
He’s got some pace as well as uses his strength to hold off defenders.
He looked like one of those forwards that plays against us who you wish played for us so let’s just hope he doesn’t leave in January as rumoured.
 
Yellowmania said:
What a performance from Prelic yesterday. He held the ball up well and bought the midfield into play with his lay offs. He also won a lot of headers which unfortunately Shemmy or Mills weren’t close enough to attack the flick ons.
He’s got some pace as well as uses his strength to hold off defenders.
He looked like one of those forwards that plays against us who you wish played for us so let’s just hope he doesn’t leave in January as rumoured.
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I thought that he did pretty well.
He certainly had a lot to do as none of our 4 behind him seemed to get anywhere near him a lot of the time!
I would personally have Lankshear up there, but Prelec is a good option
 
Foley said:
I thought that he did pretty well.
He certainly had a lot to do as none of our 4 behind him seemed to get anywhere near him a lot of the time!
I would personally have Lankshear up there, but Prelec is a good option
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It’s a pretty thankless task being the striker for Oxford United. Glad he had a chance to show what he could do there though, playing him further back was pointless.
 
Foley said:
I thought that he did pretty well.
He certainly had a lot to do as none of our 4 behind him seemed to get anywhere near him a lot of the time!
I would personally have Lankshear up there, but Prelec is a good option
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I agree, that was a problem yesterday, he was scrapping and winning knock downs and flick ons but too often the ball was falling to an opposing player as we had no one seemingly playing off him.
 
Staggering effort from him yesterday and he showed so much purpose in his running and pressed their defence extremely well. I think he was a bit isolated at times but unlike Harris, he wasn’t busy chasing shadows and veering away behind their defence only to be caught offside. Hope he’s not too burned out for Monday but Lankshear is another good option to have who will be fresh.
 
Another player who Rowett ruined after “coaching” them for a few weeks. He looked like the player we saw terrorise Bristol City.
 
dickwalton1964 said:
I’m not convinced he has any more goals in him than Harris does but hold up play and aerially it’s no contest.
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He has a great header on him but yesterday their three CBs meant it was a game for Shemmy and Mills to carry the ball inside rather than hitting in crosses where Prelec would always be outnumbered.
 
werthersoriginal said:
It’s a pretty thankless task being the striker for Oxford United. Glad he had a chance to show what he could do there though, playing him further back was pointless.
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Yep he did well.
It must be galling for our strikers though. We just don't get enough crosses in. Partly because wingers are mainly playing on their weaker side so they can cut in.
But if we are going to play that way under Short he is our most complete striker.
 
He won a fair few headers. Maybe midfielders and wingers could run on to a few of these, but might take time to adapt to a new way of playing. Some behind closed doors friendlies would be sensible.
 
Salaghaf said:
Another player who Rowett ruined after “coaching” them for a few weeks. He looked like the player we saw terrorise Bristol City.
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Yeap. He has only started 11 games this season - and we've won 4 of them.

One of a number of players that has been underutilised - particularly in recent weeks.

And that really is where Rowett made a rod for his own back - those 4 away games against relegation rivals (Norwich, Swansea, Blackburn, Charlton - just two points taken).

And while Prelec, Lankshear, Krastev and Goodrham were given one start apiece across those 4 games - Mark Harris was given all 4.

Unforgivable.
 
Rowett definitely over thought our striker situation. We actually have two decent centre forwards, just rotate them around to keep them fresh, no need for Harris other than if one gets injured. No need for Bradshaw at all really, trying to shoehorn him in there was even weirder than Harris.

It’s only 23 league games and maybe a little FA Cup run left for the season, that should be easily manageable for Prelec and Lankshear, injuries aside I hope we are just going to go the obvious and simple path upfront from now on.
 
SirAndyOfCrosby said:
Yeap. He has only started 11 games this season - and we've won 4 of them.

One of a number of players that has been underutilised - particularly in recent weeks.

And that really is where Rowett made a rod for his own back - those 4 away games against relegation rivals (Norwich, Swansea, Blackburn, Charlton - just two points taken).

And while Prelec, Lankshear, Krastev and Goodrham were given one start apiece across those 4 games - Mark Harris was given all 4.

Unforgivable.
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He was the best coach we could get and the players were mid table league one standard apparently.
 
SirAndyOfCrosby said:
Yeap. He has only started 11 games this season - and we've won 4 of them.
One of a number of players that has been underutilised - particularly in recent weeks.
And that really is where Rowett made a rod for his own back - those 4 away games against relegation rivals (Norwich, Swansea, Blackburn, Charlton - just two points taken).

And while Prelec, Lankshear, Krastev and Goodrham were given one start apiece across those 4 games - Mark Harris was given all 4.

Unforgivable.
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That is a shocking statistic and merits a sacking on its own.

I have been saying all season that we're better than the league position and performances (particularly away) suggest. When you see something laid bare, as you've done here, it actually beggars belief that an experienced Championship manager could make these decisions. Repeatedly.

I think Prelec has something, and it didn't take Boxing Day's performance for me to see it, so why Gary Rowett under utilised him so much is absolutely baffling?
 
SirAndyOfCrosby said:
Yeap. He has only started 11 games this season - and we've won 4 of them.

One of a number of players that has been underutilised - particularly in recent weeks.

And that really is where Rowett made a rod for his own back - those 4 away games against relegation rivals (Norwich, Swansea, Blackburn, Charlton - just two points taken).

And while Prelec, Lankshear, Krastev and Goodrham were given one start apiece across those 4 games - Mark Harris was given all 4.

Unforgivable.
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I liked Rowett, and thought he did a superb job last season.

However the Mark Harris selection over Lankshear/Prelec was the main thing which really was baffling, especially as Rowett is quite well known for preferring strong robust sides.
 
You could see from his first appearance as a sub against Brighton that he had something about him.

Bonkers he’s not played more, I always had him down as a Rowett type of forward. Rowett openly said he’d run out of drawing boards a few weeks ago. Playing Harris over Prelec was testament to that.
 
Under The Cuckoo Lane said:
He won a fair few headers. Maybe midfielders and wingers could run on to a few of these, but might take time to adapt to a new way of playing.
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Absolutely, he's shown it before but he really did display against Southampton at just how adept he is at using his body and positioning himself to win headers. He isn't the tallest, but he's a powerful player and I hope that the more our attacking players play with him they'll trust that there's going to be a second ball to win and be ready for it. I noticed a few times in the first half against Southampton how far Harris and Goodrham positioned themselves away from him when the ball was being played forward, obviously preparing for a Centre Back to head it their way and then being surprised when it dropped in the pockets.

It was the type of display that goes under the radar but he really did make life very difficult for their defenders and it was noticeable how many times the ball didn't just come straight back. When you have someone like that off whom you can build attacks and get your forward players into the game, there really is no excuse not to use him.
 
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